Mike
Adams, who publishes Natural News and styles himself as the Health Ranger
recently posted an article entitled, The Agricultural
Holocaust explained: the 10 worst ways GMOs threaten humanity and our natural
world on July 27, 2014. Originally I posted this rebuttle to Adams 10 complaints against Genetically Modified Organisms in a ten part series. Here are all ten articles in one post.
He claims "genetically modified organisms (GMOs)
a serious threat to humanity and the environment? The reasons span the realms
of science, social justice, economics and the environment, and once you
understand this, you'll readily understand why so many environmentalists,
humanitarians, responsible scientists and social justice advocates are strongly
opposed to GMOs", and lists ten reasons why?
He starts out with - Every
grain of GM corn contains poison, and goes on to say;
GM corn is genetically engineered to develop a deadly pesticide in every grain of corn. When this corn is harvested and turned into Corn Flakes, corn tortillas, corn syrup or other corn-based foods, that same poison remains in the corn.
What is the effect of human children eating all the poisons grown in GM corn? Nobody knows for sure because the tests haven't been conducted on human consumption. That's why GMOs remain an untested experiment that exploits humans as guinea pigs.
First of all, this “deadly”
pesticide isn’t deadly to anything except the targeted insect pests because
it's the dose that makes the poison – basic chemical science! When they use
this kind of language it’s a lie of omission, because presence doesn’t mean
toxicity, and they know it. Furthermore it’s more likely that cooking will
destroy what minute amounts exist in it anyway but even if it didn't just
because some chemical is detectable it doesn’t mean it’s harmful. We can test
down for parts per quadrillion and even lower in some cases. As a health issue
those numbers are meaningless because the molecular load will be so small cells
won’t react to it.
As for "no tests being
conducted on human beings", there’s a reason for that. We’re not allowed
to test human beings, and these eco-activists know it, yet they continue to use
this same lie of omission over and over again. In the real world everything -
and I mean everything - gets its final testing when its released to the public,
and GMO’s have been used for decades in this country without one iota of
evidence of harm.
What they fail to tell you – making another lie of omission – are
the benefits of GMO’s, including less total land needed to plant the needed
food to feed a growing world population, less pesticide use (including
herbicides) because they’re now more resistant to insect pests and weeds, and
can even allow for planting in soil that has high levels of salt, expanding
usable acreage numbers substantially. Since the plants are healthier because
they're disease resistant, all of this allows for higher better quality yields.
Without modern agricultural tools, including GMO’s, according to
Norman Borlaug 25 years ago, we would need all the land east of the Mississippi
with the exclusion of three states to generate the same level of crop
production they had then. With the world's growing population how much more
land would be needed. Picture that as a worldwide dilemma.
Part II
His second claim is - GMOs
have never been safety tested for human consumption, and goes on to say;
Although GMO advocates ridiculously claim GMOs have been "proven safe in thousands of studies," what they don't tell you is that those were all short-term studies on animals, not humans.
In fact, GMOs have never been shown to be safe for long-term human consumption. What happens when a child eats GMOs for two decades? Does it substantially increase their risk of cancer, diabetes, kidney failure or future Alzheimer's? Nobody knows, exactly, because the tests haven't been done.
As often happens with other chemicals, GMOs are simply let loose into the world with an attitude of "let's see what happens!
Although I’ve largely addressed this in my previous post, I will add this. Nothing can be proven safe; it’s called proving a negative. Scientifically impossible! You can only prove what things do, not what they don’t do. It’s like demanding someone“prove” they’re “not” cheating on their spouse. Can’t be done! And these people know this, making it another lie of omission. Since these products have been used for decades, and there’s no indication that GMO’s cause anything, including “cancer, diabetes, kidney failure or future Alzheimer's” why does he say it? Because speculation is easy! He might just as well make the claim – “we don’t know if GMO’s causes AIDS!”
You can
make any accusation and frame it in the form of a question and not have to prove
anything one way or another. But the thought is planted in people’s minds
there’s something nefarious about GMO’s, and the companies producing them. This
has been the scare tactic activists have been using going back to Silent Spring
and the mother of junk science, Rachel Carson.
Dr.
Madeleine Pelner Cosman, Ph.D. notes that there are seven steps to this process
and usually follow this pattern:
1. Create a "scientific" study that
predicts a public health disaster
2. Release the study to the media, before
scientists can review it
3. Generate an intense emotional public reaction
4. Develop a government-enforced solution
5. Intimidate Congress into passing it into law
6. Coerce manufacturers to stop making the product
7. Bully users to replace it, or obliterate it
One more thing that needs
to be addressed and that’s exactly what pesticide is he talking about? Since
GMO Bt cotton is his theme later in his article, we need to see
what the EPA thinks:
"Bt products are found to be safe for use in the environment and with mammals. The EPA (environmental protection agency) has not found any human health hazards related to using Bt. In fact the EPA has found Bt safe enough that it has exempted Bt from food residue tolerances, groundwater restrictions, endangered species labeling and special review requirements. Bt is often used near lakes, rivers and dwellings, and has no known effect on wildlife such as mammals, birds, and fish.
Humans exposed orally to 1000 mg/day for 3-5 days of Bthave showed no ill effects. Many tests have been conducted on test animals using different types of exposures. The results of the tests showed that the use of Bt causes few if any negative effects. Bt does not persist in the digestive systems of mammals.
Bt is found to be an eye irritant on test rabbits. There is very slight irritation from inhalation in test animals which may be caused by the physical rather than the biological properties of the Bt formulation tested.
Bt has not been shown to have any chronic toxicity or any carcinogenic effects. There are also no indication that Bt causes reproductive effects or birth defects in mammals.
Bt breaks down readily in the environment. Because of this Bt poses no threat to groundwater. Bt also breaks down under the ultraviolet (UV) light of the sun."
"Bt products are found to be safe for use in the environment and with mammals. The EPA (environmental protection agency) has not found any human health hazards related to using Bt. In fact the EPA has found Bt safe enough that it has exempted Bt from food residue tolerances, groundwater restrictions, endangered species labeling and special review requirements. Bt is often used near lakes, rivers and dwellings, and has no known effect on wildlife such as mammals, birds, and fish.
Humans exposed orally to 1000 mg/day for 3-5 days of Bthave showed no ill effects. Many tests have been conducted on test animals using different types of exposures. The results of the tests showed that the use of Bt causes few if any negative effects. Bt does not persist in the digestive systems of mammals.
Bt is found to be an eye irritant on test rabbits. There is very slight irritation from inhalation in test animals which may be caused by the physical rather than the biological properties of the Bt formulation tested.
Bt has not been shown to have any chronic toxicity or any carcinogenic effects. There are also no indication that Bt causes reproductive effects or birth defects in mammals.
Bt breaks down readily in the environment. Because of this Bt poses no threat to groundwater. Bt also breaks down under the ultraviolet (UV) light of the sun."
We have
to get past this outrageous scare mongering and realize they're big argument is
that GMO's are "unnatural" because of how the genes are implanted.
That's completely the wrong take. Our only concern should be what the genes are
supposed to do, not how they got there.
Part III
He next
claims that, “GMOs transform farming freedom into farming servitude” and then
goes on to say:
"Because GMOs are sold with an intellectual property restriction that prevents farmers from saving their own seeds, they invoke "economic servitude" where farmers are forced to buy expensive new seeds each year from the GMOseed supplier.
As a result, farming practices (like seed saving) that have sustained humanity since the dawn of civilization are now being criminalized. And when GM crops fail, as they frequently do, the economic burden placed upon farmers is often too much to bear. That's why farmer suicides have skyrocketed in India among farmers who bought GMO seeds.
Reportedly, over 270,000 suicides have already happened in India due to crop failures, and more happen every day."
First of all, no one is required to buy these products, in spite of any international agreements. Secondly, Monsanto doesn’t have a monopoly on GMO’s in India since Indians are actually creating their own GMO’s, so Indian farmers have large choices.
This is another failure of logic and another lie of omission. The Health Ranger keeps claiming “organic” agriculture is exploding all over the world, including India, when in reality it’s only increasing among “a rising health-consciousness among Indian consumers, rising disposable income due to globalization of markets, and an expanding middle class in the nation of more than 1 billion people”.
In short, they’re just as gullible to the green propaganda as foolish Americans who waste their money in places like Whole Foods. Organic produce doesn’t taste any better, it isn’t any healthier or better for our bodies than foods produced with modern agricultural processes including GMO’s, and in point of fact, they’re using pesticides such as the copper pesticides, which is accumulative in the soil because unlike synthetics, copper doesn't break down. Copper is one of those heavy metals they scream about. Does anyone besides me see a problem with consistency of thought here? Oh yes, they use a number of pesticides inorganic farming -“The only difference is that they're "natural" instead of "synthetic." At face value, the labels make it sound like the products they describe are worlds apart, but they aren't. A pesticide, whether it's natural or not, is a chemical…….Sadly, however, "natural" pesticides aren't as effective, so organic farmers actually end up using more of them!”
