What Is Wrong With Our Kids?

photo credit:  Sean Dreilinger/Flickr

I am an elementary school music teacher – a position which is commonly referred to as a music specialist.  Music specialists teach general music classes – a combination of singing, playing instruments, learning rudimentary theory and music appreciation – to every child in a school.

This year I was transferred to a new school.  So as not to bore you with the full explanation of why this happened, let me just say it was definitely not my nor my principal’s choice but was rather mandated by higher-ups in the human resource department wanting scheduling convenience.  Due to my particular situation, I got caught in the cross hairs of this desire for convenience and long story short, I have been moved from a very high performing school to a very low performing one.  The socioeconomic difference between these schools is like comparing the incomes of surgeons to hospital orderlies.

So what does this have to do with Sleuth4Health?

Every year I receive documents on kids who have severe allergies and other health problems.  This particular year, I was also made aware of how many incoming kindergartners are already identified as learning disabled or requiring some kind of special ed or academic intervention.

Here is what is interesting:  the amount of kids with allergies is much lower than it was at my former school.  This is interesting to me because several months ago, I did a radio interview with Trent Loos on his show “Rural Route” and we discussed, in a very anecdotal way, how it seems that the more affluent kids have the most noticeable rise in allergies.  The issues of massive fear of germs, of keeping your kids indoors and out of the dirt that could actually help their immune systems develop, or the overuse of antibacterial soap all came up.  Is there a connection?  Perhaps.

The second interesting fact is that in my new building, 22 of roughly 68 kindergartners are entering school already identified as requiring at least one learning or academic intervention of some sort.  A full one third of kids!  That is unheard of.  That number does not even take into account how many more will be identified as the year progresses.  I was out with some teacher friends last week and we were discussing this shocking number and one teacher called out in rhetorical fashion, “What is wrong with our kids?!”

That is a very good question.  As one who sees hundreds of kids every day, year after year, I will say that even during the timeline of my career I’ve seen kids require more and more learning resources and interventions.  Yes, that is an anecdotal statement and no, I don’t have data at my fingertips to support it, but I bet I could find it if I looked hard enough and as someone who is in the trenches every day with kids, I bear witness to this fact.

One sigh of relief for me in my personal journey was to learn that there is NO evidence to suggest it is GMOs that are causing this increase in learning problems, despite what the fervent activists might claim.  The correlation is made time and time again that the rise in cognitive disorders started when GMOs were introduced into our food.  I feel like such a big girl now when I say that correlation does not equal causation!  There is simply no evidence to make a case of this.  Yes, so-called evidence is constantly being made up, cherry picked and propagandized but that’s a whole other story.

There is, however, substantial and reliable evidence to suggest that polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) flame retardants, commonly found in polyurethane foam products and electronics, could be and likely are causing cognitive damage in young children and that lower socio-economic groups could experience more exposure.  These chemicals are commonly found in the padding below your carpet, in your bed, couch or television screen. They are most commonly found in polyurethane foam products and electronics.  One possible explanation for this is that though some (but not all) PBDEs have been banned by the FDA in new products, there are countless products still in circulation that are full of the long lasting chemicals  – in homes, in thrift stores, garage sales, etc.  It can reasonably be assumed that lower socioeconomic households could likely have a higher percentage of these older products.  For a complete article about PBDEs with tables and citations, please read a recent post of mine here.

The purpose of this post is not to unequivocally say that PBDEs are causing these issues, but I am trying to bring attention to the fact that something really could be up with the general health and cognition of children – across all income brackets.  It has been rightly postulated that there is some over diagnosing of these problems going on but even if you account for that, there is still an increasing number of affected kids.

It is understandable that people want answers.  GMOs are such a convenient and wonderful scapegoat.  Everyone has to eat after all.  But guess what?  Everyone either currently has or has had exposure to PBDEs of some kind in their home and work environments too – in roughly the same time frame.

As I said in my earlier post on this topic, it is surprising that no one marches against PBDEs, or collects signatures to have them labeled or completely banned from our world.  There is an impressive body of research that shows real and measurable harm – so much so that as I mentioned earlier, the FDA took some action.  If activists jumped on the PBDE bandwagon, they wouldn’t even have to make up lies!  They could cite countless pubmed studies because the evidence is plentiful.  Science’s most skeptical curmudgeons could not scoff at it.

