One of the classes I'm taking spared us a Final Exam, and gave us a Final Paper instead. Phew. I'm much better at writing than memorizing corporate structures and management decision making standards. Plus we got to work in groups - even better.
The paper was on Genetically Modified Organisms, you know, when chemical companies put random new genes into corn to make it grow taller, or tomatoes to make them stay ripe for longer periods. But the trick was that each group had to take sides - the European Union, the US, the chemical companies, developing nations, etc. Then in the final class we would debate.
Well, my group was the EU, which is cool because they're not down with GMOs, and neither am I.
But what was even cooler is that another group was the US, and we got to find fault with "their" government for an hour and a half.
Anyway, walking to class I ran into one of the guys who's in both of my classes. He's an accountant, and initially very reserved, but after I got to know him he's wicked friendly. I don't even know what country he's from, one of the Islamic ones around here. So we were joking about the paper and making fun of the US and stuff, having a grand old time. His group was taking the side of the chemical companies, but he said how GMOs were pretty scary to him.
I agreed, and then mentioned something I read in one of the articles. A group had put a milk protein from pigs into maize.
He got deathly serious. He asked if I was joking.
No, I wasn't - I'd email him the paper tomorrow.
See, Muslims don't eat any pig products. It's very serious business. You can't even buy ham, bacon, pepperoni, etc in my grocery store here. And the sheer fact of a scientist putting porcine milk protein "alpha-lactalbumin" into their corn - well, it's got to be very scary to Muslims.
We didn't talk about it in class, and being the only American in the class of twelve I sure as hell wasn't going to bring up that US scientists were sneaking pork milk into their Doritos. But that's something I had never thought of before this experience, and something I wonder if these American chemical companies have even thought of yet. |
