[lbo-talk] RT monster fish part 2

Somebody Somebody philos_case at yahoo.com
Mon Jun 6 23:09:28 PDT 2011


CG: In the Frontline/Nova program notice that safety concerns are dismissed by comparing genetic engineered products with first generations of aircraft and other technologies that seem to turn out to be worth the risk. The one technology that is never used in these comparison is the nuclear power industry or the carbon fuel industries which have caused vast amounts of damage to the environment and people, not to mention the biosphere.

CG

Somebody: Essentially you're endorsing the precautionary principle when it comes to transgenic animals (and plants). In this you're in keeping with the guiding principle of, for example, the U.S. FDA. The problem with that is that it prioritizes the potential of downsides while minimizing the negative effects of the status quo.

This isn't an issue with this salmon per se; although, it has to be said, the detrimental effect of GM crops so far has been negligible, after everything's been said and done. Rather, the issue is whether the left should adopt a default position of not just being skeptical, but resistant to biotechnology simply because it is being utilized by the private sector in our still capitalist society.

Personally, I think the status quo is pretty lousy. More people die from causes that are primitive in nature (that precede modern industrial and post-industrial society, and at best are simply sustained by capitalism) instead of being products of human activity. Yet if you read the environmentalist literature, you might suppose that the great bulk of the ills of the world are products of modern man.



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