In conclusion I’ll repeat that yes, there does really appear to be something affecting our children’s health and cognition.  As with bee die-off, it is likely a combination of factors – with PBDEs perhaps being one of them.  I think one could hypothesize that over-consumption of processed foods may belong on the list as well.  That said, it is a waste of time to chase after GMOs in and of themselves as culprits though, as there is no hard science to support that position, much to the chagrin of fist-pounding activists who will probably write in the comment section below that I am an industry shill.  That doesn’t even phase me anymore.  I’m looking for the truth.

Below you will find just a small sample of all of the research and articles about PBDEs.  They are also the sources I used for my information.

julee K/Sleuth4Health

email:  sleuth4health@gmail.com

Update:  By chance I was just looking at twitter and found a similar article to the above written by Bernie Mooney on his informative and entertaining blog The Progressive Contrarian.  His article is titled Why Your Kids Are Fat And Sickly.  We were not in cahoots on these two posts.  Pure coincidence!

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STUDIES

New Pollutants – Old Diseases/Pubmed

Evaluation of DNA Damage Induced by 2 Polybrominated Diphenyl Ether Flame Retardants/Abstract/International Journal of Toxicology

Levels of PBDEs in dust from personal automobiles in conjunction with studies on the photochemical degradation of decabromodiphenyl ether/Pubmed

An Exposure Assessment of PBDE/EPA

PBDEs in US Mother’s Milk/pubmed

PBDEs in an Expanded Market Survey of US Food and Estimated PBDE Intake By Age and Sex/pubmed

Exposure to polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs): Changes in thyroid, vitamin A, glutathione homeostasis, and oxidative stress in American kestrels/pubmed

Associations Between (PBDE) Flame Retardants, Phenolic Metabolites, and Thyroid Hormones During Pregnancy/Medscape Today

Accumulation and DNA Damage in Fathead Minnows […]/Pubmed

Contamination of U.S. Butter with PBDEs from Wrapping Paper. /Arnold Schecter, Sarah Smith, Justin Colacino, Noor Malik, Matthias Opel, Olaf Paepke, Linda Birnbaum/Environmental Health Perspectives, 2010

EPA ACTION PLAN & SIGNIFICANT NEW USE RULES

PBDEs Action Plan Summary/EPA/Existing Chemicals

PBDEs Significant  New Use Rules/EPA/Existing Chemicals

ARTICLES & BLOG POSTS

PBDE Flame Retardants/Center for Environmental Research & Children’s Health (CERCH)

Flame Retardants Linked to Neurodevelopmental Delays In Children/UC Berkley News Center

Flame Retardants Linked to Lower IQs, Hyperactivity in Children/Scientific American

Flame Retardant People/About.Com/Chemistry

Chemical Companies Are Grilled About Flame Retardants/Chicago Tribune

FDA Efforts to Curb Harmful Flame Retardants May Be Delayed by Industry/McCready, Garcia & Leet Law Offices/12/29/2012

PBDEs:  The Toxic Flame Retardants/Alliance For a Clean and Healthy Maine

Butter Contaminated By Flame Retardant /Science Daily

How to read and understand a scientific paper: a guide for non-scientists

In my continuing quest to understand scientific topics such as GMOs, I find articles like this a huge help. There is just no easy way to get the facts. One must roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty with science, i.e., jargon, tables, methods, abstracts and conclusions.

Violent metaphors

Update (1/3/18) I’ve been overwhelmed with requests for the shorter guide, and the email address below no longer works. So I’ve uploaded a copy of the guide for anyone to download and share here: How to read and understand a scientific article. Please feel free to use it however you wish (although I’d appreciate being credited as the author). I apologize to everyone who emailed me and didn’t get a response! If you would like to let me know who you are and what you’re using it for in the comments below, I’d love to hear!

Update (8/30/14): I’ve written a shorter version of this guide for teachers to hand out to their classes. If you’d like a PDF, shoot me an email: jenniferraff (at) utexas (dot) edu.

