# 15. Linguistic manipulation ## 15.5. Methodology/Refinements/Sub-species ### 15.5.1. Inventing Words It's easy in this techno age to add new words to describe concepts that are entirely new to the world. However, this ease of linguistic invention also opens opportunities for the manipulator to alter both language and perception for reasons other than a simple desire to communicate clearly. Here are 2 examples: **Inventing Words - Example 1: "Anomalous cognition"** is a new term coined by "Science Applications International Corporation" (SAIC) to refer to Extra Sensory Perception, including telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition and remote viewing. SAIC also refers to "psycho kinesis" as "anomalous perturbation". SAIC claim their terminology is "neutral" but it is actually entirely invented. It does sound more scientific and therefore looks better on grant applications and in fund raising brochures. **Inventing Words - Example 2: "Cisgenics":** The capacity of new language to confuse and manipulate comes into sharp focus in the GM crops debate. In this contentious world concerning the vital issues of the control of food crops, powerful interests are at play. On one side a cadre of very powerful companies appear hell-bent on patenting any living organism. This is a commercial attempt to control agricultural production by patenting GM seeds, farm animals, fish, birds etc. On the other side is arraigned a vast alliance of environmental organisations equally determined to stop the GM companies from achieving these ambitions. Both sides try to show that their arguments are scientific and fact based. However the illusion slips sometimes when the frustrations of the GM industry show through their calm façade. When this happens, the GM companies and their agents start to play some fairly overt linguistic games with the general public. A case in point concerned the origins and use of the invented word "Cisgenic" which appeared recently. It is an entirely invented word. The word is used by the GM industry to indicate a form of genetic manipulation which is somehow less dramatic that "Transgenic" manipulation. The word "Cisgenic" was coined to describe the use of genetic material from closely related organisms in genetic manipulation. The word "Transgenic" was then limited to the use of material from completely unrelated organisms in genetic manipulation. It appears that the word Cisgenic was invented by the GM industry to weaken opposition to GM crops. It is a kind of linguistic "foot in the door" ploy because the GM industry implies that Cisgenic is some kind of "GM Light". The implication is that using DNA from more closely related organisms is somehow more acceptable than crossing a cabbage with botulism bacteria using the DNA taken from cells of a fruit bat! GM technology is not a simple subject and the issues are complex even for the best informed members of the general public. This ignorance allows a manipulator to play lots of games with pseudo-scientific linguistics. **The facts:** The defining feature of a GM crop species is that it contains a gene transferred from another species by means of genetic engineering. A "Species" can be usefully defined as a group of organisms all of whose members are capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. So the kind of "Transgenic" jump involved in the production of GM crops is not something that could ever happen in nature. It is only in the past 20 years or so that we have seen the emergence of GM/transgenic crops. European public opinion remains stubbornly nervous of and opposed to GM food products. In addition, the EU regulatory door to GM/transgenic crops has been very difficult to open for the GM industry. In the face of such opposition, promoters of the GM industry seized upon the concept of "Cisgenic", a word that was literally invented in the course of a PhD thesis submitted to Wageningen University in the Netherlands in 2004. "Cisgenic" is said to describe close relative breeding. It is a clever word in this context with its scientific connotations of opposites or mirror images, one labelled with the prefix "cis-" and its mirror image, "trans-". From this usage in science, "Cisgenic" suggests itself to be the opposite of "transgenic". And once the "c-word" appeared in referred journals, despite challenges by fellow scientists it gained currency and began to be seen as a potential key to open the door the EU had virtually closed to GM crops. "Cisgenic", however, is a classification subset of transgenic. "Cisgenic" clearly involves genetically engineered transferral of a gene from a different species and is unequivocally transgenic. It is this transformation process, not the source of the transferred gene that gives rise to the unpredictable effects of GM crops and foods. However such critical subtleties are lost on the general public and here we now have a case where some very risky science is being air-brushed out by the use of some fast linguistic manipulation. The use of the name of the prestigious Wageningen University in the context of this imaginary word adds to the manipulative plot.