Comments on: rBST follow-up: Get real, ALL of you! http://downtoearthblog.com/foodproduction/rbst-follow-up-get-real-all-of-you/archives/145 Facts, opinions and reflections on being a techno-geek granolarancher Mom Thu, 11 Mar 2010 19:29:15 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.2 By: gloria http://downtoearthblog.com/foodproduction/rbst-follow-up-get-real-all-of-you/archives/145#comment-1525 gloria Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:06:55 +0000 http://downtoearthblog.com/foodproduction/rbst-follow-up-get-real-all-of-you/archives/145#comment-1525 Suzannabanana, I would argue that what has been killing most Americans is obesity from bad eating habits, shaped by the marketing machines of food companies. Those working to fight obesity promote this awareness, and one of the outcomes is a growing wholesale mistrust of industrialized food production, from lab to field to factory to supermarket. And so we have to continue debating and arguing, pulling and pushing, to get the facts out. Suzannabanana, I would argue that what has been killing most Americans is obesity from bad eating habits, shaped by the marketing machines of food companies. Those working to fight obesity promote this awareness, and one of the outcomes is a growing wholesale mistrust of industrialized food production, from lab to field to factory to supermarket. And so we have to continue debating and arguing, pulling and pushing, to get the facts out.

]]> By: Jennifer http://downtoearthblog.com/foodproduction/rbst-follow-up-get-real-all-of-you/archives/145#comment-1524 Jennifer Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:52:05 +0000 http://downtoearthblog.com/foodproduction/rbst-follow-up-get-real-all-of-you/archives/145#comment-1524 Bill has sited one of the main problems. Little of what is driving today's "green" movement is based on reason or fact. I'm from CA and hell I started environmental clubs in high school but I am totally apalled by what today's modern "envionmental" movement has morphed into. I completely agree with the likes of Stewart Brand and Patrick Moore that the environmental greens need to take a step back and be more pragmatic rather than the direction they are going now. What's driving a lot of environmentalism now is misinformation and hysteria. That's never a good combination. The rBST controversy has been an apalling lesson in this where the misinformation and hysteria is winning out over scientific fact. I've researched the subject myself quite a bit because the tactics used to demonize rBST very much parallels the tactics used to demonize the use of cloning in agriculture. The most keystone components to the strategy is to de-humanize the companies involved with the agricultural technology, take scientific study points out of context and then spin it all to play to the current zeitgeist of anything processed and industrial is inherently bad and anything close to nature is inherently good and more ethical. And of course the "big" guys are evil and the "little" guys are the angels. I am really really dismayed by the consistently bad rap that conventional ag is getting. This is why you are finding "conventional" producers so quick to be defensive Sara, they're constantly under attack. Are there areas for improvement, yes....is conventional ag the wasteland of moral bankruptcy that the green organics would have us believe?, not in my first hand experience. Thanks for posting this Sara. It's nice to see someone able to see the forest through the trees. Bill has sited one of the main problems. Little of what is driving today’s “green” movement is based on reason or fact.

I’m from CA and hell I started environmental clubs in high school but I am totally apalled by what today’s modern “envionmental” movement has morphed into.

I completely agree with the likes of Stewart Brand and Patrick Moore that the environmental greens need to take a step back and be more pragmatic rather than the direction they are going now. What’s driving a lot of environmentalism now is misinformation and hysteria. That’s never a good combination.

The rBST controversy has been an apalling lesson in this where the misinformation and hysteria is winning out over scientific fact. I’ve researched the subject myself quite a bit because the tactics used to demonize rBST very much parallels the tactics used to demonize the use of cloning in agriculture.

The most keystone components to the strategy is to de-humanize the companies involved with the agricultural technology, take scientific study points out of context and then spin it all to play to the current zeitgeist of anything processed and industrial is inherently bad and anything close to nature is inherently good and more ethical. And of course the “big” guys are evil and the “little” guys are the angels.

I am really really dismayed by the consistently bad rap that conventional ag is getting. This is why you are finding “conventional” producers so quick to be defensive Sara, they’re constantly under attack. Are there areas for improvement, yes….is conventional ag the wasteland of moral bankruptcy that the green organics would have us believe?, not in my first hand experience.

Thanks for posting this Sara. It’s nice to see someone able to see the forest through the trees.

]]> By: suzannabanana23 http://downtoearthblog.com/foodproduction/rbst-follow-up-get-real-all-of-you/archives/145#comment-1522 suzannabanana23 Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:31:18 +0000 http://downtoearthblog.com/foodproduction/rbst-follow-up-get-real-all-of-you/archives/145#comment-1522 Really, the entire process is very disenheartening. The very people who should be promoting responsible technological advancements in agriculture -- chefs and foodies -- decry any advance and try to pull the process back to the 19th century. We are all so remote from where food comes from that we don't understand the importance -- and the safety -- of the advances. What's killed the most Americans in recent years? Not pesticides, not fertilizers, not rBST (fer chrissakes) but -- HELLO -- e coli from organically grown produce. Anyway -- I had lunch recently with someone I really respect. She said "I'm detoxifying my body be eating exclusively organic foods." I just had to bite my tongue. The misconceptions are really ingrained, very ignorant, and, in fact, dangerous to the safer and more abundant food supply necessary to feed a growing world. Really, the entire process is very disenheartening. The very people who should be promoting responsible technological advancements in agriculture — chefs and foodies — decry any advance and try to pull the process back to the 19th century. We are all so remote from where food comes from that we don’t understand the importance — and the safety — of the advances. What’s killed the most Americans in recent years? Not pesticides, not fertilizers, not rBST (fer chrissakes) but — HELLO — e coli from organically grown produce.

Anyway — I had lunch recently with someone I really respect. She said “I’m detoxifying my body be eating exclusively organic foods.” I just had to bite my tongue. The misconceptions are really ingrained, very ignorant, and, in fact, dangerous to the safer and more abundant food supply necessary to feed a growing world.

]]> By: Bill Harshaw http://downtoearthblog.com/foodproduction/rbst-follow-up-get-real-all-of-you/archives/145#comment-1517 Bill Harshaw Tue, 26 Aug 2008 19:35:20 +0000 http://downtoearthblog.com/foodproduction/rbst-follow-up-get-real-all-of-you/archives/145#comment-1517 The voice of reason is of little weight in disputes of the appetite. (Gosh, I sound pompous.) What we eat is just too deeply linked to who we are and what we are. Remember when the French didn't support Bush on Iraq, they renamed the french fries on Capitol Hill to be "freedom fries". IMHO The voice of reason is of little weight in disputes of the appetite. (Gosh, I sound pompous.) What we eat is just too deeply linked to who we are and what we are. Remember when the French didn’t support Bush on Iraq, they renamed the french fries on Capitol Hill to be “freedom fries”. IMHO

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