Melamine for dinner...

[astra_nomer]

...plates is fine. But not so much in the food itself.

"FDA scientists" have decided that chickens fed melamine-tainted feed are fine for human consumption. As as scientist, I want to believe them. If they say that amounts of melamine detected in chickens were well below health safety limits, I'll take their word for it.

But my gut reaction is to be really, really skeptical, and seriously consider buying only organic chicken and other meat. Because really, scientists are only human and are therefore prone to error. For instance, I'm often skeptical of press releases regarding astronomy, because I often know the assumptions they make to justify their claims. Then again, maybe I'm falling for the "can't trust scientists" rhetoric that the Bush administration has been so good at spreading. That's a seriously scary thought.

My brain and my gut are at war with each other. What would you do? Would you eat chicken that had eaten melamine-tainted food (assuming you're not vegetarian, of course)?

Comments

[ayekamn.livejournal.com]

I think if sensational didn't already insist that we buy organic meat, I might think about switching, but I am also typically skeptical of widespread government warnings like this.

I'm also *very* skeptical of a lot of high-profile scientific results, because I know what a factor spin can be. My graduate advisor was a huge fan of this and made most of his decisions based on "how can he spin this into something exciting" versus doing actual good science. It's clear from his work... he's a very successful grant writer, but doesn't publish much.

[astra-nomer.livejournal.com]

Yes, I share your skepticism! Epsecially since so many front-page news stories about astronomy are so vague as to be nonsensical.