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‘ ALUN ANDERSON
1 Natural iborn killers
Some are wary of GM food because it’s unnatural. The problem with the word ‘natural’, says Alun Anderson, is that it makes you feel good without meaning a thing.
i there is one thing that gets me angry it's the word
’natural' and all the mindless thinking that goes
along with it la/y thinking that il‘ it were properly applied might do some good in solyitlg the world‘s problems rather than hiding l'rom them. The word ‘natural' pops up everywhere where people can be gulled into stopping thinking and paying up money: natural foods. natural healing. natural landscapes. natural death. natural burial . . . There's eyen natural breast enlargement adyeitised on the internet.
Let's take a quick look at a ‘natural‘ ('hristmas in 200-1 with a nice family in Morningside who love natural things. They are undoubtedly strong supporters of the 'eny'ironment‘. like to buy 'organic foods and wouldn‘t touch anything 'genetically engineered‘. The potatoes and turkey are roasting in the men. and the family and its dog are gathered around a natural wood lire. llere we‘ll be kind hearted: even our (‘hristmas l'amily knows their lire is producing particulates that are a major cause of smog. respiratory disease and asthma. and adding more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. In the spirit ol‘ (‘hristmas we'll let them oil and moye on to the potatoes.
The potatoes aren‘t natural. They are all genetic mutants thank (iod. Like almost eyerything else in your larder you had better be glad they have been heavily genetically engineered for thousands of years. It you ate them in their natural state you would probably be dead. Potatoes don‘t really want to he eaten. l'nlike some fruits. which have eyolyed to he tasty so that animals will gobble them up and then spread the seeds when they del‘ecate. a potato is an underground energy storage device that has no desire to he stolen for someone else to eat. That's probably why potatoes contain poisons which hayen't been entirely eliminated eyen alter 7.()()() years ol' genetic alteration.
Potatoes. like tomatoes. aubergines and tobacco belong to the same lamily as deadly nightshade and contain toxic alkaloids. The highest concentrations are in potato shoots and in older potatoes that haye gone green. These should neyer he eaten. ()rdinary potatoes are now pretty safe and it has been estimated that you would need to eat about two kilos at one go before the alkaloids reach a dangerous dose. But the important point is that ordinary potatoes are sale not because they are natural. but because they aren't. For the past 7.()()() years tai'iiiei's in the Andes. where potatoes originate. haye been selecting the most nutritious Varieties. and for the past few hundred Western farmers haye been working on them too. That‘s why the potatoes in your men are mutants compared with the natural originals.
The same can he said of lots of other food in your kitchen. Those bright red plump tomatoes begin in their natural state as a tiny little yellow limit cultiyated by the Aztecs (who called them xee—teo-ma—teli. Jtist like the
10 THE LIST "5 [Tc-C .‘ff-i—t‘
ORDINARY POTATOES ARE SAFE NOT BECAUSE THEY ARE NATURAL, BUT BECAUSE THEY AREN'T
potato. they were regarded as dangerous and poisonous when they reached liuropc in the loth century. because of their obyious relationship to deadly nightshade. It took a lot of genetic changes to make them lat. red and acceptable to all. liyen the (‘hristmas organic turkey in your men is liar remoyed from its natural ancestors. It is a bird irom Mexico. introduced to Britain \ ia the eastern Mediterranean. which is probably why it came to be called a Turkey bird. and has been genetically altered to make it latter and slower moying than its ancestors. What about the dog lying in lront ol‘ the lire‘.’ l'i'ankly. it's just a la/y woll' which has conned a l‘ew gullible humans into proyiding endless f'ree suppers in exchange for displays of affection. In a more natural world. it would be roaming the Scottish Highlands as indeed wolyes did until recently. The Last Scottish \Voll‘ met its end in 1743. For those in low with the natural. bringing it back would he an excellent idea as it would keep in check the growing population ol deer and iii walkers in the Highlands. whose clomping boots destroy the natural enyironment. But most Scottish people would agree they were haying too much of the natural world il‘ they ran into ‘The lean and hungry woll‘. With his fangs so sharp and white‘. as the Book (i/‘Ili‘e/i/uiir/ .lli'iisn'i'lsy puts it. It would be altogether natural to non like hell. And that is what we should be doing from the word 'natural’ itsell‘. l’or the loud we eat. we should be asking what is genuinely nutritious. not whether it is natural. Scotland has a huge problem with poor nutrition and honest answers will come from a rational approach. lior the natural world. we haye to accept that it has always been in a state ol' change and there neyer was a golden natural yesterday. .-\s lot" natural breast enlargement. there I might back olT. .»\lmost anything has got to be better than silicon.
Alun Anderson is editor-in-chief of New Scientist magazine but any views expressed here are entirely his own. Naturally.
Which is more natural, the tomato or the bullet?
PlUCKlNG FRUITS FROM IHE CUlJURAl BUSH
I Are the Flaming Lips the maddest band in the weild’? Does covering yourself in fake blood. haying (:oiiwrstions Wltil
a small plastic boxing nun. and aferlng at gigs in a gigantzt; bubble qualify? lhey'ie being deodedly more sane on a forthcoming mix album. I ate-3 Night Tales. in which they cover 'Seven Nation Army' by the White Stripes — the same song they famously played when filling in tor Jack White at l in the Park last year . . . On safer some ground. Doves release their first single in a couple of years. With a digital download available to purchase from the band's website. wwwdovesnet, lhere's an album. Some Cities. to follow in February 200:3. The release WI” be Supponed by an extensIve UK tour . . you were in awe of the chance to catch up on all those old episodes of Murder One on DVD this year, you'll be getting excnecl at the thought of a new Steven Bochco production. Filming begins in January on Over There. a contemporary war drama which focuses on the members of an army unit sent to Iraq on their first low of duty . . . Director of Alias and upcoming Survr/or- style TV drama Lost. JJ Abrams is due to go behind the camera lOr Mission Imposmble III. Tom Cruise will be back as Ethan Hunt With Carrie-Anne Moss, Kenneth Branagh and Scarlett Johansson helping out . . . And from the most powerful small man in Hollywood to the biggest star of the female variety as Julia Roberts lends her gummy smile to Ant Bul/y, an animated epic due for release in 2006. Also signed up for this romantic ‘toon delight are Shirley MacLaine. Alan Cumming and Tom Hanks.
.If, like us.