The Rural Voice, 1998-01, Page 10MAHOOD
«einem,*
BunDING
c NTRE
Hwy. 21 N.
Kincardine, Ont. N2Z 2Y6
For all your farm &
home building
requirements
give
Jack
a
call
at
Jack Coultes
Work 396-3355
Home 887-6752
!SI '4
/I 1
• AWARD WINNING
VEHICLE LETTERING
& GRAPHICS
• CUSTOM FARM
SIGNS, CARVED
CEDAR OR PLYWOOD
PHONE/FAX
519-343-4125
1-888-RAYN BOW
360 KING ST.,
PALMERSTON
6 THE RURAL VOICE
Keith Roulston
Returning to dreams of the '50s
Sometimes I feel like I'm going
through my second childhood.
Now my wife might say I'm
acting like it too, but what I mean is
that the 1990s feel a little like the
1950s with the love affair with
science and technology and the
dream of _
wonderful
things to come.
Remember
those Popular
Science dreams
of how we'd all
be flying to
work? x�
Part of the
dream of break-
ing away from
all the old
limitations of
nature was
nuclear power.
We were
terrified by the idea of nuclear
warfare but tantalized by the prospect
of unlimited power through the
peaceful use of nuclear technology.
This was particularly exciting for a
Bruce County farm kid after it was
announced the first nuclear generat-
ing station would be built at Douglas
Point. The scientists told us there was
a new world ahead where we could
break the bounds of nature — and we
gladly believed them.
As we now know, however, the
nuclear dream didn't unfold exactly
as it was envisioned. Last summer
Ontario Hydro admitted its nuclear
plants needed major rebuilding to
make them operable. Three Mile
Island and Chernobyl showed the
peaceful applications of nuclear
power could be deadly just like the
nuclear bombs.
Truly frightening was the report,
this summer, that drugs and alcohol
had been found in the control rooms
of the Pickering nuclear station,
sitting on the edge of the most
populous area in Canada. That report
coincided with the visit to Canada of
young children from Chernobyl, here
for respite from living in the contam-
ination left from the Chernobyl
explosion. Chernobyl couldn't
happen here, we were assured, yet we
Are we
infallible
in the '90s?
had people who were supposed to
prevent that who were not in the
sharpest state of mind. People in a
position of huge responsibility, like
the Pickering workers, still are
humans, with all their frailty.
Even as we were putting our faith
in science in the 1950s, those human
frailties were being demonstrated.
Twice last year U.S. President Bill
Clinton officially apologized for
1950s experiments, sanctioned by the
government, which were carried out,
on unknowing human beings. As
well, the armed forces exposed troops
to nuclear fallout during atomic bomb
testing as part of experiments.
What makes this all relevant in
the 1990s is the unquestioning
acceptance of biotechnology — the
nuclear power of the 1990s. Once
again it's exciting to dream about not
being tied down by the laws of
nature, of being able to put human
genes in goats or pigs, of putting a
gene from an arctic char into a plant.
If anyone should dare question the
safety of such a practice, they're
reassured the Canadian food
inspection system is the best in the
world and if it says the food is safe,
it's safe. Meanwhile, scientists pass
off the ethics of genetic
experimentation saying ethics are not
their business, then they turn around
and label any attempt to impose
ethics as misguided interference.
Looking at the nuclear industry
charitably, we can say that all but two
of the world's hundreds of nuclear
plants (Chernobyl and Three Mile
Island) functioned perfectly safely.
Only Chemobyl really caused a
major catastrophe which has cost the
lives of thousands. As a percentage,
the nuclear record has been pretty
good — yet thousands died.
It's probable that 98 or 99 per cent
or higher of transgenic applications
will work well too. We will have
major gains. But like nuclear power,
the dangers from that small
percentage of mistakes is huge. Like
nuclear power, we are playing with
powerful forces outside the laws of
nature. If we do make a mistake, the
ramifications can be unimaginable.
Make a particularly bad mistake that
gets out into nature, and it could even