Now, for the most outrageous claim of all that “farmer suicides have skyrocketed in India among farmers who bought GMO seeds”, giving the impression GMO's were somehow responsible for all these deaths. This link is an emotional picture story, but read the article carefully and it becomes clear these suicides were caused by worldwide agriculture economics and failed crops due to bad weather conditions.
The reality is this - linking GMO’s to these farmer’s suicides is a logical fallacy known as “correlation is causation”. As one writer noted:
"Because GMOs are sold with an intellectual property restriction that prevents farmers from saving their own seeds, they invoke "economic servitude" where farmers are forced to buy expensive new seeds each year from the GMOseed supplier.
As a result, farming practices (like seed saving) that have sustained humanity since the dawn of civilization are now being criminalized. And when GM crops fail, as they frequently do, the economic burden placed upon farmers is often too much to bear. That's why farmer suicides have skyrocketed in India among farmers who bought GMO seeds.
Reportedly, over 270,000 suicides have already happened in India due to crop failures, and more happen every day."
First of all, no one is required to buy these products, in spite of any international agreements. Secondly, Monsanto doesn’t have a monopoly on GMO’s in India since Indians are actually creating their own GMO’s, so Indian farmers have large choices.
This is another failure of logic and another lie of omission. The Health Ranger keeps claiming “organic” agriculture is exploding all over the world, including India, when in reality it’s only increasing among “a rising health-consciousness among Indian consumers, rising disposable income due to globalization of markets, and an expanding middle class in the nation of more than 1 billion people”.
In short, they’re just as gullible to the green propaganda as foolish Americans who waste their money in places like Whole Foods. Organic produce doesn’t taste any better, it isn’t any healthier or better for our bodies than foods produced with modern agricultural processes including GMO’s, and in point of fact, they’re using pesticides such as the copper pesticides, which is accumulative in the soil because unlike synthetics, copper doesn't break down. Copper is one of those heavy metals they scream about. Does anyone besides me see a problem with consistency of thought here? Oh yes, they use a number of pesticides inorganic farming -“The only difference is that they're "natural" instead of "synthetic." At face value, the labels make it sound like the products they describe are worlds apart, but they aren't. A pesticide, whether it's natural or not, is a chemical…….Sadly, however, "natural" pesticides aren't as effective, so organic farmers actually end up using more of them!”
Now, for the most outrageous claim of all that “farmer suicides have skyrocketed in India among farmers who bought GMO seeds”, giving the impression GMO's were somehow responsible for all these deaths. This link is an emotional picture story, but read the article carefully and it becomes clear these suicides were caused by worldwide agriculture economics and failed crops due to bad weather conditions.
The reality is this - linking GMO’s to these farmer’s suicides is a logical fallacy known as “correlation is causation”. As one writer noted:
“The
correlation between farmers committing suicide in India and the introduction of
GMO cotton in the country has become widely accepted. Two documentaries, Seeds of Suicide and Bitter Seeds center around the phenomenon. In less direct
ways, GMOs are mentioned in nearly every article about these suicides in major
media outlets. But a new study from The Cathie Marsh Centre for Census and Survey Research (PDF)
challenges these assumptions and lends more weight to the argument that the
correlation is unfounded. But will it make a difference?"
"The
analysis reveals considerable variation in trends in suicide rates across the
nine cotton-growing states. The data, although not ideal, and the modeling do
not, however, support the claim that GM cotton has led to an increase in farmer
suicide rates: if anything the reverse is true. The Indian farmer suicide story
has become received wisdom for some anti-GM campaigners."
"In fact,
we find that the suicide rate for male Indian
farmers is slightly lower than the non-farmer rate. And Indian suicide
rates as a whole, although contested, do not appear to be notably high in a
world context. The pattern of changes in suicide rates over the last 15 years
is consistent with a beneficial effect of Bt cotton for India as a whole albeit
perhaps not in every cotton-growing state."
This isn’t a unique or shot in the dark study with no supporting science behind it. In 2008 the International Food Policy Research Institute found similar results saying:
"Suicides in general, including farmers’ suicides, are a sad and
complex phenomenon. Hence, their underlying causes need to be addressed within
an equally complex societal framework. Here, we provide a specific case study
on the potential link between technological choices and farmer suicides in
India. Although officially recognized for having increased production and
farmers’ income, Bt cotton, genetically modified, insect-resistant cotton,
remains highly controversial in India. Among other allegations, it is accused
of being the main reason for a resurgence of farmer suicides in India.
We first show that there is no evidence in available data of a
“resurgence” of farmer suicides in India in the last five years. Second, we
find that Bt cotton technology has been very effective overall in India.
However, the context in which Bt cotton was introduced has generated
disappointing results in some particular districts and seasons. Third, our
analysis clearly shows that Bt cotton is neither a necessary nor a sufficient
condition for the occurrence of farmer suicides. In contrast, many other
factors have likely played a prominent role. Nevertheless, in specific regions
and years, where Bt cotton may have indirectly contributed to farmer
indebtedness, leading to suicides, its failure was mainly the result of the
context or environment in which it was planted.
"It’s a complicated
issue and it’s perhaps natural to desire a clearcut villain: GMOs. Keith Kloor
at Discover Magazine’s website wrote in an article last year title: The Real Seeds of Deception:'"
In Keith
Kloor’s article, The GMO-Suicide Myth, he notes: “the suicide rate among male farmers in the
nine main cotton-growing states was just under 30 per 100,000 in 2011. That is
about the same as suicide rates among farmers in France and Scotland, so Indian
farmers do not seem unusual……Nor is there any sign that suicides rates changed
significantly after 2002, when GM cotton began to be introduced.
This has been an insidiously mendacious effort by
the environmental movement to blacken the reputation of agricultural products
that are working wonders for humanity and an attempt to brand Monsanto as a
criminal organization, neither of which be held responsible for anyone’s suicide,
let alone farmers in India.
Tragic as this is, these farmers made a business decision that turned out badly compounded by “very complex equation that includes institutional, social, and governmental factors in India.”
How many really successful years did they have as a result of GMO cotton? I don’t know and he doesn’t say, but there must have been many years of success after success since the acceptance curve in India for transgenic plants is so high Indian farmers must not believe GMO's are destructive, or they wouldn’t use them. Every year more and more farmers are moving to transgenics because they work and all these anti-GMO claims are false!
Now the Health Ranger can’t have it both ways. If organic is so great why did they buy these expensive products in the first place? Would their crops have failed due to bad weather conditions and all the other problems Indian farmers face if they were organic?
Did anyone ever see what happens to a non-transgenic cotton crop when weevils attack? They will destroy every plant within sight. In one Indian state the only cotton plants left standing were GMO’s. What alternatives do eco-activists like Vandana Shiva and Health Ranger Mike Adams offer? Remember – all those farmers using “organic” methods were wiped out. What exactly are the goals of these anti-GMO activists? One thing seems to be glaringly clear. Doing good things for the Indian farmer isn’t among them.
As for the patent argument on GMO’s these activists despise so badly - that’s a back door to getting rid of GMO’s. If these companies can’t patent these genetic modifications there will be no GMO’s because there will be no money, and that’s what they really want. They don’t care about these poor people who have committed suicide, but they push this myth because it fortifies the narrative they’re promoting. And no matter how much information comes forth to expose the speculations, the lies of commission, the lies of omission and all the logical fallacies, this false narrative is one that’s difficult to break.
Please view this video, which takes an hour, but it's a fast hour and well worth the time, in spite of the fact his leftist prejudices show at the end.
Tragic as this is, these farmers made a business decision that turned out badly compounded by “very complex equation that includes institutional, social, and governmental factors in India.”
How many really successful years did they have as a result of GMO cotton? I don’t know and he doesn’t say, but there must have been many years of success after success since the acceptance curve in India for transgenic plants is so high Indian farmers must not believe GMO's are destructive, or they wouldn’t use them. Every year more and more farmers are moving to transgenics because they work and all these anti-GMO claims are false!
Now the Health Ranger can’t have it both ways. If organic is so great why did they buy these expensive products in the first place? Would their crops have failed due to bad weather conditions and all the other problems Indian farmers face if they were organic?
