The GMO Myth

I trust Canadian organics much much more then American we have different standards. Out farm fresh is actually farm fresh you can buy it with no pesticides or anything. The drive is long but I do it. To me anything that is not natural and our ancestors didn't have then I SHOULDN'T have either!

 

I don't care if the food is genetically modified. People have been doing it for thousands of years. Before it was just a much slower process because we had to wait for the next season and select the food with the most desirable qualities....Honestly GMO is just a sped up more efficient way of doing that. Do you know how long it took for corn to look the way it is today?

 

I, personally, have no problem with industrialisation. If that means that my food is genetically modified to contain Insecticidal Crystal Protein, I'm perfectly happy for it to happen. It's only a matter of time before people stop doomsaying about genetic mod, and accept it for what it is, an incredible technology. I'm sick of bleeding hearts getting in the way of science. If it's that much of a problem for you, don't buy GM food and let us eat.

 

That's what I do. I don't buy it I buy foods that say "not GMO" right on the front. And also it's antibiotics injected in to animals which are making bacteria more resistant

 

I hate the whole assumption that just because I'm vegan, i must be all anti-GMO. That's ridiculous, and if genetic altering (changing gods natural plan oh nose!) can help fight world hunger, than im all for it.

 

I am completely for progress and science. However, by the same token, I am 100% against evil companies like Monsanto cutting corners and making product that is unsafe and deliberately unsustainable.

If it's going to be done it should be done correctly, safely, and with aim for creating the best, healthiest, and most sustainable produce.

 

I think that's feeding world hunger is great but do it naturally. Stop making thing scientifically. If people kept their pants zipped up we would have less people to feed an less pollution. I think only certain people should be able to have kids people who can afford to have a family. Not those who enjoy sex those who would say "hey if I get pregnant what ever the government is there to look after me". Use a condom or the pill or dot expect shit from me they made their choice. Now it's different if we are talking about Africa and other places like that where the women have to have sex for money and get more money for unprotected that is different try are just trying to survive and I am all for helping them in every way, education, food, clean water. But it's lazy North Americans I can't stand. People who would rather get knocked up and get more Well fair and stay home...... No respect and no help from me. I would help their children because no child deserves a life like that but ya anyways...... I don't mean to offend anyone here I'm saying it now before someone may take it the wrong way these are just my feelings.

 

LOL ^ could be true never knowwwwwww :eusa_danc

 

I actually read an excellent article today about GMO. Unfortunately, I didn't save it, and now I can't find it. I'll post it if I come across it again.

My position is that GMO are like most other technology: it is itself value neutral, but it can have positive applications (negative, too, in theory). It can greatly increase crop yields and help the environment by reducing the need for both pesticides and land. Cross-pollinating of non-GMO have actually never been recorded. It should be a simple thing to render the GM plants infertile -- you could probably engineer them to never produce pollen in the first place. Also, when combined with other modern technologies, it can help us easily feed up to 10 billion people, enough to take us past 2050 at current population growth estimates.

I suppose it is possible that it poses a health risk. Then again, so do all things we ingest. We have technically been modifying the genetics of organisms for thousands of years via artificial selection, and we I know of at least one case of breeding a somewhat harmful characteristic into a food (i.e. if memories served right, the potatoes grown in Ireland prior to the Irish Potato Famine were quick and easy to grow yet very low in nutritional content and susceptible to disease, hence the famine). Animal agriculture also abounds with adaptations that are harmful to the animals themselves, brought about entirely through breeding. It stands to reason that GMO actually have a lower risk of developing undesirable secondary characteristics because scientists have more control over what genes are added, removed, or changed.

Needless to say, I am pro-GMO. The benefits outweigh the risks, which can be further reduced via government regulation.

There are other, related issues, such as farmers not being able to save the seeds of the GMO. This isn't an issue with GMO so much as the patent system. Patents desperately need reform across the board, not just in agriculture, so I don't see this as argument against GMO.

Organics, on the other hand, really are worthless. For one, multiple studies have shown there is no health benefit from eating organic. It is also, ultimately, more harmful to the environment than alternative farming methods, for organic produce requires significantly more area to farm. And by significantly, I mean that, according the article I mentioned at the beginning, if we used 1950's technology (e.g. no pesticides, no GMO), we would need an additional area twice the size of South America to produce the amount of food we do now. As the author said, there would be no Amazon Rainforest. There are some organic methods that can be adopted for use in more traditional types of farming (e.g. planting a variety of crops in the same farm to replenish the soil, reducing the need for fertilizer), but overall, all-organic farms are not a viable option, nor a desirable one even in an ideal world.

Edit: I agree that Monsanto is horrible. Frankly, I believe that much of what they do should be handed over the government in an ideal world, but I am a socialist. Failing that, letting small businesses have a fighting chance in the research and development of new agricultural technology would go a long way to solving the problem.

 

Oh god oh man oh god oh man

I am a forgetful person, and I would love to join in these arguments here, but every time someone brings up the whole "pesticides are totally ok to consume it's not like you're eating uranium also i hate treehuggers" stance always makes me lose my train of thought. It really sucks too, because my family spent like the past 10 years of my life teaching me about organic gardening and clean environment practices

Whining about the FDA gets you nowhere. Yes it exists and it sucks that these regulations are actually put into play, but one of the many reasons we have food shortages is because everyone is too dim and shopping at places which could be concentrating on bringing food over to places that actually need it (gosh this local farmer food is so expensive i'll just go to walmart and buy them cheaper and a new widescreen while i'm at it). They could help just by buying from their local farmstand. You know that whoever is running it isn't some sweatshop-esque kiddo maintaining your food, and that these people are actually dealing with the food firsthand. Of course, this would depend on a hypothetical situation becoming one with reality, but USUALLY it does happen.

GMOs are iffy. It depends on what you're dealing with.

"Monsanto is a dickweed." Welcome to 1901.

Just HGRUGHRG hurgh grhguhg. I can't even talk about this without getting irritated. Don't expect me to read any other replies to this thread.

 

Actually, I thought that a lot of our agricultural problems could be solved by moving away from monoculture. And I'm pretty sure it's the case that attempts to maintain monoculture have resulted in us having to genetically modify plants which has in turn put us in an arms race with nature whereby agricultural pests become even more resistant and kill even more plants...

 

GMO's are safe to consume.

Most companies that produce GMO's (Monsanto) are run by capitalist assholes, but the product they put out is safe to eat.

If it has carbon (and a few other elements I can't remember) then it is Organic, so saith science.

Some GMO's have to potential to out-compete or contaminate local crop strains.

Local crop strains are vital to crop diversity, without genetic diversity within the strains of a species it is at high risk for extinction.

GMO's are a great solution for quickly addressing the dietary needs of the worlds growing population.

Approximately 99.88% of corn grown in the US is genetically modified; cotton and soy beans entertain similar levels of genetic modification.

Cows ( don't remember the specifics) have been successfully engineered to contain DNA native to human nuclei. I don't know if products from such cows has been released for sale to the general public.

Most store bought tomato are genetically modified to develop tougher skins to prevent bruising.

That's about All I can remember off the top of my head.

Genetic modification has led to pesticide resistant strains of insects, bacteria, viruses, and fungi. Pesticides have similar side effects.

 

Yeah lets just blindly allow large corporations to tinker with our food, because it's not like they have a long history of fucking shit up and killing people or anything...

 

Huh yeah I'm surprised they didn't think of this on their own, cause it's so simple and everything.