Get Your Nose Out of My Dinner Plate!

In regard to the rBST issue, veterinarian Donald L. Yorlets in a York Sunday News letter to the editor on December 2 claimed there is no problem with ingesting hormones, while on the very next page of the same paper a letter by Community Columnist Richard Cleary cited recent studies indicating hormone like substances given off by plastic packaging may be responsible for the worsening problem of reduced male hormone levels in industrialized countries.

Certainly people can go overboard with regard to the degree of credibility they assign to government agencies and scientific studies - in either direction. The Bush administration has taken a truly luddite approach to global warming, even actively suppressing the evidence put forth by its own appointees. On the other extreme, folks like veterinarian Donald L. Yorlets seem to have forgotten how to think for themselves when presented with a pronouncement from a government or scientific body.

Let's not forget that for all the wonderful things science has given us, scientists, medicine, and our government have not always gotten it right. In the 1930's X-rays were used as a treatment for acne, resulting in thyroid nodules and cancer many years later. As a child I and many others used a fluoroscope at the local shoe store to look through the leather of the shoes to see if they fit properly. A recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine reported that we might expect to see an increase of at least 2% in future cancers due to the dramatically increased use of CT scans which subject a person to between 50 and 200 times as much radiation as a normal x-ray - an amount equal to the radiation exposure of someone a few miles from the epicenter of the nuclear bombs detonated over Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

DDT is still found in mother's milk. A component of teflon is found in virtually all humans in the world. PCB's are everywhere. Despite all the efforts of the FDA to ensure drug safety, many years after they appear on the market we learn of new dangers from old medications including drugs like thalidomide, female hormones for menopause, diabetes remedies, and popular pain "killers" - morbid pun intended - among others. One of the early man-made hormones that was used as a diet remedy was pulled from the market after it was determined to cause scleroderma and other problems, while the naturally occurring (but more expensive) version of that same hormone caused no illness. Some flame retardants put in clothes cause cancer and are now being found in fish throughout the world. Wholesale overuse of antibiotics, including as a routine ingredient in animal feed, is causing the emergence of super-bugs like the deadly MRSA.

Science is good, but a reasonable scientist will never claim that at any juncture in time he or she now knows all there is to know. And yet we are constantly bombarded by advertising and claims that such and such product, additive, treatment, etc. is completely safe, and this is by folks who are supposed to and should know better - our doctors, our scientists, and our government.

The rational response to all this is for each of us every day to make our own decisions in regard to what we eat, what we wear, our medical treatments, etc. But the only way we can do this for us to have the information available to us that we need to make informed decisions. And we need the government to help us instead of hindering us in getting that information.

So, politicians, pseudo-scientists, community do-gooders, and all others who want to force your ignorance and your will on the rest of us, get your noses out of my dinner plate! You bet your rBST Rutter's has the right to say they require their dairy farmers to pledge not to use rBST! You bet your bottled water that the people of York should not be forced to ingest fluoride by way of their tap! Politicians: lend us consumers a hand in getting the information we need to make informed choices about our food and healthcare or get out of the way!

You go right ahead and suck up all the fluoride, plasticizers, flame retardants, antibiotics, artificial hormones, teflon, pesticides, irradiated vegetables and meat, genetically modified organisms, cellulose augmented bread, and CT-Scans your heart desires! That's your right! Just please stop trying to force me and others to follow your choices.

Producers have the right to tell their customers what is in the food we buy from them and what is not. And our government, both federal and state, instead of making it possible for producers to hide what's in the food products they sell and how those products are processed must make such disclosure a requirement. Our economy will be stronger for it, and we as citizens and consumers will be encouraged to once again think for ourselves. Now that is something that instills true fear in the hearts of purveyors of junk science and the politicians they have in their pocket! Imagine a population who can and do think for themselves!

Michael C. Martin writes from Hellam Township. He is a part-time farmer who strives to conform to natural, organic and environmentally friendly farming practices. He is chairman of the Hellam Township Board of Supervisors.