Did anyone ever see what happens to a non-transgenic cotton crop when weevils attack? They will destroy every plant within sight. In one Indian state the only cotton plants left standing were GMO’s. What alternatives do eco-activists like Vandana Shiva and Health Ranger Mike Adams offer? Remember – all those farmers using “organic” methods were wiped out. What exactly are the goals of these anti-GMO activists? One thing seems to be glaringly clear. Doing good things for the Indian farmer isn’t among them.
As for the patent argument on GMO’s these activists despise so badly - that’s a back door to getting rid of GMO’s. If these companies can’t patent these genetic modifications there will be no GMO’s because there will be no money, and that’s what they really want. They don’t care about these poor people who have committed suicide, but they push this myth because it fortifies the narrative they’re promoting. And no matter how much information comes forth to expose the speculations, the lies of commission, the lies of omission and all the logical fallacies, this false narrative is one that’s difficult to break.
Please view this video, which takes an hour, but it's a fast hour and well worth the time, in spite of the fact his leftist prejudices show at the end.
Adam’s fourth
proclamation is that “GMOs run the very
real risk of runaway self-replicating genetic pollution and ecocide”. He
goes on to say
Unlike
isolated chemicals, GMOs self-replicate. This means there is an automatic risk
of a runaway ecological holocaust
caused by genetic pollution from GMOs.
Once (sic) scientist calls this risk "ecocide" and has calculated the risk of ecocide caused by GMOs will approach 100%. As I wrote in this March 2014 article:
Once (sic) scientist calls this risk "ecocide" and has calculated the risk of ecocide caused by GMOs will approach 100%. As I wrote in this March 2014 article:
As Taleb convincingly argues, genetically engineered crops are
specifically designed to have a survival advantage over conventional crops,
allowing them to better resist droughts or infestations of pests or weeds. This
survival advantage -- if it's as real as seed manipulators claim -- means genetically
engineered plants can out-compete non-GMO crops in open fields. The genetic
pollution which is already underway across North America will only get worse,
therefore, and there's no reversing it because all living systems -- even
genetically engineered ones -- have a natural drive to spread, multiply and
survive.
The result is that GMO crops will out-compete and thereby displace
non-GMO crops over time. Why does this matter? Because the rise of GMOs is
nearly synonymous with the collapse of genetic diversity in seeds and food
crops.
So, the Health Ranger’s argument is that all these GMO’s are better and will out compete all non-genetically improved varieties, and will spread this genetic superiority all over the planet. And somehow this is a prelude to ecological holocaust?
Is that his argument? That’s not much of an argument!
They claim the increase of genetically superior plants will spread to feral plants and be the cause for the collapse of genetic diversity – that’s a red herring since genetically superior plants have been displacing biologically incompetent varieties since time immemorial.
There is only one difference. In the past the transfer of genes took place via selective breeding and cross-pollination. Now humanity has gone past that via modern technology into a realm of genetic potentials that were impossible in the natural scheme of things. Now we have the opportunity to tailor plants to meet our needs far beyond anything that is possible “naturally”. And better yet, these enhancements are permanent, and we should be happy about that.
Eco-activists rail against agriculture for using too much water. GMO’s are responsible for a serious reduction in that need. Eco-activists rail against the use of pesticides. GMO’s reduce that need tremendously, not to mention how much less land is needed versus these "all natural" farms that are forced to reduce wildlife habitat to achieve the same level of production. Not only do they use more land, but they have to use more water, more pesticides – “which includes more than 20 chemicals, mostly containing copper and sulfur, along with nicotine sulfate, which is extremely toxic to warm-blooded animals”, and more energy.
Does anyone besides me see a serious lack of consistency in their thinking?
Is it possible that the real reason for their hate of these products has more to do with “patent exhaustion” than biodiversity? Is it possible they’re real hate of Monsanto and is they’re not giving these seeds away for free? Is it possible they don’t fully grasp that Monsanto spends a billion dollars a year on genetic research?
It takes approximately three hundred million dollars to bring a pesticide to market. One year Bayer tested twenty five compounds and none of them made it to the market. How much was spent on these compounds? I have no idea, but remember they’re probably testing a large number of compounds each and every year and most of those compounds will yield no financial benefit to Bayer.
Monsanto spends billions to bring one product to market, and eco-activists rail against them as greedy monsters committing ecocide. Nonsense! All these claims are wild speculations and logical fallacies since thus far all these GMO’s have been a major source of benefit to humanity. Let’s try to get this right once and for all. If there’s no financial reward there will be no technical advancement, and there will be no new products, including new medicines, in which GMO’s have played a significant role. Companies have been;
“engineering animals and plants to produce proteins to use as medicine. An example of pharming is raising cows with human antibodies-containing milk. Sheep and pigs have also been modified to produce milk containing human blood-clotting protein factor-eight, interferon, and insulin.”
“The virus-free blood-clotting protein is ideal for hemophila patients since traditional methods of producing this protein run the risk of being contaminated with viruses. The mass production of insulin from these animals benefits diabetes sufferers as well.”
“Crops are also used to produce human proteins. In the U.S., rice has been engineered to produce alpha-antitrypsin; in the United Kingdom transgenic sheep have been used to produce this protein, which is used to treat liver disease and hemorrhages.”
“In the late 1990s, about a quarter of all insulin, growth hormone, hepatitis-B vaccine, and antibodies for cancer treatments were produced by GMO.”
One last
point regarding patent rights! At some point all of these patents will run
their course that these GMO’s will be part of the public domain and can be
utilized by everyone creating far reaching benefits to the poor and
malnourished people of the world. But, that can only happen if they’re produced
at a profit in the first place for the benefit of the stockholders of these
corporations that have been financing the research and producing commercially
valuable products for humanities benefit. That profit also provides seed money
for future research!
One can foolishly rail against them as greedy for their desire to make a substantial profit - if that’s one’s bent - but no one should be finding fault with the beneficial results they’ve produced for humanity, and the environment!
One can foolishly rail against them as greedy for their desire to make a substantial profit - if that’s one’s bent - but no one should be finding fault with the beneficial results they’ve produced for humanity, and the environment!
Part V
The Health Ranger’s fifth complaint against these products is that, “GMO
agriculture is breeding a new generation of chemical-resistant superweeds”,
saying:
“The rise of
chemical-resistant superweeds is a horrible problem for modern farmers. In the
same way that deadly superbugs have arisen from the abuse of antibiotics in
hospitals, "Frankenweeds" have arisen from the continued growing of
GMOs and the routine application of glyphosate to crop fields.Glyphosate-resistant superweeds have become such a problem that the very industry which once claimed GMOs would require "fewer chemicals" to grow food is now recommending fields be treated with a triple or quadruple layer of multiple chemicals to attack the superweeds with different chemicals.
That's why agriculture experts are right now sounding the alarm over glyphosate, GMOs and superweeds, calling for an end to the unsustainable GMO farming practices that seriously threaten the sustainability of agriculture.”
Crops such as cotton, corn, soybeans, alfalfa and sugar beets have been genetically altered to tolerate glyphosate in order to increase yields and avoid the costly and time consuming weed control processes of the past. This has been so successful eco-activists claim farmers have adopted an over reliance on GMO’s (which increased production by more than 98 billion dollars over the last twenty plus years and saving from having to use hundreds of millions of kilograms of pesticides from being sprayed) resulting in “overuse” of glyphosate creating “superweeds”, such as Palmer amaranth. And it would appear weeds are showing up in fields all over the world that have become resistant to the herbicide glyphosate.
Palmer amaranth
is particularly insidious because it out competes cotton – and other crops -
for all the things necessary for productive harvests – moisture, light and
nutrients. So, are these now “superweeds”?
Before we answer
that question we have to understand what exactly “resistance” is? Often times I
will see commentaries claiming an evolutionary spurt is causing resistance.
Nonsense! Evolution has nothing to do with these changes in plants or insects,
bacteria or virus’ for that matter. I’m going to address this from an insect
control perspective because it’s easy to explain and the pattern is universal.
Pay attention!
Resistance is a
genetic phenomenon where-in a percentage of the target pests are naturally
resistant to some compound. Hence each successive generation will pass that
trait to some of their offspring thus having more resistant numbers in the
population. Eventually the resistant members become the dominant gene pool.
However they’re not “super-roaches”, “super-rats”, or super anything else for
that matter. Whether its cockroaches, weeds, or pathogens – resistance is the
pattern in nature! Something we only fully realized after insect pests
developed resistance to DDT, including bed bugs. We didn’t know we were following
nature’s patterns and cycles. We know that now and can adapt.
While
hyperventilating one writer claimed “Chemicals Are Creating Frightening New
Superweeds.” Then disparagingly asked, The 'Solution'? More Chemicals.
