Science is important… really important. But the average person doesn’t really pay much attention to it. Some may find it intimidating, others boring, still others are opposed to scientific reason preferring to place their confidence in spirituality. People avoid scientific news and information too often. This may not seem like a problem on its surface. But I am here to tell you that it is (at least in my opinion). Fact of the matter is that people make poor decisions based on bad science. If they have no frame of reference how can they be expected to know good science from bad? If we are to survive as a species we need to embrace science.

Don’t believe me? I see you sitting there, smirking… well wipe that grin off you face. For I come armed with proof. Case in point, the dihydrogen monoxide fiasco. “But wait”, you’re saying, “wasn’t that like 15 years ago?” Yes… yes it was. But people still fall for it. Otherwise reasonable people that don’t have a good grasp of science (or internet access apparently) publicly state they are against dihydrogen monoxide. Just look at the wikipedia page here. But that’s a mostly harmless example… you can’t go far saying things about wanting to ban water before someone sets you straight. But sometimes there are those that take it one step further.

Next we have good old intelligent design. People that are unable to come to grips with a more adult way of viewing life and the world become creationists. Those that wish to trick the ignorant into believing what they do call it “intelligent design”. Ignorance of science makes people susceptible to this. There have been places and times when this has gained so much support that school boards have attempted to have intelligent design taught in biology courses. See examples from recent years here and here. The second is about the evolution disclaimer stickers from Georgia, I won’t get into that too much here. This is a threat to education. If you give children mixed messages about science they may never trust what it really has to teach them. Of course this just causes more people to be ignorant of science.

Now we see the culmination of what can happen when people do not understand science. A new rise in HIV infection seems to be linked to a misconception among young people that there is a cure for HIV. Read about it here. From the article:

“The poll of 1,000 people found more than 20% of people aged 18 to 24 mistakenly thought there was a cure for HIV.”

Wow, how about that… just because science isn’t your thing isn’t any reason to assume anything about dangerous diseases. What a rude awakening that would be to go into the doctor and find out you have HIV and then ask about the cure. No one should be left in that situation. No one should be failed by society like that. Science should be presented as a necessity to one’s understanding of the world. We should all work toward that.

I don’t usually post in such quick succession but my recent post about cloned animals got me thinking.  Why is there so much opposition to genetically modified crops?  I believe people that are against it fall into one of three categories: health concerns, concerns for the “sanctity” of nature, or environmental concerns.  I’ll address these as scientifically as I can first before I rant about my personal feelings.

Some people feel that genetically modified (GM) food is not safe.  Up front I’ll say that’s not true. I can’t for the life of me figure out how they think that.  I’ve heard them talking about “toxic” DNA.  Of course there’s no such thing. So what does DNA do? DNA codes for proteins.  Each set of three DNA base pairs (called a codon) code for one amino acid.  A chain of amino acids becomes a protein.  All that is being changed in GM crops is the proteins they express.  Can these proteins hurt you?  No, in no way are regular plant proteins dangerous.  Now prions on the other hand are dangerous, but that’s a different issue.  Most of the proteins you eat are broken down and the amino acids absorbed so you can make your own proteins.  There just isn’t any rational theory as to how this could be dangerous to anyone.  In fact millions of dollars are spent by the FDA to test GM crops before they are used.

For others they have some notion that we shouldn’t be messing with nature.  This seems to be a more abstract complaint and thus I’m even less sure what they are talking about.  But I’ll say this, humans have been selectively breeding crops for millennia as the basis of agriculture.  Cross pollinating the plants that did well and grafting plants together has been a common practice long before we even knew what DNA was.  The main difference is that GM crops are doing the same thing faster.  If you look at a codon from wheat it’s identical to the same codon from tomatoes.  It’s all nucleic acid… ribose, phosphate, nitrogenous bases, that’s it!

Still others claim that protecting the environment from GM crops is necessary.  They tell us that organic farming is the best way to feed the world.  If all current farm land were converted to organic farms we would only produce 2/3 of the food we do now.  And what’s so environmentally unsound about GM crops?  They can produce massive yields with out the need for pesticides.  It’s a fact of growing food that insects are pests and they’ve been doing just fine despite the fact we’ve been killing them for many years now.  And I’ll be the first one to admit that the pesticides we use now are nasty.  So how could we avoid the use of pesticides? Hmm… oh yeah, genetic modification!  Here’s an example: some plants have proteases (proteins that destroy other proteins) that operate only at alkaline pH.  All vertebrates have acidic digestive tracts. Insects however, have alkaline digestive tracts.  By adding the gene for this protease to GM crops the plants have a natural defense against insects.  Testing in this arena is the responsibility of the EPA, and they spend quite a bit of money to do it.

Now for the rant.  Opposing GM crops is without a doubt one of the most idiotic things that a person can do.  These foods can feed the world safely and cheaply. With over 20,000 people dying of starvation every day who are we to ignore the advancement that could save these people from suffering?  People that are proponents of raw foods and the like seem to forget that most people don’t have the luxury of deciding what to eat.  It’s selfish to oppose GM crops and everyone that does should think about the 20,000 lives lost every day.  I bet starving people could care less if that bread was made from grain with a few transgenic genes.

In 2002 at the Environmental summit in Africa the US tried to give several tons of GM food to poor nations.  Several groups including Greenpeace convinced the leaders of these nations that the food was poisonous.  Can you fucking believe that?  On this poor advice these nation turned down the offer.  Of course there was nothing wrong with the food and those same crops have been grown elsewhere with success.  In Zambia, where people are starving to death, Greenpeace unleashed their political agenda and probably killed many people.  It wasn’t about the food really being dangerous (as I’ve outlined above) it’s about Greenpeace having an ulterior motive… politics.  The world cannot be at peace when so many go hungry.

So I hear tell that the FDA plans to allow milk and meat from cloned animals to be sold to people. “But wait,” you think “isn’t that dangerous?” Well, no it isn’t. Cloned animals have been around for many years now. You may think that Dolly the sheep was the first, she wasn’t. Dolly was just the first mammal to be cloned. The risks of cloned animals have been fully explored. A recent study of cloned animals has shown that there is no difference in their fatty acid content, proteins, or even hormone levels in their milk. I’m not trying to convince you of whether or not it’s right to eat meat. Just that not every advance in science is potentially hazardous to your health.

A cloned animal is just that, a clone. It is identical to the original animal. There is no genetic engineering (not that I’m against transgenics) of any kind involved. If you would eat the original you should have no problem eating the clone. Think of the benefits of having herds of the most efficient cattle. You would have fewer animals to feed, producing more food in the long run.

I find myself wondering what problem people could have with cloned animals. People often seem so scared of technological advancement, and as far as I can tell they don’t usually have a reason. Does anyone remember irradiated meat? I do, and it was a great idea. Delivering safer products to consumers… what could go wrong? The name, apparently. People just refused to buy something that said “irradiated” on it. You don’t hear so much about it any more because it was basically a loss. But you’d be surprised how much irradiated food you eat these days without noticing it. Treating food with bacteriophages may not get off the ground at all. People find out that a bacteriophage is a virus and refuse to listen to reason. Yes it’s a virus, a bacterial virus. There has been a move to label food treated with phages in the face of public pressure. I believe this would surely doom the practice. If there’s anything that scares people more than radiation it’s viruses.

There are a lot of people on Earth. The numbers aren’t getting any smaller. We need to embrace new methods of food production. Without these applications of biotechnology more nations will suffer from mass starvation as the population continues to climb. Adopting practices like cloning animals could even help bring some nations back from the brink. People must let go of their preconceived notions and step in to the 21st century.