Vanessa Kavanagh

Proud supporter of Newfoundland and Labrador agriculture. The views expressed here are my own..

[Sama Hoole @SamaHoole]

Activist: "Farmers pump their cows full of antibiotics. It's in every glass of milk."

Dairy farmer: "Do you know what happens if it is?"

Activist: "People drink it."

Dairy farmer: "The tanker gets tested at the gate. One cow's worth of antibiotic in 20,000 litres and the whole load goes down the drain. Every farm on the run that morning gets their milk tipped, and the farm that did it pays for all of it."

Activist: "So you're saying it never happens."

Dairy farmer: "I'm saying a treated cow on this farm gets red tape round her leg, goes to the back of the parlour, and her milk goes in a bucket for 6 days. I treat her like she's radioactive, because financially she is."

Activist: "You still use them."

Dairy farmer: "On a cow that's ill. Same as you. The vet writes it up, the date goes on the wall, and the wall's checked. Use on this farm is about half what it was 10 years ago, and that's every dairy I know."

Activist: "Routine use in feed, then."

Dairy farmer: "Illegal for years. Growth promoters went 20 years ago. You're describing a chicken shed in a country I don't farm in."

Activist: "You can't prove it's not in the milk."

Dairy farmer: "I can prove it 3 times a week, because they test it 3 times a week and send me the sheet. When did you last get a sheet on your oat drink?"

Activist: "That's different."

Dairy farmer: "It is. Nobody tests it. Mine's the most inspected liquid in your kitchen and it's the one you're scared of."

[Simon Maechling @simonmaechling]

5 Things you won't regret knowing.
1. Vaccines save lives.
2. Nuclear is low-carbon.
3. Everything is chemistry.
4. Correlation is not causation.
5. It’s the dose that makes the poison.

[Terry Daynard @TerryDaynard]

We'll be watching this with keen interest. Given the high amount of spatial variability within many farm fields, it's commonly considered that it takes about 10 years to detect changes in SOM, regardless of measurement technique.

[IntegralAnswers @IntegralAnswers]

@simonmaechling Before farmers ever learned about using science to modify our foods, selective breeding achieved something similar.

[Simon Maechling @simonmaechling]

I care about the environment.

Do you know one of the biggest obstacles to real progress?

Greenpeace.

What started as an activist group fighting pollution and whaling has turned into an anti-science, anti-innovation machine.

Here’s how Greenpeace lost its way 🧵: 1/12

[Simon Maechling @simonmaechling]

Europe made a colossal mistake:

They banned genetically modified organisms (GMOs) while the rest of the world embraced them.

Now we rely on imports, pay more for food, and miss out on sustainable agriculture.

Here’s the story of Europe’s GMO debacle 🧵:

[Simon Maechling @simonmaechling]

I'm European.

Our continent has a serious problem:

We fear chemicals so much that it's costing us innovation, sustainability, and public trust in science.

This is the story of Europe's irrational war on chemistry: 🧵

[Neil Stone @DrNeilStone]

Having to explain (again) that the MMR vaccine does NOT cause autism is so 1998.

[Andrea C. Love, PhD @dr_andrealove]

Table salt is a chemical compound consisting of sodium & chloride ions.

Sodium: a metal that explodes when put in water.
Chlorine: a gas that is toxic if inhaled at low concentrations.

The sum of the parts don’t equal the whole.

Use this logic with ALL chemicals. Facts matter.

[Andrea C. Love, PhD @dr_andrealove]

Formaldehyde is a target of fear-mongering about vaccines.

12,000 micrograms (ug) of formaldehyde in a pear.
A baby produces 1,100 ug daily.
Adults? 1.5 ounces daily.
A vaccine? Less than 100 ug.

You produce 425,000X MORE formaldehyde EVERY DAY than what might be in a vaccine.

[Genetic Literacy Project @GeneticLiteracy]

Vaccines using aluminum salts contain up to 72x less aluminum than what you ingest daily from food and water. Aluminum is the 3rd most abundant element on Earth, naturally present in your body. RFK Jr.’s ‘pumped full of aluminum’ claim is unscientific fearmongering. @dr_andrealove https://t.co/aV0fM71Nx6

[Genetic Literacy Project @GeneticLiteracy]

RFK Jr. claims vaccines contain peanut oil, citing a 1961 patent. Fact: no vaccine uses peanut oil as an excipient. A patent doesn’t mean a product exists. Repeat after me: there is no peanut oil in any vaccine formulation. @dr_andrealove https://t.co/CKbdyooO80

[Government of Newfoundland & Labrador @GovNL]

📢 REMINDER

Deadline to apply for the Home Heating Supplement is Wednesday, November 30, 2022. #GovNL @FIN_GovNL

[ISAAA Inc. @isaaa_org]

New research authored by Graham Brookes of PG Economics, found that since 1996, GM crops have increased global food, feed, and fiber production by nearly 1 billion tonnes. Read more details in Science Speaks: https://t.co/1Spd9ppVad #GMcrops #cropbiotech

[George Takei @GeorgeTakei]

If you can't agree in advance to accept the result of a democratic election, you have no business running for office anywhere in that democracy.

[Vala Afshar @ValaAfshar]

Be kind - even if no one is looking.

[Vanessa Kavanagh @NLGrainDr]

@yunfeijiang1 @dalagriculture @CanadaOilseeds Looking forward to your results!

[Outer Cove U13 Fastpitch Softball @CoveU13]

#softballgirls. #trytokeepup

[XKCD Comic @xkcdComic]

Asking Scientists Questions https://t.co/mL3k4xfYsU https://t.co/nW9CcEGutL

[Ed Latimore @EdLatimore]

Someone with half your IQ is making 10x as you because they aren't smart enough to doubt themselves.