[OKC] Jeff Goldblum a.k.a. Dr. Ian Malcom in Jurassic Park had it right

[Shauna Struby]

Remember Jurassic Park? Remember Jeff Goldblum playing Dr. Ian Malcolm?
Remember when he ever so eruditely commented on the DNA cloning of dinosaurs
with this jewel ...

"Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they
could, they didn't stop to think if they should."

I often think of that quote as a perfect metaphor for a bunch of stuff we
oh-so-clever humans do these days, but specifically today I thought of it
when reading about the Union of <http://www.ucsusa.org/>  Concerned
Scientists new report, Failure to Yield: Evaluating the Performance of
Genetically
<http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_agriculture/science_and_impacts/science/fail
ure-to-yield.html>  Engineered Crops.

The UCS just keeps on rockin' in the food world. Brief summary:

Contrary to proponents' claims, genetic engineering (GE) technology has
produced, at best, only small increases in yields of major food crops
compared with other agricultural methods, according to a new UCS report. The
report examined dozens of peer-reviewed studies and found that U.S. yields
of soybeans and corn have increased over the past 15 years mainly thanks to
traditional breeding and other agricultural practices. The report also
concluded that, due to the technical complexity of the task, engineering
crop genes for high yield is unlikely to help the world feed itself in the
foreseeable future. The report recommends a shift in research emphasis
toward traditional breeding and modern ecological farming methods, which
have been woefully underfunded.

And money quote:

"Despite the common assertion that we need GE crops to solve world hunger,
we found that these crops just don't live up to the claims made about them.
The GE industry should stop making false claims about yield, and the U.S.
government should reconsider its policy of promoting this expensive and
disappointing technology to the developing world." ~ Doug Gurian-Sherman,
Senior Scientist, Food & Environment

And link to Reuters
<http://uk.reuters.com/article/governmentFilingsNews/idUKN1442276820090414>
story.

Ya know .... maybe Mother Nature really does know best after all.

::: shauna lawyer struby

http://thinklady.typepad.com 

 

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