OT: Alar, Criollo, B. Thuringiensis and Corporate Hubris
Hi Michael,
I get your point on Alar. And if you seem to imply that they were grossly negligent in balancing their reporting on Alar, I'm in complete agreement. It was outrageous for them and for Meryl Streep to be so one-sided about the actual testing on Alar and it role in the apple production cycle.
However, it was the American public which became alarmed because they are so ill-equipped to understand scientific information.
And I might add, the chemical industry has done a fabulous job for decades at shooting itself in the head. The arrogance of a Monsanto seems to know no bounds. And the enemies that company is creating, myself included, are often more opposed to their dunderheaded and arrogant approach to our common future than to any specific product.
BTW, did you happen to notice the problem in the criollo crop in Mexico?
nature.com
Briefly, this native species of corn has been invaded by foreign genes, including a complete gene from B. Thurengenis which is one of the genetic modifications that Monsanto et al have introduced into Starlink corn. The closest Starlink production to the criollo that was tested positive for genetic modification was 60 miles away. Time for us to get a bit more circumspect about what the chemical and bio-engineering companies are doing, methinks, and less concerned about the plight of farmers who were using a damn chemical for no reason other than to make apples artificially more pigmented, without terribly much concern for the adulteration of our foodstuffs and the implications for real Frankenfoods of the future. This experiment needs some controls. Last I checked, we don't have another planet to move to once we screw this one up.
-Ray |
