"Let them eat organic shortbread"

Yesterday, I posted an item taking the Prince of Wales to task for his ignorant attack on biotech crops in the Daily Telegraph. The above headline is taken from a superb op/ed in the Financial Times on the subject: 

Now [the Prince] has launched a passionate attack on modern farming. He sees no need for greater world agricultural production, thinks big companies have caused serious damage to farming and genetic modification has been a disaster. The prince is mistaken on all counts. …

GM crops already allow greater yields with less water, less energy and with fewer chemicals. They will not, on their own, solve the world food shortage but they are already raising productivity growth. New strains of salt-resistant, drought-proof crops will allow us to farm poorer-quality land effectively.

In addition, an article in the Financial Times reports that Phil Willis, the chairman of the House of Commons' science committee…

said the use of science in farming had helped feed billions of people. "His lack of scientific understanding and his willingness to condemn millions of people to starvation in areas like sub-Saharan Africa is absolutely bewildering." 

Bewildering indeed.

The whole FT op/ed is worth reading here. 

Comments

[Warren]

"His lack of scientific understanding and his willingness to condemn millions of people to starvation in areas like sub-Saharan Africa is absolutely bewildering."

Contemptible is the word I'd use.

[Bingo]

We need to subsidize Whole Foods so they can expand in Sub-Saharan Africa and get the Africans the nutrition they need!

[ed]

The Prince of Wales, Michael Moore and Al Gore are having lunch...

That's all.

[Episiarch]

Chuckles has shown a surprising level of stupidity. It's not that royals aren't stupid, it's that their staff works overtime to prevent people from seeing it. If we're seeing this much, how much is being hidden?

[The Extispicator]

Epi -
I guess it's getting harder and harder to find good help these days.

[Elemenope]

Diana, thank you very fucking much for creating the notion that the British monarchs may only remain relevant by being crass public populists.

I'd appreciate if the monarchy would just die already.

[SugarFree]

His lack of scientific understanding and his willingness to condemn millions of people to starvation in areas like sub-Saharan Africa is absolutely bewildering.

I'm not bewildered or surprised. Overpopulation fear has been a component of the environmentalist movement for a long time, and Malthus one of their patron saints. Of course all environmentalist aren't advocates of genocide, but there is a nasty little undercurrent of it that most won't admit, and many actively deny.

[Warty]

Did anybody else ever read Freddy and Fredericka by Mark Helprin? The idea of an idealized Price Charles never stopped cracking me up.

[Marcvs]

What do you expect from a bunch of inbred morons? The English need to end that welfare program.

[Jeff P]

In all honesty, did anyone actually expect scientific accuracy, or even a basic understanding, by a member of British Royalty? They uphold the primacy of their bloodline, defend a fake church, and have demonstrated impressive levels of idiocy over the years. The best news is that they are now so irrelevant that they can be mocked by their own press without having the power to behead the offenders.

[R C Dean]

They will not, on their own, solve the world food shortage

What world foor shortage?

I thought there was enough food, globally, but local shortages caused mainly by local corruption, violence, idiocy, etc.

[&]

No environmentalist's agitation for mass death, especially among the poor and dusky hued, is "bewildering." Their ideology is thinly repackaged (in hemp) Progressive eugenics.

[PR]

he only feels that way because he's in no danger of starving. if banning GM meant he had eaten his last meal, he wouldn't have opened his inbred piehole.

[Citizen Nothing]

I agree with those who believe this is well-meaning idiocy instead of intentional malevolence. And that's too bad. Malevolence would be easier to fight.

[John]

I don't know why you guys are picking on the poor guy. He is just pointing out humanities addiction to environmentally harmful food. When are people going to realize that the sollution to starvation is not growing more food. We alternative sollutions. We cannot grow our way out of the problem.

[LA Resident]

We need to subsidize Whole Foods so they can expand in Sub-Saharan Africa and get the Africans the nutrition they need!

If we ban the fast-food restaurants from the region, Whole Foods will certainly be interested in expanding there.

[John]

The last thing we should do is export our irresponsibly priced food to Africa and make things worse by creating an obesity problem.

[T]

If we ban the fast-food restaurants from the region, Whole Foods will certainly be interested in expanding there.

I thought we wanted locally owned independent businesses, not corporate franchises?

[Elemenope]

No environmentalist's agitation for mass death, especially among the poor and dusky hued, is "bewildering." Their ideology is thinly repackaged (in hemp) Progressive eugenics.

Is that you, SIV?

It must be great to paste horns on all your adversaries.

[kevin]

It would almost seem that prince charles has not performed the requisite meta-analysis of the available data. This is a most uncharacteristic mistake for such an accomplished scientist.

[Travis]

GM foods might cause cancer or make you grow a third nipple. Starving a few billion people to death is a small price to pay.

[T]

make you grow a third nipple

I've got one. Really, they're overrated. Eat the tomatoes.

[Crusty British Aristocrat]

I say sir! GM foods could spell the doom of meat pies and fish and chips! Hrumph!

