>The oats are more than likely genetically engineered. (human milk components
>are being genetically engineered into various plants--tobacco, rice, etc--so
>they might be doing oats). In fact I suspect that the peptide is from human
>milk--genetically engineered of course--stops diarrhea and has
>anti-bacterial, anti-viral, and anti-fungal properties.
OK, so you said "more than likely" -- and then you launch into speculations
about the peptide in oats being from human milk. It is suggestion,
implication, innuendo. It isn't data. People do this sort of thing all
the time when they have no data, but want to make people think a certain
way. An example from a test I just gave will make this point. The quote
is from an article by anthropologist Michael Harner, trying to explain that
Aztecs sacrificed people to their gods and then ate them because they
otherwise wouldn't have enough animal protein and fat. Look at what he
writes:
"Nearby they also discovered piles of human skulls, which apparently had
been broken open to obtain the brains, possibly a choice delicacy reserved
for the priesthood, and to mount the skulls on a ceremonial rack." Explain
why this statement is problematic from the perspectives of data, logic, and
innuendo.
The students were charged to analyze the statement -- the 'apparently' and
the 'possibly' and to explain why the statement is problematic. I could
use Valerie's statement for the same purpose on a test. The point is to
get people to be afraid of oats, and to think that genes for human milk
peptides have been inserted into the genome of oats, and that is why you
can use oats to treat mastitis in pigs. But clearly, there is no evidence
to support this supposition, it is all Valerie's hypothesizing. However,
people often fall for this sort of writing style, so it can be effective,
especially in those cases where you actually have no data (as Harner did
not for Aztec cannibalism).
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------
Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph.D. email:
[log in to unmask]
Anthropology Department phone: (409) 845-5256
Texas A&M University fax: (409) 845-4070
College Station, TX 77843-4352
http://www.prairienet.org/laleche/dettwyler.html
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