Genetically modified food

“Go here and read the PBS Nova/Frontline research on the issue and vote. Here are the current results:

Of the 77804 readers who have responded so far:
28% said we should grow GM crops
66% said we should not grow GM crops
5% are undecided


Fascinating, considering we have been eating GM foods for over five years now, and it's virtually impossible to find any product that has no GM ingredients anymore.

Large corporations have made the choices for us, apparently.”

“This coming from the man who ran the Great Canned Chicken Leg experiment.”

“Aren't organic foods free from GM? I know not all organic foods that claim to be organic are organic, but the ones that do what they preach are still available...

??”

“We've been eating genetically modified foods ever since man started cultivating crops.”

“the miracles of science.

actually, i see nothing wrong with the modification of genes in plants to exploit traits that will benefit us. mother nature does it on her own (not necessarily to benefit us). very few plants continue as they are. there are new genetic strains/mutations of plants forming in nature all the time, just as others are becoming extinct. the moss may look the same year after year, but it isn't.

as stated in the study GM foods are the most thoroughly tested and regulated foods on the face of the earth.

this is just my opinion on this.”

“Welcome back Phaed! I don't care what I eat as long as I can buy a square watermelon someday.”

“They already have those in Japan..!”

“Yeah, sure they do Artex. Next you're gonna say apples are more red than in previous generations.”

“Clipping DNA from one species and inserting it into another IS completly new. There is NO mechanism in the natural world to accomplish this. If you hear of a frog accidentally breeding with a corn plant, let me know, <G>.

I believe there was one example in the program of how genetically modified salmon might escape from pens located in tributaries and totally supplant native populations within 20 years... with what effect on the food chain in the oceans??

My question is, why haven't we been given the option to Opt Out? The companies are still fighting tooth and nail so that we cannot know which products contain GM organisms and which do not.

You know why... and I think it's unconscionable.”

“That's the best Photo Shopped photo I think I've ever seen Bit!”

“Tilt, you make a strong argument.
People should research the judgement against small dairies that advertised that their milk did not contain Bovine Growth Hormone. They did not disparage the use of BGH, they only gave us all a choice of what kind of milk products we might purchase. The big boys took two small dairies to court and forced them to desist from advertising that their milk contained no BGH.
Does this sound like America to you? If something is so plainly positive, why are companies such as Monsanto at war with farmers who choose to not use their products?
Folks, wake up and ask why this is being shoved down your throats.”

“Good to read you, again, Phaedrus.”

“I didn't post this one earlier because it's pretty small, but if you need convincing...




Artex wasn't lying. They do grow them square in Japan. They put the thing in a box while it's little.”

“Thanks for the info, 'Dan. I've been trying to keep up to date on the BGH story but I hadn't heard about that suit. Pretty ungodly, if you ask me.”

“Bit, I'm yanking your chain, man. Those japanese sure are some folk. Next, I bet they try to make perfect spheroidal pearls by implanting something or what not into oysters!”

“Spherical bananas would be pretty sweet!”

“I have yet to taste a commercial tomato that comes close to what I harvest from my own garden.”

“Hey Dun, good to read you again, too. I've been on Vacation for awhile. Got to meet Pathman while in Albuquerque, which was great!

Anyway, about the subject at hand:

Monsanto and the other big boys have no lack of funding, which, apparently, is all it takes to distract the public from the real issues of GM foods. Yes, People have been cross-breeding plants for centuries, but never have we been able to so drastically alter the genetic makeup of a plant so quickly. As for the "best tested food" argument: in the past food was governed by very natural and organic processes. Times have changed. I believe there is a lot more testing that needs be done before we feed foods like these to our children. The testing should be done by a nuetral third party whose funding comes not from the food industry. Anything else is a great genetic test on the American public.

How's it feel to be big business's guinea pigs?”

“my beer sure does taste good though.

your tomatoes are probably from a strain of GM stock. they aren't grown in a greenhouse is the difference there i would think.”

