{"id":2324,"date":"2014-08-02T23:37:40","date_gmt":"2014-08-03T03:37:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.okraparadisefarms.com\/blog\/?p=2324"},"modified":"2014-08-03T08:51:24","modified_gmt":"2014-08-03T12:51:24","slug":"n-deg-tyson-falls-for-the-misuse-of-the-authority-of-science-that-he-decried-in-cosmos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.okraparadisefarms.com\/blog\/2014\/08\/n-deg-tyson-falls-for-the-misuse-of-the-authority-of-science-that-he-decried-in-cosmos.html","title":{"rendered":"N.deG. Tyson falls for the misuse of the authority of science that he decried in Cosmos"},"content":{"rendered":"

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nIn his recent misstatements about GMO foods,\r\nNeil deGrasse Tyson has fallen for what he called the misuse of the\r\nauthority of science, in\r\n\r\nEpisode 7 of Cosmos, the Clean Room<\/a>, which recounted Clair\r\nPatterson’s discovery of lead pollution by leaded gasoline.\r\nThat use of lead had been promoted and defended\r\nby Robert E. Kehoe’s “scientific” papers.\r\n

\r\nThe\r\n\r\nscript Tyson read<\/a> (but did not write) said:\r\n\r\n\r\n

\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nThis was one of the first times that the authority of science was\r\nused to cloak a threat to public health and the environment. Robert\r\nKehoe, a young doctor from Cincinnati, was hired by GM. He raised\r\nscientific doubts in the public mind about the dangers of lead. Lead\r\nwas naturally occurring in the environment, he said. Yes, there\r\nmight be occupational hazards for the people who worked with lead,\r\nbut that could be best handled by industry self-regulation. And\r\nthere was no evidence to suggest that lead posed any threat to the\r\nconsumer. For decades no one challenged him Until Clair Patterson\r\nwent searching for the age of the earth.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nIn the\r\n\r\nSecret History of Lead<\/a>, Jamie Lincoln Kitman remarks:\r\n

\r\n

\r\n“The leaded gas adventurers have profitably polluted the world on a\r\ngrand scale and, in the process, have provided a model for the\r\nasbestos, tobacco, pesticide and nuclear power industries, and other\r\ntwentieth-century corporate bad actors, for evading clear evidence\r\nthat their products are harmful by hiding behind the mantle of\r\nscientific uncertainty.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nIn case you missed it, in this\r\n\r\nyoutube video<\/a>,\r\nTyson was asked what he thought about transgenetic foods, or GMOs.\r\nHe didn’t actually answer the question, digressing about\r\nselective breeding, which isn’t the same as inserting a toxic\r\ngene from a bacterium into foods so they produce a pesticide.\r\n

\r\nThis goes beyond the basic problem many people have of\r\nfocussing on GMOs alone, while ignoring that their most\r\nmassive use is in seed monopolies by Monsanto, Dupont,\r\nand a handful of other companies.\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nThose seeds are grown\r\nwith massive pesticide spraying\r\nthat pollutes the ground, poisons our water, and\r\n\r\nbreeds mutant weeds that more spraying doesn’t solve<\/a>.\r\nSome of those pesticides remained in\r\n\r\nall urine samples tested by a German study<\/a>\r\nand in\r\n\r\nthe urine of school children according to a Canadian study using USDA data<\/a>,\r\nfrom Kansas to Manhattan, where\r\n\r\nTyson works<\/a>.\r\n

\r\nUnlike many commentators\r\n\r\n(example)<\/a>,\r\nI don’t think Tyson is lying.\r\nI think he is simply out of his element as an astrophysicist\r\nand doesn’t know the context.\r\n

\r\nFor example,\r\nhe probably doesn’t know that \r\nMonsanto was convicted of lying<\/a>\r\nby the French Supreme Court for falsely advertising that Roundup was\r\n“biodegradable” and “left the soil clean”.\r\nHe probably doesn’t know Monsanto lost an appeal and\r\nwas\r\n\r\nreconvicted of poisoning<\/a>, again in France, with its Lasso weedkiller.\r\n

\r\nTyson stands on a mighty bully pulpit.\r\nHe needs to get his science straight.\r\nAnd he needs to understand what French farmer Paul Fran\u00e7ois\r\nsaid about his lawsuit for nerve damage due to inhaling Lasso:\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\n

\r\n“Farmers need to understand that those who speak for them\r\nare businessmen who defend other interests, very lucrative for the\r\nbusinessmen, who do not care about farmers\u2019 health or the health of\r\nthose around us.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nTyson should understand that, after he narrated Episode 7 of Cosmos, which concluded:\r\n

\r\n

\r\n“Today, scientists sound the alarm on other environmental\r\ndangers. Vested interests still hire their own scientists to confuse\r\nthe issue. But in the end, nature will not be fooled.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nTyson narrated that episode ending over a picture of a rotating Earth,\r\napparently alluding to climate change.\r\nMaybe he’s not aware Monsanto last year spent $1.1 billion\r\nto buy The Climate Corporation<\/a>, which provides\r\nweather data for crop insurance, and actually sells crop insurance,\r\nenabling Monsanto to profit off of climate change.\r\nMonsanto sees increased droughts in climate change as\r\n\r\nan opportunity<\/a> for profit.\r\nPlus of course\r\n\r\nMonsanto-seed corn for ethanol<\/a>.\r\nAnd Monsanto\r\n\r\n\r\na few days ago joined<\/a>\r\na\r\n\r\nWhite House roundtable on climate change<\/a>.\r\n

\r\n<\/a>\r\nWe need Tyson to counter Monsanto’s misuse of the authority of science\r\n“to cloak a threat to public health and the environment”.\r\nScience up, Tyson!\r\n

\r\nAnd maybe Tyson would like to sign this petition to\r\n\r\nCharge Monsanto with Crimes Against Humanity<\/a>.\r\n

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