Ok I’m going to rant.
STOP SUPPORTING ORGANIC FOOD.
Organic food is technically food that is grown with ‘natural’ pesticides. Like neem. It’s natural. If I extract the neem protein, get its structure and synthesize it chemically, it stops being natural and people screw up their noses. Amazing, ain’t it? If I modify it so that it becomes an even better pesticide, it’s even more unnatural and people march out and set my lab on fire. Fascinating behaviour.
Now to quote Christopher Wanjek (Author of Bad Medicine)
”Synthetic pesticides can indeed cause cancer, but the risk is very low. The Environmental Protection Agency requires that pesticides carry no higher than a one-in-a-million risk of cancer. (You have about a one-in-a-hundred, or 1 percent, risk of choking on your food; just ask the second President Bush). After thirty years, no study has shown that eaters of organic food are healthier than eaters of conventional food.”
To quote Bruce Ames (Inventor of the Ames test which detects carcinogens):
"A single cup of coffee contains natural carcinogens equal at least to a year's worth of carcinogenic synthetic residues in the diet."
Natural carcinogens are those that plants produce themselves to ward of pests, for example, the toxins the neem plant produces.
If you are still so concerned about pesticides, support Genetically Modified food! The Sense About Science handbook lists some of the few advantages.
1) They increase crop yields (something that developing countries are in dire need of).
2) They improve the nutritional value of food in very specific ways without changing other features.
3) They reduce reliance on chemical pesticides by using genes that are available in, for example, soil microorganisms.
And before you bring this argument that it’s not ‘natural’, let me digress.
I have this enormous problem with the word ‘natural’. Define ‘natural’. Define ‘nature’. Define ‘going against natures laws’
Firstly, every atom in you and that pesticide came from the big bang. The pesticide is as natural as you are.
Secondly, (and I’m tired of saying this), farmers have been doing genetic engineering for AGES. The fellow sees two plants which gives juicier fruits. He mates (‘crosses’ technically) them on and on so till all the kid plants have juicier fruits. We just speed the process up by taking that juicier fruit gene and putting it directly into seeds which can be distributed to all farmers everywhere. Oh, but sex is natural genetic engineering, it wins because it has ‘natural’ on its side.
That brings me to: There is no metaphorical woman called nature who puts you right. There is nothing like nature hits back. There isn’t some sacrosanct equilibrium in the universe which will be horrendously disturbed if we do genetic engineering. Guess what, a bacterium called Agrobacterium tumefaciens has been doing genetic engineering since time immemorial. It jumps in and puts its genes into plants. Your genome, right now, is made up of 45% transposons. Parasites. Not your genes. They genetically engineered themselves into your body. ‘Nature’ put them. Sorry, but she has an evil side to her. Welcome to the real world.
Thirdly, ok what do you mean by natures laws? Spell it out. Give me an equation. Come on. There, now you’ll shrug and give me vague statements about being so bad at math and not really sure about it but you know, you have an overwhelming intuitive feeling that there is some sacred law of nature. Guess what, you once had an overwhelmingly intuitive feeling that the Earth was flat. So wake up, science doesn’t work on intuition.
As far as I know, pesticides don’t violate any of nature’s laws. They follow all three rules of thermodynamics. They do not lead to an increase in entropy of the universe. They do not hover in the air against the law of gravity. They don’t make time go backward. They definitely do not go ‘bang’ and disappear.
Oh did I hear that right? By adding pesticides we are disturbing the biodiversity of the insects. Fine, let’s shift to plan B. Let’s all sit here and refuse to kill anything. Let the bacteria kill you next time you get a fever. Don’t you dare run to the doctor. It’s blasphemy! You are disturbing the biodiversity of the micro-organisms! What, just because you can’t see the bacterium means it deserves less respect? How shocking! The bacteria should yell discrimination and sue you.
If you are so against genetic engineering, stop drinking commercially made beer and wine. Those yeast that ferment it, are genetically engineered. Stop buying insulin for your diabetic mom. It’s 100 % genetically engineered. No you won’t. Because when it comes to your life, you get selfish. How hypocritical is that. You won’t support GM foods and let those people in Africa die. What about when it comes to you?
Finally, let me attempt this by logic. For the sake of argument let me accept that there is some mysterious unexplainable sacred force (or energy or quantum order or whatever other term you decide to dishonour) called nature who we should be terrified of meddling with. Nature made you, right? Nature made you intelligent? Nature knew that if she/he/it made you intelligent you would figure out how to remove genes from one thing and put them in another? So nature meant to do this. Nature wants you to do this. It’s an inevitable by-product of making intelligent humans. The transposons do it. Agrobacterium does it. They have evolved for as many years as you have. You aren’t some sickeningly virtuous, morally upright species that is at the top of the evolutionary tree. Throw the arrogance into the bin. We need genetic engineering because it saves your own species. If nature has shown any predictable pattern, it is that species that survive more and reproduce more, stick on the planet. Listen to her.
