Genetic engineering, the Golden Wood and Gandalf

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Somewhere in this forum there exists a thread that mentions genetic engineering and orcs or something - not that I'll ever find it again - and it seemed that GE is always seen in a bad light. As a former molecular biologist, I am not sure what all of the hullabaloo is about.

The book accompanying my wife's cell phone had pages upon endless pages regarding electromagnetic fields (EMF), and, though no study has shown any significant deleterious effects from the same, show how one might protect oneself from the radiation. Car crashes resulting from cell phone misuse are a greater risk than "EMF-induced brain tumors," yet...

And then I've been reading the outrage thread which clearly shows the link between reading Rowlings and turning to the dark side.

But that's not what this thread is about. But those ideas started bouncing around in the old cranium and so got me thinking about information, misinformation, the lack of information and misinterpreted information as it is today and as it 'was' back in the Third Age.

When the Three Hunters mention Lothlorien, Eomer and his crew are afraid. Anyone who has managed to pass through the Golden Wood and has met the Lady has got to be evil, or at least a sorcerer, which is no better. Why do they think thus? Because they were ignorant of the facts (Gimli volunteered to straighten them out, yet his teaching technique was not well received) and so have replaced data with fantasy. Was this due to the lies and plots of the enemy, the estrangement of Elves and Men, Wormtongue? I don't know. No one remembered anything good about Lothlorien, no tales told to children were of the Golden Elf Queen, and so speculation and misinformation filled in the gaps.

When the Ents enter the scene in TTT, it would seem that the only general knowledge regarding the same is from those old childrens' tales again. Of course Gandalf and the other learned know of the tree shepherds, but the knowledge is outdated. No one from Rohan, seemingly, went over to Fangorn to take a look. Was the lack of 'discoverers' due to what Theoden called 'the life of men,' and that these men had no time for such follies? Was this due, in some way, to the later Numenorean attitude of "well, we've sailed all over this globe and there's just nothing interesting going on so let's settle down somewhere in ME and indulge our whims of life." A Dark Age following the island of the Star? Was the message taken from the loss of Numenor that the seeking new knowledge is a waste of time, or even perilous as in regards to Ar-Pharazon?

Now, on the other hand, the Palantiri allow for one to gain much information about the past and present, yet these too are fraught with danger even if one does not dial Mordor. Like when peering into Galadriel's Mirror, caution is proscribed when using this farseeing device. Besides burning hands and a one-eyed Maia, using a palantir one might 'see' something yet not interpret correctly what is seen. Action taken from the incorrect interpretation could be disasterous, even fatal. Denethor saw the Black Fleet, yet did not see its occupants.

Yet Gandalf, seeking knowledge regarding the One Ring, used books and manuscripts and direct research to find what he sought. Seemingly he used his senses, skills and wits to get to the facts - he even plumbed the depths of Dol Guldur to find out who truly the Sorcerer was. Was there any other examples in LOTR of someone doing research to gain knowledge? Did Saruman, who would break a thing to figure out how it worked, step over some line in regards to research?

Was Tolkien saying something about our world and our lack of information, how best we might obtain the same, or were these 'information breakdowns' just literary devices used to enhance the story?