Re: Critique of Current GM Technology

From: Harvey Newstrom (mail@HarveyNewstrom.com)
Date: Mon Aug 28 2000 - 08:43:55 MDT


"Michael S. Lorrey" <retroman@turbont.net> wrote:
>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...

Very true. It is easy to have blind faith on both sides of an issue.
Most people agree with whichever side their on. I'm afraid that I
see both sides of most issues being totally unscientific, citing
whatever references help their case, and ignoring the ones that
dispute their case. It is very rare to find a truly impartial
observer.

-- 
--
Harvey Newstrom <HarveyNewstrom.com> <pager@HarveyNewstrom.com>
Fiderus - Strategic Security and Privacy Services <www.Fiderus.com>
Phone: 321-676-4894   Tollfree: 866-FIDERUS   Pager: 866-786-1001



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Oct 02 2000 - 17:36:41 MDT