Why GMOs Matter (support, problem, scientist)

[sargentodiaz]

By Keith Kloor | January 24, 2014 @ Why GMOs Matter - Collide-a-Scape | DiscoverMagazine.com

This, to me, doesn't appear to be political in nature. It's a interesting discourse about GMOs and their impact. Here's a bit of the article:

So why does cotton engineered with the pest-resistant Bt trait matter in the developing world? After all, people don’t eat cotton! And as smart GMO skeptics like to point out, most biotech crops, like soybean, corn, and cotton, are commodity cash crops. They don’t feed people.

Here’s Naam:

There are 7 million cotton farmers in India. Several peer reviewed studies have found that, because Bt cotton increases the amount of crop they have to sell, it raises their farm profits by as much as 50 percent, helps lift them out of poverty and reduces their risk of falling into hunger. By reducing the amount of insecticide used (which, in India, is mostly sprayed by hand) Bt cotton has also massively reduced insecticide poisoning to farm workers there — to the tune of 2.4 million cases per year.

And, if GMO products help farmers raise more food to feed more people, what on earth is wrong with that? I'm certainly no biologist, but using GMOs seems to make a lot of sense to me.

[Josseppie]

I have no problem with GMO foods.

[jambo101]

I got no problem using GMO products to help farmers raise more food to feed more people,
Its when GMO's start getting engineered to make you think a certain way that things start getting questionable..

[davebarnes]

Originally Posted by jambo101

Its when GMO's start

GMOs
Brought to you by the Committee to Save the Apostrophe from Abuse

[gureentree]

So two things I hear commonly with GMOs.

"I don't eat GMOs because I don't like the idea of adding fish genes to a vegetable or vice versa."

"I don't eat GMOs because of the study with rats, that show they grew tumours"
Study says genetically modified corn causes tumors, but other scientists skeptical about research - CBS News (URL too long?)

It looks like they gained these tumors from eating veggies and drinking water full of roundup. It has nothing really to do with GMOs. I bet if you took an "organic" vegetable and coated it in roundup, the same thing would happen.

I would love to see a 1st world country get away from growing food in the ground and grow it in sealed automated warehouses or 3D printed.

[Thanatocoenosis]

When my dog was sprayed by a skunk, I didn't want some natural skunk anti-stink spray, I wanted something manufactured by a chemist that worked. I support farmers and science.
I eat GMO foods, and you should, too... or present peer-reviewed evidence that it is harmful.</br>

[cwaggy]

Why Consumers Pay More for Organic? Fear Sells Marketers Know it | Academics Review

[cwaggy]

GMOs are perfectly safe. People who claim otherwise are fearmongers engaged in wishful thinking.

[Josseppie]

Originally Posted by cwaggy

GMOs are perfectly safe. People who claim otherwise are fearmongers engaged in wishful thinking.

Plus in the long run it will make us all vegans.

[plwhit]

This topic has been covered extensively (and beaten to death) here:

//www.city-data.com/forum/green...on-thread.html