Proposition 37

As a scientist and a foodie, I am happy Proposition 37 failed. While I understand that the campaign against it was funded by Monsanto (a company with policies I would consider questionable, at best), it was not a good proposition. The argument for it was funded by an anti-vaccine nut, and the parallels are obvious. Study after study has shown that GMO foods are no different than "regular" food (and I put regular in quotes for a reason), however the argument says that just because we say something's safe now doesn't mean it's actually safe. Scientists don't speak in absolutes, which is frustrating to the public and leaves room for them to grab on and present a counterargument.

Now, what exactly is the difference between GMO food and what we consider "regular" food? a few dozen years. Much of the food we eat has been genetically modified in some way or another--that's what cross-breeding is. Why is your tomato uniformly red, rather than tasty? They were bred that way. Tomato breeders found that certain tomatoes turned red more uniformly, and genetically selected those. Those tomatoes have a genetic mutation that we've selected for. We also do the same thing with pest-resitant crops. In the early days of agriculture, our ancestors would notice that some crops just weren't tasty to bugs, and select for those. How is that different than finding a gene that makes our plants taste icky to bugs and inserting it straight in the DNA? It's the same process, just quicker. I'd rather that than ingest questionable amounts of chemical pesticides.

That's my scientific reasoning, but I'm also interested in food and the quality of my food, so I do understand why people are against Monsanto. Monoculture is highly damaging to the environment, and the way our food is treated is terrible. Unfortunately, there are too many people on this planet for everyone to eat organically and locally. And while you can argue about overpopulation and how the best way to handle it is, the reality is that right now we have 7 billion people to feed.

Mark Bittman and Michael Pollan argue that if only people knew what they eating and how bad it was for them they would shop solely at the farmer's market, eat only locally sourced, organic food, and spend time crafting home-cooked meals for the whole family to eat together. This is just not realistic for many people. It's hard for me, and I have the luxury of money and time. My farmer's market is on Thursday afternoon until sundown, and only runs from June until October. I have to plan ahead and leave work earlier than usual. In the summer, that's fine, since the sun sets late here in Boston. Come October, it's a no-go. For a person with a desk job, that might not work. And then there are the food deserts. Some people don't even have a reasonable grocery store, much less a farmer's market. Some people work two jobs and don't have time to cook. Yes, it might be cheaper in the long run to make home-cooked meals, but you don't account for the time it takes. That's time someone could be getting paid.

We need to seriously think about how we use our resources in the United States. If you really want to fight Monsanto, we need to entirely overhaul agribusiness. If we stop subsidizing corn and soy, food prices across the board will go up. The price of food in other countries is significantly higher in other countries than it is in the US, which I think many people here are unwilling to pay. Yes, let's educate people about food, but let's also make it easier for people to make good choices. Let's address the growing inequality between the rich and the poor so that everyone has the opportunity to eat in a sustainable manner. Let's all eat more vegetables and less meat to reduce the amount of greenhouse gasses produced. We need to change the way we think about how wasteful we are as a country, not just when it comes to food but in regards to everything. Do you need a new car every year? A new iPad? New clothes that you're going to toss after three months because they're no longer "in style"? Addressing these questions is hard, and won't be fixed by slapping a vague label on a can of spaghetti-o's.

Here are a couple of articles on the subject, if you're interested:
GMOs are OK
Why Activists Need to Stop Stoking Scientifically Baseless Fears About GMOs for Political Purposes

So, I fell off the wagon a bit, but I'm back. This week I plan to eat vegetarian all week, except for the remaining pizza that I made yesterday. I thought I was going to make it Wednesday or Thursday, but somehow didn't get around to it until Saturday, so I have two days worth left. It's got one chicken sausage on the whole thing, so I guess half a chicken sausage during the week is better than eating meat every day.

Also, this whole being an adult thing sort of sucks, but that's a post for another day.

Vaccines

I wrote this for facebook, but I thought I'd put it here, too.
I have three main issues with the vaccine "debate."
1. It compromises herd immunity, both delaying vaccines and outright refusing them. As Brokk said above, delaying vaccines leaves children vulnerable for a longer period of time. Some parents don't finish the scheduled course, leaving children open to contracting these diseases, as well as passing them along to others who can't be vaccinated for various health reasons.

