It seems the Prince of Wales is not only opposed to the technology of GM food, but is also against evil corporations being involved in food production.
He accused firms of conducting a “gigantic experiment I think with nature and the whole of humanity which has gone seriously wrong”.
“Why else are we facing all these challenges, climate change and everything?”
It’s funny how people who talk most about the “scientific consensus” on climate change are not so accepting of scientific opinion when it relates to things like GM foods and nuclear power, isn’t it? Even more amazing, is that someone in such a privileged position can be so anti-corporate.
Relying on “gigantic corporations” for food, he said, would result in “absolute disaster”.
“That would be the absolute destruction of everything… and the classic way of ensuring there is no food in the future,” he said.
He then goes on with the usual rants of “food security” being more important than “food production” (as though they are mutually exclusive). He had this to say of India’s Green revolution:
“…It worked for a short time but now the price is being paid.
“I have been to the Punjab where you have seen the disasters that have taken place as result of the over demand on irrigation because of the hybrid seeds and grains that have been produced which demand huge amounts of water.
As the Adam Smith Institute points out, the “price being paid” is a decrease in poverty and an increase in health, but apparently that’s all meaningless if it impacts the environment in any way.
Hat Tip: Adam Smith Institute
He’s a shocker isn’t he? Mum simply ought to disown the idiot and try with the younger generation. Failing that she simply ought demand the monarchy be dissolved on her death as there simply isn’t a worthwhile heir or spare.
How about importing a monarch from somewhere else as there are plenty of spares about?
If Charles were not heir the the Throne, what possible job could he do…? Thankfully, Harry or Willy seem like sensible people, though it took a while for Charles to become a right Charlie, as they say.
If Charles simply meant that the pace of change seems too fast, I can agree with that. Has there been adequate testing? Who can know? If tomatoes start eating people, we’ll know we’ve gone too far!
Not only is he a socialist Luddite, but he seems to have no notion of what a disaster his emotive claptrap would cause if implemented. Not least to the poor of the world.
GM crops are a key reason Africa will not starve as India and China take on the food preferences of the developed world. More food from the same area of farm land is vital.
Monsanto is actually a tiddler compared to the car companies, banks and oil companies. It also deserves every cent of profit it makes. A decade ago the Chief Executive bet the entire company on GM crops. And you can’t afford to spend all that money on R&D unless you are big and profitable enough.
Food security is simply another term for protectionism. We all know what that means – higher prices, lack of world trade and slow economic growth.
That dipshit is enough to turn me into a republican.
He also thinks we could learn a lot from Islam
http://www.sunnah.org/nl/v0104/prince.htm
Here’s more on Noddy. He thinks Muslims are really cuddly Greenies and that the west started going downhill with Copernicus and Descartes
http://www.meforum.org/article/356
Islam can teach us today a way of understanding and living in the world which Christianity itself is poorer for having lost. At the heart of Islam is its preservation of an integral view of the Universe. Islam-like Buddhism and Hinduism-refuses to separate man and nature, religion and science, mind and matter, and has preserved a metaphysical and unified view of ourselves and the world around us. . . . But the West gradually lost this integrated vision of the world with Copernicus and Descartes and the coming of the scientific revolution. A comprehensive philosophy of nature is no longer part of our everyday beliefs.
“How about importing a monarch from somewhere else as there are plenty of spares about”
I nominate the King of Thailand – he’s got something for everyone from arty types to science geeks to shooters
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhumibol_Adulyadej
Bhumibol is a painter, photographer, author and translator. His book Phra Mahachanok is based on a traditional Jataka story of Buddhist scripture.
In his youth, Prince Bhumibol was greatly interested in firearms. He kept a carbine, a Sten gun, and two automatic pistols in his bedroom, and he and his elder brother, King Ananda Mahidol, often used the gardens of the Baromphiman Palace for target practice
Bhumibol is an accomplished jazz musician and composer, particularly the alto saxophone. He was the first Asian composer awarded honorary membership of the Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts in Vienna at the age of 32.[73] He used to play jazz music on air on the Or Sor radio station. In his travels, he has played with such jazz legends as Benny Goodman, Jack Teagarden, Lionel Hampton, Maynard Ferguson, and Preservation Hall Jazz Band.
Bhumibol is an accomplished sailor and sailboat designer.[74] He won a gold medal for sailing in the Fourth Southeast Asian Peninsular (SEAP) Games in 1967, together with HRH Princess Ubol Ratana whom he tied for points
Bhumibol is the only Thai monarch — and possibly the only monarch in the world — to hold a patent.[77][78] He obtained one in 1993 for a waste water aerator named “Chai Pattana” and several patents on rainmaking since 1955: the “sandwich” rainmaking patent in 1999 and lately the “supersandwich” patent in 2003.[79][80][81]
He’s exhibit A as why generational inbreeding can cause all sorts of cognitive and physical problems.
He’s not daft. It could be a marketing ploy.
Times of India: Is Charles’ GM outburst linked to India plans?
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Developmental_Issues/Is_Charles_GM_outburst_linked_to_India_plans/articleshow/3365795.cms
That’s interesting Dedalus… From the link:
Alas, I don’t think he’s acting – I think Chucky is a genuine crackpot. Interestingly though:
Wow! That almost qualifies as a greedy corporation, doesn’t it?
The Telegraph had an article in the same edition explaining why he is wrong and pointing out the green credentials of GM crops.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2008/08/13/do1302.xml
Don’t hold your breath waiting for Greenpeace or Enemies of the People to start campaigning for increased use of GM crops to combat global warming.
Glad he’s not going to be king or I’d have to go out and buy a gun to keep him out of my face.
Vitamin A deficiency is a key problem for poor nations. We can make GM rice with vitamin A in it which seems to me like the most rational course of action.
All of the critics of the POW are unable to read, think and then come to a reasonable conclusion.
Given the above comment, I thought I’d share this pearl I received by email from Joram. He clearly has not been taking his medication.
G’day David,
I recently read your comments on the POW and GM crops.
I could not believe that a person of this country could have so much vitriol and so little imagination.
The POW is who he is. My grandfather was a botanist, while Charles grandfather was the King of England. I don’t know who your grandfather was, perhaps he could read and write, but I actually doubt that.
Now GM crops are not purely the answer, and certainly not definitely. Our ancestors were actually quite good with seeds and especially good with disease resistant seeds, that is one of the things they were actually good at. So we inherit all of that from them. Not to say science has not
provided many solutions.
People like you are always republicans. You think you are better than other people becuase you are insecure because you are just a little man playing make believe and have been your whole life. Please don’t embaress this country in online forums any further.
Joram
POW? As in Prisoner of war? I must have missed that bit.
Insulting another’s grandfather isn’t very nice. I’d go as far to say it could result in a smacked mouth.
POW = Prince of Wales.
Right… it is Friday, 5 mins till home time 😀
I would like to draw David Leyonhjelm’s attention to the incontrovertible fact, that my comments were made in the heated defense of the heir to the Australian throne, and that the implication that I take medication is untrue, slanderous, and extremely vicious beyond all the bounds of civillised discussion.
David would write off my convictions, fought for over generations by suggesting that I am a fruitcake, well I am not anything but a free Australian man.
If that is your idea of freedom David, your career as a blogger and a political aspirant is absolutely pointless in this great country – perhpas you should return to where your name originates and try your luck there?
But you have to be a fruitcake to take the “POW” seriously. The dude is an inbred idiot whose own father would disown him given the chance.