Last week’s post (The truth about vaccinations: Your physician knows more than the University of Google) sparked a very…

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Julee K talks GMOs on ‘Food and Farm’ with Ray Bowman

Ray Bowman hosts “Food and Farm”

Food and Farm Segment with Ray Bowman

I recently did a segment of internet talk radio with Ray Bowman, host of the Food and Farm show.  We talked about how sometimes misinformation is taken as fact on the internet and about how I, non-scientist-consumer, came to change my mind about GMOs.  The conversation specifically focused on early warning signs that I noticed as an anti-GMO blogger, the red flags that registered in the back of my mind, warning me that I was not on the side of the facts.

Examples of the red flags 

1.  Silly, highly propagandized videos and articles touting the same information over and over and appearing ad nauseum on activist blogs.

2.  So-called science reports that had major flaws and were shredded by mainstream science worldwide.  Usually the scientists that conducted the research were out on a limb all by themselves, or “fringe” types.  I’ve come to learn that good science repeats itself and none of the reports that supported the anti-GMO view did that.  Not even one!

Though my conversation with Ray ended there, little by little, those red flags added up and came to a tipping point, which was the now infamous Stunning Corn Comparison:  GMO vs non-GMO crashing head on into plant geneticist Kevin Folta with whom I was in email contact at the time.   This comparison table tried to pass off soil samples and who knows what other gobbletygook as actual corn data and, well, anyone who passed undergrad organic chemistry apparently would have laughed this data off of the paper it was printed on.  So all hell broke loose at that point, for me anyway.  Basically, science was shining a spotlight on me and I had nowhere to hide.  I was busted, and frankly, embarrassed.

Next came Science Is Laughing At Us  and the rest is history!

Here is the 13-minute segment recorded 8/20:  Food and Farm Segment with Ray Bowman

Inbox An Interesting Place Regarding GMOs

The ‘ear of corn with syringe’ is one of the most iconic images associated with the anti-GMO movement

This post is yet another about how I changed from anti-GMO to accepting of the science and evidence that indicates that GMOs are beneficial and not dangerous or toxic to eat.  My blog changed from anti GMO to pro science.  Notice I don’t say pro GMO.  I am pro fact and pro evidence.  I don’t have an agenda for GMOs and I don’t get paid by biotech companies… shock to a lot of people, I know.  But these two emails, from the same person,  illustrate how so many folks have a difficult time with my change of heart. The funny thing is, I don’t see it really as a change of heart.  I use that expression because it is familiar.  What I experienced was simply a change in knowledge.  I can’t fear that which I understand.

I left every bit of anti-GMO writing on my blog and the record is intact and every once in awhile someone reads an older post and thinks I am a soldier for the antis.  It is a reminder to me how my wrongness is still influencing people.

Hello Julee,

 

I learned of you online today & I’m quite glad I did as I’m very conscious about ingredients and if they might be GMO. You sound like you’re quite informed in this area. If possible, I am wondering if certain ingredients in my supplements may be GMO. I THOUGHT I was well-informed as I don’t eat fast food, processed foods, sodas, or basically anything in a package; BUT, after reading your list of possible GMO ingredients, I suspect I may have to throw all my supplements away. At any rate, here they are:

 

((Keep in mind, these are just supplements & not regular grocery store food))

 

Glycerin: I read that this may be either a GMO or it may be natural, like in some soaps. Do you have any idea if Glycerin in my Vitamin D-3 and probiotic may be one or the other? (??)

 

Vegetable Cellulose: You list Cellulose as a possible GMO, but this is vegetable cellulose. (??)

 

Vegetable Stearic Acid: You list Stearic Acid as a possible GMO, but this is Vegetable Stearic Acid. (??)

 

Soybean Oil: I don’t think you listed this particular ingredient, but Naturalnews.com reported in one of their articles that it was a GMO. (??)

 

Caramel: You listed Caramel Color as a GMO, but not Caramel. (??)

 

Sugar: I chew on some Altoids breath mints quite often, & I thought this was safe as it had the ingredient of sugar. You reported that if it isn’t preceded by “cane” it’s GMO beet sugar. Is that right? (??)

