Re: Critique of Current GM Technology

From: Michael S. Lorrey (retroman@turbont.net)
Date: Mon Aug 28 2000 - 08:02:06 MDT


Harvey Newstrom wrote:
>
> The fact that Monarch butterflies are killed by GM wheat is a minor
> concern. The real issue is that the wheat was designed to be safe to
> butterflies, but turned out to be unsafe for them. Obviously, the
> original design was flawed in some way. Trusting GM foods to be safe
> is like trusting Microsoft products to be secure. Past history tells
> us they aren't.
>
> This doesn't mean throw away all computers or all GM foods. But
> claiming that a particular technology is always harmless is just
> blind faith.

Also assuming a test was actually an accurate reflection of reality is just
blind faith as well. A better test would be to go around, do a count of
butterflies in the area, then collect all the dead butterflies found. Such in
situ research is far more accurate than force feeding ONLY collected milkweed to
test butterflies. The force feeding prevents the butterflies from making a
choice as to what plants to eat from, thus altering actual mortality rates. Give
a starving man bread with rat poison in it, he'll eat the bread...



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