Again, Jill Stein’s platform calls for, “Label GMOs, and put a moratorium on GMOs and pesticides until they are proven safe”. Emphasis added.
That goes way way beyond the realm of serious proposals. Even calling for a phase out of pesticide use would be pretty damaging to health, given that they are heavily tested and regulated as it is. See post 24: lifestyle choices such as fiber intake are a huge aspect of first world health. A scientist of Rachel Carlson’s caliber would have never advocated something like that.
Sorry, but Stein’s stance is flatly non-scientific. At least there was reasonable discussion concerning GMOs 20 years ago. I don’t think anyone serious has ever called for a moratorium on pesticides. By way of historical comparison, here is Rachel Carlson’s position on DDT, over at wiki: [INDENT]In regards to the pesticide DDT, Carson never actually called for an outright ban. Part of the argument she made in Silent Spring was that even if DDT and other insecticides had no environmental side effects, their indiscriminate overuse was counter-productive because it would create insect resistance to the pesticide(s), making the pesticides useless in eliminating the target insect populations:
[INDENT][INDENT][INDENT]No responsible person contends that insect-borne disease should be ignored. The question that has now urgently presented itself is whether it is either wise or responsible to attack the problem by methods that are rapidly making it worse. The world has heard much of the triumphant war against disease through the control of insect vectors of infection, but it has heard little of the other side of the story—the defeats, the short-lived triumphs that now strongly support the alarming view that the insect enemy has been made actually stronger by our efforts. Even worse, we may have destroyed our very means of fighting.[51][/INDENT][/INDENT]
[/INDENT][/INDENT] Carlson, to her credit, took care to have her scientific chapters reviewed by experts in their field: she wanted to get the argument right. To compare her careful work to the blathering of Jill Stein insults Carlson’s memory.
I have seen criticisms of vaccines for causing autism. I’ve seen criticisms of AGW claiming that scientists want more money. I’ve heard criticisms of the link between smoking and cancer. When I encounter these criticisms I try to look to see what the scientists say. As the Wiki articles cites, the overwhelming majority of scientists have come out in favor of golden rice. It has been tested by many different scientific groups, including the UN, and all have found it to be safe and effective.
One of the reasons the scientists picked rice is because it is already a staple crop in the affected regions. The solution is brilliant because it requires no new farming techniques and the population is already familiar with rice. This criticism is uniformed of the situation.
Blocking a GMO solution that would save millions of lives (and prevent blindness in thousands more) is so far beyond absurd it is almost evil. This is what pisses me off; people ignore the science and then claim it’s absurd to compare them to other science deniers. Meanwhile people continue to die. Let’s ship Dr. Stein to the Philippines; it’s easy to be against GMO when it’s not your child that it’s in danger of going blind from Vitamin A deficiency.
You’d think someone who is “pro-science” would be a little more careful about throwing around the word “Prove,” particularly where it relates to establishing that a question has been definitively answered.
Yes, it would really be nice if Stein stayed the fuck out of swing states this year. Let her campaign in the ultra-Blue states, where her folks can benefit from Herd Immunity to Trumpery. Or the ultra-Red states, where they can have their Yuppie Lost Cause–it’s a Performance Piece! (This Texan will proudly vote for Ms Clinton.)
If they want a “long game” let them get some people elected to any of those non-Presidential offices.
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