GMO News and Discussion Thread (organic, toxic, buying, costs)

[zthatzmanz28]

What is with all theses people? Seems 90% of the country want their food identified as containing GMOs if they are made from GMO crops.



Recent national surveys by the Mellman Group and MSNBC, as well as polls conducted over the last two decades, indicate that 90 percent of U.S. consumers want to know whether or not the foods they eat and feed to their families have been genetically engineered.

Read more: Should genetically modified food be labeled?

Lets educate these folks before their fear spreads.

Should genetically modified foods be labeled?

[plwhit]

If this is successful it means less pesticides used and less pest damage to the crops.

Bottom line, less people will starve to death worldwide....

GM wheat trial continues despite opposition | Sci-Tech | DW.DE

[MissingAll4Seasons]

Interesting note about this particular GM wheat -- the engineered alteration is to produce target enzymes not proteins. Enzymes are generally not as problematic and long-lived as proteins. However, the engineering technique used for both modifications is the same, and if there is a fault in the technique that produces unintended side-effects in gene expression (as suspected by Pusztai and other researchers), then the potential for adverse long-term effects could still be present.

I'd be interested in seeing whether this modified enzyme actually yields better results than other conventional aphid control measures and truly reduces toxic pesticide usage without compromising the quality of the crop or increasing other cultivation costs.

[MissingAll4Seasons]

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[zthatzmanz28]

Seems the government, Moderator cut: political slur, are ready to open the door and let Biotechnology run RAMPANT!

After decades of failures with Bt corn and cotton, the US government continues to give free reign to Monsanto, DOW and other corporations (including Bayer).

The USA is just about the ONLY country that allows biotechnology to operate UNCHECKED and with near immunity.

According to the Organic Consumer's Organization:

A so-called "Monsanto rider," quietly slipped into the multi-billion dollar FY 2013 Agricultural Appropriations bill, would require - not just allow, but require - the Secretary of Agriculture to grant a temporary permit for the planting or cultivation of a genetically engineered crop, even if a federal court has ordered the planting be halted until an Environmental Impact Statement is completed. All the farmer or the biotech producer has to do is ask, and the questionable crops could be released into the environment where they could potentially contaminate conventional or organic crops and, ultimately, the nation's food supply.

The MONSANTO RIDER

Organic Consumer Association

USDA WATCH

[uggabugga]

Originally Posted by MissingAll4Seasons

Interesting note about this particular GM wheat -- the engineered alteration is to produce target enzymes not proteins. Enzymes are generally not as problematic and long-lived as proteins. However, the engineering technique used for both modifications is the same, and if there is a fault in the technique that produces unintended side-effects in gene expression (as suspected by Pusztai and other researchers), then the potential for adverse long-term effects could still be present.

I'd be interested in seeing whether this modified enzyme actually yields better results than other conventional aphid control measures and truly reduces toxic pesticide usage without compromising the quality of the crop or increasing other cultivation costs.

enzymes are proteins.

that said, this is a very neat idea to make wheat produce the same insect alarm pheremone that is present in other plants. if they were smart, they'd figure out a way to do their field trials somewhere outside europe where there is less opposition to this technology..

[uggabugga]

Originally Posted by zthatzmanz28

Lets educate these folks before their fear spreads.

yes, let's do that. but let's use science instead of Moderator cut: instigating propaganda.

Originally Posted by zthatzmanz28

Seems the government, Moderator cut: political slur, are ready to open the door and let Biotechnology run RAMPANT!

After decades of failures with Bt corn and cotton, the US government continues to give free reign to Monsanto, DOW and other corporations (including Bayer).

what 'decades of failures?

why would farmers keep buying these products if they were such 'failures'? they wouldn't.

The USA is just about the ONLY country that allows biotechnology to operate UNCHECKED and with near immunity.

unchecked? you mean i can whip up just any old biotech ag product and immediately start growing it and selling it?

that's hardly how it works.

[MissingAll4Seasons]

Originally Posted by uggabugga

enzymes are proteins.

True, but they serve very different functions, I'm sorry for the over-simplification. Please let me clarify:

Enzymes are a form of functional protein that control and facilitate biological activity by triggering target substrates to produce a certain substance or reaction, and interacting with other molecules, compounds and proteins. Enzymes are comparatively short-lived catalysts and only affect species that contain the requisite corresponding substrate.

Proteins are the expressed form of genes, and they form physiological structures (stems, leaves, muscle, bone, skin, etc). They also have a function in nearly every biological process in the body (including enzyme production). Proteins are comparatively long-lived and can affect any species that consume them.

[MissingAll4Seasons]

Originally Posted by uggabugga

unchecked? you mean i can whip up just any old biotech ag product and immediately start growing it and selling it?

that's hardly how it works.

Perhaps it would be more useful if you explained how the agricultural biotech approval process does work in the US.

[purehuman]

Originally Posted by zthatzmanz28

What is with all theses people? Seems 90% of the country want their food identified as containing GMOs if they are made from GMO crops.



Recent national surveys by the Mellman Group and MSNBC, as well as polls conducted over the last two decades, indicate that 90 percent of U.S. consumers want to know whether or not the foods they eat and feed to their families have been genetically engineered.

Read more: Should genetically modified food be labeled?

Lets educate these folks before their fear spreads.

Should genetically modified foods be labeled?

It's a BIG problem all right....and the problem IS that 10% of the people ( by your account)..figure they know better, than the other 90%.....blatant disrespect far as I'm concerned