Letter to the Editor / Start the GMO test
To the Editors,
The Mosquito Control Board is “fiddling while Rome burns.” They should authorize the GMO test immediately.
I just returned from Europe where all my friends asked if it was still safe to come to the Keys. Today, the Miami Herald documents the economic impact already felt in Miami in just a few weeks.
A word about regulators: In Europe, Naled–used here in Monroe–is banned as too risky. Monroe’s beekeeper’s would agree. The impact on humans? Probably unknowable right now. Are America’s or Europe’s regulators smarter? We don’t know.
What we do know: Oxitec has released GMO mosquitos in Brazil, Panama, and the Cayman Islands. Does anyone have any evidence of negative impact on humans? There is certainly evidence of fewer mosquitos. Are Keys mosquitos so different than mosquitos in those countries that we need separate tests? Some expert biologists could study that while we prevaricate.
So, what do citizens want? Naled? GMO mosquitos? All decisions have to be balanced and have risks, but Monroe needs to be seen as trying everything, with a sense of urgency, right now.
I will vote for incumbents or new candidates for Mosquito Control Board who support launching the GMO test now, and not wait for the results of two dispirit ballot items in November.
Sincerely,
John R. Padget
Key West, Florida 33040
tel. 305-294-3642
Dear John Padgett,
Before declaring that Oxytec’s GMO is fine and dandy, and basing your assertions on your European friends fear of the Florida Keys, perhaps you should spend time in Brazil, Panama, and the Cayman Islands, where you can learn the true effects of the experiments.
Have you researched the potentials for releasing a new strain of DNA into the food chain, how the long term
effects could endanger human life?
When you have studied them, and traveled to the test grounds, toured the areas and gathered life- and plant form samples, take them to several independent laboratories, have them tested, then post your results.
Just to be safe, it would be a good idea to repeat the process every year for five to ten years and compare the analyses. Then and only then will you be prepared to make an informed decision.
That is the correct way of determining the true effects of a radical experiment.
In the interest of brevity, I have honed the proper procedure down to the bare bones.
In closing, I advise safety over impulsiveness always, as, I am sure, would anyone interested in protecting nature, which includes human life.