 

Lastly, if any of the above ingredients are GMO, would you yourself take that  particular supplement? I ask because these supplements are important to my wife’s health & mine. (IE, Vitamin K2, from Jarrow Formulas, has this soybean oil, glycerin and caramel in it, but at the same time it’s an essential vitamin as it regulates where calcium is deposited in our bodies).

 

I would very much appreciate if you could tell me your opinion on these ingredients when you have enough time. Every time I research the Internet on health-related topics, it becomes frustrating & oftentimes depressing to learn that our food/water/supplement supply is practically all contaminated to one degree or another.

 

Kind Regards,

 

Bryan N.

Not long after reading the above, I received the following email with the all too familiar suggestion that Monsanto must be paying me.  Damn I am still waiting for that big paycheck!

Sorry for bothering you earlier, Julee, about my question of GM ingredients in my supplements. I just read a recent blog where you’ve done a 180 on GMOs, now in favor of them.

Dunno what you researched, whom you talked with, but you’re the first person (in my experience, anyway) that’s flipped in that direction. Some of your quotes (Konnikova) & conclusions (emotionally-driven fear) are waaay out there in left field. GMOs are proven to be unhealthy in every sense and anyone who says otherwise is one of the following:

 

A) a corporate shill seeking approval from those who trend our society;

 

B) a futurist who likes the idea of RFID chips & nano-inspired Morgellons disease, turning the human species into a bunch of mindless trans-humanist cyborgs.

 

C)  one who is lacking long-term insight (or compassion) into where this road leads, for both the human species & nature.

 

What’s going on, Julee? It’s hard to fathom that anyone not associated with Monsanto could come to this conclusion. Not here to be angry with you, just express my disappointment that a bright woman like yourself can take this position. Sterility, carcinogens, you name it. You don’t mind your children eating this stuff?? For Christ sake, even Monsanto doesn’t allow their employees to eat GMO foods at their corporate headquarters and both the royal family and US President’s family doesn’t eat this stuff, having their own organic gardens instead. GMOs are so damn healthy for us that Monsanto has to keep changing the names of the ingredients; also spending millions recently on focus groups in CA to see how to run their  TV ads & influence voters to defeat legislation that would require labeling on all GMOs.

 

But it’s okay for us non-elites, though, because it will evolve us, no doubt …right into a rigid matrix where individuality is scraped & everyone is plugged into the general singular consciousness (trans-humanism). Is that what you want for humanity, Julee? You wouldn’t mind your grandchildren being a homogenized vessel to serve the State? No thanks. God willing, (oops, I said God, how about Higher Consciousness?) naturalists and other emotionally-driven people like myself branch off & form another separate reality from the one you want: a mechanized, homogenized, empty, nature-less, sterile reality. Will keep my fingers crossed on that one.

Whatever, Julee, just as long as you formed this opinion yourself & not for monetary gain. At least I could respect the former even if I vehemently disagreed with it.

This just makes me feel sad and kind of lonely out here on this island of change all by myself.  I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, the the anti-GMO activists are barking up the wrong tree.   There are much MUCH worse things out there than GMOs.  Here is a post I wrote awhile back about one such threat that goes largely unnoticed:  PBDE Flame Retardants Proven Dangerous But Activists Focus Only On GMOs.  Why?

Anyway, back to the email topic…  If you’re curious, this was Sleuth4Health’s response:

I ask only one thing.  Please supply evidence to back up all that you are saying.  I used to believe as you do but I researched.  I did real in depth research and talked to real experts.  I did research that is not just one google click after typing in “GMOs”.  Please supply me with peer reviewed scientific evidence that has appeared in a well respected journal, a journal that is taken seriously, that proves GMOs have caused harm to people.  The truth is, there is no such evidence.  That is why I changed my mind.

The following is an update to my original post and is the response, followed by my response.

Real in-depth, peer-reviewed research? What, from pseudo-scientific hacks designed to support this industry? Come on, Julie, don’t be naive. The research is frickin’ EVERYWHERE. You talked in one of your blogs about being fluid with your perceptions, but it sounds like you’re as entrenched in this viewpoint as a dem or repub is in his/her respective ideology. 

 

You’ve obviously mainstreamed your opinions with that of corporations like Dupont & Monsanto, even mainstream news supports your viewpoints. Of course you’ll find “real in-depth, peer-reviewed research” as a result. Goodness, snap out of it, Julie.

