A Measure of Restraint

According to Chet Raymo science is a deadly foe that must be kept restrained to prevent danger. Therefore, humans as a species must exercise restraint in the pursuit of supposed advancement. His first example is Cesium-137, "a highly radioactive substance...with the power to damage living cells" (Raymo). Immediately it appears that science is the enemy. Raymo is severely one-sided in his discussion of the Cesium, only bluntly presenting the death of a girl and the contamination of many others. He fails to mention the indefinite number of people that may have been helped by the clinic. Also, the wide misuse of radium in paint and as a source of seemingly magical light is exactly that. It is not the scientists' fault that radium was misused. There is, once again, no mention of the use of radium as a cancer treatment to provide both sides of the argument after Raymo describes the "'radium roulette,' with a glowing wheel and ball." Finally, his  trepidation about genetic alterations in such things as food may have appeared very valid. He was right; well, in a way. After the writing of "A Measure of Restraint" genetically modified food began and has since taken over the world. Then again, it took over the world by providing more than 4 billion acres of crops to feed a growing population rather than in some apocalyptic reign of the plants (ISAAA). Raymo is right that restraint must be exercised, but his approach of only attacking science comes across as a scare tactic. It is possible that Raymo should have exercised a measure of restraint in his explanation of the dangers of exploration.