Russell Standish wrote:
> > *>There is also the possibility of wholesale ecosystem collapse, notjust > some birds. Do you know that these mosquitos _aren't_ a keystonespecies?* I don't know anything for certain about the environment and never will but I have a strong hunch the 40 mosquito species that carry malaria going extinct and leaving just 3460 mosquito species around would not be the equivalent to the Chicxulub Event that occured 66 million years ago. However I do know for certain that for 725,000 people each and every year NOT using Gene Drive WILL be the equivalent to the Chicxulub Event . > > *> I'm not saying they are, but until ecological studies are done, we > don't know.* Such ecological studies will never ever be done, there will always be one more study that needs to be completed before we can make a decision. Always. Meanwhile as we do nothing 725,000 people die each and every year. > *I don't think you have considered _all_ the facts* > Well of course I haven't! In the physical world decisions are never based on perfect information so we must use judgement. It is my judgement that 725,000 human deaths per year is a greater evil than 40 out of 3500 mosquito species going extinct. What is your judgement? >>There will never be a day when the ESP fans will say " I'm seen enough >> well conducted studies with negative results to convince me that ESP is not >> worth pursuing further and we should move on to studying something new with >> more potential to find something interesting". Environmentalists and ESP >> fans will ALWAYS demand just one more study before moving on. > > > > * >By ESP - do you mean extrasensory perception and similar psychic woo?* Yes. And flying saucer men in Roswell New Mexico. > > > *The decision properly should be taken by regulatory agencies, preferably > an international one under (say) the auspices of the UN* The most important thing for an employee of one of those regulatory agencies is to cover your ass, and for reasons I don't understand people will blame them for making a decision that results in one person getting sick but they will not blame them for killing 725,000 people a year by not acting. So if you're a bureaucrat the wisest thing to do is ask for yet another study and do nothing. Actually I'm underestimating the political and bureaucratic inertia of regulatory agencies. There is not a single well documented case of genetically modified food even making somebody sick much less killing then, and yet millions, perhaps billions, of people have the superstition that id something has been genetically modified then it must be satanic. Rice is the staple food for half of the human race but unfortunately it contains no vitamin A and that deficiency causes 670,000 people to die every year and made half a million children go blind every year. However there is a strain of rice that does contain vitamin A called "Golden Rice" that was developed more than a decade ago but regulatory agencies are dragging their feet on allowing it because it was made with genetic engineering. Just a few months ago it was finally approved in the USA but it isn't needed there, is still banned in the places where it's needed most, a small experimental plot of Golden Rice in the Philippines was destroyed by protestors 5 years ago and Bangladesh is still thinking about it. Meanwhile 670,000 people die every year and made half a million children go blind. > > *Of course there is no such thing as a zero risk decision, but all we ask > is that the decision is taken on the best scientific knowledge,* For decades the best scientific knowledge has been that eating genetically modified food is not risky but NOT eating genetically modified food is very risky indeed. And yet we do nothing and people continue to die. And now it looks like the same thing is going to happen with Gene Drive. > > > *Of course, everyone has an input into the makeup of the regulatory > agencies, including the likes of Greenpeace, and Donald Trump.* That's the problem, those with the loudest voice have the most influence regardless of how stupid they are. Greenpeace claims to be super moral but they oppose all forms of genetic engineering despite the millions of deaths that opposition has caused, and Donald Trump in his ignorance has shamefully advanced the fiction that vaccinations cause autism. And I can't think of anything that has reduced the net amount of human misery more than vaccination. John K Clark -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