 

Don’t want to get in a pissing contest with you so I won’t write anymore. Take Care.

 

My response:

My only response is that it’s sad you only believe anti-GMO activist literature, psuedo-science and conspiracy theorists.  No pissing contest necessary. https://sleuth4health.wordpress.com/2013/07/25/is-gm-food-safe-experts-around-the-globe-answer/

Julee K/Sleuth4Health

email:  Sleuth4health@gmail.com

this article updated 8/24 10:12 AM PST

Separating Wheat From Chaff At Miller Farm: Part One

In the next two posts I’m going to tell an Oregon farm story.  It is also an American farm story, a homestead story, and most of all, a family story – one that could most likely be told similarly most anywhere that the US expansion efforts included homesteading.  At the request of the family who so generously let me poke about their farm snapping photos and generally being in the way, I have changed all names (except my own).

In this first post I am presenting my observations of what was going on during harvest, 2013.   The second of the two posts will focus on the past generations of the farm.  The original homesteaders on this and many other farms like it, along with the generations that came after, represent many of the hardy, courageous Americans that built this nation as it expanded westward during its formative years.

Outline of Umatilla County in Eastern Oregon

In late July, the height of wheat harvest in Eastern Oregon,  I visited the Miller family in Umatilla County.  Last spring, when the Oregon GM(genetically modified) wheat debacle story broke and was making headlines worldwide, I immediately thought of the people that have been part of the Eastern Oregon wheat “scene” since before the 20th century.  How would these rogue GM plants found in a field near Pendleton affect them?  Lawsuits against Monsanto were popping up in other states and it looked like before the feds could even figure out what happened, futures market chaos might ensue.  I immersed myself in local articles about the mystery wheat plants and because I know the Millers, I felt a personal connection to the developing story.  I knew they sold their wheat primarily to Japan and Japan seemed to have the most bees in its bonnet over the appearance of the rogue GM wheat plants [1].  So, I emailed Mrs. Miller, lady of the farm, someone who has lived her entire life in Umatilla County, and we began to write back and forth.   The weekend visit was planned soon thereafter.

As the mysterious case of the GM wheat played out in mass media, it was pretty much business as usual on the farm.  The crop looked good and would be harvested – no matter what – and of course, close scrutiny of the markets and fluctuating prices was inevitable but meanwhile, there was work to do.  Midway into the investigation, a knock on the door from the feds did come.  APHIS (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, a branch of the USDA) workers were interviewing local farmers as part of their continuing inquiry into the matter.  Apparently they were a friendly lot, and upon completion of their official questions, asked where there was good weekend fishing and hiking in the area.

So who are the Millers?  Phillip Miller took over operations on the 2,000 acre farm in the late 70s after marrying Sarah, heir to the farm along with her sister, Christina.  They have been farming steadily since, though the amount of acres devoted to wheat has varied over the years.  Some of the land was leased to and is currently under contract with the CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) [2].

Phillip and Sarah raised two sons on the farm, John and Jeff.  John, now 34, has recently taken over the operation of Miller farm and he and his wife, Jeanette, live in what was the original homestead building on the property.  Phillip and Sarah still live in the main house and during this year’s harvest, brother Jeff, now 31, stayed to assist along with a few members of Jeanette’s family.

That is I, Julee K, sitting in the cab of the combine harvester with John Miller (in back, at the wheel) and Leonard Smythe (peeking from the left).

I had quite a memorable time experiencing this particular slice of American farming culture.  I rode in the combine [3], got a throat and nose full of wheat, chaff, and dust, strolled fallow and stubble fields at 10 AM when it was already 97 degrees, and even poked around an abandoned grain elevator that was operational even into the early 1980s.  I heard stories about the way farming used to be, the way it has been for the past several decades, and how, like in so many other areas, technological advances are revolutionizing the modern farm.

The workhorse of harvest, the combine, rides along like a giant lawnmower.

The rotating “header” cuts a 36-foot wide swath.

