Neil deGrasse Tyson Is Narrating This Must-Watch Film On GMOs And Fake News

If there’s one voice out there that’s as iconic as Morgan Freeman’s, it belongs to scientific genius and TV personality Neil deGrasse Tyson. Thanks to the Institute for Food Technologists (IFT), we’re getting another chance to hear Tyson as the narrator of a documentary on some of the biggest issues concerning the food industry.

The new film, called Food Evolution, is premiering in New York this week and will be spreading across the country through various screening events. The documentary centralizes on the debate of GMOs and food security and “demonstrates the desperate need for common sense, solid information, and calm logical deliberation,” as IFT puts it. Neither for nor against GMOs, Food Evolution instead aims to begin “a rational discussion around sound science” and highlight the “consequences” of forgoing scientific evidence and data for emotions and ideology to make decisions, especially with our food supply.

Neil deGrasse Tyson has made it clear in interviews that he didn’t choose to narrate and work on the script to convince people one way or another on GMOs. Rather, he wants to bring attention to the now commonplace issue of “fake news” in the world of science.

“Bad information got swept into a culture where people’s feelings overrode any hope of access to accurate, emerging scientific truths.”

To help ensure that the image of this film isn’t distorted to be for or against either side, IFT brought in Scott Hamilton Kennedy, a filmmaker with no ties to the food industry, no scientific background, and a neutral stance on GMO foods. Kennedy chose GMOs as the core issue of his film to serve as a proxy for the larger debate over the widespread public misunderstanding of science. An while IFT funded his work, the message and conclusions of the film were entirely those of Kennedy’s and the other filmmakers on his team.

So while the film will be a great information resource for those desiring to learn the truth about GMO and genetically engineered foods, Kennedy, Tyson, and IFT want viewers to walk away with a newfound understanding and trust of scientific communities. In doing so, you would help prevent what Tyson calls “the beginning of the end of an informed democracy.”