This article drove me nuts so here it is and here is my response. What does everyone else think? Maureen Ogle accuses the Food Babe and all other activists concerned about toxic chemicals and genetically modified foods and beer, of scare mongering for profit . Is it not scare mongering to say that activists who keep careful watch on the safety of our food, something the FDA consistently fails to do, are in league with neo-prohibitionists? Thats the lead argument and just as absurd as the rest of this bizarrely reasoned article. The Food Babe is perhaps sensationalist, weak on facts and there is perhaps misinformation in her post. Especially the tired adage about beavers, and for that Ogle has a point. But it pales in comparison to Ogles own article. After warning us of the threat of prohibition from people who insist on safe ingredients and purity in beer she makes her case for chemicals and genetically modified ingredients. She argues that people who are concerned about genetically modified foods are uneducated alarmists because genes are in every living thing. She also believes that chemicals are fine because they too are in everything. The logic of this argument defies, well, logic. Isnt it obvious that some chemicals are bad for you and some are good, or that larger doses of a chemical that can be good for you will kill you, iodine for example. Genetically engineered foods are not safe because they are made out of genes. Artificially combining the genes of pigs and tomatoes for example creates quite a different thing from the genes found in every living thing. Is it logical that plants genetically modified to tolerate massive doses of toxins like glyphosate (Roundup) so that Monsanto can sell more herbicides and the rest of us can enjoy more breast cancer and autism shouldnt be a concern because chemicals are in everything and therefore harmless. If her argument is that people become alarmed about things that are harmless or untrue because of a lack of facts than offer up some facts. Is she saying that food coloring, corn syrup and GMO corn are never used in beer? Or the more nuanced idea that things used in production arent necessarily in the end product. For brewing that would include things like alkaline cleaners, phosphoric acid, nitric acid, iodophor, chlorine bleach, chlorine dioxide and even iodine. And while that may sound alarming it probably isnt. Without good information well never know. Ogle warns that if we label our food and beer with complete lists of ingredients it might scare the consumer, so we shouldnt. Because, the logic goes, people are so scientifically stupid they might become alarmed that toxins are in fact toxic. And besides, labels are expensive. In other words if we push for safe, not genetically modified, foods and purity of ingredients in our beer the neo-prohibitionists win.
Posted on: Fri, 27 Jun 2014 18:37:11 +0000
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