Another mystery of science has been solved, which gives me hope that the origin of CCD is only a little research away, or perhaps just a flash of inspiration. Strangely, the only coverage of this discovery that I could find is at the BBC Legless frog mystery solved, even though mysteriously deformed frogs have been found all over the world. Since the late 1980s, frogs have been found with missing legs, additional legs, and other deformities (actually, hideously deformed frogs have been found much earlier than that, but the numbers seemed to increase in the late 1980s). Various causes were suggested, but most people were convinced that the cause was chemical in nature.
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Someone sent me a link to some YouTube videos of Jeffrey Smith promoting one of his books. I’m not sure what this person expected to accomplish, but it gives me a great opportunity to discuss the important issues of credibility and bias. I just started reading Lies, Damned Lies, and Science, about these and other issues surrounding science communication, so these sorts of things have been very much on my mind. I’ll be posting more on the book once I finish it. Be careful if you pick it up, there are a few errors about biotechnology in the beginning, but otherwise it’s great so far. I’m frustrated by Smith’s star status among anti-GMO activists for quite a few reasons, but the main one is: who the heck is he? Jim Martin-Schramm, an Associate Professor of Christian Ethics at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, wrote a fully inclusive investigation of the role that genetically engineered crops may or may not play in Sub-Saharan Africa that may easily be extrapolated into the role of biotechnology in other situations. I’ve read a lot of articles and case studies that tried to summarize the GMO debate but none have come close to this one, particularly when it comes to neutrality and allowing readers to make conclusions on their own. The document is written as a case study, which seems to be is a really effective way to get the information across. While it is from December 2003, little if anything has changed. I urge everyone who has ever had a question about the risks, benefits, ethics, or science of GMOs to read this. As always, I welcome readers to comment on the subject at hand so that all participants may better understand the issues. The National Corn Growers Association is an important trade group. Their mission is to advocate and lobby on behalf of corn growers, or as they say “to create and increase opportunities for corn growers”. At the Maize Genetics Conference, I got to listen to their Chair of the Research and Business Development Action Team, Pam Johnson (you can find my summary of her remarks in my post Research and the Recession). She was a little overenthusiastic, but generally made sense, advocating for better cooperation between government and industry to produce more useful research. I hate to say it, but, was all that just for show? Just out today, Seed Magazine has assembled a “Scientific Flip Flop” about Genetically Engineered crops. The article begins with an introduction into the curious case of European nations who embrace scientific conclusions in other areas of science, but not in this area.
Contributing their views (in order) are Pam Ronald, Raj Patel, Nina Fedoroff, and Noel Kingsbury. Read the article, I’ll offer a few opinions about it after the jump.
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