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Re: [GWL]: GM Crops - amusing - yes, an amusing SCRIPT!

You're right Nan about our responsibility. Don't forget, however, that
the biotech industry currently has a huge campaign going to get the
public to accept the products and to minimize the environment dangers. 

Part of the campaign would be opinion polls designed to marginalize the
opinion of those who say that "biotech may work in principle for
something, but more environmentally secure research methods are needed."
That is precisely the opinion that the companies do not want to give any
publicity to! It would seriously endanger their current projected profit
margins. I am not surprised that it was not offered as an option.

Also, the ridiculous question about tomatoes is designed to elicit a
number of foolish responses from uneducated people. That way, the public
relations spin on concerns about current GMO crops can be "a lot of
people just don't understand science." Coy anecdotes will then be
retailed. "Why, I had a fellow tell me just the other day ... why, do
you know, even one GARDEN WRITER -- a woman you'd think would know
better -- was negative about GMO crops!"

This is a script, Nan. It's been used by lots of industries to promote
lots of products that were not necessarily in the public interest, at
least not in their current form. The auto industry got people to accept
smog that way, by marginalizing those who demanded cleaner emissions as
"people who don't realize that you need your car to get around." 

Finally, when smog became a cause of death, the industry argument wore
thin and emissions controls started to become law. (I may need a car to
get around, but I don't have to drive a rolling coffin, right? )

I would love to change the story in the GMO crops campaign.

Denyse



Nan Sterman wrote:
> 
> A got a call the other day from a company that was doing a survey on
> people's attitudes towards biotechnology and genetically engineered
> products.  It was frustrating in that as usual, the questions were
> worded in a way that made them difficult to answer, i.e. the
> questions tended to elicit an "all or nothing" response.   
> I share this story because it points out the critical role we all
> play in making sure that whatever we write about genetically modified
> products and genetic engineering is absolutely well researched and
> well thought out.  Misinformation and disinformation, no matter how
> unintentional, lives forever once it is out in print (or on the web).
> 
> Nan Sterman
> 
> --
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> Nan Sterman                     PlantSoup
> 
> 205 Cole Ranch Road
> Olivenhain, CA 92024            760.634.2902 (voice)
> nsterman@PlantSoup.Com          760.634.2957 (fax)
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--
Watch for my book: Faith@Science: Why Science Needs Faith in the 21st
Century 
(J. Gordon Shillingford Publishers, Winnipeg Fall 2001)

Denyse O'Leary
14 Latimer Avenue
Toronto, Ontario, CANADA M5N 2L8
Tel: 416 485-2392/Fax: 416 485-9665
Cell: 416 697-5067
oleary@sympatico.ca 
www.denyseoleary.com

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