20.

A Measure of Restraint warns that the “unexamined quest for knowledge is hemmed with peril”.  Chet Raymo emphasizes the importance of knowing where the limit between danger and experiments lie.  Using a personal anecdote, he gives an example: “but we squeezed gently, and then released the insects to take their place again among the live constellations of the summer night.”  This childhood pastime demonstrates the significance of finding the balance between destruction and innovation.  To highlight his purpose further, Chet Raymo explains the history of radium.  How Marie and Pierre Curie started a “radium craze” that led to “radium dances”, “radium roulette”, and “radium-spiked liquids” but was ultimately found to be unimaginatively detrimental to the human body for generations.  A present parallel to this historical experiment is GMOs.  We are currently in the stage of “GMO craze” — 92% of U.S. corn is genetically engineered, as are 94% of soybeans and 94% of cotton.  There are many problems in society today that make GMOs sound like the perfect solution.  With an ever increasing global population, massive 3rd world hunger, and the large number of people who are mal and undernourished, there is a great promise in the use of this technology to benefit societies worldwide.  Although some research shows that GMOs are linked to gluten disorders, birth defects, Autism, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, the negative side effects are not prevalent enough to scare people into not eating GMO products anymore.  However, at any moment, scientist could discover that GMOs are as harmful as radium and the “reckless misuse” will “cease” but until then, there are still too many positive effects to halt use completely.