I love ERV. *HUGZ FOR BLAGZ!*

Pointless anecdote time:

I attended a lecture delivered to the general student body about evolution by one of my professors who in his previous life was a young plant pathologist at Cornell. At the end, one of the creationists (from the engineering faculty, no less!) in the audience brought up some bizarre idea of "genetic entropy" which proves evolution couldn't have created life over billions of years.

Some prodding by my prof uncovered the source of this notion: a book called Genetic Entropy & the Mystery of the Genome by "a well-known scientist from Cornell, John Sanford" -- our hero behind the gene gun that Sal linked to.

"Oh," my prof said, "I played soccer with him."

Now if only we could get it to recognize and deal with Willy Wally's stupidity!

Oh well that does it. GMOs are now officially evil... merely because John Sanford had his head transformed with a chimp brain after he invented a way to transform plants with a modified 22-caliber pistol. Let's ignore all of the many biologists who accept evolution, and do research on plant evolution, who have a hand in GE crops... cuz all we need in our well is two drops of creo poison.

Seriously, though, this is a small phenomenon, almost the first I have seen. More often than not, people try to tie pro-vaccination to pro-GMO in an effort to prove to other anti-vaxers that GE foods are a sinister plot. I once exchanged several comments on gristmill about the correlation between anti-vax and anti-GMO and a few days later someone chimed in about us diabolical pro-vax and pro-GMO corporate pirate something-or-others. I was like, wow, confirmation of hypothesis achieved.

I know some professors who knew Sanford, and when I told them about the path his intellectual activity took, some thought I must have the wrong Sanford. Then I run into them later and they were like, yeah that is so weird.

Hey Abbie, I'm surprised you haven't picked up on the new German public service produced campaign against HIV.

of course the bad news is that Slimey Sal is still out there... lurking, and always ready to spew his cottage cheese nonsense at the drop of a bible. UGH

At least Sal the schmuck is no longer polluting Northern Virginia via George Mason Un. with his presence.

SLC-- Um, according to his IP#, yes he is.

Well, ERV is cleverer than Pharyngula - he junked me for making too many Molly nominations.*

Soccer?! You need to publicise that more. Once that gets out noöne in the US will ever respect the guy.

*hmmmm - Why aren't there any NOM-NOMs on ERV?

Hi ERV (Abbie)... not much on topic but thought you might like to know...

I had a little back and forth with Robert Wright over at PZ's place (nothing impressive on my part, sorry.) but when I did mention you, that he ignored (ignores?) your attempt to debate Behe... he ignored me. That was the only time. Funny, in a sad sort of way.

Cheers.

@Optimus Primate:

Now if only we could get it to recognize and deal with Willy Wally's stupidity!

It's easier to impose sentience on a computer than sense on a creationist.

Abby, thanks (I think) for prompting me to go back and re-read all the crud he wrote about Skatje Myers all over again. It reminds me why reality-based humans need to stand up for ourselves.

*Hugs ERV*

Somewhere in that cut-paste up there is the phrase 'creation ministies'. Put alongside GMO, it had me wondering if they were gonna try making minipigs.
They'll never make it without understanding evolution.

As for the GMOs themselves, it's not the science that's evil. It's just that there are business people who genuinely don't care wether their customers live or die, or about the environment, or anything other than short-term profit. As long as folk like that are involved, peoples fears cannot be aleviated.
Also, please correct me if I have the wrong impression here:
In the case of 'roundup-ready', it's not that the plants are pest resistant so you need less poison, it is that the plants are more poison-tolerant so farmers can use more poison, with more accumulation up the food-chain and contamination of the groundwater.

"In the case of 'roundup-ready', it's not that the plants are pest resistant so you need less poison, it is that the plants are more poison-tolerant so farmers can use more poison, with more accumulation up the food-chain and contamination of the groundwater."

Not quite right. Farmers often use a whole range of herbicides, such as atrazine, to control their weeds. Roundup Ready crops are resistant to glyphosate, (and Liberty Link are resistant to glufosinate), simplifying the weed control process. Indeed, the USDA has found that for corn, soybeans, and canola, pesticide use has been steadily going down since the introduction of GE crops with these traits. Not only does it cause the farmers to use fewer herbicides, it also has them using much safer ones. Check out the toxicity of glyphosate and compare it to atrazine.
Nevertheless, those GE crops still require the use of an herbicide to get the benefit, which is why people say that it is increasing the use of sprays, when it is not.

There are also some GE crops that do not have herbicide tolerance, such as virus-resistant papaya and squash.

"As for the GMOs themselves, it's not the science that's evil."
Yeah... it's the misinformation.

Much appreciated.

Slimy Sal: For example, at one time all GMO crops emerged through this creationist's Gene Gun:
http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/1970704/posts

Unfortunately for Cordova, Sanford was not a Creationist when he invented the gene gun. It was only later, well after the most productive and inventive part of his career was over that he descended into conservative Christianity and Creationism.

What exactly is in Turkish spam? Muslims aren't allowed to eat swine.