Our Food is Dying: Infectious Agents are Threatening the World's Crops

A raft of new diseases now threaten the world's staple crops. The recommended strategy is a rapid GMO response - without any regulatory constraints.

Our Food is Dying: Infectious agents are threatening the world's crops

You have no doubt been reading about the millions of chickens being slaughtered in what appear to be increasingly hopeless attempts to contain avian flu. Poultry, the most efficient converters of vegetable matter into meat, pound for pound, are being taken out of the food chain in many places. But crops, the staples the world relies on for its basic calorie supply, are also threatened, as Canadian plant pathologist Dick Hamilton, the former ProMED-mail plant moderator, recently wrote.

Rather than pouring more chemicals onto the problem, or having to leave fields unproductively fallow for years, gene sequencing of these pathogens should be expedited to allow more rapid identification of resistant strains of crops.

Full text

The contamination and pollution we released into the world over the past century is causing a mutation-adaptation response in microbes - and creating new diseases.

IMO - the problem is real. Just like bird flu and Mad Cow are real and endemic-pandemic. And the same corporate-industrial solution-strategy is recommended for bird flu and Mad Cow - creating bird flu-Mad Cow resistant GMO products.

IMO - the answer is NOT for man to play God - rather, man needs to clean up his mess. Not make it worse.

The solution is NOT to create more molecular contamination. Which is exactly what GMO products are - more molecular contamination in a world already overwhelmed by molecular contamination.


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In another thread someone had asserted that with the melting of the polar ice caps that microbes and virii that had been long frozen and thought to be dead for hundreds of thousands of years could possibly re-emerge in this thawing out affecting marine and other biological life. Could any of this be in relation?


Pie

It is because of technology that we are in the predicament that we are in, is it not only fitting that it also be because of technology that we find the solution.

Humans as a race have decided to become technological beings, some may still prefer the one with nature however the vast vast majority of humans rely on technology, so we should push forward with solutions that are derived from tech advancements.

I am not advocating factory farming however. But what is wrong with sequencing crop and infectious agents dna so that we can ready ourselves and fight back.

Originally posted by ThePieMaN
In another thread someone had asserted that with the melting of the polar ice caps that microbes and virii that had been long frozen and thought to be dead for hundreds of thousands of years could possibly re-emerge in this thawing out affecting marine and other biological life. Could any of this be in relation?

Red herring IMO.

We are likely "attuned" and/or immune to microbes native to the earth.

But genetic engineering and industrial processes create new never-seen-before macromolecules that life on earth is not equipped to handle at the molecular level. Hence mutation and adaptation response.

Originally posted by Desolate Cancer
It is because of technology that we are in the predicament that we are in, is it not only fitting that it also be because of technology that we find the solution.

Humans as a race have decided to become technological beings, some may still prefer the one with nature however the vast vast majority of humans rely on technology, so we should push forward with solutions that are derived from tech advancements.

We are one with nature - whether we like it or not. Every factor-element of the biosphere "communicates" and interracts. Every new factor-element we introduce will modify the biosphere, usually in unpredictable ways.

The emergence of new diseases and dangerous mutations in old diseases is only one impact. Likely just the first wave.

I am not advocating factory farming however. But what is wrong with sequencing crop and infectious agents dna so that we can ready ourselves and fight back.

What's wrong is that the fools doing it are motivated solely by profit and ignore all but the most direct cause-and-effect relationships. The world - and the ecosystem biosphere is far more complex, interrelated, interconnected and interractive.

FYI - it's self-defeating to "fight back" - we need to learn to live harmoniously and cooperatively as an integral part of our biosphere because it is an integral part of us.

We ignore that reality at our own great peril.

I trust "nature" to find the healthy optimal balance far more than I trust profit-oriented industry to do so.


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Ok where are ANY facts supporting you all I see is you making claims on a very flimsy basis. What r u thinking what in your mind could ever link any of these diseases to the human race. That’s like saying people who die of AIDS, influenza, Ebola, and the cold is there fault for contracting it. HELLO a virus mutates every time it goes through a reproductive cycle. Would you rater see people starve to death? Science is there to help the human race and the earth. If you think its so wrong then why do you eat GM food b/c I can guarantee that you do. You clamed that humans are creating all new never seen b4 diseases….. it doesn’t work like that of I discover a new plant did I make it? NO sp tell me witch ones have we made and tell me why there different then the ones that we have known about. How do you clame molecular contamination when ALL of the GM foods that are resistant to diseases and insects where taken from other plants not just made up in the lab. If you believe in god that you clame then you know when where made in his likeness and where given full control over all the fish in the sea and the birds in the air…..so it is not playing god but rather using the things he left to better our world. I love how you compare mad cow to producing gm foods are you saying that it was man made….no the containment protocols have helped contain things and help to prevent mass food shortages. Once again would you rater thousands starved so your ideals can be realized? Problem what problem there has been many many independent studies done on GM and negative effects and not one has come back to show any proof. So it seems that this problem exists only in your head.

