In John Kenny’s piece, “Buyers Trust Shaky Science When Making Food Choices,” he brings to mind a paradox that is likely played across this campus and throughout the nation. Kenny firmly opposes large-scale profit-driven agriculture, its adverse environmental record and strong-arm lobby in government.

But many of those sharing Kenny’s negative view of the agricultural industry and the science behind the potent chemicals, the frankenfood and cloned livestock easily drop this hesitance toward the scientific community in another area.

I am not speaking for Kenny, but many who share his views on the dangers of science in modern food will gleefully forgo hesitation with modern science when it is dealing with a matter of much higher consequence: stem cell research. Many will fret about pesticide residues that could linger in their body from food products, though few are unnerved by the scientist fiddling with the very body that could one day consume the food.

As for the fear of an unfettered free market, as Kenny laid out in relation to the agricultural industry, the same discontents could easily be brought about by use of stem cells. Already states such as California have put $3 billion toward the research. If breakthroughs occur, it would not take too much imagination to see a commoditization of human embryos, where one would trade away embryos for profit to cover a mortgage or allow for a larger shopping budget. Likewise, many of the diseases that stem cells could potentially cure are ones that are more problematic in the West, such as heart disease, diabetes, and arthritis; therefore stem cell treatment would be in high demand and elicit cool profits for the medical industry.

Eating genetically modified corn or meat from a cloned animal is enough of an abomination of nature. So let us carry that fervor through to protecting the very vessels that enjoy nature, humans, and not allow our bodies to become a scrap yard for the scientific community to profit from, while dehumanizing us all in the end.

— — Brad Pillsbury is a freshman from Tyler, Texas.