Combine

Looking out the front of this behemoth of a harvester, it looked like I was riding on a giant lawnmower, but a combine harvester does so much more than mow down crops.  The first of three functions offered by a combine is the reaper function, which includes both the cutting and gathering of the wheat.  The header rotates and chops ceaselessly while the reaper gathers what has been cut and sends it back to where the thresher and winnower, the other two functions, perform their respective tasks.  The thresher loosens the edible part of the grain from the chaff.  The winnower uses an air current to separate the chaff from the wheat.  When the combine becomes full, the wheat travels through a conveyor auger to land in a grain cart or truck.  The Millers use a 450 bushel grain cart, or ‘bank out’ wagon (below).

The combine lines up with this 450 Bushel ‘Bank Out’ Wagon which receives the harvested wheat, then dumps it into wheat trucks which transport the wheat to grain bins (see video).  Trucks from Pendleton Grain Growers go from farm to farm to load wheat which is eventually loaded onto barges and tugged down the Columbia river.

John and Dorothy Miller stand next to the grain cart tire.  Beneath their feet is very recently cut stubble.

Ask any Miller and he or she will tell you that this 450 bushel grain cart is not especially big.  I can’t imagine.  The picture to the left is of John and grandmother Dorothy Miller standing next to one of the grain cart tires.  Looks pretty darn big to me!

I made a video (see below) of my time both in the cab of the combine and standing next to the grain auger, which pumps harvested wheat from a dump truck into a tall grain bin, or silo.  For any wheat farmer, this is every day harvest fare but for me, it was a thrilling highlight of my weekend in Eastern Oregon.

Jeff Miller waits in the shade for the next arrival of the tractor and grain cart.

Pendleton Grain Grower trucks regularly make their rounds and pick up wheat from the area grain bins.  Wheat is cyphened out in much the same fashion as the way it is goes in.  The trucks haul the wheat to the nearest port city,  Umatilla, where it is weighed and loaded onto barges headed down the mighty Columbia to the Port of Portland, which is the largest wheat port in the United States and the third largest in the world.  From there it is loaded onto ships which cross the Pacific to Asia and beyond.  Some wheat is sold right away to pay expenses and the rest if stored until a time arrives to “sell high”.   All the wheat farmers in the area are no doubt sighing in relief that exports to Asia are back on in full swing and prices are stabilizing.

Please come back for part two!  I will explore past generations and old ways of farming.

I would like to offer my warmest thanks to the Miller Family for allowing me a glimpse of their historic farm.

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1.  The latest news about Japan importing Oregon wheat is very good.  Here is an OregonLive article from July 30.  According to the article, Japan has placed a huge order for Oregon wheat and after months of nail biting speculation, all looks to be back to normal.

2.  The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) is a land conservation program administered by the Farm Service Agency (FSA) which is part of the USDA.   In exchange for a yearly rental payment, farmers enrolled in the program agree to remove environmentally sensitive land from agricultural production and plant species that will improve environmental health and quality. Contracts for land enrolled in CRP are 10-15 years in length. The long-term goal of the program is to re-establish valuable land cover to help improve water quality, prevent soil erosion, and reduce loss of wildlife habitat.

3.  The combine harvester, or combine, performs three separate operations to harvest grain.  Examples of crops harvested with a combine are wheat, oats, rye, barley, corn, soybeans and flax.  The operations performed are reaping, threshing and winnowing.  

All photos/video shot by Julee K except Headline Photo, Old Farm Machinery taken by Linda Tanner/Flickr

Scared of GMOs? It’s All In Your Head!

While perusing twitter this morning, I found a link to this article by Maria Konnikova, recently published in the New Yorker:  The Psychology of Distrusting GMOs

As many of my readers know, I am someone who did totally change my views about GMOs.  I started out very afraid of and against transgenics and biotechnology in general but as I researched, read, talked with experts, and kept an open mind, I did a complete one-eighty [1].  I have not regretted that shift for even a moment.   I am comfortable with GMOs, transgenics, biotechnology, GM crops, GM food.

As I read this article, I am reminded yet again that my experience is the exception, not the rule.  Once perceptions are formed by an individual about a topic, it’s a hard sell to change them.  Hard, yes. Impossible, no.

Here are a few excerpts, quotes and my own descriptions of what I got out of this very interesting article.

