GM even safer than conventional food, says environment secretary

GMO's in prespective:

How long were GMO's tested before they were grown for mass consumption?
Nowhere near enough, and it seems monsanto put lobbyists in place to push stuff like GMO's, aspratame and roundup and it worked for them.

Within 15 years GMO's are in almost every single processed food and imo they DID NOT TEST GMO's properly or long enough to establish if they are safe. IMO 15 years of vigorous testing and research that is 100% open and shared to the public is what I would need to deem gmo's probably safe.

I wonder how gmo's will affect us 75 years from now and if monsanto held back information about the harmful long-term health problems GMO's can cause. They did get a law passed giving them blanket immunity? I wonder why.


I believe we are being lied to plain and simple and all for $$$$$$$$$$$$.

I find it interesting that politicians are fighting the labeling of GMO foods but some corporations are putting 'Non GMO project verified food' labels on food that AREN'T GMO. I think we'll see more NON GMO food labels in the future, especially if the public grabs it up.

They say it's safer now but what will studies say 10 years from now? And who trusts a guy who is pro-GMO?

I am a farmer. I am wondering if anyone has stood foot in a "Roundup Ready" field? It is truly freaky. Not one weed. If you are what you eat, would you really want to consume something that has been altered to grow in soil that nothing else can?

I have read comments about how GMOs must be profitable and are high in yields. Most people don't understand how grain farming works. It's like serfdom. The seed company, most likely Monsanto, sells the seed and tells how much fertilizer and pesticide to spray. At harvest time a set price is paid per bushel by the company. The way that profit is made is by having more acreage to grow on. The two farmers that surround me grow on over 3000 acres each. Around 85% of the grain goes to animals the rest is fed to humans. The real reason farmers use GMOs is because it is easier not better. The equation is there for them to follow and they can make money with very little work and a lot of equipment. It is by no means sustainable nor nutritious.

Now I grow vegetables and fruit on 17 acres of tillable land. The other farmers around here don't take me seriously except for an occasional old timer. I mulch my crops to cut down on weeding and dust my plants with diatomaceous earth. My yields are high and I make more money per acre than the other farmers do. My produce is high in quality and in flavor. Everybody could have great tasting nutritious food without the GMOs if there were more farmers willing to do the work that is necessary.

Remember, just because it's edible doesn't mean it's good for you.

I don't think the issue for me personally is with GMO but with the way farmers grow their food, PERMACULTURE is the way to properly maintain a healthy bio-diversity and helps maintain a more natural state of environment.

Mono culture never works and it will never work in long term, all those farms you see on the road will one day be a desert.

www.youtube.com...

I suggest people who have the time to watch this video.

the description of said video "Modern agriculture, industry and finance all extract more than they give back, and the Earth is starting to show the strain. How did we get in this mess and what can we do to help our culture get back on track? The ecological design approach known as permaculture offers powerful tools for the design of regenerative, fair ways to provide food, energy, livelihood, and other needs while letting humans share the planet with the rest of nature. This presentation will give you insight into why our culture has become fundamentally unsustainable, and offers ecologically based solutions that can help create a just and sustainable society. This is the sequel to Toby's popular talk, "How Permaculture Can Save Humanity and The Planet, but not Civilization."

reply to post by Wonderer2012


If afirness I believe that they believe this...Science has not caught up to the impact of GM Crops and food yet.

I think the first revelation will occur with wheat.

Scientists are trying to figure out why after thousands of years of folks eating wheat, that Celiacs disease and other inflammatory syndroms are skyrocketing...reactions to wheat gluten etc.

The wheat we eat today is highly genetically modified, not just through outright GM, but also through breeding and hybridization...in short...the wheat all over the world is ONE breed, highly homogenous, genetically modified and nothing like our ancestors ate.

Does it help with starving populations by having highly pest resistant wheat? Sure...but it also is spurring various diseases and inflamtory processes that can shorten life spans.

I can see a rise in cannibalism as GMO will change peoples dna and won't care that killing other humans and eating them. After all we are all meat in the end just like animals. Once we lose our senses people will start hunting other people to kill them for food. GMO has been designed in the science labs just like viruses that have been let loose into the world so TPTB can see what the results will be. I would rather starve then eat Monsanto gmo food. I would want to die as a human not a monster.

reply to post by Sk8ergrl

I can see a rise in cannibalism as GMO will change peoples dna and won't care that killing other humans and eating them.

