Letters to the Editor
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So I contradict myself? I contain multitudes
--from Whitman
To say "Environmentalist" have a point of view is like saying that Americans have a point of view.... Of course, the environmental movement is as varied as any other movement, in many ways, more so. Bailey contradicts himself, as we all do when we change our minds.
But has Bailey really reconsidered? He states that the models are "all over the map", then cites John Christy and Roy Spencer from UAH who are consistently at the low end of most accepted climate models of climate change.
How can one place Global Climate Change and GM Foods in the same category? There is no scientific consensus on the safety of GM foods unless one were to cite only industry-funded scientists. Even NASA erred on the side of caution when traveling unknown territory.
There is an emerging movement within the environmental community to weed out the other issues. Anti-immigration groups tried to seize control of the Sierra Club a couple of years ago and that was a wakeup call. Allowing anarchists, communists and other issue groups to seize control of the the environmental movement will only do it harm.
In some cases, however, the communities are rightly linked. GM may be one such link. If large agri-companies are allowed to control our food supply, do you think they will do so for the benefit of all mankind? Like unregulated energy sales in California, perhaps? (Think Enron).
The bottom line with GM is uncertainty. It may be that the scientific community determines that GM crops are safe. Yet these modified genes cannot be contained once released into our environment. Even now, nearby crops are contaminated by cross-pollination. Amazingly, the "patent holders" of these GM crops sue farmers whose crops they contaminate for patent infringement!
For the time being, distributing unproven, unselected gene patterns into the wild is a dangerous, foolish and irreversible experiment.