Owen Paterson, 'wickedness' and the fairy dust of science, by Andy Stirling

TO READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE:
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/oct/15/owen-paterson-wickedness-and-the-fairy-dust-of-science

Environment secretary Owen Paterson has hit out at 'wicked' opponents of genetically modified crops, but forgets science's greatest assets are scepticism and democracy.

Environment secretary Owen Paterson who has hit out at "wicked" opponents of genetically modified crops. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA

Even the most rational of arguments can understandably sometimes get quite heated. But in branding critics so emotively as "wicked" and "disgusting", GM advocates like Owen Paterson relinquish any claims to reason.

Like other hysterically unqualified defences of rationality, this carries a worrying whiff of fundamentalism. If sincere, the unnoticed irony makes the pathology all the more concerning. If not sincere, there is an even worse taint of expedient political manipulation. That science is such a direct victim of this rhetoric compounds the irony.

The issues go far beyond GM. What lies at threat more broadly, are both science and democracy – and their crucial interdependencies. There is a duty for all who value these thereby expediently sundered Enlightenment traditions, to speak out clearly in their defence.