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[SANET-MG] biotechnology as religion



June 2, 2004

Prof. Joe Cummins

“Biotechnology as Religion”

The current issue of Nature Biotechnology includes an interesting
commentary.(1) Leigh Turner points out obvious similarities between
biotechnology and established religion. She suggests that biotechnology
face the dogmatic aspects of their belief system. One aspect neglected,
may have been the self promotion aspects of biotechnology that seem to
have led to a “pump and dump” as a way of life. Shaky science is used to
procure bloated funding on projects that have little prospect of
successful completion.

The editors of Nature Biotechnology were daring to open the truth to
discussion in spite of their peculiar avoidance of full and truthful
reporting. For example, a recent editorial (2) on genetically modified
pharmaceutical crops they argued “Simply don't use food plants for
producing drugs” They then went on to suggest that a non-food crop,
flax, was appropriate for producing pharmaceuticals. When I pointed out
to them that flax was grown extensively in Canada and the United States
to produce feed and food along with fiber they simply chose to ignore
the facts in promoting their opinion. My point may be a mere droplet in
a sea of public relations but it shows the impact of biotechnology, the
religion.

Reference

1. Leigh Turner Nature biotechnology Volume 22 No 6,2004

Biotechnology as religion pp659 - 660

doi:10.1038/nbt0604-659

2.Editorial nature biotechnology February 2004, Volume 22 No 2

Drugs in crops—the unpalatable truth p133 doi:10.1038/nbt0204-133

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