Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

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Intelligent What? Not Science.

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This is the best news that I have heard in ages, from the Boston Globe Online:

WASHINGTON — A federal judge in Pennsylvania yesterday ruled that intelligent design is “nothing less than the progeny of creationism” and should not be taught in public schools.

The ruling, handed down by a judge appointed by President Bush, is a major legal setback for proponents of intelligent design, which holds that living organisms are so complex they cannot be explained by evolution and must be the work of a higher power. Christian right leaders have argued that it should be taught in school systems across the country.

The ruling, the first legal test of intelligent design, comes after a six-week trial in which expert witnesses and parents on both sides of the dispute took the stand to argue their positions on a Dover, Pa., school board policy requiring science teachers to inform students of “gaps” in Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution and to share competing views, including intelligent design.

Intelligent design proponents, mindful of legal barriers against teaching creationism in public schools, have long argued that their theory passes constitutional muster because it is not based in religion. They use the term “intelligent designer,” rather than God, to describe an omniscient force behind life on Earth, and they draw on a pool of scientists to raise questions they say Darwin’s theory fails to answer.

But in a sweeping 139-page opinion that went far beyond the legality of the Dover policy, Judge John E. Jones III concluded that intelligent design is religious and that its inclusion in public school violates the constitutional separation of church and state.

The ruling rebuked prominent intelligent design theorists, saying their assertion that evolution cannot coexist with religious beliefs is ”utterly false.” Jones also harshly condemned the Dover school board members who backed it.

Those school officials, Jones charged, “time and again lie[d] to cover their tracks and disguise the real purpose” behind promoting the theory of intelligent design, which he said was to promote religion.

Jones is a lifelong Republican who ran for Congress and narrowly lost more than a decade ago. He has described his mentor as Tom Ridge, the former Pennsylvania governor who served as homeland security secretary. Bush appointed Jones to the bench in 2002.

Click here to read more…

Update 30th December

The actual judgement can be read by clicking here.

Pilot Whales, Really Just Sheep?

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It is great news that the 100 pilot whales stranded on a beach at the top of New Zealand’s South Island have been refloated and are on their way back out to sea.

But you have to wonder who gave these dolphins, that seem unable to orientate for themselves, the name ‘pilot whale’?

The New Zealand stranding apparently occurred because the entire pod followed a leader who couldn’t navigate.

Almost as many pilot whales beached themselves at Cape Cod in 2002. Then it was thought that the leader of the pod was:
1. Chasing a school of squid, or
2. Just got lost in the maze of channels that wind between sandbars of Chapin’s extensive flats, or
3. Was sick and sought the refuge of shallow water, where he wouldn’t sink.

The rest of the pod just followed.

Why? Are pilot whales really just sheep – colloquially speaking?

Anyway there are a few ideas at this website titled ‘Irish dolphins’, click here.

Who Writes What for Whom?

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John Quiggin comments at his blog today that a senior fellow at the CATO Institute in the US has resigned because he received cash for specific promotional articles.

It reminded me of a newspaper article I was sent last week outlining the extent to which articles in medical journals are increasingly written by ‘ghost writers’ with professors putting their names to the articles after they’ve done a bit of a review, click here for piece in the Pittsburg Post Gazette. It adds a whole new dimension to the concept of peer review.

Then there are people like me who have the privilege of receiving a salary to monitor, research and write on issues of my own choosing, in my own way, always seeking to take an evidence-based approach. And I am accused of being “a paid PR consultant with a role to attack opponents of GM”, see comment here from non-GM farmer.

It is interesting to ponder that over my 20 year career, first as a government-employeed research entomologist (1984-1996), then as environment manager for the Queensland cane growers (1997-2003), and now as director of the environment unit at the IPA, that I have never had such freedom to research and write on the issues that I consider to be of importance, as I have now.

How Big is Your Christmas Turkey?

