Moving the GM Hubris Goalposts

The local state university has a large ag school component to it and is deep into that newfangled genetically modified stuff which is the latest re-incarnation of the Green Revolution spin cycle.  This week there's going to be a seminar on the safety of GMOs for man and beast that I'm looking forward to attending.

Further south, my friend the rice farmer is, along with her husband, having loads of legal fun because of the fiasco that the biotech industry has made of rice production down there.  One related article had a fine quote in it that seemed to sum up my feelings on it.  Feelings tempered by an undergrad degree in microbiology (back when monoclonal antibodies were a very cool new thing) and my masters minor work in molecular biology.

Rice Industry Troubled by Genetic Contamination - Washington Post - 11 Mar 07

"'For years the industry said, 'This will never get out,' ' said Joseph Mendelson III, legal director of the Center for Food Safety, a Washington advocacy group that has won several legal challenges against the Agriculture Department's handling of biotech crops. 'Now it's, 'It will get out, but what does it matter?'

We can have a scientific debate about that, but in the meantime it certainly matters a lot economically, because so much of the world doesn't want this stuff.'"

Moving the GM Hubris Goalposts

The local state university has a large ag school component to it and is deep into that newfangled genetically modified stuff which is the latest re-incarnation of the Green Revolution spin cycle.  This week there's going to be a seminar on the safety of GMOs for man and beast that I'm looking forward to attending.

Further south, my friend the rice farmer is, along with her husband, having loads of legal fun because of the fiasco that the biotech industry has made of rice production down there.  One related article had a fine quote in it that seemed to sum up my feelings on it.  Feelings tempered by an undergrad degree in microbiology (back when monoclonal antibodies were a very cool new thing) and my masters minor work in molecular biology.

Rice Industry Troubled by Genetic Contamination - Washington Post - 11 Mar 07

"'For years the industry said, 'This will never get out,' ' said Joseph Mendelson III, legal director of the Center for Food Safety, a Washington advocacy group that has won several legal challenges against the Agriculture Department's handling of biotech crops. 'Now it's, 'It will get out, but what does it matter?'

We can have a scientific debate about that, but in the meantime it certainly matters a lot economically, because so much of the world doesn't want this stuff.'"