Lessons From Glowing Zebrafish

I had a freshwater tropical fish tank for quite some time, but never did I have glowing zebrafish. Pity, really.
All humor and fascination at the bizarre aside, Europe really needs to get it’s head of its ass bio/nanotech-wise.

I don’t think that all technological progress is inherently valuable, or that it should be totally unregulated, but European attitudes on GM, not to mention nanotech, are appalling. Appalling not because they oppose some abstract sense of progress, but because they’re rooted in fashion and ignorance.
It galls me when I hear various NGO and Green Party spokespeople, individuals who have built careers and political platforms on endless complaints and few positive suggestions, telling poor African countries that GM crops that could be massively beneficial are bad because “[o]f course we should be opposed to GM. It is about some of the biggest, richest, most powerful companies on the planet seeking to own and control global agriculture, and who would want to support that?” (source).

Even forums on GM foods in their back yard have been a joke, and fear over nanotech is dismissed by anyone with a clue.

If the Europeans want to espouse their anti-corporate, moralistic, greener-than-thou doctrine, fine. But not at the expense of people who need things like corn that survive a dry season, the foolproof medicine distribution system of potatoes with embedded antibiotics, or longer-life produce that could turn farms once too remote to make shipping viable into booming agricultural moneypots. These are things that only GM can provide, and I sure couldn’t look a starving man in the face and tell him that he can’t eat because Monstanto is making a profit.