GMOs

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  • Bry_Fitness70
    Bry_Fitness70 Posts: 2,480 Member
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    I think that if people want to eat GMOs, they should have that right, but all foods containing GMOs should be labeled so that those of us who don't want to eat them can avoid them.
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
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    I know that you can't use wikipedia as a source

    That viewpoint is changing. I work in Academia for a very large (180K student body) college. It used to be that professors would not accept Wikipedia articles as sources. However, as more research is being performed as to Wikipedia content and the amount of time, energy, resources that are going into the articles, that mindset is changing rapidly within the collegiate community.

    The cited resources area at the bottom is an invaluable resource as well.

    lulwut?

    It's verboten in STEM programs, but it might be totally fine in philosophy and literature, as accuracy is not important in those fields.
  • YaGigi
    YaGigi Posts: 817 Member
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    I can clearly see some people in this thread who are paid by the Monsanto :)
    I wish Monsanto would pay me.

    Of coooooooooourse it doesn't.


    Lol
  • Mr_Starr
    Mr_Starr Posts: 139 Member
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    Anybody know where there's any real evidence that GMOs are bad or is it just another 'this food is bad' paranoia?

    Personally I have definite allergy symptoms with two GMO variation of food (and with two others suspect as well). I do not have these allergy symptoms with the non-GMO version of these food products. So because they are not labelled I am must either entirely avoid, or eat organic. It also limits what restaurants I can go to.

    As more and more foods are GMO it puts me in an awkward position of having to be constantly alert of which foods I am eating are GMO or not. And testing for each new food is expensive, time consuming, and sometimes painful. So as more and more foods are made GMO it will make it more and more difficult for me to find affordable food.

    I wish they could just label. But the food industry claims that labeling is exorbitantly expensive, or is simply not feasible with the complexities of the supply chain. So with the food industry own arguements that leaves the only option to ban GMOs entirely, and that is not likely to happen.

    So, because of these two reasons I am against GMO foods entirely. But i have to face reality. GMOs are going to be a fact of life. They don't effect most people and I understand I am only one person and I don't know how common these allergy symptoms are.
  • KimINfortheWin
    KimINfortheWin Posts: 251 Member
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  • Bry_Fitness70
    Bry_Fitness70 Posts: 2,480 Member
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    If you doubt the safety of food additives with 15 syllables and GMOs, avoid them. Trust your instincts and common sense and let others serve as guinea pigs. Darwinism is alive and well, although much slower than it used to be…
  • Timothy1962
    Timothy1962 Posts: 161
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    Care to watch a video or two?

    .. the first is a farmer who reports his swine became sterile after being fed GMO feed ...

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eilDbdLAyFs&feature=share&list=PLA356B27A12D9489F

    the second is a scary one about how if we ingest certain GMO food it "could" turn our bodies into pesticide factories like the modified food we eat ... truth or lies ... ????

    http://youtu.be/T-IJikX1144

    WHAT IS THE TRUTH??? We may never know or it could be years from now like we did with the TOBACCO industry that hid its findings from the public in order to make their billions!!!
  • DatMurse
    DatMurse Posts: 1,501 Member
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    Care to watch a video or two?

    .. the first is a farmer who reports his swine became sterile after being fed GMO feed ...

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eilDbdLAyFs&feature=share&list=PLA356B27A12D9489F

    the second is a scary one about how if we ingest certain GMO food it "could" turn our bodies into pesticide factories like the modified food we eat ... truth or lies ... ????

    http://youtu.be/T-IJikX1144

    WHAT IS THE TRUTH??? We may never know or it could be years from now like we did with the TOBACCO industry that hid its findings from the public in order to make their billions!!!

    Because pigs are normally fed organic food??

    Stop believing everything you watch on youtube. use some critical thinking skills
  • lilah808
    lilah808 Posts: 60
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    Ask yourself this: If GMOs are safe, then why does Monsanto spend millions upon millions of dollars to prevent the labeling of genetically modified foods? Use your brain. It's not that hard.
  • lilah808
    lilah808 Posts: 60
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    Also, Monsanto is the same corporation that poisoned millions of people with Agent Orange. Think! I dare you.
  • ldrosophila
    ldrosophila Posts: 7,512 Member
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    I am not trying to start a bloodbath, I am genuinely distressed at the total lack of unbiased information. How is anyone supposed to form an educated opinion if the actual facts are so slim?

    I think you hit the nail on the head unbiased. I could find study after study saying they were safe, and that would be refuted because it was supported by big Ag. I could find another study about GMO fed hamsters and that could be refuted because hamsters dont regularly drink soy milk. I think we are at a disadvantage here with both sides. I am always a grey person and think there is a place for GMO to improve crop yield but do think that Big Ag has a huge lobby influence. Keep yourself educated and try to do the best that you think is within reason for your family.
  • cephlove
    cephlove Posts: 11 Member
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    Don't know of any studies proving that GMOs are harmful to health. I do know that there is a lot of concern over harm to the environment, reduced genetic variability of crops, etc.
  • FredDoyle
    FredDoyle Posts: 2,273 Member
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    Ask yourself this: If GMOs are safe, then why does Monsanto spend millions upon millions of dollars to prevent the labeling of genetically modified foods? Use your brain. It's not that hard.
    Probably for the same reason organic farmers don't want to be forced to label their products "sprayed with rotenone-pyrethrin" or many other pesticides they use. As soon as you have to label something, it becomes taboo to the non-critical thinkers and tin foil hat crowd.
  • richardheath
    richardheath Posts: 1,276 Member
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    I can clearly see some people in this thread who are paid by the Monsanto :)

    Yeah, I see how that works:

    People saying stuff you don't like = those people are paid by Monsanto = You are totally free to ignore what they say.

