Unexpected Topics Meme
I got these three from ashmedai:
1. Homeopathy
I do have an opinion on homeopathy: it’s unscientific quackery that doesn’t work. In the Netherlands, it is in fact illegal now to suggest that a homeopathic ointment is a cure for something specific, prompting some really interesting text on the packaging. I won’t miss homeopathy when it disappears, and nobody should.
2. GMO’s
I also have an opinion on Genetically Modified Organisms. I’m a big fan of GMOs that help improve the quality of our food supply. Sadly, the EU has an irrational fear of GMOs and blocks their deployment in our food supply, which pretty much means that they’re (mostly) blocked worldwide. And that’s a bloody shame: because of this irrational fear, people are dying that could otherwise have been saved by Golden Rice.
And let’s not kid ourselves: the glucose syrup that’s in your candy bar is produced from sugar by molds that has been genetically engineered to be more efficient at converting sugar into glucose. The technique is understood very well, and so the risks can be managed.
(Normal disclaimers against food crop monoculture apply to GMOs too, obviously.)
What I am not a fan of, is the strain of GMOs that have been engineered to be resistant to a weed killer - that stuff is poisoning our planet, and the fact that some crops are resistant to it does not diminish that. And of course it’s the same company selling the weed killer and selling the resistant seeds, all tightly wound with patents and lawsuits - the worst kind of extractive capitalism.
3. The American Midwest
I… don’t really have an opinion on this. I actually had to look up what the Midwest is. I’ve never been even near it.
Crossposted from my blog. Comment here or at the original post.