London (15.8.08)
– August has not been termed the silly season for nothing. The calendar
may indeed say it’s August and the silly season for news. Outdoors,
the summer is quintessentially English: warm and dry last week, pouring down
and chilly this. But to newspaper editors and broadcasting directors it was
Christmas four months early: in one week a war in Georgia, the UK and European
economies about to hit the buffers and, to cap it all, Prince Charles told
us – again – how much he likes and admires and latest technologies
in agriculture (1).
The Prince is clearly very concerned about something; his voice on the tape
recording played over and over again on news broadcasts sounds as if it belonged
to someone in a deep state of distress. But it is not clear what he is distressed
about. He mentioned the Punjab and Western Australia where problems have arisen
which have had nothing whatsoever to do with GM; there isn’t any in
Western Australia and the difficulties in the Punjab have been accumulating
for years, long before any possible GM impact.
Prince Charles does not seem to understand that nature is not all sweet and
light but, however you look at it, is a system of unimaginable complexity
where any action may or may not affect any other as the universe (“nature”)
constantly adjusts and re-adjusts. The whole system is in a constant state
of equilibration but never overall in equilibrium, nor will
it be until the end of time when the everything has settled down to complete
stasis a degree or two above absolute zero. And even then…..
Nature is not harmony where every living wears a smile as it looks about in
peace and contentment. In Richard Dawkin’s programme on Charles Darwin
this week and last there was a particularly graphic sequence of a graceful
antelope prancing (running, galloping; whatever it is that antelopes do) through
the bush to be grabbed from below as it sprang over a lion concealed in the
long grass. Dawkins made the point (which even Prince Charles must know) that
animals in the wild usually die young and violently after short and brutish
lives. Red in tooth and claw indeed.
The Prince sees devils everywhere but, of course, particularly in laboratories
– and in some laboratories more than in others: those belonging to the
wicked, greedy “multinationals” mucking about with the genes of
plants trying to enslave us all. He forgets, or chooses to ignore, that everything
we do is the result of thousands of years of technology of all sorts slowly
developing in fits and starts, affecting every aspect of our lives. And a
good thing, too.
We don’t always get it quite right to start with although mostly we
do. But we are very good at managing failure; when things go wrong we locate
the trouble and fix it. Things often do in some way go wrong because inventors
and developers cannot take every eventuality into account. But we certainly
know enough to get a new development right or almost right almost all the
time and can fix it when it isn’t. There is sometimes an unpleasant
price to pay when people get hurt physically or financially. But if nothing
is to be ventured you might as well pack it in and go back to hunting and
gathering for your dinner. But make sure when out hunting that you don’t
become the dinner.
What was rather surprising was not the Prince’s outburst but the response
it raised in the UK media. Heaven alone knows what the rest of the world thought;
we were all to busy here. It was a week for scientists to be talking to journalists
and doing the rounds of the television and radio studios; CropGen was there
with the rest, trying to explain in the gentlest terms why what the Prince
had said made little sense and hopefully helping him to return from fantasyland
to somewhere a little closer to reality.
The media really went to town with almost all the broadsheets attacking Charles'
position on GM. The Times published a lead editorial (2),
a column by one of their regulars (3) and a two-page spread on the issues
(4). The Financial Times ran two articles (5, 6). The Guardian
had a page from the chairman of the ag. biotech industry group (7) while The
Independent was particularly vigorous (8). The Evening Standard
felt that an A level in Biology would not be amiss but the chances of getting
an A*-grade were not discussed (see ). Various organisations concerned with
the public understanding and appreciation of science contributed (see http://www.cropgen.org/article_195.html).
Seemingly every television news, every radio talk show up and down the land,
even some of the most unlikely ones, ran the story and argued the toss back
and forth.
The most interesting thing of all was that most of them took very serious
issue with what the Prince had said. Not everyone, of course; the usual suspects
from the pressure groups and the organic lobby kept in line but sounded even
more tired and dispirited that they usually do. Looking back on these past
few days makes one wonder whether this has not perhaps been the week in which
agricultural biotechnology, GM crops and foods in the United Kingdom may have
made their greatest leap forward ever.
Sources:
1. Jeff Randall. Prince Charles warns GM crops risk causing the biggest-ever
environmental disaster. Daily Telegraph (12.8.08) (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/08/12/eacharles112.xml)
2. GM crops: not against nature. The Times (14.4.08)
(http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/leading_article/article4526157.ece)
3. Stephen Pollard. Prince Charles should keep his GM ideas to himself.
His views should lead him to believe that producing insulin for diabetics
is wrong too. The Times((14.8.08). (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article4525870.ece)
4. Mark Henderson. Scientists condemn 'ill-informed, negative' Prince
over GM crops warning. The Times (14.4.08) (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article4526133.ece)
5. A royal muddle. Financial Times (14.8.08) (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ccab9bb4-69a3-11dd-91bd-0000779fd18c.html?nclick_check=1)
6. Jenny Wiggins and Jim Pickard. Prince branded 'a Luddite' over his
attack on GM crops. Financial Times (14.4.08) (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9a6941e6-699f-11dd-91bd-0000779fd18c.html)
7. Julian Little. The world needs GM agriculture. GM crops can boost productivity
in lean times. Prince Charles was wrong to dismiss them out of hand.
The Guardian (14.8.08) (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/14/gmcrops.food/print)
8. Dominic Lawson. Commentary: The Prince is entitled to his views –
but not his ignorance. The Independent (15.8.08) (http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/dominic-lawson/dominic-lawson-the-prince-is-entitled-to-his-views-ndash-but-not-his-ignorance-897493.html)
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