The following letter appears in todays Irish Times. The author, Profesor
Tom Raftery, is one of those scientists who believe that if you don't
welcome all scientific breakthroughs with unquestioning optimism you are a
"flat earther".
Professor Rafterys favourite tactic when writing to newspapers is to
dismiss environmentalists, sust-ag practitioners and others who disagree
with his "progressive" point of view as luddites and anti-scientific. He is
great on dismissive rhetoric, but short on facts to back up his position.
The background to the story can be found at the following addresses.
http://www.irish-times.com/irish-times/paper/1998/0211/hom12.html
http://www.irish-times.com/irish-times/paper/1998/0211/hom13.html
http://www.irish-times.com/irish-times/paper/1998/0211/edi2.html
Heres the full letter from Prof Raftery,
DARINA ALLEN ON FOOD SAFETY
Sir, - I read with some amazement Darina Allen's comments on
genetically altered sugar beet and your very unbalanced
Editorial
on the same topic in your issue of February 11th.
This is not the first time the country's most successful cookery
writer has promoted organic farming and criticised conventional
farming since becoming a member of the Food Safety Authority.
Her comments and your Editorial give rise to a few very
relevant questions:
Is it appropriate for Ms Allen to use her status as a member of
Food Safety Authority of Ireland to promote her vested interest
in organic foods by making such unsubstantiated comments in
the media?
Is she expressing her own opinions or the views of the board?
If she has some information on the benefits of organically
produced food over conventionally produced food which bodies
like the WHO, FDA and regulatory authorities world-wide as
well as professionals in the field like myself do not have,
perhaps
she could let us have it. Otherwise she might be good enough to
stop scaring people and damaging even further their confidence
in food.
She claims that not enough is known about genetically altered
food, while at the same time condemning the field trials
being run
to get this information. Does she really want to stop all
genetic
research?
Finally, I am very disappointed by the unbalanced manner is
which your paper dealt with this subject. The views of
professionals, particularly in the fields of molecular
biology, were
not aired. Likewise, the huge benefits, particularly in the
medical
field, as well as the potential benefits arising from genetic
manipulation were ignored. Diabetics, haemophiliacs and many
others have reason to be grateful for the work on genetic
engineering, work that was roundly condemned by the
scaremongering tabloids at the time.
Please do not allow The Irish Times to go down that road. -
Yours, etc.,
TOM RAFTERY, Department of Nutrition, University
College, Cork.
I'm sure there are a number of saneters out there who can take Prof Raftery
to task on his statements, and provide the scientific backup to the
benefits of Organic foods.
If you can provide a short factual rebuttal to any aspect of Professor
Rafterys letter please e-mail it to
lettersed@irish-times.ie
Check out the letters page on their web site first to see the style of
letters that they tend to publish.
The statement that is most in need of rebuttal (IMHO) is the following --
"If she has some information on the benefits of organically
produced food over conventionally produced food which bodies
like the WHO, FDA and regulatory authorities world-wide as
well as professionals in the field like myself do not have,
perhaps
she could let us have it.
Anybody like to take up that challenge?
When writing to the IT, please provide a contact telephone number for them
to verify your identity. References to published material is also
recommended.
Professor Rafterys standard tactic is to pretend that this debate boils
down to scientists vs tree-huggers. A rebuttal of his position by a
scientist would be most welcome.
Many thanks for your time,
Stan Nangle
Campaigning to keep Ireland GE free!
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