Neil deGrasse Tyson regards anti-Monsanto genetic modification of foods as the Liberal equivalent of Conservative climate change denial. He is of course mad as a hatter. He makes no distinction between selective breeding and transgenics, which isnt even a scientifically sound stance. Monsanto designs crops to have no capacity for saving seed for future plantings (enslaving farmers to Monsanto), and genetically modifies crops to tolerate more and more and more pesticides (which Monsanto also sells and lies about their safety) the safety of which is NOT a given. We are not safe when mega-businesses own and control every aspect of our access to food and buys legislation to let it do what it likes without labeling hence in secrecy. A lot of Tysons intellect is written for him to recite. When he runs off at the mouth he ends up saying crazy things like Monsanto is your friend, and the arts are worthless compared to science. In this case he also just lies, because certainly he knows the difference between Monsantos transgenics — he was not asked about GMO food, but about Transgenics, which he turned into a discussion of plant breeding and hybridization, which is NOT on ANY level transgenic. Monsanto uses transgenesis to insert foreign genetic material that could NEVER be bred into plant life. Their greatest success so far is to insert bacteria into corn DNA to explode the stomachs of insects that eat corn. If youre an observant Jew this cannot be eaten for religious reasons, but special legislation permits companies to use this stuff in all manner of products without telling anyone. And to make sure everyone believes it is safe, giant agribusinesses like Monsanto and Syngenta hire people to stalk, threaten, undermine, and financially ruin scientists who uncover data the big companies dont want known, threaten and destroy the lives and income of organic farmers who speak out, and have armies of on-line trolls to assault anyone with an opinion adverse to industrialists interests. Ive warned activists often enough, when they start insisting all GM products are poisonous and have killed and deformed pigs or wont be eaten by squirrels — all fabricated nonsense — they lose credibility on the things that are true. And face it, Tyson is NOT a genius, hes a celebrity scientist, he is to science what Dr. Phil is to mental health. He lacks the wherewithal to sort out whats valid and should be fought against, from what he views broadly as scientific ignorance. His training as an astrophysicist means he knows more than you or I are apt to know about outer space and the stars. He doesnt know shit about biological sciences and he doesnt even care about social science or culture, none of which even matter to his idea of God renamed Science trumping all other aspects of human existence and wellbeing. ultraculture.org/blog/2014/07/31/neil-degrasse-tyson-dead-wrong-gmos/
Posted on: Sun, 03 Aug 2014 21:35:33 +0000
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