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And in this week’s scare, genetically modified fish (as if animal breeding isn’t genetically modifying things … have you ever seen a “normal” chicken with a 9 pound breast!)

“Critics call the modified salmon a “frankenfish” that could cause allergies in humans and the eventual decimation of the wild salmon population. Representatives from consumer, environmental and food safety groups asked the agency to decline the company’s application to market the fish, saying it is untested.”

Read the whole thing. Notice that the FDA is involved and not the EPA. What if I want to eat a Frankenfish? Under what definition of free-markets does some agency (full of unelected bureaucrats) tell me what I can and cannot eat.

Oh, and this is great: “Critics speaking at the meeting said they were concerned about the unintended consequences of approval, arguing the FDA is relying on too little data.”

You cannot make this stuff up. We may give 40 econ lectures on the unintended consequences of planning, green energy subsidies, climate change policies, and told all the while that we are reactionary, hysterical and exaggerating despite the hundreds of years of evidence and sound theory upon which such arguments are put forth. I love that these same critics are now relying on “complex processes” as a caution in intervening. Tell you what, I’ll agree to no modified fish on the grounds that intervening in a complex system may unleash awful, albeit unintended by well meaning planners, results – if we apply this thinking uniformly.

Extra credit for you: Provide the evidence on how many cases of allergies and diseases have there been from genetically modified crops since they first came to market in the early 1980s?

6 Responses to “Fear the Dreaded Frankenfish”

  1. Harry says:

    Last May we found some great guys to farm our fields, after two decades of bush (lierally) operators. Today, we have the whole place planted in Round-Up-Ready soybeans.

    Before any ecofreak jerks his knee, he should know that soybeans, alfalfa, and clover harbor nitrogen-fixing bacteria that not only feed the plants, but enrich the soil.

    The Round-Up kills the rest of the weeds, including both the annuals and the more hardy perennials, like cocklebur. Let’s hear it for Monsanto and genetic engineering!

    The Frankenfood people are the assorted Europeans, who have zany ideas about agriculture and many other subjects too numerous to discuss here.

    All I can tell you is that it is great to walk out and see a field free of weeds. The deer like soybeans better than thistle.

  2. Speedmaster says:

    Yeah, this is one of my fav. recent issues. It’s not as though species have stayed the same over time. Aren’t nature and evolution constantly modifying things over time via hybrids and mutations?

  3. Speedmaster says:

    Genetically Modified Salmon – Frankenfish Health Effects – Esquire
    We humans developed a bad habit of killing too many fish. But it’s their own fault. Aside from being delicious, they’re lazy. Atlantic salmon, for instance — one of the tastiest, fattiest fish — attain full size only after years of maturation. Did I mention they’re delicious?
    http://www.esquire.com/blogs/food-for-men/genetically-modified-salmon-092110

  4. Harry says:

    Great point, Speedmaster.

    I was thinking: how come the progressives get worked up over the unintended consequences of GM salmon, but not over the unintended consequences of a state takeover of GM, with a community organizer at the helm?

  5. Harry says:

    GM and Chrysler sure modified their fins more than any genetic engineer modified salmon fins. Can we say the same thing about electric cars and electric eels?

  6. Lake Ontario has had Mutant Fish for years and years! says:

    Extra credit for you: Provide the evidence on how many cases of allergies and diseases have there been from genetically modified crops since they first came to market in the early 1980s?

    According to the World Health Organization genetically enhanced foods were being sold throughout the 80’s, and yet this information did not reach the public domain until the early 80’s. THEN when consumers freaked out, (did they?), the good old politicians decided to “help” everyone by increasing regulation.

    Now there is a lot wrong with this, but i’ll focus on the this: it seems to me that politicians decided that genetically altered food was dangerous, not science (or demand).
    I am still waiting for everyone that was alive in the 80’s to grow a second head, or for any statistic to suggest that people in the 80’s were somehow affected by these terrible foods that the politicans so righteously saved us from.

    This all reminds me of new meds. We can’t assume the risk ourselves, even if it us our last chance to live, the gov’t needs to approve the drug before we can use it.

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