December 5, 2006

Savior of a Billion Lives

That's right, this man has saved over a billion lives and chances are good that you've never heard of him. His name is Norman Borlaug and Congress should pass H.R. 4924 and honor him. Dr. Borlaug saved so many lives by inventing a strain of disease-resistant wheat that can be grown in two crops a year. Most of the bread you eat comes from wheat genetically engineered by Dr. Borlaug.

The outcry against genetically engineered food is stupid. Human have been eating genetically engineered food for as long as we have had agriculture. Wheat and corn, in their indigenous forms, produce minimal amounts of usable food. Domesticated cattle and pigs are significantly different than their wild counterparts. Vegetables like peas, celery, and lettuce, and fruits like berries and apples are all very different on the farm than they are in nature. About the only kind of food that we eat that is "as nature intended" are fish. And in a generation, the natural resource of wild fish may be gone, too.

So soon enough, we'll all be eating nothing but genetically modified food. We've been doing it for years, and thanks to the engineers who created the food, like Dr. Borlaug, we're healthy and prosperous for it.

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