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GMO Propaganda and the Sociology of Science
GMO Propaganda and the Sociology of Science
by Kristine Mattis
snip
Research has shown that upstream scientists – such as biotechnologists, agricultural technicians, or any scientists who create technologies – carry far less concern for potential risks than do downstream scientists – such as public health practitioners, epidemiologists, and environmental toxicologists. Where was the voice of the downstream scientist on the Daily Show? I’ve worked with biotechnologists personally who have expressed to me that they do not even consider risk or unintended consequences of GM technology. I also sat in a toxicology class where an upstream scientist said that he and his colleagues could never have imagined the rapid and prolific emergence of superweeds in response to Monsanto’s glyphosate-resistant GM crops (and the copious use of glyphosate). Meanwhile, environmentalists immediately and fully predicted the resultant herbicide-resistant superweeds that these agricultural experts did not.
Jon Stewart’s report on GMOs also noted the recent Pew poll that showed 88% of scientists – represented by members of American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) – believe that GMOs are safe. What neither Stewart nor Pew mentioned is how many of those scientists are well-versed on the issue of GM technology. Though they were launched into the American food supply in the early 1990s, most of the public and scientists alike, specifically scientists with expertise in entirely different fields, knew little to nothing about GMOs prior to 2008. It was that year that the documentary “Food Inc.” introduced Americans to what Europeans and others around the world already knew about GM technology. Indeed, the E.U and other nations had already banned GMOs under the precautionary principle policy, and most European nations now faced with Monsanto’s global market propagation are still choosing to ban the technology.
Perhaps 20% of the scientists in the Pew poll work directly or indirectly on GM technology – either upstream of downstream. But science, like every other industry, is a social structure. For career purposes and in order to maintain ties to the larger community, scientists tend to support other scientists – especially the scientists who have the money and prestige. The scientists with money and prestige are largely upstream scientists. Upstream scientists are not threatened, discredited, defamed, and scrutinized the way downstream scientists are. Downstream scientists have to produce immaculate, indisputably rigorous research – and even when they do they are questioned by the ubiquitous industrial PR machine. Downstream scientists are not a large part of the community.
snip
At the heart of this new rhetoric by Monsanto is the popularity of technology and the status of science in our society. However, science and technology are not equivalent. Science is the systematized study of knowledge, while technology merely applies that knowledge – for good or for ill. Science and technology are all too often conflated both by the public and by scientists themselves. It cannot be overstated that upstream technological scientists are prioritized and favored while downstream toxicologists and the like are continuously monitored and intimidated because they threaten industry. (See Drs. Tyrone Hayes, Ignatio Chapela, and Gilles-Éric Séralini for just a few well-know examples of attacks on downstream scientists.) While downstream science, which may point out frightening truths about risks, can be unpleasant, upstream science is often full of the wonder and excitement of technology. The conflation of science and technology has been exploited by the GMO industry to support the acceptance of their products under the guise of scientific authority.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/10/05/gmo-propaganda-and-the-sociology-of-science/
by Kristine Mattis
snip
Research has shown that upstream scientists – such as biotechnologists, agricultural technicians, or any scientists who create technologies – carry far less concern for potential risks than do downstream scientists – such as public health practitioners, epidemiologists, and environmental toxicologists. Where was the voice of the downstream scientist on the Daily Show? I’ve worked with biotechnologists personally who have expressed to me that they do not even consider risk or unintended consequences of GM technology. I also sat in a toxicology class where an upstream scientist said that he and his colleagues could never have imagined the rapid and prolific emergence of superweeds in response to Monsanto’s glyphosate-resistant GM crops (and the copious use of glyphosate). Meanwhile, environmentalists immediately and fully predicted the resultant herbicide-resistant superweeds that these agricultural experts did not.
Jon Stewart’s report on GMOs also noted the recent Pew poll that showed 88% of scientists – represented by members of American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) – believe that GMOs are safe. What neither Stewart nor Pew mentioned is how many of those scientists are well-versed on the issue of GM technology. Though they were launched into the American food supply in the early 1990s, most of the public and scientists alike, specifically scientists with expertise in entirely different fields, knew little to nothing about GMOs prior to 2008. It was that year that the documentary “Food Inc.” introduced Americans to what Europeans and others around the world already knew about GM technology. Indeed, the E.U and other nations had already banned GMOs under the precautionary principle policy, and most European nations now faced with Monsanto’s global market propagation are still choosing to ban the technology.
Perhaps 20% of the scientists in the Pew poll work directly or indirectly on GM technology – either upstream of downstream. But science, like every other industry, is a social structure. For career purposes and in order to maintain ties to the larger community, scientists tend to support other scientists – especially the scientists who have the money and prestige. The scientists with money and prestige are largely upstream scientists. Upstream scientists are not threatened, discredited, defamed, and scrutinized the way downstream scientists are. Downstream scientists have to produce immaculate, indisputably rigorous research – and even when they do they are questioned by the ubiquitous industrial PR machine. Downstream scientists are not a large part of the community.
snip
At the heart of this new rhetoric by Monsanto is the popularity of technology and the status of science in our society. However, science and technology are not equivalent. Science is the systematized study of knowledge, while technology merely applies that knowledge – for good or for ill. Science and technology are all too often conflated both by the public and by scientists themselves. It cannot be overstated that upstream technological scientists are prioritized and favored while downstream toxicologists and the like are continuously monitored and intimidated because they threaten industry. (See Drs. Tyrone Hayes, Ignatio Chapela, and Gilles-Éric Séralini for just a few well-know examples of attacks on downstream scientists.) While downstream science, which may point out frightening truths about risks, can be unpleasant, upstream science is often full of the wonder and excitement of technology. The conflation of science and technology has been exploited by the GMO industry to support the acceptance of their products under the guise of scientific authority.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/10/05/gmo-propaganda-and-the-sociology-of-science/
38 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
Meanwhile regardless of what they want to claim Seralini's study was about, days after it was released he was promoting it by showing blown up pictures of rat tumors. The site fails to mention the dubious nature of the published conclusions. Very telling that. So regardless of the objective of the study, Seralini himself was aggressively promoting the cancer results which he knew were complete shit. 
Not surprisingly this crank site also fails to mention his toxicology data was also complete shit and not reproduceable. Nor does it mention Seralini's financial connections to the organic industry and homeoquackery.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A9ralini_affair
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Seralini#CRIIGEN
...who believe eating GM food is safe?
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericmack/2015/01/29/the-public-and-science-disagree-on-gmos-climate-evolution-says-science/
Tired of reading this science-bashing bullshit on DU.
GMO fearmongers and anti-vaxx ignoramuses are just as bad as the climate change and evolution deniers.
