The history of the automobile industry is sufficient evidence that corporate executives are willing to take great risks to save expense. "It will be all right -- and it will save X dollars." Also of course the disasters in the space program. It's a bureaucratic habit to hope for the best, without even wanting to know the actual risk involved. Probably this had something to do with 9/11.
(And of course the more wide-ranging conspiracy theories are partly, or even mostly, grounded in rejecting the certainty, not just possibility, of bureaucratic error.)
Carrol
-------- Original Message -------- Subject: Genetic Engineering Date: Thu, 23 Dec 2004 08:34:28 +1000 From: David Straton <dave at PSYBERSPACE.COM.AU> Reply-To: Science for the People Discussion List<SCIENCE-FOR-THE-PEOPLE at LIST.UVM.EDU> To: SCIENCE-FOR-THE-PEOPLE at LIST.UVM.EDU References: <6.0.3.0.1.20041221025320.03a57eb0 at pop.mindspring.com>
Mitchel Cohen wrote:
> Dear anti-genetic-engineering activists,
>
> A number of groups are banding together to organize a statewide coalition
> against genetic engineering. The goal is to phase out genetically
> engineered foods and crops. (I'd argue to ban them outright,
> immediately.)
Hi Mitchel,
I welcome your campaign against genetic enginering.
There is one matter that one of your collaborators might be interested in getting involved with.
It has become common for prominent pro GE spokespeople to announce grandly:
"There have been so many squillion meals of GM food eaten and there has not been a single report of a runny nose, skin rash etc."
This is a powerful propaganda line, which needs to be nailed. It is, of course, entirely false.
One important report of harm concerns the case of Eosinophilia Myalgia Syndrome (EMS) which killed about a hundred and crippled several thousand people who ate L-Tryptophan manufactured by Showa Denko using GE'd microbes.
A brief version of the story appears here.
The Thalidomide of Genetic Engineering http://www.connectotel.com/gmfood/trypto.html
The pro GE people have worked tirelessly to discount the story by, for example keeping the GE connection secret for several years, explaining the toxin as being a result of reduced filtering, and citing some cases that preceded the bacteria associated with the main epidemic. It remains contentious whether the incident was an example of a genetic engineering mishap or an unrelated manufacturing error.
In passing, to produce a toxin using GE is something that precedes the application of a filter. The filter is downstream of the novel organism and its novel product. Thus a change in filter does not refute the proposition that GE can, and did, produce a dangerous product. At best the filter theory is a possibility that could and should be tested. If the toxic L-Tryptophan were sent past the recommended and beefed up filters, would the toxin still be detectable in significant levels downstream? A good experiment for someone to do.
Secondly, the cases that preceded the introduction of Strain V (five) do not necessarily refute the proposition that GE caused the EMS. Some of the early cases had consumed L-Tryptophan from Strains II, III, and IV, all of which were also GE'd.
Some of the EMS victims sued Showa Denko. It was widely reported that SD paid over $2 billion in damages.
The pro GE lobby scored a hit recently when they persuaded the New Zealand Royal Commission into Genetic Modification to say.
/ 'The United States courts decided that the manufacturing process rather than genetic modification was at fault.'/
It has become important as to exactly what was decided by the US courts during litigation between plaintiffs with Eosinophilia Myalgia Syndrome and Showa Denko, the manufacturer of the genetically modified L-Tryptophan.
I am in possession of a copy of a rebuttal of the NZRCGM report on this issue by Steven M. Druker, who came to NZ to give evidence. In his report he says:
/I have spoken by phone with Don Morgan, an attorney in the Washington, D.C. office of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen and Hamilton, which serves as worldwide counsel for Showa Denko and represented it in all the U.S. lawsuits. /
and later:
/It asserts: "The United States courts decided that the manufacturing process rather than genetic modification was at fault." In my conversation with Mr. Morgan, who was directly involved in Showa Denko's legal defense, I learned that over 2,000 of the lawsuits were settled out of court and that only three went to trial. Mr. Morgan stated that due to the nature of product liability law, the basic issue in these cases was whether Showa Denko's product had caused harm. He said the issue about whether the genetic engineering process played a role in causing the harm was not relevant and was never raised - and that none of the jury verdicts in any way touched on it. He seemed surprised that the Royal Commission would assert that the U.S. courts had decided the issue.///
I am hoping that someone on the Science for the People list in the US, or someone associated with your campaign, Mitchel, might be interested in trying to trace the cases that went to court and obtaining the transcripts of the trials to determined whether in fact the contribution of GE was ever tested in court. I have written to Don Morgan, but have yet to receive a reply.
It would be great to eliminate one piece of misinformation.
Please contact me on or off list.
Cheers
David Straton Gold Coast Australia
Good Ref: EMS and Tryptophan Production: A Cautionary Tale, Trends in Biotech 12: 346-352, Sept 1994