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According to today’s NEWSMAIL@YOUR.ABC.NET.AU:

Tasmania’s main turkey producer is warning customers to expect more than they have ordered, after climatic conditions resulted in bigger-than-usual birds.

Nichols Poultry owner Robert Nichols says the company thought it courteous to let its customers know “we’ve overshot the mark a little bit this year”.

He says a cool growing season has seen the turkeys gobbling down their food like there is no tomorrow.

“We just found that it’s been such an exceptional season that they’ve just eaten that much better this year and performed that much better that it’s quite a surprise,” Mr Nichols said.

“Just so unusual. So difficult to predict as well.”

Mr Nichols says customers who have ordered smaller birds will be most affected.

“Christmas market dictates that we have to have a whole heap of birds from small birds and around about the two to three kilos, right the way up to large birds for catering trade of 11 and 12 kilos dressed weight,” he said.

“But this year we’ve really struggled with some of the smaller sizes, the two and three kilo birds have just shot out of their skins and they’re just so much better performing than they’ve been in the past.”

Mr Nichols says because the birds have to be supplied fresh, they cannot be killed when they reach the right size.

“I was hoping that maybe we could all look towards bringing forward Christmas Day to the 19th,” he said.

“I think that would work quite nicely for us, but I think if that won’t take off we’ll have to go a few sizes larger on our birds.”

But Mr Nichols says the big birds do not make him feel like a bit of a goose.

“We’re playing with Mother Nature … we don’t have any artificial control over the climate that we put our birds through so as with any farming venture you’re in the lap of the gods,” he said.

So it has been the warmest year on record (click here for the BOM media release) – except in Tasmania?

Capparis Cheese

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I mentioned that I would be away from Brisbane for a week surfing, click here for previous post. It was fun staying at Bluey’s Beach near Wallis Lake in New South Wales.

I also visited the hinterland, in particular my friend Jim Hoggett’s goat farm near Gloucester. He makes the best cheese; click here for more information on Capparis goat milk cheese. Testosterone Cypionate 250 mg is one of the three most commonly abused anabolic steroids (alongside testosterone propionate and testosterone enanthate) causing increased aggression, increased body hair growth, accelerated acne outbreaks, etc. Effects of Testosterone Cypionate 250 mg shares the same side effects as all other anabolic steroids; therefore it can cause liver tumors or even cancer if used this injectable steroid too often or for too long.

And I got to meet the kids:

jen&goatsblog.JPG .

WA Government Swallows Carmen’s Large Hook

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My 16 year old daughter told me some weeks ago that she had just heard on local FM radio that “the government” was going to fund an independent assessment into the safety of GM food.

What she didn’t know was that the WA government is going to funding a known anti-GM activist with no laboratories or expertise to undertake studies that require both expert knowledge and facilities.

Dr Rick Roush an Australian based at the University of California was one of several signatories to the following letter of protest sent to the Premier of Western Australia on 5th December:

The Hon Dr Geoff Gallop, BEc MA MPhil DPhil MLA

Dear Premier Gallop,

We were shocked and disappointed to see media reports that Agriculture Minister Kim Chance will fund a long-term animal feeding trial with the Institute for Health and Environmental Research in Adelaide. We note that Mr. Chance’s website confirms your government will fund an “independent’ study to gain data on the safety or otherwise of GM food crops.

There is universal support among all major scientific societies around the world for the safety of the regulatory system and all currently registered GM foods. Contrary to the assertions in Mr. Chance’s media release, these current food assessments (including those by Food Standards Australia New Zealand) do actively and intensively review the possibility that “when a gene is taken out of one organism and put into another, the protein expressed by that gene may be different.”

There is substantial scientific evidence confirming the safety of currently approved biotech crops, and absent new questions, there is little or no basis for further animal studies. Nobody, of course, will object to properly conducted further studies if your government wishes to fund them. Our concern is that Mr. Chance has apparently decided to award funds for this research to a group with a well-known agenda against GM crops, and worse, apparently with no technical expertise, no reputable scientific track record and no facilities suitable for conducting the study!