The following quote was made in reference to the rightness of calling a food ‘natural’ if it has been genetically modified.

The natural is what we find more familiar, while what we consider unnatural tends to be more novel—perceptually and experientially unfamiliar—and complex, meaning that more cognitive effort is required to understand it.     -Robert Sternberg, pyschologist, 1982

The history of agriculture is the history of humans breeding seeds and animals to produce traits we want in our crops and livestock.    -Michael Specter

The article’s author, Konnikova, describes a taste experiment that was conducted in which the same organic food was presented twice, once labeled as organic and the second time labeled as regular.  Test subjects routinely rated the taste, low-calorie status and nutritional quality of the organic labeled food higher than the non-organic, when in fact, they were one in the same!  This phenomenon is called the “halo effect” according to Konnikova.  She defines it this way:  a phenomenon whereby one positive attribute of a person or thing colors other, unrelated characteristics in a positive light.

GMOs suffer from a reverse halo effect, Konnikova writes.  One attribute perceived as negative, like, say, the perceived unnaturalness of GMOs, affects the whole perception negatively.  One could extrapolate and come to the conclusion, for example, that if it is not natural, it must not be safe, must be bad for the environment and so on.

Konnikova writes:

The negative halo of GMOs doesn’t just affect how we feel toward them; it also impacts how we evaluate their attending risks and benefits. As early as 1979, the psychologist Paul Slovic, who has been studying our perceptions of risk since the nineteen-fifties, pointed out that, when it comes to new, unknown technologies, data always loses out to emotion […] Once an initial opinion is formed, Slovic continues, it is very difficult to shift it with new evidence: the exact same piece of information—say, additional data on the effects of GMOs on a natural ecosystem—can be interpreted in opposing ways, depending on your starting point.

Later in the article, Konnikova cites some hope.  She writes:

Does that mean that GMOs will always be subject to emotionally driven instead of data-driven assessments? Not necessarily. Time is on the side of increased rationality: the longer that genetic-modification technologies are in use, the more likely we are to begin to incorporate them into our sense of the familiar. As children are born into a world where genetic modification is more widespread, they may even begin to see it as more natural—and hence, be able to judge its impact with greater objectivity.

The youngsters are the best hope.  That is the opinion of S4H.  They don’t take issue with GMOs the way the 35 and above do.  I see this first hand with my own kids and would like to add that, at least in their case, the public education they received, science included, was more than adequate and I would classify both of them as critical thinkers.  There have been countless times I have stated a belief, not just about a science topic, but any random belief, and they have challenged me about it.  Could it be our education in the US is improving, at least in some places?  If so, this is good news for biotechnology.

I recommend reading the full article.  The author is highly credentialed and writes well (see below).  It raises many more points than what I have covered here and cites specific experiments that were done with individual perceptions about GMOs,

Maria Konnikova is the author of the New York Times best-seller “Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes.” She has a Ph.D. in Psychology from Columbia University.

Julee K/Sleuth4Health

email:  sleuth4health@gmail.com

This article was updated on 8/19 at 10:35, PST.

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[1] The following posts are among the many that reflect my change in views regarding GMOs:  Science is Laughing At Us, How To Temper An Anti-GMO Blogger

Drunk on Drums and Bugles

Sleuth4Health has been silent lately.  Though my blog has been quiet, my ears have been ringing.  My eyes?  Dazzled.  I, Julee K, have been fully immersed in my summer obsession.  No, it’s not GMO.  It’s DCI.

Drum Corps International

DCI is a non-profit, youth organization representing various drum and bugle corps around the US, Canada and abroad.  Marching members are youth between the ages of 14-22 and are taught by staff and supported by parents and members of the community.  Along with fans, members, staff and supporters form an esoteric and exuberant world unto themselves.  Drum and bugle corps are similar to marching bands but feature only brass with drums and color guard (the people who spin flags, rifles and sabers).  Shows are executed with precision and attention to the minutest of details.  Skills required are extremely musically and physically demanding which requires marching members to train like hard core athletes.   A true piece of Americana, drum corps’ origins come from the military. Here is a brief history (via wiki) of how classic drum corps evolved into the modern, competitive marching art we see today.

