Show Me (Thomas Prescott 4) Nick Pirog (philippa perry book TXT) đ
- Author: Nick Pirog
Book online «Show Me (Thomas Prescott 4) Nick Pirog (philippa perry book TXT) đ». Author Nick Pirog
It was bad timing on my part as Brian had just taken a bite of his egg salad sandwich. He snorted, sending egg salad spittle onto my face and into my open mouth.
I wiped at my face with a napkin and fought back a series of dry heaves.
Brian seemed mortified by what heâd done, and when I said, âWell, that was maybe the grossest thing ever,â it didnât help matters.
After we both composed ourselves, Brian said, âIâm so sorry, itâs just that your question is so absurd that it caught me off guard.â
âSo, they do use genetically modified foods in the cafeteria?â
âOf course!â He pointed to my salad and said, âEverything in here is GMOs.â
Iâd found this hard to believe when I read it, but I was glad to know it wasnât true.
I stabbed at my salad with my fork, took a bite, then asked a follow-up question. âSo you donât think genetically modified foods are making people sick?â
âPeople have been eating GMOs for going on twenty-five years now. If they were making people sick, then there would be concrete evidence by now.â
A few minutes after Brian had finished explaining how Bt-corn worked, I recalled why the term sounded familiar. It was the guyâs blog, GMOs, Guns, and the Uprising.
I said, âI read somewhere that Bt-corn is making people sick. Studies show something about liver and colon cancer.â
âDo you have a cell phone?â he asked.
âYeah. A smartphone.â Iâm not sure why I felt compelled to add the second part other than my wanting him to know I was hip.
âWell, there are a thousand studies out there that say the cell phone youâre using is causing cancer.â
My eyebrows rose. âReally?â
âYeah, but for every study out there that says cell phones are causing cancer, there are ten studies saying that they donât.â He paused. âSame thing for Bt-corn. There are tons and tons of studiesâdone by independent agencies not affiliated with Lunhillâthat prove itâs completely safe.â
He had a good point. There was probably a scientific study out there that said sitting on the couch for six months watching Netflix and gaining forty pounds was actually good for you.
âWhat else you got?â he said with a grin. He was having fun debunking all the conspiracy theories.
I asked, âWhy is Spectrum-H banned in a bunch of countries?â
âSpectrum-H isnât banned in any countries. Glyphosate, the active compound, is banned in a few. All I can say is that glyphosate has been around since 1970 and it is wildly considered the safest herbicide every created.â
âThen why did the International Agency for Research on Cancer declare glyphosate a âprobable human carcinogenâ in 2015?â I read this from my smartphone. The one that was giving me cancer as we speak.
He smirked slightly, then said, âEvery regulatory agency in the world has given Spectrum-H the green light.â
I waited for him to add to this, but he let the statement stand for itself.
I put the phone on the table and said, âRegulatory agencies like the FDA? Which Lunhill has hired a disproportionate amount of people from?â
âMakes good business sense. No different than hiring an accountant who used to work at the IRS.â
He got me there.
âOkay, what about food labeling guidelines? Donât you think people have a right to know whatâs in their food?â
He took a long sip of soda and said, âPersonally, Iâm with you on that one. But, assuming GMOs are safe, which they are, it shouldnât matter.â
âBut you agree that GMO labeling would be a bad thing for Lunhill?â
âWorse than bad. It would be devastating. Studies show your average consumer, if given the choice between buying the same product for the same price, would choose the one not containing GMOs.â
âHence, Lunhill spending millions of dollars each year on lobbyists to prevent this from happening?â
âLike all business enterprises, they have shareholders and a board of directors to answer to. They are in the business of making money.â
I appreciated Brianâs candor.
âWhat about farmers?â I asked.
âWhat about them?â
âI read that many farmers feel like they are being forced to use Lunhillâs genetically modified seeds.â
âNo one is forced to use anything. Farmers want to use Lunhill seeds. The fact of the matter is, American farmers average 160 bushels of corn per acre each year, up from 109.5 in 1979. And itâs even higher for soybeans, cotton, and many other crops.â
I hadnât talked to any actual farmers about this, so I could hardly rebut.
âTell me about Simon Beach,â I said.
I only knew the bare details from what I read on the internet. Simon Beach was a ghost town, but at one point it had been a thriving community of two thousandânot all that different than Tarrin. In 1990, the town was completely evacuated due to dioxin contamination from a Lunhill manufacturing plant. It was the largest civilian exposure to dioxin in the countryâs history. A year later, the State of Missouri disincorporated the city.
Brian looked over both shoulders. I had a feeling Simon Beach was as taboo here as Save-More was in Tarrin.
He leaned forward and said, âThat was awful.â
âFirst, explain to me what dioxin is.â
He looked over both shoulders a second time, then deciding the coast was clear, he said, âDioxin is a chemical by-product of the manufacturing process. Anything manufactured, from soap to toothpaste to household disinfectants, are all going to produce dioxin.â
âAnd these dioxins are toxic?â
âThey are when they reach a certain level in the human body.â
I took this in, then asked, âSo what happened with the Lunhill plant in Simon Beach?â
âLunhill wasnât entirely at fault. It was their dioxins, but they werenât the ones who spilled them. Itâs actually a crazy story.â
âLetâs hear it.â
âSo this is what happened,â he said. âThe Lunhill plant wasnât in Simon Beach, it was actually in a town in Southwest Missouri called Verona. Like I said, when you add all the chemicals together to make Spectrum-H, trace amounts of dioxins are created as a by-product. It would accumulate in the bottom of the stills as
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