RE: BBC NEWS | Africa | Famine-hit Zambia rejects GM food aid

[Jack_Earley@RL.GOV]

I use analogies to clarify my understanding--if I'm off-topic, I have no

doubt that Michael will let me know. I try to restrict those to offline

discussions, but I look to see if I'm being addressed privately or publicly

and respond accordingly. I also have a tendency to respond to what I see are

bogus, ignorant, rude, or irrational comments, although sometimes it's only

because the server isn't filtering as intended.



I had to look on Google to see what the cave of Adullam was, and finding

nothing of interest, went no further than basic identification, so I totally

missed any connection whatever between it and GM food or any other topic.

I'm sure it was a really valid analogy--I'm just not motivated to pursue it.



Jack Earley

Radiological Engineer





-----Original Message-----

From: William V Lipton [mailto:liptonw@dteenergy.com]

Sent: Wednesday, October 30, 2002 6:03 AM

To: Jack_Earley@RL.GOV

Cc: jenday1@MSN.COM; radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu

Subject: Re: BBC NEWS | Africa | Famine-hit Zambia rejects GM food aid





This thread is going more than a little off-topic.  I'm sure there are many

other lists where you can discuss the politics of food aid.



I keep hoping that this list will become something more than another cave of

Adullam, but it doesn't look promising.



The opinions expressed are strictly mine.

It's not about dose, it's about trust.

Curies forever.



Bill Lipton

liptonw@dteenergy.com





Jack_Earley@RL.GOV wrote:



> In numerous interviews in countries w/ high levels of AIDS, the

interviewees

> overwhelmingly understand that they could contract AIDS and what it is.

> Unfortunately, many also believe that they can be healed from it if they

> have sex with a virgin, so babies as young as six months old have been

> raped. Some of the rapists say that they doubt the reality of the myth,

but

> that didn't stop them. But we don't have to go to foreign countries--San

> Francisco is having a resurgence of cases because people (primarily gay

men)

> are having unprotected sex even though they have or recognize that they

> probably will contract AIDS in the process. So the "logic" of rejecting GM

> food just doesn't register--but then, SF may also have a high incidence of

> health food devotees among gay men having unprotected sex. Although if

> Stewart is right, that the government is just hedging future food sales,

or

> that it's because of the overpopulationists, then life in some cultures is

> even less valuable than I had imagined. And that would make the LNT folks

> look even more like people analyzing lint in their navels (IMO, of

course).

>

> Jack Earley

> Radiological Engineer

>

> -----Original Message-----

> From: John Jacobus [mailto:jenday1@msn.com]

> Sent: Tuesday, October 29, 2002 6:50 PM

> To: RADSAFE

> Subject: RE: BBC NEWS | Africa | Famine-hit Zambia rejects GM food aid

>

> Jack and Stewart,

> This is a new twist.  I believe that the original problem was not that the

> grain GM.  The concern was that the farmers would keep some the grain and

> grow it in future years.  Zambia used to be a exporter of grain to other

> countries, including those in Europe that refuse to accept GM grain from

the

> US.  The grain would have been accepted if it was ground into flour for

> baking.

>

> This question of it being "poison" may be a bid for sympathy and dodge the

> question of why the government is not allowing the grain to be

distributed.

>

> I think the analogy to exposure to AIDS as being an acceptable risk is a

bit

> crude.  Particularly in a part of the world that has been overwhelmed by a

> social and medical problem.  I doubt if any one of the victims was aware

of

> what AIDS was or what the results would be.

>

> -- John

>

> John Jacobus, MS

> Certified Health Physicist

> 3050 Traymore Lane

> Bowie, MD 20715-2024

> jenday1@email.msn.com (H)

>

> On Tue, 29 Oct 2002 13:02:56 -0800

> Jack_Earley wrote:

>

> Let's see. As I recall, there are about 1.2M orphans in Zambia due to

AIDS.

> So risky activities are okay if they're known to result in injury, but GM

> food is not okay, because they think it might somehow result in injury.

> Somethin' wrong with this picture.

>

> Jack Earley

> Radiological Engineer

>

> - -----Original Message-----

> From: Stewart Farber [mailto:farbersa@optonline.net]

> Sent: Tuesday, October 29, 2002 1:35 PM

> To: Radsafe

> Subject: BBC NEWS | Africa | Famine-hit Zambia rejects GM food aid

>

> Radsafe:

> For those interested in foolish applications of risk aversion and a

> perverted sense of applying the

> "precautionary principle" to a fear of genetically modified foods [similar

> to radiophobia among many],

> see the link below to Zambia refusing food aid to help millions of its

> citizens facing starvation. As Alf

> once quipped:

> "Dogma, dogma, dog manure"

>

> Once again, politics and fear trumps science and common sense.

>

> Stewart Farber, MS Public Health

>

> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2371675.stm

>

> From the BBC Story:

> Tuesday, 29 October, 2002, 12:36 GMT

> Famine-hit Zambia rejects GM food aid

>

> Some 14 million are at risk of famine across the region

>

> The Zambian Government has finally decided not to accept a donation of

> genetically- modified food for

> nearly three million of its people facing famine.

>

> The decision was taken after the Zambian Government despatched a team of

> scientists around the world to

> study the potential effects of importing GM crops.

>

> The food aid was initially offered by the international community to

Zambia

> and five other Southern

> African countries, but President Levy Mwanawasa referred to the food as

> "poison".

>

> "In view of the current scientific uncertainty surrounding the issue...

> government has decided to base

> its decision not to accept GM foods in Zambia on the precautionary

> principle," Agriculture Minister

> Mundia Sikatana said.

>

> . . .

>

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