Saturday, January 26, 2008

Always thinking inside the box.

So, somewhere in that vast, wide internet, I came across a strange discussion on GM foods. Things about animal genes in plants (and how the animals suffered from the gene extraction that was probably a swab), not wanting to be a guinea pig, and the most jaw dropping statement: "I can't even think of a reason why we would even need to genetically engineer food."

It's all rather absurd, to be honest. From everything I have seen, it does go through testing, and to be honest, the probability of food becoming poisonous from the additions is rather slim (though likely a bit higher in insect resistant foods, but it can't be as bad as the pesticides that are sterilizing our fish).

But to not understand why science would start doing this is, well, the kind of self-centered stupidity that makes me want to hit things. It's the kind of America-centric world view that gets us into trouble, and makes me very, very angry.

Sure, in America, we have the luxury of being able to buy food from everywhere. We can have summer fruits in the middle of winter, and we can have delicacies from other regions. We have the choice to buy local organic veggies, and to scoff at GM corn because it might make us grow an extra arm.

But, the rest of world is not necessarily so lucky. To have food that produces higher yields, that can grow in more severe climates, that has extra nutrients, that is insect and drought resistant, all of these things could be life changing to the millions of underprivileged people on this planet. I'm sure there are people out there that would risk a small chance of poisoning in order to better feed themselves and their children. This stuff doesn't exist in an America-only vacuum.

Sure, GM food is used mostly for profits in the States, but that doesn't mean that's the only way it could be used. In addition, with the world population increasing, and the number of high-population nations industrializing (meaning more food demands), we need a way to produce more from what little farmland we have left. We can't all live in hippy communes and farm to our heart's content and expect to feed everyone.

Yeah, there are risks, and a lot of them are scary and difficult to test. But that doesn't mean to just discard an innovation that could improve the lives of millions, if not billions, because it sounds a bit off to a lay person and makes you feel less crunchy. To undermine that science could kill people in the same way that opposing stem cell research does, but even more brutally.

Oh, and the argument that it is stupid to have any children at all because the earth is overpopulated is another I particularly hate. The issue isn't so black and white as that. Yes, the world population is growing out of our control, so to speak. We're going to have a lot of people, and not a lot of places to put them or even a good ability to feed them. It is a major problem.

But, to just stop having more citizens isn't the best answer. If it was cool to have your population massively shrink, Japan wouldn't be freaking the hell out about their low birthrate. There aren't enough people to work the jobs necessary to keep the nation running, or at least there won't be as soon as their last, strong generation solidly retires. So, rather than ten people supporting one retiree, there is going to be 1.5 people supporting one retiree. It's a huge potential burden, not to mention the horror of labor shortages.

Immigration isn't the best solution either. Most immigrants are going to come from developing nations, and will lack education. Without this education, their first generation or two, at best, will be a nice underclass for the government and businesses to exploit. This is a good thing? Even if we do attract the best and most educated from an overpopulated nation, we have a chance of brain-draining a nation that could use its well-educated citizens to help it develop.

It's not as simple as "stop popping out kids." I'm not saying we all need to have six children, but two isn't as earth-killing as people like to scream. Complex problems require complex solutions. We need to look at efficient ways to feed and house people, to increase standards of living, to spread resources around, and to stop killing the planet (well, killing us. Earth will survive and start over if we all go down). To do all this takes coordination and foresight that we cannot guarantee. I don't know what to do, but the "grow organic only and never have kids" is about the dumbest solution I've ever heard.

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