Yes - that is the solution!
Eco-activists
state that this has to stop because these “superweeds” have found their way
into organic fields. Let’s understand this correctly. This is another logical
fallacy that’s a lie of omission. Whether it’s these resistant varieties of
weeds or the non resistant varieties these organic farmers are going to be
devastated without the use of herbicides, so making this claim is nothing more
than a red herring fallacy, since they're not allowed to use synthetic
herbicides anyway and still be 'organic'. As for those farmers who are not
'organic' farmers, but still aren't using transgenics - they're would still
have to face the problem of resistance eventually. Transgenics didn't create
the resistance problem, but transgenics will be the solution!
Companies such
as Monsanto, Dow AgroSciences and other biotech companies didn’t stop
researching new and innovative approaches to transgenics when the current
products went on the market. They clearly understand the “resistance” factor in
pesticides and have been working of herbicide resistant crops which will become
available. Will these new products eventually become ineffective? Of course!
But that’s no reason to abandon chemistry that works – especially when there’s
no alternative, and it’s more environmentally friendly than plowing and
tilling.
If there is no
alternative there is no problem!
Ah, but there is
– according to eco-activists – an alternative. Heirloom varieties! These are
varieties that have been grown for hundreds of years and breed true year after
year. In other words, “organic” farming, which I addressed in a previous post!
Heirlooms are
hardy, but as is the case with all these old hardy varieties - they aren’t that
productive. And they’re still left with the problem of weeds and insect pests
because even these varieties come under attack from something, and then there
are all the other negative issues surrounding “organic” farming.
They claim we
can only thrive by obeying nature’s rules. I couldn’t agree more. And what’s
nature’s rule regarding plant pests? Plants can’t run away when attacked, they
don’t have claws, they don’t have teeth, they don’t have heavy fur coats to
protect themselves – so what do they do? They make their own pesticides to
sicken, kill or repel pests. The vast majority of pesticides we consume are
naturally occurring in the food we eat, and most of them test carcinogenic. So
I subscribe to nature’s pattern. Build a better pesticide, and create more
GMO’s to tolerate them.
Eco-activists
demand perfection - from everyone else. A perfection they're incapable of
delivering. They demand utopia, claiming they can deliver it if we just listen
to them, but when you consider their policies have killed more people over the
last 60 years, (probably more than the socialist monsters of twentieth century
like Stalin, Hitler and Mao combined) we must believe the facts of history.
They only deliver dystopia - squalor, misery, poverty, disease, suffering and
early death. The legacy of the left!
Those who are rational
recognize that history and sanity forces upon us the conclusion the best we can
hope for is the most acceptable imperfection. And as imperfect as these modern
agricultural marvels are - they've saved more lives than any advancement in all
of humanities previous history.
Part VI
The Health Ranger’s sixth complaint is that, “GMOs may have long-term unintended consequences on the environment”.
His logic is as follows:
"What happens when genetically engineered plants cross-pollinate with non-GMO plants and are then subjected to the random mutations of plant evolution?
No one knows because it's never been tested in the open world. Or, I should say, it's being tested right now on us all, in the world's largest genetic experiment ever conducted (without our consent, no less).
The problem in all this is that Mother Nature has a way of bringing about unintended consequences, even from well-meaning scientists. Is it possible that an artificial, genetically engineered trait could dominate future plant generations but begin to show a completely unintended physiological trait that scientists never intended? You bet it is. From Thalidomide to Fukushima, the world is full of examples of catastrophic consequences that scientists once swore could never happen."
First of all I’m not aware of any “random mutations” caused by
GMO’s, and apparently neither is the Health Ranger since he didn’t list any.
Another lie of omission and another logical fallacy! He says this hasn’t been
tested in the open world, and then states the world is an ongoing testing lab.
Did he really say that? It can’t be both ways!
However, I can tell you absolutely what will happen to any of
these plants if they were subjected to “random mutations”, or mutations of any
kind. First of all, if this was an issue of plant evolution as he speculates,
it would be meaningless because evolutionary theory requires millions of years
and an untold number of mutations before any meaningful change would take
place. However, in the real world versus the theoretical world, 99 out of 100 mutations are harmful, and about
20 out of the 99 are lethal. Ergo, those that survived would not last long in
the real world and thus have no impact on anything, because only those things
that survive and thrive affect their surrounding environment. And why exactly
is that bad?
I often see ec0-activists claiming that DDT “destroyed whole
ecosystems”. I have yet to see anyone tell me which ecosystem was destroyed. I
have yet to see anyone who can actually define an ecosystem. Let’s try and
understand that these so-called ecosystems can’t be destroyed. Ecosystems
change, that’s not destruction. Too little water, too much water, too much
heat, too much cold, and the plants and animals that populated that are will
cease existance in an area and will be replaced with different animals and
plants. That’s not destruction - that’s change - and that’s gone on throughout
Earth’s history.
As for defining an ecosystem; the only legitimate ecosystem is the
planet itself, and the environmental variations are extreme. Everything else is
a temporary environment that’s subject to change to the detriment of some
species and the benefit of others.
When products are released for use to the public - that is the
final testing ground for every new product there is. Whether it’s paint, cars,
pharmaceuticals, pesticides, shampoo or baby formula! Since GMO's have been
used extensively for decades we can definitively state - GMO’s have been seriously
tested worldwide and none of his speculations have any foundation in reality.
So what is foundational logic for the views expressed by
eco-activists? As is always the case they make unwarranted claims via
speculative questions, spew out logical fallacies, lies of omission, lies of
commission and freely make use of weasel words such as – “this may occur”, or “is it possible”,
or “could dominate” which is purely speculatory, but raises concerns in
people’s minds. All of which is an appeal to the Precautionary Principle, an
irrational concept that demands we “must” prove something is safe before it can
be used. If the world had adopted the Precautionary Principle in 1850 we
wouldn’t have electricity – because we know electricity isn’t safe.
Since there is no foundational evidence for their claims for harm,
which is presented in the form of questions. This is an attempt to put the ball
in someone else’s court for answers they know can't be supplied because – as I
have said before, and it gets a bit tiring saying it – they’re demanding
someone prove a negative. Can’t be done.
Are there
unintended or even undesirable consequences with technology old and new? Of course!
We live in a risk versus benefit world. Every new advancement will have
negative potentials - which eco-activists harp on constantly - but they never
evaluate the consequences of not adopting new technology.
Perhaps they're needing help to achieve clarity? Well then, here it is!
All these amazing modern technological agricultural advancements of the twentieth and twenty first centuries have benefitted humanity far beyond anything medieval mankind ever dreamed of, including average life spans of 70 and even 80 years in some areas of the world. Admittedly, medical science has made amazing progress during that same time frame, but there's two things the most amazing medical wonders ever devised can't cure - malnutrition and starvation! That falls under the purview of pesticides and GMO's and those who utilize that technology
Perhaps they're needing help to achieve clarity? Well then, here it is!
All these amazing modern technological agricultural advancements of the twentieth and twenty first centuries have benefitted humanity far beyond anything medieval mankind ever dreamed of, including average life spans of 70 and even 80 years in some areas of the world. Admittedly, medical science has made amazing progress during that same time frame, but there's two things the most amazing medical wonders ever devised can't cure - malnutrition and starvation! That falls under the purview of pesticides and GMO's and those who utilize that technology
Part VII
His seventh claim is that, “GMOs collapse biodiversity”, saying;
His seventh claim is that, “GMOs collapse biodiversity”, saying;
"In an effort to monopolize the global seed supply, GMO companies are buying up smaller seed companies and shutting them down, collapsing their seed supplies. The following chart shows some of the seed consolidation activity that's concentrating ownership over seeds into the hands of a very small number of powerful, unethical corporations:"
(Editor’s Note: He provides a chart in the article at criticism #7. However, there’s no citation
or link as to its origin. I can’t confirm anything the chart shows, except
there seem to be an awful lot of seed companies - and based on everything else
he’s said in this article – I have to wonder if he doesn’t want anyone to know
its origin.)
"This consolidation of seed companies has caused an alarming collapse in seed diversity over the last decade, placing humanity at increased risk for catastrophic crop failures due to a loss of genetic diversity.
That's the problem with genetic conformity: it makes the crops far more susceptible to systemic diseases that can cause catastrophic crop failures. Precisely this scenario is happening right now with banana crops, as most commercial banana trees are genetically identical clones.
As a result, a fungus has attacked banana crops and is causing devastating destruction across the banana industry. The industry is responding by -- guess what? -- foolishly turning to genetically engineered bananas which will suffer from the exact same weakness of genetic conformity, practically guaranteeing a future disease epidemic.”
