By all standards, our civilization continues improving in all kinds of ways; from computers to the airplane, to medicine. A poor person today can live as long as the richest person in the world 100 years ago.
Science has improved the lives of millions of people and extended life expectancy. But there will always be a group of people who will deny that progress, stand on its way, and campaign to go back to some fictitious time in the past when things were much better.
The war on vaccines
There have been dozens of deceases that have been almost completely eradicated by science. Among then, Polio, Measles, Chickenpox, and a few others. Here is a list put together by the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention.
Yet, there are anti-vaxxers who will put themselves, their children, and the population at large, in danger because they don’t want to vaccinate their children.
Vitamins are a great placebo
We love alternative medicine, things that have a great story behind them but not science. That’s why the vitamin industry is a multi-billion dollar industry.
Half of all American adults—including 70 percent of those aged 65 and older—take a multivitamin or another vitamin or mineral supplement regularly. The total price tag exceeds $12 billion per year—money that Johns Hopkins nutrition experts say might be better spent on nutrient; packed foods like fruit, vegetables, and whole grains.
The researchers concluded that multivitamins don’t reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer, cognitive decline (such as memory loss and slowed-down thinking), or early death. They also noted that in prior studies, vitamin E and beta-carotene supplements appear to be harmful, especially at high doses.
Organic and non-GMO are great marketing schemes but nothing more
Celebrities, anti-GMO groups, and food trends have spread misleading information and myths about the food we chose to eat every day. Do foods labeled “organic” actually make us healthier?
There is no one fruit or vegetable that has not been modified by farmers. Tangerines, many sorts of apples, tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, cantaloupes, many species of grains, all of them have been invented or modified by farmers, so there is not such a thing as non-GMO. Everything is GMO.
There are two realities. There are not enough resources in this earth to produce organic food for everyone. Organic food is the new status symbol. Is a way to show that you have more money to spend for no particular reason. No different than having a $1,000 iPhone vs a $150 android. Both of them make phone calls, but only one of them is a status symbol.
The fight against GMO rice has killed millions of people
Golden rice is the most prominent example in the global controversy over GM foods, which pits science against the resistance of feel-good campaigniners.
Three billion people depend on rice as their staple food, with 10 percent at risk for vitamin A deficiency, which, according to the World Health Organization, causes 250,000 to 500,000 children to go blind each year. Yet, anti-GMO movements fight every day to keep this rice off the hands of people who need it for their lives.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, science always wins. Once the genie is out of the bottle, you cannot put it back. The problem is that while we resist, many people will die waiting for the rest of us to accept reality.
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