Great article on GM foods

BrendanBurgess

There is a great article on GM Foods by Dick Ahlstrom the Science Editor of the Irish Times in Saturday's paper. As the sub heading says:

We happily munch on snacks we know are unhealthy, yet avoid GM foods that we suspect might be bad for us. Why do myths about food influence us more than scientific fact?

Likewise I have noted that a big number of the anti-incinerator protestors are smokers. Modern incinerators have no impact on health as they do not emit airborne dioxins. Smoking kills. I have tried to tell that to the anti-incinerator meetings in Sandymount and Ringsend, but they regard me as a traitor to the environmentalist cause.

sextusempiricus

I agree, a well-balanced article and nice to read about Paul O'Donoghue putting forward the Irish Skeptics' view that we have to be taught to think critically. Certainly many claims made by environmentalists must be looked at critically. These claims are sometimes poorly founded and potentially harmful if not lethal. Consider the case of the banning of DDT which has caused millions of deaths in Africa.
http://www.aim.org/aim_column_print/495_0_3_0/ and
http://courses.washington.edu/kvcfr/KV%20Health%20NYTonDDT.pdf
On global warming, another issue close to environmentalists' hearts, Bjorn Lomborg has been highly critical of the money spent implementing the Kyoto agreement. This would cost at least $150 billion each year and merely postpone global warming for six years by 2100. For just one year's payment we could permanently provide clean drinking water and sanitation to everyone on the planet.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?ml=%2Fopinion%2F2004%2F05%2F09%2Fdo0903.xml (enter 'bjorn lomborg' in their search engine)

PS I have a personal reason to be grateful to genetically modified organisms. They produce the insulin to keep me alive!