Before I go on, let me state from the outset that the worst lies
start with the truth. But once the truthful statements have been twisted with
lies of omission and logical fallacies it’s perverted to generate erroneous
conclusions. It’s a lot like snake oil salesmen and a fast hustle. It’s true
that genetic diversity is important to continued health in seeds, but
everything he says after that is seriously flawed.
Let’s start with this business of loss of genetic diversity he
claims is being caused by “unethical” companies deliberately causing a
“collapse” (what does that mean?) in the seed market. That’s a load of
horsepucky! When I first read his claims I have to admit it took me by surprise
because not once could I remember seeing any commentaries about this, and there
was nothing in my files. So I sent out a request for information to my net
hoping someone out there could provide some information on this. People started
responding back about what he portrays as a deliberate and nefarious effort to
destroy biodiversity.
We have to understand that, just as in any industry, there are
natural ebbs and flows. There is a constant ebb and flow regarding seed stock
involving GMO’s, non-GMO’s, hybrids, self pollinators, and cross pollinating
plants. Just as there is in any business. Recently there’s a resurgence in
non-GMO breeding efforts because it appears we’re in a growers market. This
makes sense as the ASTA -American
Seed Trade Association states on its web site – “everything starts with
the seed”.
One of my correspondents, who works for a large international
trade association involved in Agriculture, stated the entire seed industry is
very “robust….big and small companies alike”. All these so-called
consolidations have actually strengthened the mid-sized and small companies
because they’re more agile than the larger companies and can move more quickly
into profitable situations.
As for these companies deliberately trying to “collapse” the seed
market – I keep asking - what does that mean? Does he imply these companies are
buying up smaller seed companies and destroying their seed stock? It seems to
me that’s what he’s trying to convey – but he won’t dare say it because he
knows it’s a lie. No company would deliberately destroy seed stock because
these large science based companies know better than anyone how science is
constantly moving forward and tomorrow they may suddenly discover a new tool to
unlock some “genetic assets in a seed line”. “Self interest alone
would compel companies to preserve genetic resources.”
Is he trying to say these large companies are buying up all the
small companies and hiding seed stock? Well, that’s loony. They’re buying seed
stock to utilize it in some fashion, and they’re not ever going to eliminate
the small and mid-size companies, and I doubt if they want to. It wouldn’t be
worth the cost and it wouldn't prevent new companies from forming. GMO
companies are not causing a loss in genetic diversity, they’re preserving
genetic diversity and enhancing the genetic diversity that already exists.
About twenty five years ago Waste Management Incorporated decided
the pest control industry was a good fit for their corporation because they
felt they had corporate expertise in the legislative and regulatory arena that
was compatible with the pest control and lawn care industries. So they went
around the country and bought up a large number of quality regional pest
control companies. Overnight they became the number three company in the
nation.
A lot of prominent people in the pest control industry started
covering themselves in sackcloth and ashes, wringing their hands, believing
this was the end of the small pest control companies – the conglomerates were
taking over – “it’s the end of the pest control industry as we know it!” A few
old hands just chuckled, shook their heads and said – that will never happen –
and they were right, and the conglomerate “consolidation” scare ended.
Are bigger companies still buying smaller companies? Of course!
That’s the nature of business! Are small companies still coming into existence?
Of course! That’s the nature of business! Everything else is horsepucky!
There’s one more thing about his claim that large companies are
deliberately “collapsing” (what does that mean?) the seed market
that bothered me from the start. He provides not one piece of evidence other
than a chart without a source link - not one link to a commentary explaining
the information on the chart - not one commentary from anyone in the seed
market, including any small companies warning us of these alleged abuses - not
one quote from an honest broker of information and not one news story! Why?
He then asks us to take a leap of faith and believe that GMO’s are
destroying the banana crops in the world. He now issues another really big lie
of omission, claiming;
“This consolidation of seed companies has caused an alarming
collapse in seed diversity. As a result, a fungus has attacked banana crops and is causing
devastating destruction across the banana industry. The industry is responding
by -- guess what? -- foolishly turning to genetically engineered bananas which will suffer from
the exact same weakness of genetic conformity, practically guaranteeing a
future disease epidemic.”
There’s a real problem with this Jeremiad he fails to
include in his statement. The lack of bio-diversity is common in bananas
because bananas are self pollinating. Bananas are not suffering from a lack of
diversity due to GMO’s. There are wild species that are pollinated by bats, but
those used in food production aren’t. I don’t know about anyone else, but
somehow I think that’s an important piece of information. Don’t you?
Currently the banana we’re most familiar with the a variety called
the Cavendish, and it is under attack from something called the Black Sigatoka
fungus, which is becoming resistant to fungicides. Did any kind of genetic
engineering have anything to do with this. NO!
The variety that preceded the Cavendish was called the Gros
Michal, also a self fertilizing banana. It became commercially “unviable” in
the 1950’s due to the Panama Disease, which is caused by a fungus to which the
Cavendish is immune. However, the Gros Michel isn’t extinct and can be used
where the Panama disease isn’t found. But let’s understand this. The Gros
Michel variety became commercially interesting in the 1820’s and it took about
130 years before this naturally occurring problem struck. All that happened
long before GMO's.
Within the next 10 to 20 years is seems likely the Cavendish,
which like almost all bananas lacks genetic diversity, will suffer attacks that
can’t be thwarted with fungicides. This will have a serious impact on large
commercial and small farm agriculture. However there are a very large number of
varieties of bananas out there we’re not familiar with which could produce one
or more replacements, although they would be substantially different that what
we’re used to. But no matter what direction agriculture goes in this matter we
must come to realize that this problem is a naturally occurring one that can’t
be blamed on GMO’s. In fact it seems rational that GMO’s will be the answer!
Scientists
have made announcements about the complete sequencing of the banana genome, and
by utilizing genes from wild species that reproduce via seeds they could
potentially develop a non-seed variety that would be immune to fungi and even
pathogens. Resistant genes from onions and dahlias were introduced into
plantains –a member of the banana family used in cooking - which are
demonstrating resistance to a greenhouse fungus. Will they make it in the real
world? The only rational answer is yes - eventually! Will this lead to high
tasty high yield bananas at some point. The only rational answer must be a
resounding YES, eventually! But only if we abandon all this scare mongering
about GMO’s. GMO’s will save commercial banana production and will end the need
to make so many applications of fungicides, which is a very real financial
burden for small farmers. That's why American Farmers Just Love Their GMOs and You Should Too.
Part VIII
He next claims that,“GMOs put control over the food supply into
the hands of profit-driven corporations.”
"Before corporate agriculture, food production used to be under the control of local farmers who cared for their families and communities. But now, food seeds are monopolized by greed-driven corporations that care nothing about families or communities (but worship profit at all costs).
It almost goes without saying that these corporations make decisions in the best interests of their shareholders, not the best interests of humanity or the environment.
Expecting corporations to place the long-term sustainability of life on Earth as a higher priority than their own quarterly profits is a form of insanity. Corporations only exist to maximize short-term profits, regardless of the long-term cost to humanity or the planet."
When food production was
under the control of local farmers was at a time when a very large portion of
the population was involved in agriculture. Before WWII America was still a
largely agrarian society with approximately 75% of the population involved in
agriculture. (*Editor's Note: That 75% figure is inaccurate - faulty memory
- in 1940 18% were actual farmers, but that doesn't include all those that were
a part of agriculture, so I will try and find where I got that number and
correct it.) Currently it stands around 2%, and that amazingly small number
is feeding not only the other 98%, but a substantial number of people in the
rest of the world. And doing so at prices that are very low! Except lately!
Now government policies are
demanding we put food into our gas tanks in the form of biofuels to overcome a
problem that doesn’t exist –anthropogenic climate change – causing the price of
grains to rise, which has caused a corresponding rise in the price of food –
worldwide! And those self same government policies are set up to force more of
the same, with the ardent support of the eco-activist community.
So then – who are making
decisions that are not in the best interests of humanity? These “greed-driven
corporations” who have abundantly provided an amazing variety of foods at very
reasonable prices, or the eco-activists and their cats paws in government who
are placing restrictions on farmers for what’s grown, how it’s grown, when it’s
grown and how it’s to be used.
Is it true that large scale
agriculture places a priority on quarterly profits? Of course! Agriculture is
now and has always been a business venture. If there’re no profits– there’s no
food. As for the long term cost to humanity – well so far it means more people
will live, and those lives will be longer and healthier lives than ever before.
In agriculture making
decisions that are best for the stockholders has consistently been what’s best
for humanity because they’re in the business of providing what humanity needs.
