Tobacco doesn't cause cancer by sitting in the field soaking up
sunlight, while certain GE crops are already shown to be causing
ecological damage doing just that. But as for second-hand smoke and all
the rest, we have no argument; there is nobody on the planet who hates
being in the same atmosphere as a lit cigarette as much as I. And there
isn't a workplace I've seen in 8-10 years where anybody lights up. It
has been a wonderful transition, as I remember well the days of being
trapped in airports, and airplanes, shopping malls, restaurants, and my
college cafeteria, as well as being a small child in a family where all
the adults smoked and getting together on holidays was an exercise in
misery for us kids. Now all the smokers are huddled in the front doors
of their work buildings outdoors, so to enter a public building you have
to run a smoke gauntlet. I hold my breath and hope I don't get fumed so
bad that I have to undress on the deck to keep the odor from my home. I
can avoid the company of smokers, and restaurants and bars where smoking
is still allowed. I try to let the propriator know why I shun their
place. Yes we do have no-smoking BARS! I never thought I'd see the day
for that, but it's here. Places of business advertise being smoke-free
as a selling point.
The beautiful thing about this is, we don't have to EITHER oppose being
assaulted by second hand smoke or being trespassed upon by other
chemicals or opposing being the guinea pigs, along with the whole
biosphere, of someone else's genetic contaminant. We can do both!
> As a post script: I contacted the Secretary of Agriculture in the State of
> Georgia and specifically asked if we could require farmers to list the
> ingredients fed to animals for human consumption--specifically hormones,
> steroids, antibiotics and animal by-products. His response was that it was
> an impractical and impossible thing to do.
Well of course this is what is behind the popularity of organic foods.
It is easier (in theory) to let the customer who wants none of the above
to have a choice than enact regulation on anyone not willingly
participating. It was a surprise to many that the "nozzlehead" industry
exposed their real face by trying and continuing to try to make sure
that nobody can advertise that none of the above are used. It made them
look real bad and I believe will ultimately blow up in their faces
because it really made people mad. It seems that the public thinks it
is allowed to make personal choices based not only on "science" but on
all kinds of grounds outside the extraordinarily limited realm of risk
assessment. And I wouldn't want to be the politico who tells the public
otherwise.
LM
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