I suppose you have a reason for claiming that GMOs can change DNA, but I can't imagine what it is.
Is there a danger that I'll turn into a carrot if I eat them?

Originally posted by Carreau
Frankly all I care about is that anything GMO is labeled as such. Everyone should have the right to know what has been modified and what hasn't. If it is as harmless as they claim then label it and let the public decide for themselves. The fact that they hide it speaks volumes.

That really isn't good enough because GMOs are cross pollinating with traditions varieties and spreading their Frankengenes everywhere.

Look what is happening to the bees. Colony Collapse has been linked to GMO crops (and other things as well - most noteably the huge increase in radio frequency pollution). Monsantos solution to the bee problem - drone bees.

A very interesting article on the lack of adequate testing of GM foods and their potential for influencing RNA in humans via the food chain. People should read the research and take heed of the warnings then tell their governments and Monsanto and the like to stop GM foods, it isn't the answer, to anything, apart from population reduction, and ecology wrecking and undoing the millions of years evolution that allows humanity to eat food grown from soil on Earth.

www.theatlantic.com...

New research shows that when we eat we're consuming more than just vitamins and protein. Our bodies are absorbing information, or microRNA.

Chinese researchers have found small pieces of rice ribonucleic acid (RNA) in the blood and organs of humans who eat rice. The Nanjing University-based team showed that this genetic material will bind to receptors in human liver cells and influence the uptake of cholesterol from the blood.

The type of RNA in question is called microRNA (abbreviated to miRNA) due to its small size. MiRNAs have been studied extensively since their discovery ten years ago, and have been implicated as players in several human diseases including cancer, Alzheimer's, and diabetes. They usually function by turning down or shutting down certain genes. The Chinese research provides the first in vivo example of ingested plant miRNA surviving digestion and influencing human cell function in this way.

Many GM fans will point out that if we do toxicity tests on GM foods, we should also have to do toxicity testing on every other kind of food in the world.

But we've already done the testing on the existing plants. We tested them the hard way, by eating strange things and dying, or almost dying, over thousands of years. That's how we've figured out which plants are poisonous. And over the course of each of our lifetimes we've learned which foods we're allergic to.

All of the non-GM breeds and hybrid species that we eat have been shaped by the genetic variability offered by parents whose genes were similar enough that they could mate, graft, or test tube baby their way to an offspring that resembled them.

A tomato with fish genes? Not so much. That, to me, is a new plant and it should be tested. We shouldn't have to figure out if it's poisonous or allergenic the old fashioned way, especially in light of how new-fangled the science is.

It's time for Monsanto to acknowledge that there's more to DNA than the proteins it codes for -- even if it's for no other reason than the fact that RNA alone is a lot more complicated that Watson and Crick could ever have imagined.

Originally posted by mamahuhu

Now I grow vegetables and fruit on 17 acres of tillable land. The other farmers around here don't take me seriously except for an occasional old timer. I mulch my crops to cut down on weeding and dust my plants with diatomaceous earth. My yields are high and I make more money per acre than the other farmers do. My produce is high in quality and in flavor. Everybody could have great tasting nutritious food without the GMOs if there were more farmers willing to do the work that is necessary.

Remember, just because it's edible doesn't mean it's good for you.

edit on 21-6-2013 by mamahuhu because: (no reason given)

Don't you worry about chemicals from your neighbors farms blowing into your crops?

Further implications of GM foods to human health and the food chain.

www.anh-usa.org...

GE organisms actually become part of the bacteria in our digestive tracts and reproduce continuously inside us. But the USDA now wants to to remove all controls from GE corn and cotton!

There are no human clinical trials of genetically engineered foods. The only published human feeding experiment revealed that genetic material inserted into GE soy transfers into the DNA of bacteria living inside our intestines and continues to function. Even after we stop eating GE foods, we may still have the GE proteins produced continuously inside us.

As the Institute for Responsible Technology has noted, the genetic engineering process creates massive collateral damage, causing mutations in hundreds or thousands of locations throughout the plant’s DNA. Natural genes can be deleted or permanently turned on or off, and hundreds may change their behavior. Even the inserted gene can be damaged or rearranged, and may create proteins that can trigger allergies or promote disease.

