Is obvious troll obvious, or is this person truly that gullible to believe these things? Though I liked how Truthguild poked holes all over the argument -- ain't no point in reiterating it. See kids, this is why you pay attention in your high school biology class!
I like how this flamebot post managed to spawn a somewhat more mature argument about food handling, what is and isn't in your food, and whether you should be concerned about it. There isn't a whole lot to add to this debate that hasn't already been said, except that I'm not incredibly concerned about it. I would however like more easily accessible, bare facts information about exactly where the tomato I'm looking at in the supermarket came from, which farm, what farming techniques were used, which seeds, which insecticides, which fertilizers, etc. Granted, I'm a lazy bastardess and have never actually hunted down that information for myself. Maybe someday when I'm feeling adventurous.
Though you do kinda have to wonder, what with increasing incidence of things like IBS and celiac disease in industrialized countries, decreased male sperm counts, and that sort of thing, whether there might be something to this idea that something in our food is causing less obvious health effects. But, that's speculation until you can get a large enough cohort study to "prove" it. (Granted, randomized control studies are much more accurate than cohorts, but I'd be horrified at the idea of that!) Perhaps these exist already? It would be fun to go hunt those down. But then you start getting into the idea of honesty in academic research: who is funding this study, and for what purpose?
Though a little something from the ole Rumor Mill:
I did hear from a professor in one of my classes that there was some study out there that compared cancer incidences in immigrants from countries that engage in less "food tampering" vs. the citizens of the United States, which found that the immigrants had higher cancer rates. However, second and third generations from these ethnic groups did not have the higher cancer rates. Neglible difference in cancer rates between citizens of the United States and citizens of the other countries. It was theorized that the first generation immigrants did not develop any immunity to the chemicals in our food, whereas people who have lived in the US all their lives (and thus constantly exposed, especially in their youth) DID develop immunity. I, however, never did follow up with my professor about where he heard this. Still, if it's true, it's interesting.
