Lindsay Perigo
The Politically Incorrect Show - 26/07/2000
[Music - Die Fledermaus]
Good afternoon, KAYA ORAAAA & welcome to the Politically Incorrect Show on the free speech network, Radio Pacific, for Wednesday July 26, proudly sponsored by Neanderton Nicotine Ltd, the show that says bugger the politicians & bureaucrats & all the other bossyboot busybodies who try to run our lives with our money; that stands tall for free enterprise, achievement, profit & excellence against the state-worshippers in our midst; that stands above all for the most sacred thing in the universe, the liberty of the human individual.
[Music up, music down]
As I speak to you, Libertarianz leader Peter Cresswell is speaking or is about to speak as part of an "Eco-fest" on genetically modified foods at Auckland University. The other participants are mainly Politically Correct greenie Luddites, as no doubt are most of the audience. Mr Cresswell will be lucky to escape alive. Here is part of what he is saying, which I repeat here with great pleasure, warm approval & without further comment:
The shelves of our supermarkets are already full of Genetically Engineered foods. From popcorn and tomatoes, to beans and berries - they are all around us. Farmers are growing larger amounts of them every year, and multinational corporations in pursuit of profits are investing billions of dollars on research and development of GE foods. And I think that's great!!
Genetically Engineered foods can be produced in greater quantities, in greater varieties, and at lower costs than traditional foods - the trend seems almost inevitable. Yet, there are many people and organisations crying aloud the extreme dangers of GE foods. Some go as far as demanding that they be banned altogether.
Who is right? And who HAS the right to ban them?
To answer these questions, let us start by simply describing what GE foods are. Genetically Engineered foods are produced when genes are transferred from one species to another. In this way, physical attributes are also transferred. As a simple example, a 'frost-resistance gene' transferred to tropical plants might allow them to grow in cold weather.
For the first time in human history scientists are controlling life at the genetic level, and by any standard they are doing amazing things -amazing things in mapping human genomes, amazing things in medical research using genetic modification, and amazing things in genetic modifications of food.
Consider: Swiss scientists recently inserted a gene into a variety of rice that has the effect of increasing production of beta-carotene, essential for making vitamin A. Each year, two million children die, and half a million go blind for the lack of vitamin A. Over one hundred million others suffer from its deficiency. This new Genetically Engineered rice has the potential to put an end to all this suffering and dying.
Or, consider this: Researchers at Novartis Seeds developed vegetables resistant to one of the world's most harmful plant infections. They have identified a naturally occurring virus resistance gene and have transferred it to tomatoes, melons, lettuce and peppers, giving them immunity from infections.
Or try this: A GE brand of potato has been produced that is resistant to leaf roll viruses and to beetles. It was planted in Colorado and it was proved that NO insecticides were needed.
Or consider this: GE soya beans are being produced that are weed-resistant and herbicide-tolerant - herbicide use drops as much as 40% in some cases.
Farmers seeking to produce food have of course long had to fight innumerable pests and parasites in order to do so. One such is the terrible corn borer, which destroys the corn from the inside out. To combat it GE corn was created. Usually six sprays of insecticide are needed to safeguard traditional corn; GE corn needs only one.
Another such parasite, and the biggest pest farmers and producers currently have to face, is the environmentalist movement. They denounce farmers and businessmen as wicked on the face of it, 'proving' it by pointing out their profit motive in all this. Unfortunately, many producers have accepted this unearned guilt, and damned themselves for it. THEY SHOULD NOT! Profit is not only their appropriate reward for their efforts, it is also the best protection WE have that foods produced in this way will NOT be toxic - after all, ya can't make huge profits by killing your customers! There are - properly - already laws on the books against selling poisoned food - we do not need any more! What we DO need is for the businessmen and the scientists who produced these products to stop apologising for them, to stand up for their right to profit by their work, and to point out the pseudo-scientific quackery that their environmentalist opponents are peddling.
Ladies and gentlemen, I suggest that the real problem here today is not one of poisoned food, but of poisoned minds! Of minds poisoned against profits, poisoned against science, and poisoned against reason - which underpins both. The battle is not one ABOUT profits; it is a battle FOR the right to profit from one's work. The battle is not in fact one OF science, but FOR science!! For with increasing unreason, science - and production - will not be able to survive!
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