So tell me do you have any experience with GM foods.
What do you know of how they do it?
Where do they get the sequences used in the GM process?
How do they introduce the new genetic material?

I have been around GM foods and there research my life and I have extensive knowledge of how it is produced so if you wish to have a discussion on the facts about GM foods and not the political views on it I would be happy to fill in the flaws of your arguments


Let people starve instead from being scared of things that most ppl don’t understand!!!!!!!

HA

The world continues to produce crops at or near record levels every year. There are threats to crops, but not the way that dude sees them. The biggest threats are the crops rotting in bins before they're used, finding more land on which to grow them, and farmers making enough money to stay in business. Huge supply, low demand, not much profit if any for farmers.

Plenty of food, way too much food at the moment for everybody. If anybody in the world is starving now, it's a political problem, not a production problem.

If it weren't for zoning codes in cities, we could all have a few chickens scratching around in the yard instead of crammed together in unhealthy, cruel conditions for the almighty buck.
We could also have a calf and let it trim the grass while it grew meaty and healthy.

We don't have to eat meat every meal. I eat beef about once or twice in a month and get my protein from other things like beans.

Another big worry is genetic modification. Its a mistake. Thousands of years have given us the best we could have and now we're going to cross a potato with a jelly fish? Insane is what it is.

My neighbor doesn't want me to grow a few chickens because they might smell, etc. Well I don't want my neighbor to have kids because they are incubators of sicknesses that spread as soon as the first kid gets sniffles.

Recently I bought a used car from an individual and went in their home to exchange money and title. Their kid was right in my face all the time, inches away breathing on me. You guessed it, I came down with a cold. Yuck!

Originally posted by soficrow
IMO - the answer is NOT for man to play God - rather, man needs to clean up his mess. Not make it worse.

Took me some time to get to this thread....

Another great one, soficrow...

And, yes, we need to clean up our mess.... The suggestion made in the article you quoted is INSANE!!!!

:shk:

Milking the soil for all it's worth and (much, way too much) more by fertilizers, industrial agriculture and no-tomorrow irrigation practices (salty deserts anyone?) combined with a heavy dose of monocultured herbicide soaked GM crop is sure as hell going to result in destroyed soil and resistant pests.

I guess the GM / industry crowd will still be yelling for subsidies when their herbicide resistant, yet most certainly inedible, cross-contaminated superweeds overgrow what's left of our native flora while their (super expensive self terminating) GM crops fall victim to pests and new (super?) weeds.

What then you may ask?

I really have to formulate the thirteen commandments of starvation... but three will do, for now:

1. The More the Merrier
   
2. Cannibalism happens
   2a) it works both ways
   
   
   
3. If it moves it's probably nutritious
   

sicker than sick but my force persuasion keeps failing me

Superweed link 1

Superweed link 2

[edit on 13-4-2006 by Long Lance]

Alikospah said:

Zoning

If it weren't for zoning codes in cities, we could all have a few chickens scratching around in the yard instead of crammed together in unhealthy, cruel conditions for the almighty buck.
We could also have a calf and let it trim the grass while it grew meaty and healthy.

Yet again this shows we are less free than we ever thought, for thousands of years we've raised farm animals, now it's against the law. Failure to take care of them and their problems should be against the law, not having them.
Oh well, we can still legally grow tomatoes and potatoes, that is until they rezone our properties as non-agricultural (of any kind), hell they already rezone residential property commercial, residents be damned, money speaks louder than thou! Go back into your homes and start packin'!

We need permits to build, no farm animals, land taxes, rent, mortgage and all that crud. We pay to exist! For most of our human existence we could do as we pleased, farm, build, pay no taxes, build huts mortgage and rent free, breath clean air.
We got screwed, big time! Because we exist, it makes someone rich.
Take the money out of it and we all become free!

Well, I'll have a garden this spring, and as far as I know it will be GM free, I think?

Originally posted by Alikospah
If it weren't for zoning codes in cities, we could all have a few chickens scratching around in the yard instead of crammed together in unhealthy, cruel conditions for the almighty buck.

There are a few restrictions in Los Angeles, but as a recent article in the LA Weekly pointed out, pretty much anyone can have chickens in the city. I hear a rooster crowing from somewhere every morning.

When the zoning codes were enacted, that rooster or roosters were already there and allowed to stay. If they ever get rid of all their chickens, then they won't be allowed to get anymore.

Anyone with a home and a yard should have chickens, they eat bugs, scratch the soil so more seed can take root and contribute their droppings to enrich the soil. But citified folks are "offended" by the smell or the noise, yet tolerate boom cars that no one can escape from.

