GMOs Again

A new study has been published with results said to be damning from one Monsanto-manufactured GMO, NK603, and the media are as usual off to the races. The government has reacted as well. Du calme, messieurs-dames. Let's allow the experts a chance to evaluate the study, by which I mean the statistics, not the lurid pictures of rats with bulging tumors. If I mention that there are other studies that draw different conclusions, I will be told that these were financed by Monsanto and therefore biased. Perhaps, but the critics fail to note that the present study was done by an avowed opponent of GMOs, so if interest is a priori evidence of bias, we cannot decide whom to believe. I will also be told that this study was of longer duration than previous studies. This may be significant but then again may not.

Hollande Opposes Fracking

François Hollande has rejected 7 applications for fracking permits in France. I remain undecided about the wisdom of fracking, which has seriously transformed the U.S. energy equation. There is some evidence of environmental damage, but the claim that such damage is worse than that associated with other forms of energy supply has not been proven. At first glance, Hollande's rejection seems to be based not on a cost-benefit analysis but on implacable opposition to the technology.