Here is a investment letter I subscribe to. Its worth reading about Science, Pseudo-Science and hysteria. Dear Buck Stienke, Francis Collins, Director of the National Institutes of Health, is taking up the fight against a new epidemic. No, it isnt a new strain of the flu or some scary new virus. Hes mounting the hustings against breakthrough scientific studies that cant be replicated. Reuters recently reported that Amgen (Nasdaq: AMGN) could confirm only six of the 53 breakthrough cancer studies it vetted, while Bayer (OTC: BAYRY) could only verify 14 of 67 landmark studies in oncology and cardiovascular disease. In an essay published in Nature earlier this year, Collins and Principal Deputy Director Lawrence Tabak wrote the checks and balances that once ensured scientific fidelity have been hobbled. Too often, experimenters botch double-blind tests, randomization or sample-size calculations. Its not fraud. Thats still relatively rare in the buttoned-down world of scientific research with only a dozen or so cases discovered each year. The real culprit is ego. Researchers - like politicians, artists and movie stars - are desperate to make a splash and grab headlines. As a result, bias creeps in. Studies become flawed. Results cant be replicated. And significant findings prove anything but. Why do I mention all this? Because a lot of folks are still trying to scare us with pseudoscience about the supposed evils of genetically modified foods - and theyre demonizing Monsanto (NYSE: MON) in the process. While I was at Investment Us annual conference in Carlsbad, Calif., last week, for instance, I finished The New York Times best-seller Wheat Belly by Dr. William Davis, a cardiologist. Davis claims that eliminating wheat from your diet is the easiest and most effective way to trim your waistline and safeguard your health. This is sensible advice. Eliminate wheat and you eliminate fattening foods like bread, pasta, bagels, cereals, hotdog and hamburger buns, pretzels, crackers, pastries, cakes, pies, cookies, pizza, donuts and beer, to name just a few. Who wouldnt get healthier by cutting back on these? But Davis takes it further, claiming obesity - and the national health problems associated with it - is the result of eating modern, genetically modified wheat. There isnt a smidgen of evidence to justify this belief. Ive said it before but Ill say it again. There is no evidence that any ecosystem or any human consumer has ever been harmed by a genetically engineered crop. Dont take my word for it, however. This is also the view of the National Academies of Science, the American Medical Association and the Royal Society of London. Watch daytime TV, log onto the Internet or pick up a hot new best-seller, however, and youll discover a whole gaggle of researchers going on about Franken Foods and the nefarious products of Mon-Satan. The waters are further muddied by companies - from General Mills (NYSE: GIS) to Whole Foods (Nasdaq: WFM) - that voluntarily label non-genetically modified food products for no reason except their misinformed customers are asking for it. But heres the real story in a nutshell. More than 7 billion people on this planet wake up hungry every day. There is not enough arable land to feed them non-genetically modified foods raised organically and without the aid of fertilizers or pesticides. Fortunately, the average yield on a typical American farm today is tenfold greater than farms of a century ago. You can thank Monsanto for much of this. Its genetically modified seeds increase yield, decrease production costs and allow large-scale production of a consistent commodity. Crop genes can be purposefully inserted or removed and strains bred for disease resistance, pesticide resistance, cold or drought tolerance, or to be compatible with specific fertilizers. Without this, over 2 billion people a day could not be fed. Yet Ive never heard a food elitist volunteer to be one of them. In short, Monsanto should be praised, not pilloried. Ill have more on the company after it announces quarterly results tomorrow. If its any consolation, our shares are close to yet another new high. Good investing, Alex
Posted on: Thu, 03 Apr 2014 17:04:41 +0000
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