www.activistcash.com/organization_overview.cfm/oid/145
UCS embraces an environmental agenda that often stands at odds with the "rigorous scientific analysis" it claims to employ. A radical green wolf in sheep's clothing, UCS tries to distinguish itself from the Greenpeaces of the world by convincing the media that its recommendations reflect a consensus among the scientific community. Whether it's energy policy or agricultural issues, UCS's "experts" are routinely given a free pass from newspaper reporters and television producers when they claim that mainstream science endorses their radical agenda. Here's how it works: UCS conducts an opinion poll of scientists or organizes a petition that scientists sign. Then it manipulates or misconstrues the results in order to pronounce that science has spoken. In 1986 UCS asked 549 of the American Physical Society's 37,000 members if Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) was "a step in the wrong direction for America's national security policy." Despite the biased wording of the push-poll question, only 54 percent disapproved of SDI. Even so, UCS declared that the poll proved "profound and pervasive skepticism toward SDI in the scientific community." More recently, UCS pulled a partisan, election-year stunt in 2004 aimed at the Bush Administration. The group rounded up 60 scientists to sign a statement complaining that "the administration is distorting and censoring scientific findings that contradict its policies; manipulating the underlying science to align results with predetermined political decisions." On issue after issue, UCS insists, the White House fails to embrace global scientific "consensus" -- and that automatically means it has "politicized" science. For instance, it works overtime to scare Americans about a whole host of imagined environmental problems associated with genetically modified food. But every authoritative regulatory agency, including the Environmental Protection Agency and the World Health Organization, declares that biotech food crops are perfectly safe. Its crusade against farm animals receiving antibiotics presents guesswork as scientifically rigorous analysis, and is calculated to scare the public about risks it admits are groundless. UCS helped initiate the vicious attacks on Danish scientist (and "Skeptical Environmentalist") Bjorn Lomborg, only to be repudiated by the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology, and Industry. And in 2003, the group dressed up its "strong opposition to the US invasion of Iraq" as an exercise in science. Like many environmental activist groups, UCS uses the twin motivators of cheer and fear. A giggly Gwenyth Paltrow and a catty Cameron Diaz headlined a series of short appeals about energy conservation that UCS produced. The two mega-stars crow that they turn the water off while brushing their teeth, switch off the light when they leave their bedrooms, and keep the thermostat at 65 degrees. "Its time for us to band together and really make every effort to conserve our natural resources," chirps Diaz. But UCS is more adept at producing horror stories than chick flicks. They are fear-mongers of the first order -- turning the sober science of health and environmental safety into high drama for public consumption. For example, UCS recently warned that by 2100 the US might suffer 50-80 million more cases of malaria every year if the Senate fails to ratify the Kyoto treaty. Such racy statistics are based on clumsy modeling of worst-case scenarios, and assume -- against all evidence of human behavior -- that no countermeasures whatsoever would be employed. "Not considering factors such as local control measures or health services," in their own words. Of course, you won't find those caveats in the press release. Genetically Modified Science Among UCS's many concerns, "the food you eat" is at the top of the list. More than a million dollars went to its food program in 2001. Genetically enhanced foods -- dubbed "Frankenfoods" by opponents -- have caused worldwide hysteria even though no reputable scientific institution can find anything to be afraid of. But that doesn't stop UCS's "experts" from playing cheerleader to these unfounded fears. They warn that biotech foods could result in the "squandering of valuable pest susceptibility genes," "enhancement of the environment for toxic fungi," and the "creation of new or worse viruses." They scream about "Poisoned wildlife" and "new allergens in the food supply." Biotech foods, they claim, might "increase the levels of toxic substances within plants," "reduce the effectiveness of antibiotics to fight disease," "contaminate foods with high levels of toxic metals," "intensify weedy properties" and cause the "rapid evolution of resistance to herbicides in weeds," leading to "superweeds." Rigorous scientific analysis led UCS to this list of horrors, right? "Risk assessments can be complicated," UCS says, and pretty much leaves it at that. In contrast, more reputable authorities have a very good grasp of the potential risks of genetically enhanced foods. The US Environmental protection Agency says that genetically enhanced corn "does not pose risks to human health or to the environment." The World Health Organization says that biotech foods "are not likely to present risks for human health" and observes that "no effects on human health have been shown as a result of the consumption of such foods by the general population."
and the greater regulatory scrutiny probably make them even safer than conventional plants and foods." So what do a couple of highly trained research scientists, armed with nothing but guesswork, ideology and a million dollar budget, do? Although UCS claims that it "does not support or oppose genetic engineering per se," Mellon and Rissler in fact have never met a GM food they didn't mistrust. That's because they hold biotech foods to an impossibly high standard. In 1999, UCS joined the National Wildlife Federation, the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, and the Defenders of Wildlife, in petitioning the EPA for strict regulation of corn modified to produce large amounts of the bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxin. Bt is a naturally occurring insect poison that protects plants from pests like the European corn borer. UCS's letter was part of a major scare campaign to convince the public that Bt corn posed a risk to the Monarch Butterfly. Both the USDA and the EPA later concluded that Bt corn caused no harm to the Monarch. This reinforced the findings of federal regulators who had performed a comprehensive safety review of Bt corn before it was allowed into the marketplace. UCS remains unconvinced, even though the safest place for a Monarch larva to be is in a Bt cornfield. Rissler argued there was "insufficient data" to make such a conclusion. Precautionary Nonsense Of course, "sufficient" data can never exist for zealots like Rissler. It's impossible to prove a negative, to absolutely demonstrate that there are no dangers whatsoever for any given product. The scientist in her knows that too, but she and her colleagues at UCS continue to be guided by the "Precautionary Principle." This misguided maxim argues that, based on the fear that something harmful may possibly arise, we should opt for technological paralysis. The Wall Street Journal editorialized in 2000 that The Precautionary Principle "is an environmentalist neologism, invoked to trump scientific evidence and move directly to banning things they don't like." It's a big hit among anti-technology activists because it justifies their paranoia and serves to bludgeon technological progress. Martin Teitel, who runs another misnamed activist group called the Council for Responsible Genetics, admitted as much in 2001. It should come as no surprise that UCS joined Teitel's organization and other die-hard opponents of biotech foods in an activist coalition called the Genetic Engineering Action Network. While acknowledging that "we know of no generic harms associated with genetically engineered organisms," UCS consistently opposes their introduction to the market on the basis of purely hypothetical risk. Confronted with the real...
|
http://csua.com/feed/