Excellent LTE re: GMOs

[nosmokes]

original-gmwatch

Chapela on "anti-scientific propaganda" (20/2/2007)

This letter by Dr Ignacio Chapela was sent in response to the recent editorial on genetic engineering published in a California local weekly paper, the Point Reyes Light. You can read the editorial here http://www.ptreyeslight.com/editorial.shtml

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Re: Genetically Modified Organisms
The Editor: Robert Plotkin (The Point Reyes Light)
2007-02-13

To read your editorial of 13 February evokes quaint memories of decades past. Long ago --a quarter century, to be more precise-- your eulogy of genetic engineering could have passed for visionary science in popular magazines. Now, more than $350 billion later, it simply reeks of the stale propaganda of Russian Lysenkoism: a futile attempt at denying truth borne by factual evidence.

Thankfully, the arguments are well rehearsed elsewhere: Genetic engineering is not precise, is not controlled, cannot be contained, is not predictable once released in the environment, has not been properly tested in animal models or real environmental conditions, and has defeated multiple times the gold-standard of the US regulatory system formed by USDA, FDA and EPA. In short, the biological foundation of this mid-twentieth century obsession is already past its "best-by" date.
~snip~
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ours sincerely,
Ignacio H. Chapela, PhD
Associate Professor of Microbial Ecology University of California, Berkeley


complete letter and link to original editorial that prompted the letter here