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Re: Gene Tinkering: YOU Are The Mice And They Don't Want You to Know
In Article <VA.00000038.0073d434@wrcs.u-net.com>, William R Hite
<wrhite@cix.compulink.co.uk> wrote:
>In article <aquilla.1193305560B@news.erols.com> on Mon, 16 Sep 96 23:52:00 GMT
>aquilla@erols.com (Tracy Aquilla) wrote:
>> Also interesting is the author's background. John Fagan was a successful
>> scientist at the pinnacle of an impressive career, when he returned over
>> $600,000 in grant money to NIH, abandoned his Western beliefs, and gave up
>> science to delve into the art of Ayurvedic Medicine.
>
>Not true. Please provide any evidence you have as to John Fagan's
>motives? What you say is directly contradicting the evidence he gives
>in his own book about his own motives and past and future aims in life.
Fagan's book is as good a place to start as any. He's also been all over the
headlines over the past year. A search in any library should turn up dozens
or articles.
>> My point is not to
>> attack the author's personal philosophy, but rather to point out that his is
>> the viewpoint of a highly biased extremist who rejects the most basic
>> concepts embraced by scientists.
>
>You sound like a mugger who says "I did not mean to hurt the old lady".
>This <was> an ad hominem attack and as such has no place in a .sci
>discussion. It is clearly a false statement as it stands because
>Fagan, even by your own description, is a scientist.
The point was to inform those who would not follow up on the topic
themselves of my personal opinion that the author is highly biased. His
religious or spiritual beliefs are his own business, but it's relevant to
the discussion nonetheless.
>Now scientists of a similar calibre are modifying the genetic
>makeup of <self replicating>, <free standing>, <living organisms> which
>form the basis of our food supply. Not only do these organisms provide
>our food but they also <compete with humans>, and <every other living
>organism> for living space on this planet.
Are you really unaware that humans have been doing exactly this for
thousands of years? If scientists (and farmers, before there were
scientists) hadn't been "modifying the genetic makeup of <self replicating>,
<free standing>, <living organisms> which form the basis of our food supply"
for the last 10,000 years, we wouldn't have many of the foods we depend on
today. Before man began manipulating plants and animals through selective
breeding, food crops were non-existent, and what was available had very
marginal utility.
References: