Word from Da Other Man...

Ronald Bailey, science writer for Reason magazine can get "out there" at times. His book "Liberation Biology" is a heady mix of tight logic and hair-raising prediction. (See my review in Top Producer this fall). Nonetheless his unflinching defense of biotech comes from a rock-solid intellectual base - not a job with Monsanto. That earns my respect even when he is wrong (ie. disagrees with me)

Our old friend Jeremy Rifkin, political gadfly and perpetual science lightweight, slipped an editorial into the Washington Post recently. It is worth struggling through to catch the echo of the "intelligent design" strategy cooked up by pseudo-scientists to disguise a religious dogma. Rifkin attempts to use a new genetic technique - marker-assisted selection (MAS) to declare biotech outmoded.

Bailey's business-like dismantling of Rifkin's arguments is something all biotech users should read. Nor is Bailey alone in pointing out Rifkin's inaccuracies.

It is our responsibility as farmers to learn all we can about this tool - we are the tool-users.