Posted on 11/14/2004 9:29:50 AM PST by OESY
Henry I. Miller and Gregory Conko are true believers in the power of biotechnology in agriculture to improve life as it generates bounteous profits for innovative companies with the vision to invent and develop "superior" genetically modified (GM) plants. The fly in their ointment is overly zealous government regulation stimulated by vocal and paranoid bio-skeptic activists whose alarmism impedes biotech companies from feeding a hungry world.
They make many valid points. It is indeed a crime against humanity that some African leaders, egged on by radical European Greens, decided to let their people starve rather than distribute corn they deemed "toxic" because it had minor genetic modifications. But if the authors hoped to convince the masses that so-called "Frankenfoods" are as safe as crops that have been modified through natural cross-breeding techniques, their book doesn't quite make the grade....
[r]ather than methodically demonstrating why gene-spliced foods really are safe, the authors often write as if their forceful assertions alone are sufficient to convince readers that it is so....
This is not to say that the authors' consternation isn't just. For example, their critique of the "precautionary principle," under which biotech companies have been forced to demonstrate almost to a metaphysical certainty that their GM foods are safe before being permitted into the marketplace, is both passionate and compelling....
The excessive reticence on the part of regulators that they bemoan did not arise in a vacuum. Corporations have too often covered up known safety problems with their products in order to pass regulatory muster. Their failure to adequately grapple with this history undermines the authors' argument.
Moreover, Miller and Conko's ideological resentment of even the most rational concerns about GM crops limits their effectiveness....
Readers who care a lot about regulatory processes will unquestionably enjoy "The Frankenfood Myth."...
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Wesley J. Smith is a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute and a special consultant to the Center for
Bioethics and Culture. His current book is "Consumer's Guide to a Brave New World."
This is a hornet's nest without even considering whether the foods are safe to eat or not..
Wait until I enforce my patent on dirt.
ROFL, that's very good!
May I suggest 2 very good sites to help fight the "Nanny Culture" food fascists and urban myths.
http://www.consumerfreedom.com/
http://www.snopes.com/
BTTT!!!!!!!
"If only we could apply a similar technology to energy, would not have to deal with the rest of the world at all!"
I intend to invent a method of capturing all the methane generated by cattle flatulence, this will provide all the energy we need.
The "Rather" effect at work on our food supply.
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