Subject: Re: Info request
From: [email-masked] (Aaron Harp)
Date: 19 May 1994 16:01:31 -0400
Newsgroups: alt.sustainable.agriculture

In watching the CBS "48 Hours" last night, I thought the rBST segment  
presented the various dimensions of the issue better than any of the 
other segments. The story was built around the conflict between 
Monsanto and a dairy/processor in Texas, and this provided a much 
more responsible foundation for educating a public on this issue than 
testing the market basket of four families for pesticides, then having the 
environmental "expert" say the results were "bad" while the cancer 
"expert" said they were irrelevant. With the need for education on 
issues such as these at such a critical juncture, I think CBS did no one 
any favors with this whole report. There seem to be much better ways 
to cover issues such as these. Yet, once again, large issues of choice, 
public participation, social impact etc. were reduced to a tabloid-level 
images of children at risk. I do not mean to diminish the issue of 
children and risk, but when "public opinion" is as fickle as it is here in 
the U.S of A., a few shallow discussions in the major media can make 
an educational moment evaporate. Maybe next time....
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Aaron J. Harp
Extension Rural Sociologist
Department of Ag. Econ.           
University of Idaho
Moscow  ID  83844-2334
[email-masked]
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