Glenn Reynolds quotes an interesting passage in a New York Times piece on science and religion:

“Many Europeans, as well as leftists in America,” Dr. Silver says, “have rejected the traditional Christian God and replaced it with a post-Christian goddess of Mother Nature and a modified Christian eschatology. It isn’t a coherent belief system. It might or might not incorporate New Age thinking. But deep down, there’s a view that humans shouldn’t be tampering with the natural world.”

Hence the opposition to genetically modified food.

Didn't Europe go down this road with rather disastrous results once before? Related thoughts on replacing traditional religion with aesthetics and homebrewed mysticism from Tom Wolfe. Also from Jonah Goldberg (who may have some further thoughts on this topic next year), note the symbiotic relationship between postmodern Europe and the American left touched on in the above paragraph.