Classic drum and bugle corps are musical ensembles that descended from military bugle and drum units returning from World War I and succeeding wars.^[1] Traditionally, drum and bugle corps served as signaling units as early as before the American Civil War, with these signaling units having descended in some fashion from ancient drum and fife corps. With the advent of the radio, bugle signaling units became obsolete and surplus equipment was sold to veteran organizations (such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars {VFW} and American Legion, two major organizers for classic drum corps). These organizations formed drum and bugle corps of civilians and veterans, and the corps performed in community events and local celebrations. Over time, rivalries between corps emerged and the competitive drum and bugle corps circuit evolved.

The term “classic” is used for the purposes of this article to differentiate it from Drum and bugle corps (modern) using the time period of the establishment of Drum Corps International as a dividing point in the timeline of the two types of Drum and Bugle Corps.  Modern Drum and Bugle Corps are a continuation of the classic variety, for all intents and purposes, having the same origins, though some corps in the “classic” model do still exist.

It is truly a feast for the eyes and ears to sit in the stands and see the magic of drum corps unfold.  Color.  Pageantry.  Paste-your-face-to-the-wall brass music.  Precision drumming.  Stunning dance elements.  Rifle and saber spins and tosses.  Flags in perfect unison.

Corps even entertain when they warm up.  Here is video of the brass line of the winningmost corps out there, the Blue Devils, doing their famous “space chords” warm up before a semifinals run.   The real exciting part starts at 1:50 but be sure to watch all the way to the end.  You’ll be glad you did!

This is the third year in a row that I’ve gone to World Championships at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis (where the Colts play).  I return home so intoxicated by drum corps that when I close my eyes I see rifles and sabers spinning in the air.  I hear remnants of horns blasting masterfully arranged music classics like Barber’s Adagio for Strings, Stravinsky’s dissonant Rite of Spring, or Whitacre’s lush Water Night.

A typical field practice for the Oregon Crusaders Drum & Bugle Corps.  My son plays euphonium.

My interest in drum corps started when my son joined the Oregon Crusaders in 2010.  Prior to then, I knew next to nothing about the activity.  In four years I’ve gone from novice onlooker to fanatic fan and long after my son “ages out” (next year is his last year of eligibility) I will still be going to World Championships and commenting on drum corps forum threads.

National tour takes the kids into Texas, Alabama and Georgia in late July. Can you see the glistening sweat on their skin? My son is front row, 2nd from left.  They also tour extensively through New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio en route to finals in Indiana.  The touring entourage involves semi and box trucks, several buses and various other trailers and vehicles.  Corps and staff are fed by volunteers.  It takes tremendous effort, vision and a lot of money to run and fund a touring corps.

Top 12 Corps in Full Retreat at Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis

The picture above shows all the finalist corps in what is called “full retreat” or the position they are in to receive placement and awards.  Here is a link to video of this year’s full retreat and final awards ceremony (use your mouse to click forward on the timeline as there is quite a long lag at the beginning).

This activity and art form captivates me to such an extent that I just about forget who I am.  Seriously.  The most wonderful thing about drum corps fans is that during the competitive season which is only about two and a half months, no one cares what you do for a living, what your political or religious beliefs are, what you eat, what you look like, what you are wearing or who you voted for.  It doesn’t matter if you are anti-GMO, anti-vax, pro-science, green party, tea party, GOP, dem.  NO ONE CARES.  The only thing that matters is what is going on out there between the hash marks.

Pictured here is Phantom Regiment, one of the usual finalists

Drum corps develops character, team building and confidence in kids.  Lessons learned last a lifetime as any alumnus will tell you, and many come back to the activity to help in later years.  It is extremely structured, strict, and as physically demanding as any football training or boot camp.  My son, a fourth year veteran marcher, will return home ripped, tan, confident, respectful – and exhausted.

My drum corps drunkenness will give way to a hangover which will linger until I start teaching again in a few short weeks.  Meanwhile I will make my reservations and buy my tickets for next year.

If you are someone out there who has experience with drum corps, please let me know!

Julee K @ Sleuth4Health

email:  sleuth4health@gmail.com

Photos courtesy of Oregon Crusaders/facebook except Phantom Regiment which was taken by Julee K