Hi Josie,

That’s fine, understood. The reason I get so defensive is because Paul Thacker spends his time following me around social media and posting the defamatory NYT piece, along with his (awful) articles that are complete garbage. His goal has long been to destroy my career. I’m an independent, academic scientist that interprets science for the public, and that rubs a lot of people the wrong way. They want me silent, and resort to extreme methods to do that.

The sweet corn thing is because of the husk. It is sprayed like crazy during ear set, as you note. The kernels themselves are “clean” but what about the chemistry entering the environment? Personally, this is where I see Bt and other genetic engineering techniques being of huge value. Bt sweet corn gets far fewer sprays, but it is not saleable to the high-margin European market, so a lot of farmers keep rolling with conventional corn and more sprays. Makes me crazy.

This is why I support any good technology to mitigate environmental effects of farming, while still keeping it economically feasible for farmers and consumers.

Thanks for thinking critically about the situation on Twitter. Critics hate what I do because we are creating evidence-based change that threatens their ideology and oftentimes (ironically) their industries and bottom line.