Penn and Teller with Norman Borlaug on genetically engineered crops. Penn argues that Dr. Borlaug is the greatest human….ever. Borlaug is an agriculture scientist credited with starting the “Green Revolution” (but not the type of “green” you might be thinking of). When he won the Nobel Peace Prize Borlaug was credited with saving over 1 billion lives through his contribution to agriculture biotechnology. I had the fortune of meeting Dr. Borlaug last summer when the 2007 recipient of the World Food Prize was announced (kind of the "Nobel Prize of Agriculture").
Beware: you will feel infinitely less cheery about your trip to the organic market after watching the video.
Beware: you will feel infinitely less cheery about your trip to the organic market after watching the video.
1 comment:
I might not be up on my food production lingo. Is it not possible for plants to be both GM/GE *and* organic? I think of organic as meaning that there are no insecticides or fertilizers. Maybe it means that natural selection (outside of a lab) is the only force at work. In any event, it's possible that Penn and Teller are giving us only half the story, but I tend to think not really. I have never completely understood the raucus over GM crops. They seem to solve some pretty compelling problems.
It's pretty obvious that these crops can do some good: there is certainly nutritional value in this food. On the flip side, have any critics ever empirically shown that there are *any* harmful side effects of these plants?
In any event, I think the last line in the clip is the very best part: "Unless you and your family are starving, you need to SHUT THE F&*K UP."
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