MAY 1984 - VOLUME 5 - NUMBER 5
F R O M O U R R E A D E R S
MAY 1984 - VOLUME 5 - NUMBER 5
The dangers of DNAMany congratulations on the March issue "High on Technology." It's amazingly good, and clearly shows that Atari new-look will not solve the problems of smokestack industrialism, only create new ones. There is simply no substitute for politics-politics in the sense of starting with human values and using this as the basis for shaping technology. I am concerned, however, by the implication in the article on recombinantDNA that the problem is just that "the drive for profits may limit what [biotechnology] delivers." There's no question that the corporations will use biotechnology on behalf of the rich-but this formulation of the problem excludes the possibility that, no matter what we intend, recombinant-DNA is a technology too dangerous to be developed at all. The argument about recombinant-DNA gets miscast as the question, "Should we play God?" But the dangers of biotechnology, as Agata Mendel says in Les manipulations genetiques "come less from what the investigators know than from what they don't know and cannot really control." Thanks again for all your work. The Monitor has become one of the best resources anywhere. Its style is clear, but its scope is far-reaching. David Keppel Who's got the Secret Agent?I recently ran across the review that Deborah Smith did on our film The Secret Agent (MM, February 1984) [a documentary on the effects of Dow Chemical's Agent Orange which was sprayed in Vietnam to destroy enemy crops and camouflauge, and the fight by Vietnam veterans for compensation]. We thought the review was very well thought out and comprehensive. I don't understand, however, why First Run is listed as the sole distributor. While it is true that First Run is distributing the film, so are we. We would very much appreciate it if you could put this information in a subsequent issue. Charles Light Green Mountain Post Films co-produced The Secret Agent with the Human Arts Association. For rental or purchase of the film, they can be reached at: P.O. Box 229, Turners Falls, MA 01376, (413) 863-4754. Praise for high tech issueThe March 1983 issue on high tech just here: splendid issue. My compliments to all the chefs. I intend to pass it around to the "ignorant." W. H. Ferry Begs to differThe inclusion of three factual errors within one sentence leads this reader to question the validity of any of the material that appears in the publication. I refer to the march 1984 article by Tim Shorrock, "The High Tech Dilemma," [specifically, to the case cited of a Rochester union campaign against the local telephone company due to its creation of a non-union subsidiary to sell telephone equipment]. Perhaps the fault lies with Shorrock's source, George Kohl of the CWA [Communications Workers of America], but someone should have checked the facts. 1) Rochester Telephone is not a Bell company, but an independent. 2) It should not be used as a successful model, because the company has indeed formed a non-union subsidiary which is in business and functioning. 3) The community "support" for CWA's efforts to fight the establishment of the subsidiary should read, rather, "indifference." God knows we need some success models, but unfortunately, the above is not one.
Gloria Samson Rochester In incorporating an interview with George Kohl into my article, two errors in interpretation occurred-both of them my fault. As Mr. Kohl told me, Rochester Telephone is independent from Bell, not a subsidiary. However, the second error-my description of the Rochester campaign as "successful "-was not meant to indicate that the campaign had accomplished its goal, but that it was a useful organizing model to follow. Further reports seem to confirm this and indicate that not all. citizens were "indifferent" to the struggle. The local union feels that its public outreach and the resulting positive opinion, among other factors, forced the company to drop demands for concessions from the union during contract negotiations., According to Kohl, the union is also working with Citizen Action, a public interest group, to develop a statewide campaign for universal telephone service and fair rates. My apologies to George Kohl for any misrepresentations of his statements to the Monitor. -T. S. Farm animal rightsI read your March issue entitled "Welcome to the High Tech Age" from cover to cover with much interest and considerable concern. What I would appreciate tremendously is an article on agriculture in the area of livestock handling and manipulation. As a member of both FARM (Farm Animal Reform Movement) and FACT (Food Animals Concerned Trust), I am very much disturbed by the mechanical and automatic feeding and caring of animals and poultry. I am also skeptical of genetic manipulation. For instance, if they succeed in making huge over-sized steers and hogs, wouldn't the animals be more difficult to handle and take up more space and thus be even more inhumanely controlled and restricted than they are now? It is obvious, too, that many jobs have been lost since animal husbandry has been taken over by the corporations. Small farms are adversely affected too.
Shirley M. Hatch |