The idea of having genetically engineered genes permanently living inside our guts has staggering implications:

If the antibiotic gene inserted into most GM crops were to transfer, it could create antibiotic-resistant diseases.
Bt toxins (Bacillus thuringiensis) inserted into GM food crops to kill pests are reaching the bloodstreams of 93% of women and 80% of unborn babies because of the consumption of meat, milk, and eggs from livestock fed GE corn. This could turn bacteria in our intestines into pesticide factories.
Animal studies show that DNA in food can travel into organs throughout the body, even into the fetus.

And we’ve seen cross-species transfer of DNA happen before. A significant percentage of human DNA is actually viral DNA that became part of us over 40 million years ago. There is concern that virally transmitted DNA may cause mutations and psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and mood disorders. GE organisms may exacerbate this phenomenon.

Originally posted by Phage
reply to post by BDBinc

 

Since natural human gene patents are now voided by the court what about taking Monsanto's claimed ownership of plant genes to the supreme court on the same points used to win this battle?

Does Monsanto have patents on natural genes? I know they have patents on modified genes. I know they have plant patents. Plants have been patented since long before there were GMOs.
www.intellectualpropertylawfirms.com...

I don't think they do, but there are resources that claim they tried to:

The American biotechnology firm, Monsanto, has applied for a patent for pig breeding in 160 countries. The patent is for specific parts of the genetic material of pigs which Monsanto’s genetic researchers have decoded. If this patent is granted, pig breeding would be possible with the approval of the company.

Patent For A Pig: The Big Business of Genetics


If they indeed tried to, well that's still pretty incredible IMO.

www.youtube.com...

This is one of the best videos I can find to explain the science behind gmo's. Very revealing.

also, a description on how to embedd vids would be appreciated.

reply to post by tigershark1988


The evidence you supplied does not exist Must have been deleted by the FDA

reply to post by rickymouse


I fixed that I believe.. I just edited my post and added the url. Im not sure how to embed videos, Lot's of people have been asking about the science behind gmo concerns and this video well explains a lot of them(not all).

reply to post by FyreByrd


Of course I do. I keep about 100 yards away from other fields. I have natural wind breaks in every direction. I keep watch as to what they use, how much they use and the method of application. I do my best to keep the land healthy. It seems to help because I do have my share of pests.

reply to post by Wonderer2012


This is absolutely untrue. The gall this ignorant bureaucrat has is staggering!

Originally posted by BaneOfQuo
...............
Perhaps if we could have bred super animals that could perpetually produce bacon we could have the same thing...
.........

Never fear, the super cow is here:
Trust me, one day the whole earth will be something like a spaceship. We will have so heavily engineered the planet that it won't know how to live without our help.

Sorry folks. There's no going back. You know it, I know it. The world is changing fast. 10 years of change is not like it used to be. Either find a good place to die or get with the business.

7 billion people on earth. We're not going back. The momentum is too great. The spark that ignited the flames now burns big and hot. Nothing short of a cataclysmic flood will stop it.

Maybe, maybe... they'll allow small areas to be "old fashioned." But I suppose if the threat of disease or breaches of law come up, they'll stomp out those areas to protect the spaceship.

We always think that people from the past would love to visit the future and stay there! But my feeling is most people from the past would be disgusted with some of the things we do. Some or many would choose not to stay and would willingly go back to wherever they came from. To us that's unimaginable. We can't imagine someone trading modern convenience for a shorter life.

People can only stomach so much change. Too much and they vomit. In fact, too much change will kill us, just as a bullet can cut through an artery and cause a big change in blood circulation.

What we have to realise regarding GMO is that there are two major contradictions taking place-

1- Rockerfeller and Bill Gates are behind GMO, their foundations are funding AGRA which is the forcing of GMO on Africa. IF GMO is safe, this will increase the population as less people will be starving as AGRA is intended to help the African people grow sufficient food to feed everyone.

2- The same people supporting AGRA FIRMLY BELIEVE THERE ARE TOO MANY PEOPLE ON THE PLANET.

So either they like to contradict themselves or GMO is part of the population control agenda (if they can create crops that have sterile seeds, they can create crops that sterilise human beings).

This is the world we are heading into IMO.