Saturday, November 12, 2005

The power of Bushco compels you

The "good and evil" framing by the Bush administration takes a step toward the truly absurd:
In his comments, (U.S. Ambassador Francis) Rooney said Washington was committed to providing food aid to feed the world's hungry. But he said the advance of agricultural science could help people in "even the most difficult environments" produce crops to feed themselves.

"We look to the Holy See to help the world recognize the moral imperative of a true investigation of these technologies," he said.
Note how nothing in the discussion speaks to a moral imperative to actually end hunger. Instead, in the U.S.' view, it's morally wrong to seek to end hunger through means other than those which would benefit its biotechnology companies.

There's probably something to the argument that GMOs shouldn't be rejected entirely if due protections are in place. But there are also legitimate concerns about them, particularly where they're designed to both overtake existing crops and force farmers into a cycle of dependence on the supplier. And there's certainly no moral imperative to push forward with GMOs without reasonable answers to those concerns - no matter how infallible both Bush and the Pope are seen to be by their supporters.

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