From: John Calvin (mercurial@disinfo.net)
Date: Thu Jul 20 2000 - 11:35:13 MDT
>>Damien, as a hard-core conservationist (note, not
>>"environmentalist" -- a point of nomenclature I've written about
>>here before), I'm in full agreement that rational and
>>well-informed people should be concerned about the environmental
>>effects of our technology and that we need social mechanisms for
>>making producers internalize the cost of damage they do to the
>>environment. The problem I see now is that the process has become
>>politicized and "ideologized" to the point where the science is
>>taking a back seat to rhetoric and "activism". We're really
>>faced with a "meta" problem that underlies issues as diverse as
>>"GM Foods", "hormonesque" chemicals released into the environment,
>>electromagnetic field effects and human genetic engineering, to
>>name just a few. How do we get institutions and interest groups
>>to "calm down" and allow the science to be done in a fashion that
>>will produce acceptable answers without prejudging the many
>>techno-soccial questions we face?
>
>The problem is that the science the GM industry is doing involves
>me as the unwitting lab rat, a part I am loath to play.
>
>They can start to promote the "calming down" bu halting their
>opposition to labeling.
>
>It's clear the industry is unwilling to face the facts.
>
>Knowledgable consumers like myself distinguish between "good" GM
>products and "bad" products. (using these terms as a statement of
>personnal preference.)
>
>I'll give a couple of examples.
>
>I think micronutrient rice is probably a good idea.
>
>I think RoundUp *.* is a bad idea, I want to know if a product
>contains it because there is zero chance of me using any product
>that contains it.
IIRC no GM product contains roundup. Some GM products have been produced that are resistant to Round-Up, so that the herbacide can be safely used to eliminate unwanted "weeds" amongst a crop without damage to the crop.
>
>The historical evidence is seen daily in newspaper headlines, even
>when companies know about bad things their products do, they either
>ignore it, or hide it.
>
>
>Brian
>
>Member:
>Extropy Institute, www.extropy.org
>Adler Planetarium www.adlerplanetarium.org
>Life Extension Foundation, www.lef.org
>National Rifle Association, www.nra.org, 1.800.672.3888
>Mars Society, www.marssociety.org
>Ameritech Data Center Chicago, IL, Local 134 I.B.E.W
>
>
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