In his media release, Mr. Chance expressed concern that adverse effects from a novel type of GM pea “had only come to light recently, despite 10 years of research and development.” In fact, the pea project has been underway for ten years precisely because GM research is undertaken in great detail and products are not rushed to market. Mr. Chance seems unaware that CSIRO has been conducting other safety tests on this crop for a number of years, including some in the 1990s in collaboration with anti-GM critic Arpad Pusztai; the detrimental effects found were minimal (citation below). The facts remain both that the current review process did find the problems in the GM peas and that no foods with this specific insecticide resistance gene are grown anywhere in the world other than in well-controlled, small-scale experiments.

Most of us became aware of the Institute for Health and Environmental Research (SA) in 2003, when their leading figure, Dr. Judy Carmen, toured around with UK activist Dr Mae-Wan Ho to speak against GM crops and food safety. Ho has a relentlessly anti-science agenda against GM crops (and modern Darwinian theory).

The Institute for Health and Environmental Research seems to consist of two other people in addition to Carmen, and a website. None of them have scientific records in conducting or analyzing long term feeding studies, certainly no refereed papers in this area (or many in any other area of science), which is the usual measure of scientific quality.
Moreoever, the bios on the IHER website reveal the clear anti-biotech bias of all three.

We are sure that there are far better qualified and unprejudiced scientists in Australia, including in Western Australia, who could carry out this research. We are therefore alarmed at an apparent lack of adherence to scientific norms in awarding this project to the Institute for Health and Environmental Research. Following reports that Mr. Chance has previously declared that he would not eat GM food, we are deeply disturbed about the objectivity of the agenda being pursued by Mr.
Chance.

In sum, Mr. Chance’s decision gives us great concern for the respect your government shows for scientific enquiry, peer review, international standards, and the processes of competitively awarding research funds.
We look forward to hearing from you that proper, internationally upheld standards will be observed in awarding this research competitively to qualified researchers, if the research is to be undertaken at all.

Sincerely,

Prof. Dr. Klaus Ammann, Honorary Professor University of Bern, Director of the Bern Botanic Garden

Professor Bruce M. Chassy, Campus Biotechnology Center, University of Illinois, Urbana

Professor Bruce D. Hammock, Distinguished Professor of Entomology & Cancer Research Center, University of California, Davis

Dr. Martina Newell-McGloughlin, Director University of California Systemwide Biotechnology Research and Education Program, and Co-Director NIH Training Program in Biomolecular Technology

Professor Vivian Moses, CropGen, London

Dr. Alan McHughen, Biotechnology Specialist University of California, Riverside

Dr. Drew L. Kershen, Earl Sneed Centennial Professor of Law, University of Oklahoma

Dr. Tom DeGregori , Professor of Economics, University of Houston

Dr. Alex Avery, Director of Research, Center for Global Food Issues, Hudson Institute

Dr. Rick Roush, Director of University of California Integrated Pest Management and Sustainable Agriculture Programs

Dr. Henry Miller, MD, Fellow, The Hoover Institution, Stanford University [Founding director of the U.S. FDA’s Office of Biotechnology,1989-1993]

Dr. Piero Morandini, Department of Biology, University of Milan

Professor C. S. Prakash, Director, Center for Plant Biotechnology Research, Tuskegee University

Reference Cited

Pusztai A, Grant G, Bardocz S, Alonso R, Chrispeels MJ, Schroeder HE, Tabe LM, Higgins TJV. Expression of the insecticidal bean alpha-amylase inhibitor transgene has minimal detrimental effect on the nutritional value of peas fed to rats at 30% of the diet. J Nutr 1999; 129: 1597-603. end of letter

I worry, given the extent to which government and the media are so quick to embrace pseudo-environmental causes in the name of ‘independent’ science.