Illumination 2.0

In this week's podcast MIT  Technology Review 's Emily Mullin talks about gene therapies for pets.  While technologies to treat genetic diseases have been slow to reach humans, they have been deployed in animals to demonstrate their efficacy.

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. Everyday I feel so grateful for being able to serve the students and faculty at my university, the farmers of our state and nation, and the public that wants to learn more about food and farming. Still every day we must endure challenges posed by those that want to stop progress, and want to stop our mission. But things are slowly changing. It is because of the huge number of people that are stepping into engage others with evidence-based arguments. And special thanks to everyone that defends the scientists and farmers that passionately share what they do, and why it is important. For all of these things, I am grateful. Peace, and Happy Thanksgiving.

The class action lawsuits against glyphosate (the active ingredient in the herbicide Roundup) have created some interesting situations and odd bedfellows. A compound described as low-toxicity by dozens of government agencies, companies and independent scientists is claimed to be toxic by Carey Gillam and activists worldwide.  What is their evidence?  Private emails from within Monsanto itself. The TV ads seek plaintiffs in class action lawsuits. So in other words, Gillam and the rest of the activists feel that the work from Monsanto employees is of such a high caliber, such a great quality, so worthy of their trust-- that the rest of the allegedly independent scientific world (including the governments of Germany, New Zealand and Canada) can't be trusted.  Hacks all.  It is basically a conspiracy.  The world's "independent" scientists, government agencies in the USA, the European Food Safety Agency, and hundreds of academic scientists that ...

Four years ago this week I attended a talk by anti-GMO darling Dr. Don M. Huber, Emeritus Professor affiliated with Purdue University. In his presentation, Huber made reference to his Molecular Bigfoot, a mysterious new organism that only he has seen, that is harbored on Roundup Ready crops. And it kills you and gives your kids autism.  The magical organism is a central part of his campaign to spread fear around modern agriculture, and he travels the globe misleading audiences and invoking fear from authoritative credentials. As I've always said, he has a solid record and history. That's what makes his fear campaign more deplorable.  Here are some things you don't know about the story, mostly because I decided not to make a big deal of it.  I will now. He's still out peddling his nonsense, so it is appropriate to show more about who he really is.  The Slide at PAG The Plant-Animal Genome Conference brings many people together in my discipline. It is the plac...

Four years ago this week I went to see Dr. Don Huber present his sideshow at an event in my town. The grandfatherly man ground his axe against modern biotechnology, especially genetically engineered plants and the products used on them.  One of the highlights of the night was when he scared and disgusted the concerned audience. He showed them pictures of aborted livestock and images of human disease. He claimed it to be caused from a "virus-like microfungus", an organism unknown to modern science, propagated in genetically-engineered crops and fostered by glyphosate treatment.  Six years ago Purdue Professor Emeritus Don M. Huber wrote a letter to the USDA Secretary claiming to have cultured a new type of organism that thrived in Roundup Ready soybeans and corn, and caused harm to humans and livestock.  He never has produced any evidence building on this claim, despite vigorously defending it, claiming that it was being worked on.  Isn't it time he came clean...

I saw the video, I've heard the comments, and read the police reports.  You should too.  I can also add some points you have not read anywhere else.   I've been seen by Dr. Peter Gallogly and Dr. Tom Raulerson at the Gainesville After Hours Care, mostly in its old location on 2nd Avenue.  I appreciated the care I received so much that I considered them my primary physicians, even though the facility was frequently jammed and it was hard to get an appointment.  They also are the only game in town in the evenings and weekends outside of the emergency room, which means they see a lot of urgent cases.  There's my review from Google, probably at least ten years old now.  I'm a state employee, I have great insurance, and I can go anywhere.  I chose GAHC because of the professionalism, the compassion, their social mission, their service to the community, and an appreciation for the good physicians and staff that work there.  Bot...

In yesterday's blog I described how a former scientist was provided a high visibility forum by the taxpayer funded Canadian Broadcast Company (CBC)-- to make up fake news .   I hate that term.  But it is a news website, and the information is fake . Fake news .  It is so false, so maliciously untruthful, that neither Thierry Vrain or the CBC reporter noticed the inherent contradiction. The lies are so bad that they don't align. It is about creating fear, uncertainty and doubt, even if the claims are internally contradictory.  But in the world of false information, you can have it both ways, and nobody cares, so long as the nonsense you spout fits their bias.  Let's look at three lines from this article.  This statement implies that rigorous dose-response tests have been performed and have concluded that low-doses lead to disease.  No such evidence exists.  There is no evidence that it accumulates in all of our organs. ...