I would also like to see
the evidence where these corporations worship profits at all costs because they
don’t care about the communities in which they live. I don’t think he can
support that claim. However, I can. When you see corporations start “going
green”!
Corporations have been
‘going green’ mostly because it’s subsidized by the taxpayers. In Spain every
green job (which is virtually impossible to define) ended up costing two plus
jobs. Green energy is raising the price of energy worldwide and cannot be
maintained without government subsidies, tax breaks and outright grants. All
this is costing humanity billions of dollars of borrowed money going to the few
well connected and the activists. All this causes taxes to go up, and taxes
cause all prices to go up. Why isn't he and his cohorts attacking the real
reason for these added costs to everything, which in turn must impact the cost
of food.
So what’s his solution?
Apparently he wants everyone to go back to farming and live a 19thcentury
life style. Does anyone really believe that’s possible? I’ve said it before and
it’s worth repeating now. Twenty five years ago Norman Borlaug noted that if we
were to abandon modern agricultural techniques we would need a land mass as
large as everything east of the Mississippi with the exception of three states.
That was twenty five years ago. It would be ever greater today. And almost
everyone would have to become subsistence farmers.
Is there anyone out there
who can remember what happened when Pot Pol overthrew the government of
Cambodia and forced everyone out into the fields? Pot Pol was a Cambodian
communist who lead a revolution against the Khmer Republic. As is the case with
all communists he replaced an ineffective and corrupt government with a
totalitarian dictatorship imposing "a radical reform of agrarian
socialism" on the Cambodian people.
Urban dwellers were forced into the countryside to work on collective farms and
forced labor projects. He lasted four years. In four years he managed to kill
twenty five percent of the Cambodian population.
As to the Health Rangers'
statement that, “GMOs put control over the food supply into the hands of
profit-driven corporations”, I say – good! Because
government control over the food supply has never been anything except
disastrous to humanity, especially when in the hands of socialists (Editor's Note:
Communism is the left wing of the socialist movement and fascism is the right
wing. Two sides of the same coin.) like Stalin
and Mao, both of whom starved tens of millions to death for political reasons.
As for small farmers, they would be unable to feed the world, especially if
they were all to adopt agricultural policies in accord with what the Health
Ranger wants - everyone to “go green” and embrace “organic” – a sure system to
bring about the eco-activists goal of reducing the world’s population to one
billion people, with no more
than two billion.
So the choices are twofold.
Turn everything over to the activists and their myrmidons in government who
have been, and always will be, unanswerable for their decisions, or those with
a profit motive, who must respond to the market place to continue in business.
We need to understand this once and for all. History has shown the
policies and schemes of the eco-activists and eco-bureaucrats - at every level,
not just agriculture - have been irrational, misanthropic and morally
defective. Putting what’s best for humanity in their hands is a proven formula
for dystopia. Why is that so hard to understand? Why is that so hard to get?
Part IX
The
Health Ranger’s ninth complaint is that; “GMOs may be harming pollinators”.
He goes on to say:
“Although
the evidence on this isn't yet conclusive, GMOs may be contributing to the
harming of all-important pollinators, without which we would all starve from
lack of food crops.
Honeybee pollinators are dying in record numbers across North America, and many scientists fear we may be witnessing a catastrophic collapse of pollinator populations. Evidence is already emerging that neonicotinoids -- a class of pesticide chemicals -- may be responsible for the collapse, but there's also evidence that GMOs may be worsening the population decline.
Were GMOs ever tested for their long-term impact on pollinators in the wild? Of course not. That would cost too much money, and the promotion of GMOs is all about making money; the environment be damned.”
"If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would have only four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man." - Albert Einstein
Honeybee pollinators are dying in record numbers across North America, and many scientists fear we may be witnessing a catastrophic collapse of pollinator populations. Evidence is already emerging that neonicotinoids -- a class of pesticide chemicals -- may be responsible for the collapse, but there's also evidence that GMOs may be worsening the population decline.
Were GMOs ever tested for their long-term impact on pollinators in the wild? Of course not. That would cost too much money, and the promotion of GMOs is all about making money; the environment be damned.”
"If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would have only four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man." - Albert Einstein
Well, let’s take that last part first. Although this Einstein
quote is spouted over and over again, it’s not clear that Albert Einstein ever
said any such thing. And if he did it proves beyond any shadow of a doubt he
may have been a great physicist, but he stunk as an entomologist.
Secondly – and there he goes again – claiming GMO’s “may” be
harming pollinators. Another weasel word claim based in the Precautionary
Principle. Criticism in the form of a question without one iota of evidence. As
for his question; “Were GMOs ever tested
for their long-term impact on pollinators in the wild? Of course not. That
would cost too much money, and the promotion of GMOs is all about making money;
the environment be damned.”
Testing the long term impact in the wild (what does that mean?)
isn’t too expensive – it’s impossible. How do you define “in the wild”? What
tests should be conducted? What should be tested? Where should it be tested?
However, the decades of continued use of GMO’s has demonstrated no harm in the
wild, whatever “in the wild” means. Once again – the real world is the final
testing ground for every new product. The question he needs to answer is this.
What “in the wild” harm can anyone point to? None of that can be properly
defined, which is a common tactic among the eco-activists, that way they can
keep asking the same questions without being specific. Specifics are what pin
them down and they avoid that like the plague because when they do they enter
the world of facts and science, where they consistently lose, because they’re
fighting a battle of emotion, and always have.
We need to get this. They win the battle of emotions. We win the
battle of facts. To win the war we need to start winning both the battle of
emotions and facts.
As for GMO’s having a detrimental impact on pollinators, the
article Let's deal with the idea there really is a any problem with pollinators
in the first place. Let’s start with European honey bees and whether their
numbers are declining – and what are the real facts about what would happen if
every bee on the planet died tomorrow.
“First,
it is not true that there has been a mysterious worldwide collapse in honey bee
populations. In fact managed hives (which contain the bees which do the vast
majority of our pollinating) have increased by a remarkable 45 per cent over
the last five years. Lawrence D. Harder from the department of biology at the
University of Calgary and Marcelo Aizen from Buenos Aires set about pinning
down a couple of myths…….The bee disaster scenario is dependent upon data which
is far too regional to take seriously and ‘not representative of global
trends’. The truth is that there are more bees in the world than ever. They go
on to say; ‘It is a myth that humanity would starve without bees.’ While some
70 per cent of our most productive crops are animal-pollinated (by bees,
hoverflies and the like), very few indeed rely on animal pollination
completely. Furthermore, most staple foods — wheat, rice and corn — do not
depend on animal pollination at all. They are wind-pollinated, or
self-pollinating. If all the bees in the world dropped dead tomorrow afternoon,
it would reduce our food production by only between 4 and 6 per
cent.....‘Overall we must conclude that claims of a global crisis in agricultural
production are untrue.’
President Obama signed an executive order this past June to all
Cabinet secretaries and agency heads requiring “the federal government to develop a plan for protecting pollinators
such as honey bees, butterflies, birds and bats in response to mounting
concerns about the impact of dwindling populations on American crops.” The
President claimed,“the problem is serious and
requires immediate attention to ensure the sustainability of our food
production systems, avoid additional economic impact on the agricultural
sector, and protect the health of the environment".
Blatant nonsense! On Saturday, June 21, 2014 I posted the article, Presidential PollinatorProtection: More Activity as Substitute for
Accomplishment, dealing with each pollinator the President
addressed. I went on to say: Let's now deal with the slaughter of bats - which are all
protected - and birds - many of which are protected or endangered. It's the
green movement that must take responsibility for their slaughter through their
promotion of wind energy. Bats are killed extensively by the “low-pressure air pockets created around the
swirling blades of the turbines cause bats' lungs to implode, instantly killing
them”.
This is a direct result of following the same idiotic green energy
production ideas that failed under Jimmy Carter, and another lack of consistent
thinking that should concern everyone. These Cuisinarts are causing massive
slaughters worldwide of protected birds and bats; massively larger than
environmentalists claimed was being caused by DDT (which was a lie and doesn’t
kill bats at all) and the government has given them a pass!
As I pointed out in my article, "Green Power and Precautionary Double Standards”;We
absolutely know these monsters are killing at least 573,000 birds every year, including
some 83,000 eagles, hawks and other raptors - in clear violation of US laws.
Other estimates put the toll at closer to 13,000,000 birds and bats annually. Why are the
"precautionary" activists stone-cold silent about that? Why?
Because “unintentional kills are to be expected”! If you killed a bald eagle in
an “unintentional” accident would you get the same kind of pass? No! Because
this double standard is deliberate.