2. It's based on faulty science. This is why I don't think it's unfair to lump delayed vaccine and anti-vaccine people into the same category. Additionally, delayed vaccination is a way for anti-vaccine people to move the goal posts. Jenny McCarthy originally started with the vaccine/autism link. When that was disproved, she went to delayed vaccination. The idea that babies' immune systems are overloaded with antigens is false. From the CDC: "From the time they are born, babies are exposed to thousands of germs and other antigens in the environment and their immune systems are readily able to respond to these large numbers of antigenic stimuli.  An infant’s immune system is more than ready to respond to the very small number of antigens in vaccines."
Many people don't want to vaccinate because of a gut feeling, or Andrew Wakefield's report on the connection between autism and vaccines (which he completely falsified), or they don't want to see their special snowflake child suffer from the pain of a shot the kid won't even remember, or vaccines aren't natural and being exposed to the actual disease provides better immunity. That would be like someone coming up to me and saying, "I know evidence falls pretty squarely in line with the big bang theory, but I don't believe it." Note this is not the same as going to the doctor and saying, I have these symptoms, I think they might be associated with xyz. I have not had issues with poor medical care and misdiagnosis, so it's hard for me to speak to that, but it's not the same thing. Discussion is fine, blatant disregard for science is where I draw the line.

3. There is an incredible amount of privilege inherent in even having a discussion about whether or not to vaccinate. The reason that we don't have diseases like polio in the US is because of concerted vaccination efforts. To not vaccinate (or delay vaccination) because everyone else is vaccinated is selfish and eventually destroys herd immunity. Diseases like whooping cough are on the rise because of this, and the people that get sick and die are not just those who chose not to get vaccinated. The elderly, babies, and individuals who CAN'T get vaccinated because their immune systems are compromised are also affected, and the ones more likely to die. In countries where vaccination isn't prevalent, these diseases still affect the general population, and these diseases are deadly.

I have had more vaccines than most people, since I have done a lot of international travel. I get a flu shot every year. For me, there is nothing to think about. When I take the T, I don't know if the baby next to me has been vaccinated. I don't know if the woman next to me is immunocompromised. Being vaccinated protects them. Being vaccinated protects my elderly grandparents. I hate getting shots. I refuse to get my blood drawn. But since vaccines aren't just for my health, I do it anyway.

Failure!

I utterly failed at reading the New Yorker. I read half a New Yorker, a bunch of trashy magazines, and I finished a book. So I did a lot of reading, but not that much of the New Yorker.

This week, I will eat healthy and exercise 20 min a day (at least). I will also try and get my apartment back on track, cleanliness wise. That's a lot to do.

Week 2 Results

This week I resolved to clean my apartment so that it would be clean when my parents get here tomorrow. I thoroughly cleaned my kitchen and bathroom, including mopping the floor. Normally I just sweep, but I felt a good mopping was in order. I also busted out my generic magic eraser, which did not work as well as advertised. I put some OxyClean on the outside of the microwave door, since that's the only thing that really breaks down grease. I wonder if I could OxyClean my baking sheets? I swept up so much dust that my allergies are terrible, and I vacuumed my carpets. I also shredded about two years worth of credit card bills, hole-punched and put away a bunch of loose recipes, and stacked my New Yorkers into two neat piles. There are still a few things that I just hid instead of putting them away, but I'd say that overall the apartment looks pretty clean.

Since my parents are getting here tomorrow, I don't know if I'll be able to get anything done, but I'll try. Since we're going to the Cape for the weekend, and it will probably rain, instead of spending time online, I will try and read 2-3 New Yorkers.

Resolution, Week 1 Results

In which I update you on my summer project. This week I decided to put away my clothes after wearing them, instead of throwing them on the floor. I would consider this a success. Some items were easier than others to deal with; pants and shoes, specifically. Shirts were more difficult, since they require more folding. I think the key is to put away all my clothes within 24 hours of doing laundry, otherwise I Just have a giant pile of clothes that needs to be put away, so what's a few more? I say within 24 hours, rather than right away, since I air dry some of my clothes, which takes a bit of time. All in all, I think I succeeded in keeping this week's resolution, and hopefully I'll be able to keep up the momentum. I should be able to, because my parents are coming to visit next week, which brings me to

WEEK 2 RESOLUTION:
Clean my apartment before my parents get here. This will include putting away the laundry I just did today and keeping the floor clean, amongst other things. Mainly, getting my living room organized.

Summer Project

I have decided to start a project for the summer. We'll see how it goes. Every Monday, I will write up a weekly resolution, and then Sunday write up how it went. I think weekly resolutions are good, because you can do anything for one week. Hopefully, the habits will continue in subsequent weeks.

This week, I am going to pick up my clothes every night and not toss things on the floor. This means that first I'll have to put my laundry from last week away. Hopefully, I"ll have a clean floor every night when I go to bed.