“Well, this subject goes hand in hand with the "discovery" that many of the CEO's of major corporations have been stealing us blind. It seems as though we are gearing up to competely hand over all power and decisions to large private industries.
Hold it! I just changed my mind! My CPA just called and said that my company is worth 4.9 billion dollars! God Bless America!”

“Yeah, Dun, now hire a public relations firm, who will concoct stories about the worth of your business, send them through puppet journalists to the associated press, where they will be picked up and run as "news" in every cash-strapped paper too busy to investigate the facts of your story. Your stock will rise, public opinion will galvanize in support of Dunadan, INC, and you will be asked to appear on the Today show.

Welcome to the machine.”

“Have a cigar
You're gonna go far...”

“hmmmmph

”

“Back in the days when I worked the restaurant biz, I use to see these huge carrots that could probably make a horse pretty happy!!!

Any of you folks get that email pic of Mr. and Mrs. Carrot! that was floating around awhile back?”

“I only use pesticides made with organic chemicals in my garden...

I also am only one degree of separation from being a vegan. I only eat animals that eat plants.”

“Pesticides are hardly the issue here. Transgenic plants are made to fulfill a financal need, not an enironmental need, no matter what spin the corporations want to put on it.”

“By the way, Pathman, it was great to meet you! Sorry bout jo-jo the monkey boy, I think he was off his meds.”

“Gordon. I think you could erase that degree of separation and just spray the "organic" pesticides right into your mouth.”

“Not that again!!

LOL”

“Pesticide breath spray? Gordon, are you attracting flies again?”

“Well, Gordon is probably pretty well "modified" already. No need to worry, Gordy.”

“By the way, there was a similar ruling to the rBGH runling against companies who tried to label their products as "GM free" foods. This ruling also keeps companies from telling you whether they use GM foods if you ask them.

A little while back, Monsanto sued to be able to label its products as "organic". Luckily, that was put down.”

“Unfortunately t'aint nothing we can do...

except...

Ever see the folks at the grocer who pick through and handle each piece of produce, just to find the perfect apple or head of cabbage. If we were willing to settle for slightly blemished produce grown locally,sold in season the problem wouldnt be so huge. But so many folks want the perfect looking tomato (that actually tastes bland with a mealy texture). I bought a couple of bags of organic apples the other day, they were blemished, they aged quickly BUT the taste was incredible.

I enjoy fresh produce from my garden all season long. 4 years organic, the best veggies I've ever had.

Some corporate farms have actually patented varities of broccoli, spooky..........”

“tis humorous...

People that complain about GM foods and claim to eat only organic, etc will smoke or consume any drug they can buy on a street corner.

Marijuana is one of the most modified plants in the history of the world and is sprayed with massive quantities of pesticides and chemical fertilizers, yet has the same defenders as the food faddists posting here.

Liberal eco-idiots sure are stupid.”

“Gordon, you really should take an enema to clear your mind.
Welcome back, wolf-brother, spawn of kleetn's elbow!”

“Gordon, smoking anything is bad for you - this is not a shocker. The idea that corporations are testing unknown substances on you and your family shold be.

Your argument likening Marijuana to genetically altered foods is only reasonable if you buy into the fallacy that everyone who is against one is for the other. I am the exception to your "rule", so therefore your argument is inherently flawed.

The argument that anyone who speaks out against GM foods is a "liberal eco-idiot" is simply an ad-hominem fallacy that shows your own ignorance, as is usually the case when you post.”

“Hey there FG! Good to see you!”

“Hey Phaedrus, it was a blast. Fun talking to all of them, meeting you and yours. We meet with a VP type on Monday. I'll pitch IS.



This is the new world folks (with old world ethics). We always do the technology before the ethics, because we really don't understand all of the tremendous changes, and it always creates new ethical problems. Who really understood the power of the Internet during its early days of academia?

How about genetically modified people?