If I could, I'd move far from the city, get a medium large place and build a wall around it. I would wall off the people who take offense and don't want a cow or a chicken in their neighbor's yard. There are so many of us we are offensive in our numbers and demands.

Yeah, I agree, those people who whine and complain about smells and stuff; Well, they offend me with all their whining and complaining.
People make me sick, and sometimes even depressed.

We are so far removed from normal, our abnormalcy becomes our normal.

I want MY normal!!!

Bovines are herbiviores, they eat vegetation. They were never intended to eat protein. But some "brilliant" thinker saw that a lot of protein was going to "waste". Dead animals, slaughter refuse, restaurant garbage, even last week's family pet. They figured that if we cooked all that stuff together and made it into feed, we'd salvage the lost protein. That is what feed lot cattle are forced to eat. It happens some of the dead animals are diseased with a common disease to their species. But when it is force fed to another species, it became lethal. Greed for money created Mad Cow. Worse, cattlemen have the power to shut up the information somewhat. They sued Oprah when she let the cat out of the bag and they lost for a change. Still, we only test a representative sample of beef for Mad Cow and at a younger age than the animal typically developes the disease. So while the disease is present, we do all in our power not to see it and keep selling that beef.

Was the above post really submitted to the right thread?


sry for 1 liner, but that's all i have to ask.

Originally posted by soficrow





We are likely "attuned" and/or immune to microbes native to the earth.

But genetic engineering and industrial processes create new never-seen-before macromolecules that life on earth is not equipped to handle at the molecular level....................

first of all, i'm in agreeement with your almost paganistic world-view...
that we're collectively connected to the natural rythms of Gaia(Earth)

however there are agents/catalists, which fall to earth from comets & the cosmos in general, which undoubetly affect earthborne microbes and cause mutations.

Then..... mankind, with all its high-regard for its scientific knowledge, will do junk like insert jellyfish genes into corn or other grains to make them do stuff like "shine-in-the-dark"...which theoretically increases yields because of various sundry reasons.
Or else, insert genes to make tomatoes or potatoes grow into 'cube' shapes, which makes shipping & packaging less costly
Not because any of it has a well thought out reason-
but because GeneticEngineering & GM can be done with current experimental technology...and on top of that, because the short term result is more profit.!

Nature will find a new equilibirium with all these new GM life forms,
but it may involve a massive near extinction scenario...
who knows from where or how?
perhaps thats what the human collective is myth creating as;
'Alien
Invasion' or 'Rapture' or 'Armageddon' events.........[size=16]?

You are what you eat, as the saying goes.

I remember when Roundup ready soybeans came on the market and how the farmers in my family were hesitant to plant them and worried about the health implications. Nowadays they have little choice and argue it's better than spraying Malathion. Years of chemically treated crops means my farming side of the family now has numerous health problems related to exposure and use of pesticides, fertilizers and herbicides. Next big agricultural phase is GMO crops and it won't be just the farmers that will be exposed to the main effects this time around.



Remember Starlink corn?



We can pretty much guarantee human dna/rna mutating through eating genetically altered food, were as bovine-CJD may be just the tip of the iceberg (animals eating things that they weren't design to eat = genetic mutations and disease.)

Meanwhile Pope goes ballistic against GMO, coincidence?



[edit on 13-4-2006 by Regenmacher]

You give me such a big headache.

First I call you a liar b/c the things you said leads me to believe that you know nothing about farming or biology. Let me explane round up is a herbicide it kills plants while mathion is a insecticide it kills bugs. And ill tell you you’re a liar b/c ive eaten so many raw beans out of the field(same kind) and round up is harmless to humans unless that side has chloroplasts. My father the third generation farmer of ~9000acr’s says the stuff in your post is done by a person who has minamal experence and there are no health problems don’t exist and also that people who thing GM is bad are retorted and don’t have all the facts.
How do you say that it will cause mutation tell me how …and try to b specific on how the DNA will be transcribed and not fail b/c of enzyme defincy. Mutation in the way you think is just movie crap. So explane to me how it happens ive had quite a fue chem. And bio classes. You have been lied to mutation from things you eat is not going to happen.
That corn not for human consumption company known as basic 2 is used for hog feed and shipped to china for human consumption all that is difrent is a certificate from the FDA at the farmers house saying ppl can eat it.

THANK YOU for bringing the pope in to this convo. Why should I care what a old bag says. And 2 did you know that less than 30 years ago the pope just acknowledged that the world is round?(honest to god truth) besides do you honestly let ppl tell you what to think on the behalf of god? Didn’t think so, so don’t post crap like that.


[edit on 14-4-2006 by engenerQ]

EnergQ -

Your information and references are welcome.

Please refrain from namecalling.