    It's much easier to do that than to factually counter what is being said.


    [And no - I am not now nor have ever been paid by Monsanto.]
  • YaGigi
    YaGigi Posts: 817 Member
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    Care to watch a video or two?

    .. the first is a farmer who reports his swine became sterile after being fed GMO feed ...

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eilDbdLAyFs&feature=share&list=PLA356B27A12D9489F

    the second is a scary one about how if we ingest certain GMO food it "could" turn our bodies into pesticide factories like the modified food we eat ... truth or lies ... ????

    http://youtu.be/T-IJikX1144

    WHAT IS THE TRUTH??? We may never know or it could be years from now like we did with the TOBACCO industry that hid its findings from the public in order to make their billions!!!

    Because pigs are normally fed organic food??

    Stop believing everything you watch on youtube. use some critical thinking skills

    Actually in some countries and regions people feed their animals with organic food. Because all of the food they have is organic.
    I know it's hard to believe but real milk doesn't taste like that thing you buy in your supermarket.
  • PtheronJr
    PtheronJr Posts: 108 Member
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    Double post.
  • PtheronJr
    PtheronJr Posts: 108 Member
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    Monsanto is cartoonishly evil, but GMOs are fine and the people freaking out about GMOs are morons anyway because your food has been genetically modified since man figured out the secrets of subsistence farming, we just do it at a far more precise and direct way now.

    Also, if you can, just once, post some piece of relevant information denouncing GMOs wholesale as a concept instead of, anecdotal evidence from random people feeding something GMOs and the other thing not-GMOs (which I guarantee you, are also GMO in some form or another), and how the former thing somehow grew cancer on its nuts and died a horrible death.
    Ask yourself this: If GMOs are safe, then why does Monsanto spend millions upon millions of dollars to prevent the labeling of genetically modified foods? Use your brain. It's not that hard.

    Because GMO in America right now is a bad word, they might as well write F**k all over the packaging, it has more to do with the fact that people are ignorant idiots than anything else.
  • beardmatthews
    beardmatthews Posts: 2
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    Hi there concerned,

    In my scientific opinion (I do not have my degree yet, but it is a subject about which I have done a lot of research):–

    * There is no evidence that I have come across that genetically modified organisms are any more harmful to humans that eat them than any 'natural' or artificially bred strains of crop. There is a lot of terribly unscientific trashing of GMO, not all of it is unfounded but a high proportion is biased either way.

    * It is reasonable to assume that pharmaceutical and petrochemical companies have an interest in continued use of pesticides and GMO by producers.

    * The pesticides used alongside GMOs such as Glyphosate etc. (in GMO 'systems' to be used in higher concentrations) have been demostrated in laboratory experiments conclusively to cause endocrine disruption in many species, and likely to have a significant effect in mammals such as ourselves, especially those that eat other animals (accumulation effect in tissues).

    So, in terms of advice, it is VERY VERY important to wash fruit to remove pesticides (IDK how feasible it is to remove these chemicals from meats, I would hazard a guess that it is nearly impossible). And that articles of food such as corn, maize, wheat from GMO sources will likely have high concentrations of these demonstrably biologically disruptive chemicals within.

    Your best bet is to go organic *where practical for your budget* and where possible to tighten regulations on the use of these chemicals on crops. (At the moment it is essentially a free-for-all for profiteers).

    Kind regards,
    Matthew.
  • KeithAngilly
    KeithAngilly Posts: 575 Member
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    I am not trying to start a bloodbath, I am genuinely distressed at the total lack of unbiased information. How is anyone supposed to form an educated opinion if the actual facts are so slim?

    I know, I know, it's the internets. Some of us try.

    Thanks for the article. I'll give it a look.

    My skepticism stems from being raised in corn country. It was my understanding that almost all corn and soy were pretty much hybrids. I learned that over 20 years ago. I really do have a hard time believing something with so little evidence available is so overwhelming harmful, when basically we've been doing the same thing with selective breeding since domestication and agriculture began.

    Is it because of the genetic tampering that people are concerned? I can see some genetic tampering would be worrying. But I have a hard time believing everything on clean eating sites. Period.

    Plus the idea of the European Union banning them sounds just as much 'our farmers need revenue, let's make sure we can't buy from America' as concern over how healthy the food is.

    wow, I think you really hit the nail on the head with that last comment.

    I have two thoughts about GMO crops:

    1. If folks want them labeled, they should be labeled. End of story.

    2. GMO is a breeding technique, plain and simple. I personally am against it, because we just don't know all the consequences in the environment. I am not against it for health reasons. The health case against GMO's is empty and based entirely on fear, imho

    Unfortunately, in the age of the interwebs, fear and hysteria travel much further than common sense.
  • KeithAngilly
    KeithAngilly Posts: 575 Member
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    "Your best bet is to go organic *where practical for your budget* and where possible to tighten regulations on the use of these chemicals on crops. (At the moment it is essentially a free-for-all for profiteers). "

    Absolutely spot on. People should be more concerned about this than the GMO bogeyman. I tend to choose organic, but I am not kidding myself either. Organic can mean a lot of things in the marketplace.

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