I see genetic disease everyday, our labs are learning to transfer genes now. Cystic fibrosis, hemophilia just to name a couple.

There will be tremendous good, and some people will do tremendous bad. What scares me is the poor public education in science and math, that the general public can't make educated decisions, or watch scientific advancement, forming public policy, and changing policy from a ration basis. Many issues are decided on a very emotional basis. OMG-clone Ted Williams. I think of Woody Allen in "Sleeper". Anybody have an orgasmatron? OMG-transfer a gene for a natural fungicide, decreasing the use of toxic chemicals. OMG-transfer resistence to root grubs. OMG-cure a disabling genetic disease.
OMG-cure a malignancy. Create organs from stem cells? You decide.

Money and scientific curiosity will drive the technology, ya'll have to be the watchdogs and policy makers.”

“That's where I have the real problem with corporate funding of science in general, PM.

If a PR company goes to work for the, say, lemon-growers of america (as a fictitious example), and is given the task of raising sales of lemons across the states, how do they do it? One way is to find a scientist who is sympathetic to the cause of the lemon-growers, pay him a lot of money to set up a non-profit "third party" purely scientific organization. The results that come out of this venture will be suspect to say the least, and will most likely say something about how much better lemons are for the human body than was previously known.

Corporate grants to universities are doing the same types of things. Where there is money, there is power and PR people have the power to make the public believe things that are simply not factual. How long did it take the US to remove lead from paints - from gasoline? Business polices itself only so far as to make itself less vulnerable to financial risk, and anything past that is left to us. PR keeps the noise level high enough that it's hard for us to pick the truth out of all the crap and determine where to apply our power as a group.

It's too bad, too, because with the right comprehensive testing, I believe that this technology could be a godsend. What will happen instead is similar to what happened with the tobacco industry, the asbestos industry, the lead producers, DDT and the chlorine industry.

It's just a matter of time before some under-tested genetically engineered food kills thousands of people, and the authorities have hell trying to track what it was down. Afterwards, the lobbyists, PR men, paid-for legislators, and false activist groups will go into "crisis-management" mode to make the public forget.

It works every time.”

“As long as my body can metabolize it without harm, it's all good!”

“There was a case of 1500 people being left disabled and 37 dead from a batch of l-tryptophan sold by a supplement store. This was because of a genetically engineered bacteria that made a substance that caused the human body to attack its own nerve cells. The substance went undetected because of it's similarity to l-tryptophan. Imagine how hard it would have been to track this down, if the CDC didn't have the information that each of them were using the same supplement. What if it were a milk-derived protein used in coffee creamers, yoghurt, cheese, you name it... How easy would it be to track that?

Here's a link.

There will be more episodes like this, I'd bet. Maybe I'm just "scaremongering" or quoting "junk science".

Pfft.”

“Have you read "Out of Control" by Kevin Kelly? I am of a similar mind, we can't believe that we can put genies back in bottles, but we have no choice but to deal with them.

Out of Control”

“from what i see, and i may be wrong phaedrus, your thinking doesn't allow that corporations may be doing good for man and their earnings. you sound to me that you are only for the idea that if corporations say it is good then it is bad for for joe public.”

“Thanks for the reccommendation PM, I just ordered it!

Baume, you have to realize that my viewpoint is based on corporate america's track record. Have you ever heard of The House of Butterflies?

How about Hawk's Nest?

Do you think corporations have such a care for your health that they wouldn't put you at risk if it inflated their profits?

Ever heard of tobacco?

Think hard about it. Who is watching out for YOUR interests and the interests of your family?”

“By the way, speaking of tobacco, were you aware that they spnsored a "grass-roots" organization in the late eighties/early nineties that supported "smokers rights"?

Kind of self-serving, eh? I've yet to see a truly generous and giving corporation.”

“Doesn't matter what we eat anymore...we're all gonna die in February 2019...heard on the news that a big space rock is going to smash into our planet. At this moment, it's circling around the sun.”