“You offend God… by ruining the environment, carrying out morally debatable scientific experiments, or allowing genetic manipulations.”
In an interview with the Vatican’s official newspaper, Bishop Gianfranco Girotti described seven new “social sins”. The others include taking or dealing in drugs, paedophilia and abortion (l’Osservatore Romano, 10 March)
“People think that if they take a medication, their body absorbs it and it disappears, but of course that’s not the case.”
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US Environmental Protection Agency scientist Christian Daughton, commenting on an investigation into pharmaceuticals appearing in drinking water in 24 major metropolitan areas of the US (Associated Press, 10 March)
“That’s the time of year I like. The old bear phone doesn’t wake you up at 3.00 in the morning any more.”
Shaun Bobier, a ranger who helps run the 24-hour Polar Bear Hotline in Churchill, Canada, much prefers the winter because fewer polar bears wander into residential areas then (Agence France Press, 8 March)
“I grew up on Star Trek. I believe in the final frontier.”
Presidential candidate Barack Obama outs himself as a Trekkie, but also criticises NASA for “losing its focus” and its failure to inspire young people (The Daily Telegraph, London, 8 March)
“I don’t think I would go as far as shorts myself yet.”
Lord Adair Turner of the UK government’s Climate Change Committee might disapprove of shorts in the workplace, but argues that suits and ties should be abandoned to reduce carbon emissions from air conditioning (Sunday Times, 9 March, London)
