Analysis Of Michael Pollan's Essay 'Playing God In The Garden'

Genetically modified food is a controversial subject some see it as the future of agriculture others see it as dangerous. Michael Pollan author of “Playing God in the Garden” addresses that in his essay in one paragraph, in particular, he claims that “Uncertainty is the theme that unifies much of the criticism leveled against biotech agriculture by scientist and environmentalists.” Pollan believes that people are opposed to biotech agriculture because so much about it remains unknown. He chose to support his claim with different examples and by using the STARR criteria I can evaluate how effectively he supported his claim. The S means sufficiency the evidence that the author offered to support this claims is enough; he only uses one extended …show more content…
While for T the typicality, the evidence in this paragraph is typical and representative of biotech agriculture gene flow is a real concern that people have when it come to this issue. As for the A accuracy, the evidence and information that Pollan provides to support this claim is accurate as well as up to date. Gene flow is still a possibility and a problem when it comes to biotech agriculture and genetically modified food. Since in most of this paragraph he uses gene flow to prove his point it does meet the R criteria relevance gene flow is a very relevant issue of biotech agriculture and genetically modified food. Pollan never strayed from the topic in this paragraph he stays completely relevant to the argument. The last letter in the acronym R which stands for reliability, the evidence that Pollan used in this paragraph was not a quote from any professional in this field it came directly from the author of this essay. Since he is not a professional in this field or on the subject of genetically modified food or biotech agriculture it does make him less trustworthy than a professional on this subject would