in history (Epstein).But with that almost unlimited power, there is a high price for the twenty-first century to pay. With each bonus we as a society receive from genetics, we also created genetically altered super-diseases. Genes from bacteria, viruses, and insects, which have never been part of the human diet, are being spliced into our food. Genetic engineering is not an exact science. Scientists can unintentionally create changes in the genetic make-up of plants that result in new, unknown proteins with unknown results ("Health"). Mixing the genetic properties of unrelated species carries with is such risks as creating life-threatening allergic reactions in humans, or more resilient crop pests, weeds, and bacteria (Hawaleshka).Uses of these genetically engineered products are just now being done and allowed into our shared food supply, and now is the time to try to stop it. It is always easier to stop something when it is first starting than after it becomes established in our mindsets and our economic system. Now is the time when we are conscious enough to be horrified. We will get more and more indoctrinated to the genetic engineering ideas until we cannot even remember what it was like to trust God and have caution about tinkering with such things. I think we should use our horror well, and now. This issue gets much harder if we wait until it is established, if we accept their framing that it is a "fait accomplished, and you better get used to it". That disempowers the very principle of democracy better than any foreign country ever has, and leaves us to be victims nibbling at the edges of corporate policy, instead of sovereign citizens declaring our vision of the world we want our shared future to be.Some see genetic engineering as just more tinkering, but we are crossing species barriers for the first time, and we really do not know what that looks like, even if we think the risk is small. Just the genetic engineer...
