So, if there's not a law against it, it's all right to do- Let's see, slavery was legal, dumping sewage and chemicals anywhere was legal, burning witches... I'm saying that laws (we've got the best lawmakers money can buy) and regulations, money and profit, should not be our guiding principles.
The "approved" GMO seeds are safe? Please read about cross-pollination and gene transfer (Monsanto itself has admitted this). All sorts of chemicals and pharmaceuticals have been approved- (DDT & Thalidomide come to mind) without the knowledge of the long term effects. My point is that the companies which are doing this don't care about what happens, how
it affects the environment, social structures, economics of others, or the ability for us to continue on this planet. If it's profitable, do it is the only guide.
_Sanctified by law_? Law is now sacred? So anything that is legal is sacred- I refer you to slavery, apartheid, lynching... Jesus was executed according to the law. So was Joan of Arc and many others. My point is that law can be perverted and bent to any purpose. Many horrible things have been done in the name of the law- both secular and religious.
If we follow your reasoning that anything is OK to do until there is a law against it, we might wind up where we are today. And your inference that GMOs have been proven safe is unfounded. The companies doing this have falsified test data, edited results and launched a world wide effort to suppress any scientific studies which point to their problems.
They have also worked to discredit those scientists who speak out.
Now, why do we have laws? Is it to keep all the moral and good people from going astray and wreaking havoc? If we had a society made up of people who didn't try to harm or take advantage of other people, would we need laws? Laws are made when someone does something to harm or take advantage of others and are an attempt to address this. I never said that
I was against any company or making money (participating in trade). I object when someone destroys to make money. I am very much against those who are guided only by making more money and don't look at the consequences of their actions. (Or do and do it anyway.)
I'm glad that you agree that dumping pesticides in streams is illegal. Will you agree that it's immoral since it sickens and kills other life forms, including humans? I will remind you that the same companies that are doing the genetic engineering are some of the same ones who caused the anti-pollution laws to be written. They dumped deadly chemicals
chemicals in streams and pits for years before the laws. And some continued after and even do it today. They continued to dump even after they knew the results of their actions because the alternatives were too expensive (would cut into the Almighty Profits). I conclude from this that they will work, legally and illegally, to get any profitable product
on the market- regardless of the consequences to others.
I don't believe that companies are made up of evil people. They're just misguided in the belief that what they do 9-5 has no moral consequences, it's just business. And business is about making money. So, if it makes money, do it, if it doesn't find something that does. This leads to a money based morality that brings us to our current state of culture.
My point has always been that there is no morality behind these kinds of decisions, leading to all the laws that have become necessary.
So, laws aren't sacred- far from it. They're attempts at putting reins on those who would harm individuals and societies, at best. At worst, they can be used by those who concentrate power and wealth to serve their own needs. It's happened many times throughout history, and is happening now right here.
And, as you said _condemning companies for serving their customers -- and trying to make money, too -- doesn't make sense to me_ The companies are not trying to serve farmers, they're trying to make money by making farmers dependent on them for their livelihoods (trying to concentrate wealth in their own pockets). What they've done all along has been
destructive to soils, agriculture, farmers, water, air, other species... If someone doesn't speak out, where would we be. Ghandi spoke out, as did Martin Luther King, Jesus of Nazareth, Baha'u'llah and many others. Some were killed, others tortured, still, others imprisoned by law. Throughout history, individuals have been chided and punished by others
and by laws.
Perhaps Rebecca and I should be taken out and flogged or hung for saying that the emperor has no clothes on. Or better yet, why don't we pass a law that makes it illegal for us to speak out against certain things. Yeah! some anti-disparagement laws. Dang, Am I too late on this one?
Alex
Bob MacGregor wrote:
> Alex,
> We have laws -- and a constitution -- that lay out the rights of citizens and the rules for allowable behaviour. Dumping pesticides in streams and slavery aren't legal; selling approved GMO seeds is.
> Rebecca's and your comments reflect a _belief_ that GMO's are bad and that selling them is, therefore, immoral. That viewpoint hasn't been proven to be true and has not been sanctified by laws and regulations yet; until such time as it is, condemning companies for serving their customers -- and trying to make money, too -- doesn't make sense to me.
>
> BOB
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