(Editor's Note: Since this article was published some
have finally stepped up, but they also fail in consistent thinking because
they're willing to accept kills in smaller numbers.)
What about butterfly protection? That is nothing more than a
direct attack on genetically modified crops. In reality there’s no real
evidence GMO’s impact butterflies negatively, except for a Cornell study in
1999, and even the author, Professor John Losey, noted the study was a "laboratory
study” and not to be taken too seriously against real world activity. The
butterflies in the study were forced to feed on corn pollen, which proved
something entomologists already knew – Bt enhanced corn pollen can kill
Monarchs. Apparently he doesn’t believe this study lays ground work for any
real concern saying; "our study was
conducted in the laboratory and, while it raises an important issue, it would
be inappropriate to draw any conclusions about the risk to Monarch populations
in the field based solely on these initial results."
In the real world Monarch butterflies don’t like, and generally
don’t eat corn pollen, or anything corn pollen rests on if given other options.
As for Bt enhanced corn pollen landing on other plants such as milkweed - it
had better be right next to the corn field since corn pollen is heavy and
doesn’t travel far, and there is very little milkweed around corn fields. Also
the study did not display how much Monarchs would have to eat to be harmed or
how much exposure there would have to be to Bt in the real world.
Steve Milloy notes other scientist who’ve weighed in on this
subject saying:
Warren Douglas Stevens, senior curator of the Missouri Botanical
Garden, suspects that in a natural setting butterflies, which apparently don't
like corn pollen, would avoid eating it if they encountered it on their food
source.
Tom Turpin, professor of entomology at Purdue University, believes
there is little threat to Monarch butterflies encountering Bt pollen on
milkweed because there is very little milkweed in and around cornfields.
Preliminary studies have shown that corn pollen, which is fairly heavy, does
not travel very far.
John Foster, professor of entomology at the University of
Nebraska, believes automobiles pose a greater risk to Monarchs than Bt corn.
However this Cornel study provoked a very real effort to discover
what impact Bt enhanced corn pollen would have on Monarchs and answer the
questions regarding dose and exposure by a “large informal group of scientists
who came together in workshops held by ARS to discuss the questions" of
dose and exposure. Their work demonstrated that:
“monarch
caterpillars have to be exposed to pollen levels greater than 1,000 grains/cm
to show toxic effects.
Caterpillars
were found to be present on milkweed during the one to two weeks that pollen is
shed by corn, but corn pollen levels on milkweed leaves were found to average
only about 170 pollen grains/cm in corn fields.
Reports
from several field studies show concentrations much lower than that even within
the cornfield. In Maryland, the highest level of pollen deposition was inside
and at the edge of the corn field, where pollen was found at about 50
grains/cm2. In the Nebraska study, pollen deposition ranged from 6 grains/cm2
at the field edge to less than 1 grain/cm2 beyond 10 meters. Samples collected
from fields in Ontario immediately following the period of peak pollen shed
showed pollen concentrations averaged 78 grains at the field edge.
In the
Nebraska study, pollen deposition ranged from 6 grains at the field edge to
less than 1 grain/cm beyond 10 meters. Samples collected from fields in Ontario
immediately following the period of peak pollen shed showed pollen
concentrations averaged 78 grains at the field edge.”
The
conclusion arrived at by this group of scientists? "There is no
significant risk to monarch butterflies from environmental exposure to Bt
corn."
The claim that we don’t know if GMO’s have an impact on pollinators is a red herring that has no basis in reality, and we need to understand that!
The claim that we don’t know if GMO’s have an impact on pollinators is a red herring that has no basis in reality, and we need to understand that!
Part X
I’ve been
writing this article in my head since I first read his piece, but didn’t start
the actual writing until a few days ago. It has also been the most difficult of
the ten articles to organize because it’s nothing more than a very long attack
on the personal qualities and character of those who work with the latest
agricultural technology needed to save untold millions from the suffering of
malnutrition and starvation. And his tenth “reason” to be against GMO’s is the
same repetitious horsepucky he’s spouted throughout the article. Therefore, my
response had to be organized differently than the rest. In this post I will
address each component of his argument as it’s presented.
Unfortunately,
it takes paragraphs of facts to overcome cleverly worded sound bites, as a
result this article has taken me longer to construct, and is in itself much
longer than I would like, since I'm sure a substantial number of my readers
will move on before they finish.
One more
thing! I generally hate this kind of refutation for two reasons. I spend more
time organizing their thoughts into some sort of logical progression than I do
responding to them, and they repeat their positions over and over again while
saying nothing, forcing me to waste time giving the same answers over and over
again. But if you fail to challenge every aspect of their positions you’re
accused of being afraid to face their “facts”.
The
Health Ranger's tenth reason to be against GMO’s is: “The kind of scientists who collaborate with biotech companies are the
most dishonest, corrupt and unethical scientists in our world”. He goes on
to say:
The world
of science consists primarily of ethical, reasonable people who are doing their
best to contribute to knowledge and progress for our world. But the darkest
"fringe" fanatics of bad science are found in the realm of GMOs,
where scientists routinely accept money from the biotech industry to lie to the
public and attack "GMO skeptics" -- people who are skeptical about
the false promises made by biotech corporations.
First of all, scientists working on any project deserve to be
paid, including those working on biotech projects, and secondly -generally
speaking - ethics are usually a matter of whose ox is being gored. Third, it’s
been my experience those scientists I consider “fringe fanatics of bad science”
have been those who’ve sold their integrity for government grant money. As my friend Jay Lehr, one of the founders ofthe EPA, once noted:
“Yes,
science is following the government money, and it’s a problem in all
industries. We’ve totally distorted science, not all of it, but certainly at
the university level. They know they have to say what the government wants to
hear in the grant proposal process in order to get their money. U.S. EPA rules
the roost, and if they’re not out to prove or say bad things about chemicals of
all kinds, they won’t likely get the money. This is all driven by the
environmental advocacy groups that control U.S. EPA today. It’s a horrible
thing, and what it has done to science mostly at the academic level is bad. But
U.S. EPA’s goal is to remove every useful chemical from the environment. They
are driven by environmental advocacy groups, who are basically Socialists
wanting to destroy capitalism and progress and make us a weaker nation. It’s
hard to understand their motivation but they are an unhappy bunch.
When confronted by these kinds of comments I have found the first
thing done by the left is to snort and smirk, with a morally superior air, in
an attempt to denigrate such comments as conspiracy theory nonsense. Unfortunately
for all of us - it isn’t!
Recently the United States Senate Committee on Environment and
Public Works released a “Minority Staff Report” entitled, “TheChain of Environmental Command: How a Club of Billionaires and
TheirFoundations Control the Environmental Movement and Obama’s EPA”,
which states among other things;
“In
reality, an elite group of left wing millionaires and billionaires, which this
report refers to as the “Billionaire’s Club,” who directs and controls the
far-left environmental movement, which in turn controls major policy decisions
and lobbies on behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
This 92
page document needs to be read by everyone who stands in defense of worthwhile
environmental policies and honest science.
He claims those scientists working for biotech companies are ‘lying’ to the public but fails to list one demonstrable lie, nor can he cite any false promises, especially since GMO’s are working wonders feeding the world and helping to produce pharmaceuticals that would never have come into being otherwise.
He goes on to say:
He claims those scientists working for biotech companies are ‘lying’ to the public but fails to list one demonstrable lie, nor can he cite any false promises, especially since GMO’s are working wonders feeding the world and helping to produce pharmaceuticals that would never have come into being otherwise.
He goes on to say:
Biotech-linked
scientists and journalists are the most nefarious and evil-minded of their
kind, waging vicious smear campaigns against environmentalists while working
desperately to block the public's right to know what they're eating.
"Biotech shills" have been a key part of the defeat of GMO labeling
laws in California and Oregon, for example, where their message has been,
"Make sure the public NEVER knows they're eating GMOs!"
Once again he resorts to personal attacks without presenting one
fact that supports his assertions and then uses a common tactic of the left by
transferring the guilt and actions of themselves onto those they disagree with,
but saying;
“Biotech-linked scientists and journalists are the most nefarious and
evil-minded of their kind, waging vicious smear campaigns against
environmentalists while working desperately to block the public's right to know
what they're eating”.
A “vicious smear campaign” against environmentalists? I would like
to see what he construes as a “vicious smear”. It seems likely he refers to
anything that exposes the fallacies of his position with facts that can be
scientifically substantiated.
As for this business about labeling; that’s nothing more than an
attempt to place these products on a list to be targeted by eco-activists. Once
that happens there will be no end in sight to their lies, and scare mongering.
