A top scientist and risk engineering expert is now publicly warning that GMOs pose a dire, genuine threat to the continuation of life on Earth. Nassim Taleb, author of The Black Swan and Fooled by Randomness, says that GMOs have the potential to cause an irreversible termination of life at some scale, which could be the planet. His full explanation is presented in this public paper which describes how even a small risk per crop species can still result in global ecocide if pursued with abandon. As Taleb explains, The risk of ruin is not sustainable, like a resource that gets depleted in the long term (even in the short term). By the ruin theorems, if you incur a tiny probability of ruin, as a one-off risk, survive it, then repeat the exposure, you will eventually go bust with probability 1. (Where probability 1 means a 100% chance.) In fact, 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 its 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 theres 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. Any legitimate scientist in the fields of anthropology, genetics or agriculture will warn you that low genetic diversity is the first step toward crisis and collapse of any given population. When genetic diversity is lost, the entire species becomes vulnerable to being wiped out by epidemic disease. This principle is irrefutable and widely recognized as truth among nearly all scientifically-literate thinkers... except those pushing GMOs, of course. Those denialists selectively edit scientific truth to exclude any concerns that might question the wisdom of displacing the worlds treasure of seed diversity with corporate-patented seeds. The Precautionary Principle is gladly thrown out the window when corporate profits are to be realized from doing so.
Posted on: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 07:33:35 +0000
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