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by
Mickey Z.
June
21, 2003
"Science is always wrong; it never solves a problem without
creating ten more."
--
George Bernard Shaw
The
June 20, 2003 New York Times offered readers a prime illustration of how those
in power manipulate "science" to their needs. In an editorial entitled,
"Censorship on Global Warming," the Times chastised the Bush administration
for displaying "ostrichlike behavior," vis-à-vis the dangers of
global warming and possible human contributions to climate changes. Lamenting
the "heavy-handed censorship" of an Environmental Protection Agency
draft report on global warming. The Bush administration, says the Times,
"seems determined to bury its head in the sand and hope the problem will
go away."
"A
long section on the risks posed by rising global temperatures was reduced to a
noncommittal paragraph," says the editorial. While such outrage is warranted,
it's hardly credible when it comes from a corporate media outlet partially
funded by petroleum and auto industry ad dollars...an outlet never shy about
promoting a predatory corporate agenda.
That
same edition of the Times contained an article ("Talks Collapse on U.S. Efforts
to Open Europe to Biotech Food") in which reporter David Leonhardt detailed
talks between the U.S. and EU over "opening up Europe to genetically
modified (GM) foods."
The
Bush administration, fresh off ignoring the existing science on global warming,
declared Europe's GM food policy ignores the fact that scientific research had
shown "genetically altered crops to be safe." Hardly the radical
sort, European officials do allow the use of some genetically modified foods,
like soybeans, and merely view the long-term effects of altered food to be
"uncertain."
Here's
where the newspaper of record weighs in...big time.
"Genetically
modified food - which can grow more quickly than traditional crops and can be
resistant to insects - has caused scant controversy in the United States, where
people eat it every day," writes Leonhardt. So what's different in Europe?
Leonhardt explains that the environmental movement is "more powerful"
there (ah, it's the Luddite tree-huggers again).
Leonhardt's
ostrichlike behavior does not stop there. "Scientific research has
generally shown that genetically modified foods do not cause health problems,"
he writes before quoting Don Lipton, a spokesman for the American Farm Bureau
Federation.
"Countries
shouldn't be able to erect barriers for nonscientific reasons," says
Lipton. "That's a very important principle in international trade."
Pushing
his head ever further into the sand, Leonhardt also evokes the ever-useful
"America as hero" tactic: "In a speech last month, President Bush
(sic) escalated the dispute by saying that Europe's policy was undermining
efforts to fight hunger in Africa." Bush's scriptwriters explain:
"European governments should join, not hinder, the great cause of ending
hunger in Africa."
Africa
swoons from the irony, Europe cringes at yet-another public dispute with The
World's Only Superpower(tm), and here in the U.S., we chow down on GM food,
secure in the knowledge that our un-elected leaders have that whole global
warming thing under control.
If
there were an ostrich in the room, I'd apologize...
Mickey Z. is the author
of The Murdering of My Years: Artists and Activists Making Ends Meet (www.murderingofmyyears.com) and
an editor at Wide Angle (www.wideangleny.com).
He can be reached at: mzx2@earthlink.net.