Is it any wonder the industry is afraid of the backlash from consumers and take
a strong stand against such labeling? These eco-activists know this and are
counting on frightening consumers. As one person stated, “that's ultimately the food industry's problem." No, it
isn’t. It’s humanities problem! Such tactics will only cost the food industry
money. The cost to humanity will be in misery, suffering, malnutrition,
starvation and early death.
The Health Ranger rails against the biotech industry calling them
criminals who should be tried for crimes against humanity for promoting these
products. So where exactly are these alleged crimes against humanity happening?
To whom have these alleged crimes against humanity occurred? In spite of all
this hyperbole they are incapable of demonstrating where one person has died
from these GMO’s, and the Indian suicide claims are a myth, which I addressed
in an earlier post.
It would appear his crimes against humanity are imaginary! Yet, in
just one arena, the stand by these eco-activists against the introduction of
Golden Rice since 1999 has cost the lives of millions, and millions more who
have been blinded and suffered from “a
vulnerability to childhood infections, anemia and poor growth” as a direct
result of their stand. I don’t know about anyone else, but that seems to me to
be evidence of “real” harm, and “real” crimes against humanity because “real”
people are suffering and dying. And who will answer for those “real” crimes
against humanity?
He continues with his illusionary smears against those in science
and journalism who won’t tout the green line by saying;
In every way imaginable, the scientists and journalist who blindly push GMOs are a great disservice to the scientific community and will only discredit science in the long run as the long-term harm caused by GMOs becomes undeniable.
REAL science allows for skeptical questions and embraces the precautionary principle, but quack "GMO science" abandons precaution while disparaging anyone who poses reasonable questions about playing God with nature.
Again – what is the “undeniable” long term harm? If it’s
undeniable there must be evidence to support such a statement, and speculation
isn’t evidence. Real science does allow for “skeptical questions”, but “real”
eco-activists don’t! His ilk has demonstrated over and over again that
eco-activists love name calling and personal attacks, because when you’re
bereft of facts that's the only fallback position available.
However he exposes what is the real foundational for their
position. The Precautionary Principle (PP), which I have addressed in a
previous post. Make no mistake about it – there is no end to the irrational
demands which will be imposed on anything they oppose based on the PP. And
there will never be enough testing, or enough money spent on testing or enough
evidence in support of a product’s use that will provide a satisfactory answer
for the green left.
GMO
shills, of course, dismiss all these concerns (or hope you don't notice them).
Their foolish strategy is to cover their eyes, cover their ears and march
humanity down this path of destruction, all while hoping to cash in on
quarterly profit dividends in the mean time.
He then resorts to anti-capitalist demagoguery saying “hoping to cash in on quarterly profit
dividends in the mean time”. When did it become criminal to make money for
doing good work? Once again, I have to waste time pointing out that if there
are no profits there are no products, and that’s what he wants. As a side bar -
I don't see him giving away all those "health" supplements he sells
on his site.
What should really concern society is not that companies are
making profits by producing viable worthwhile products, but how the green
movement cashes in by scare mongering against these products, as they did with
the Alar scare.
He goes on to say;
There is
no rational justification for putting the entire world at risk with genetically
engineered crops that have clearly failed to be subjected to responsible
long-term scientific testing.
Somehow I don’t think feeding a growing world population is an
irrational justification for promoting GMO’s. Although the eco-left activists
do! They’ve publically stated over and over again the world’s population needs
to be trimmed to no more than two billion people. And those are the “moderates”
among them! The “radicals” want to see humanity wiped out! As for putting the
“world at risk” - other than his unfounded speculations - just how is the “entire
world at risk”? We’ve been using GMO’s for decades and they’ve yet to
demonstrate any harm – either in the short or long term. And that’s the fly in
the ointment isn’t it? Long term consequences! What exactly does that mean?
Those of us who’ve had to deal with these people understand “long
term” means “forever”! And until we can prove nothing does any harm “forever” –
which is scientifically impossible – according to them it can’t be used. That’s
the real world application of the PP by eco-activists.
But now he steps into it with both feet by claiming;
As with
most other chemicals -- aspartame, Agent Orange, Bisphenol-A and so on --
industry simply unleashes them onto the world and hopes nothing goes wrong.
He’s back to logical fallacies and lies of omission. None of these
products were merely dumped on the public. All chemicals, and GMO’s, have been
tested extensively. As a basis for his reasoning he throws out products that
have been attacked over and over again, such as Aspartame, Agent Orange and
Bisphenol-A, which have all been tested and retested and retested ad nauseam.
What have been the results? Let’s explore this!
In order to show how irresponsible Adams is let’s take a look at
his examples of products “unleashed unto
the world”.
Aspartame - The American Council
on Science and Health states:
"The
constituents of the sweetener are phenylalanine and aspartic acid, two amino
acids found in many different proteins, and methanol, an alcohol found in many
fruits and vegetables, as well as in wine, whiskey and beer. At the levels
supplied by Aspartame, only the phenylalanine is potentially dangerous, and
then only to the relatively small proportion of people who are born with a condition
known as phenylketonuria — an inability to metabolize this particular amino
acid. In light of this, the FDA has mandated a label on Aspartame-containing
products warning those people of its phenylalanine content."
"Aspartame
has been tested and re-tested again and again to see if it is really a threat
to human health — indeed it is probably the most widely tested food additive in
the United States, if not the world. And the results of all this testing are
that the product is safe at typically consumed levels — up to 40 milligrams of
Aspartame per kilogram of body weight."
They’re quoting from the article The Truth About Aspartame and Your Health that goes far deeper
into the chemistry of Aspartame and the real world of facts versus the world of
imagination and speculation of the eco-activists.
Agent Orange – Dioxin is the common name for Agent Orange and has
been called the most toxic manmade substance on Earth by eco-activists. Yet “two independent laboratories using
different methodologies reported a single serving of the ice cream contained
about 200 times the level of dioxin the EPA says is safe — according to the
existing EPA standard. Under the new EPA standard, a serving of Ben & Jerry’s would exceed the EPA’s safe level by a whopping 2,000 times. The level
would be about 7,400 times what the EPA says is safe for a 40-pound child.”
What’s even more interesting is a genetically engineered mouse cell line is “used for the detection and relative quantitation” for substances like dioxin.
Apparently those who attempted to assassinate Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko believed all the hype. He
had 1000 times more dioxin in his blood than normal, and yet he lived. He was
sick, in pain and suffered severe acne, but “the most toxic manmade substance on
Earth”, failed to kill him.
So how dangerous are dioxins? “No
credible study to date has shown an increased risk of cancer, developmental
disorders, or other illnesses attributable to exposure to
"background" levels of dioxins or other organochlorines. Until very
recently, even scientific studies of people exposed during industrial accidents
to extremely high levels of dioxins failed to find any long-term adverse health
symptoms.”
“Some scientists and policy
advocates assumed humans are just as sensitive to dioxins as are guinea pigs
and rats. Only later did it become widely known that humans (and several other
species) are thousands of times less sensitive than these laboratory animals.”
Bisphenol-A - On July 7th of this
year Angela Logomasini, Ph.D. published an
article entitled, “Greens'
Attempt To Ban Bisphenol A Will Endanger Public Health”, stating;
“Yet the overwhelming body of science on
BPA shows the exact opposite: BPA bans are not only unwarranted, but they are
the real danger to public health.” She goes on to say;
“EWG and
other anti-BPA activists ignore the fact the comprehensive reviews of BPA
science find BPA risks to be negligible and the benefits substantial. In
addition to U.S. Food and Drug Administration, governmental bodies in the European Union, Japan, and Canada, as well as
the World Health Organization have all studied BPA and concluded the risks are negligible. The
best-designed studies show that
the human body metabolizes BPA quickly, passing it out without any impacts.
It doesn’t matter what history and reality show, eco-activists
will accept no conclusions that are contrary to the tenets of their secular
neo-pagan religion – environmentalism.
Adams ends by saying; ”there is presently zero
willingness on the part of biotech corporations to expend the kind of time,
money and resources required to establish such safety. There is also zero
willingness in the minds of GMO-fronting scientists to even consider the
possibility that they might be wrong.”
It seems
to me that can only be construed as a deliberate lie since he must be aware they’ve
spent millions testing these products. The
rest is all emotional horsepucky with a warning of playing Russian Roulette in
hopes that Monsanto has thought of everything, and then intones that history
proves otherwise. Well, truth is the sublime convergence of history and
reality, and here's the truth. All advancements carry risks, but as history has
shown, those advancements have far outweighed the risks, otherwise we would be
living in mud huts, half starved, sick and short lived. Everything eco-activists
yearn for. Just like so many in the third world who suffer from the actions of
these misanthropic and morally defective people.
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