Rosalind
Deeply Rooted
So, since the last time I took an American History and Civics courses was back when mullets were still fashionable hairstyles, I have no business writing my CongressCritter?seedcorn said:
If a non-state actor does something immoral (nevermind legality, this is ethics here) which personally affects me in a significant way, you're darn tootin' I am going to have some very serious questions that I expect to get answered. That's why I said it's up to YOU to police your own folk and make sure they do right by society--because the questions go from "why didn't your staff microbiologist know how to use a biosafety cabinet properly" to "why don't we hang pharmaceutical scientists up by their toenails" right quickly. You know it ain't the CEOs who are going to get strung up, they bugger off to a sunny beach with no extradition treaties as soon as there's a whiff of real trouble.
Of late, ag companies like Monsanto, DuPont, Syngenta, etc. have been airing opinions such as yours, that anyone who reckons recombinant food is a shortsighted notion is just some know-nothing fool who can't see sense and knows jack about Real Agriculture. Once in a great while they run up against those of us who make recombinant biotherapeutics or biofuels and happen to know quite a lot about farming, thanks. It seems to flummox 'em and the only thing they can do is shout the same again, louder. As a scientist, I find it very unfortunate that some of my fellow biologists don't seem able to do fairly simple math or understand ecology, evolution and gene transfer, but if folks feel better when they shout I guess they can go on. I do remember teaching undergrad soil microbiology and nitrogen cycles to some of these shouty people, and I seem to recall that they got a lot of Gentleman's Cs. So you'll understand when I don't take their assertions too seriously, OK?