[SugarFree]

"No doubt your supernumerary nipple made you a prior in your childhood village of... Japananowa."

[Naga Sadow]

If I recall my Bond films correctly, a third nipple is a sign of great virility. Good luck with that T.

[zach]

There was a very good article about GM food in Slate a week or so ago.

[Daniel Reeves]

I agree with those who believe this is well-meaning idiocy instead of intentional malevolence.

Ignorance is never well-meant.

[John]

The Left at its heart always seems to be about killing people. Take this William Saleton quote about the need to kill old people

"We'd see that argument as rewarding and compounding inequality. Why not look at age the same way? Isn't health, like wealth, an unequally distributed asset? Isn't it, in fact, the ultimate asset? And if that's the case, should we means-test people on Medicare not just for wealth, but for age?

Actually, means testing is the wrong term. Age isn't really a means; it's more like an end. So let's call it an ends test. The theory is that just as some people have enough money, others have had enough time."

http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/humannature/default.aspx

[Trooper Thompson]

Irrespective of the validity of hereditary monarchy (or otherwise) what Charles said about GM food is totally right.

If you support Monsanto, you're supporting the most disgusting monopoly men in the world.

[R C Dean]

If you support Monsanto, you're supporting the most disgusting monopoly men in the world.

Damn them, for developing and distributing crop technology that feeds people and reduces the environmental impact of farming! Damn them all to hell!

[Brandybuck]

If we made little green soy-lentil crackers out of British royalty, we could start making headway on eliminating food shortages.

[Trooper Thompson]

"Damn them, for developing and distributing crop technology that feeds people and reduces the environmental impact of farming! Damn them all to hell!"

But they don't. They use their muscle to buy up competition and create monopolies. Monsanto is despised the world over, for good reason. In the UK, Monsanto is guilty of dumping toxic waste in South Wales, poisoning the ground water of the area. That's just one example. If you eat food from the people who made Agent Orange, you're nuts.

[R C Dean]

But they don't.

Sure they do. RTFA, dude.

If you eat food from the people who made Agent Orange, you're nuts.

This may be the dumbest thing posted here today. Nominations are open, though.

Ever take a Bayer aspirin? You know that Bayer also makes herbicides, right?

[R C Dean]

Examples abound.

Ever ride in a Chrysler car? You know Chrysler also made engines tanks, right?

I could do this all day.

[Guatemala Phil]

The reason Monsanto has market power is because of the insane amount of regulation that covers GM crops everywhere. This makes the cost of bringing a product to market way higher than necessary. High regulatory costs create barriers to entry for smaller players and only big companies account can afford to develop GM crops.

[Trooper Thompson]

"This may be the dumbest thing posted here today."

What a rapier-like wit you possess!

Follow your own advice and RTFA dude. Why not defend their monopolistic practices, if you're such a fan? Explain what's so good about this company buying up so many seed companies across the world, to create virtual monopolies, suing small farmers to bankruptcy and such tactics?

Why shouldn't Monsanto pay to clean up the environmental damage they've done in my country, dumping PCBs and poisoning the groundwater? Don't you believe in property rights? If so, Monsanto should pay those whose property rights they have violated.

Monsanto lied for years about the harmful nature of its products. Why should anyone believe it, when it says its research proves its GM crops are safe? No informed public wants to drink BGH-laced milk. But you can do what you want.

[Trooper Thompson]

Guatemala Phil,

the reason for much of the regulation is because the public in most of the world does not want GM food, and if you give people a clearly-labelled choice, they'll take the ordinary food every time.

[Freedom Geek]

Trooper Thompson
Mainly due to the amount of misinformation abound about them. If you were to ask people to choose between normal crops and crops that will help us feed the world while negating some of the negative effects of climate change, guess which they would choose.

[Trooper Thompson]

Freedom Geek,

Misinformation cuts both ways. Monsanto is not interested in feeding the world, but controlling the trade in seeds and forcing farmers into a dependent relationship with it, unable to set aside seed from the crop for planting in the future, and if any of the seed carries into the field next door, Monsanto sues the neighbouring farmer. Of course, the farmer doesn't have to buy seed from Monsanto... except Monsanto is buying up all the competition. Don't believe me, do your own research. And that doesn't even touch upon the inherent dangers of genetic modification and its unforseeable consequences.

Anyway, I won't outstay my welcome amongst you good folks.

[Joshua Holmes]

Don't you believe in property rights?

Not for poor people!

[Doctrinaire]

Trooper Thompson,

"And that doesn't even touch upon the inherent dangers of genetic modification and its unforseeable consequences."

Unforeseeable consequences exist for everything everywhere, and the nebulous possibility of an undesirable one isn't an adequate argument against GM foods.

So, I want to know what these "inherent dangers" are, and not just an appeal to Luddite pessimism.

[marguerite manteau-rao]

Does the Prince support animal powered farming?

first solar, then wind, now animal powered ... http://lamarguerite.wordpress.com/2008/08/16/first-solar-then-wind-now-animal-powered/