What's wrong with GM food?

I have often wondered why people are so against genetically modified food. There just isn't enough traditional non-GM food to go around the whole planet.

Water resources are limited, energy costs are rising, the cultivatable land is already mostly cultivated, and climate change could hit productive areas hard. We need a sustainable intensification of agriculture to increase production by 50% by 2030 - but how?

The answer is genetically modifying food.

The method (GM is a method not a thing) is simple.

We take a plant, which typically carries about 30,000 genes, and add a few additional genes that confer insect resistance, or herbicide resistance, or disease resistance, or more efficient water use, or improved human nutrition, or less polluting effluent from animals that eat the grain, or more efficient fertiliser uptake, or increased yield.

We could even (heck, why not?) do all of the above to the same plant.

The benefit of these over traditional farming is that with the genes for fungal or insect resistance means that farmers will not have to spray possibly toxic pesticides and fungicides over the crops which you or I may then end up consuming.

Some fear GM food is bad for health. There are no data that support this view.

In the US, where many processed foods contain ingredients derived from GM maize or soy, in the most litigious society in history, nobody has sued for a GM health problem.

Wishful thinking will not feed the planet without destroying it. Instead, we need smart, sustainable, sensitive science and technology, and we need to use every tool in our toolbox, including GM.

Here we have a safe, great way of producing more food, that helps the environment in the long run because pesticides, fungicides, herbicides etc are not needed which prevents their leeching into the environment. Why not use it to our advantage?

Fussy eaters - what's wrong with GM food?

Who told you it was safe and why do you believe it? That is the underlying point behind GM - that it is not tested and not safe.

Also - who told you there isn't enough non-GM vegetables to go around?

Nature always win's.

Why not work WITH nature instead of AGAINST it? I am pretty sure most of the ancients worked with nature more as they knew its power.

Why don't you grow your own vegitables and fruit etc? It isn't that hard really, just takes a little time (weekends), and some planning (get a calendar) and a book or use the internet (to learn).

If you find yourself putting vegies/fruit etc into the shopping trolly, reconsider your way of life, really as there is no really big excuse for not growing them, no land? Buy / rent a small plot.

I am not going to debate the health issues.

For me, my biggest complaint is that I am not given a choice and my choice as to what I eat is being removed as an option.

GM foods were not studied closely, and long term before being released. You are lucky, you are from the UK where GM foods are labeled. I'm in the US where we get sold out again and again to corporate interests.

GM foods aren't easier to grow, they're easier to maintain without doing as much work.

For one thing, they are finding the chemicals used to treat GM foods (they kill everything but the GMO) in unborn babies.

Toxic Pesticides From GM Foods Found in Unborn Babies

For another thing, Roundup treated fields are starting to grow "Super Weeds"

U.S. Farmers Cope with Round Up Resistant Super Weeds

Another thing, farmers that resist producing GM maize or soy in the US are hounded and systematically made to go bankrupt by Monsanto, through a whole slew of varying tactics:

Monsanto Versus Farmers


Again, the main reason for the GM crops is that they are immune to the toxic poisons sprayed on the fields that until recently, cleared the fields of all pests and plants other than the GM food. Now pests and plants are adapting, and becoming "super" which kills any real advantage of growing GM crops. Farmers are not allowed to save seeds, and if caught they basically lose everything to Monsanto.

That being said, the absolute worst thing about using GM crops is that they are owned by a corporate person. When one company owns all the staple foods they can pretty much set any price they'd like. All this "let's feed the world" is merely propaganda, as I hope I've shown here.

I grow my own, non GM foods. I save money and am healthier because of it. I encourage everyone to do the same.

ETA:

Some documentaries that explain these things in detail:
topdocumentaryfilms.com...
topdocumentaryfilms.com...
topdocumentaryfilms.com...

I hope you watch, OP.

reply to post by Griffo


If you like to know more about GM and other food stuf, I recommend the documentary "we feed the world".
Google it, I am sure you can watch it on the net or free.

i think its the term 'genetically modified' is what scares most people.
in most cases this genetic modification is just another term for selective breeding, which mostly gives better quality and more productive food sources.
i'd rather have GM foods.

This is a good site. Maybe you should do a little research before posting.
www.saynotogmos.org...

For one we have not tested them long enough for us to be giving it out to the whole population. I have read main stream news articles about babies being born with GM poison (the substance the plant produces to kill insects) in their blood. I have seen study's of animals that dont eat GM food and animals that do not eat gm food. (its a study so the only variable that was changed was the food). Pigs, witch in allot of ways are like us ended up with thin insistence causing them to tear. Another study (multiple ones) showed that rats develop tumors when eating gm food. Rats are tested on because they are small and allot like us.

But thats not the point the over all point is having a company like Monsanto in control of %98 of it. Do you really trust this company? Maybe you should do some research on Monsanto's. We would be able to feed the world if the farming industry was not owned by so many large company's. Our food needs to be local, not shipped half way across the usa causing nutrients to be lost and raising the price. Ship in what we cant grow locally but allot of it can be grown locally. As for saving the world. YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING ME!!! Just look at all the products that have GMO corn soy and canola ITS ALL PROCESSED JUNK FOOD!!! Its most likely a depopulation program. Country's do have death quota's. This food is not going to Africa, its in your pantry.
By the way Griffo your avatar gives you away.

Yes, scientist never published what effects GM food leaves on human health. Because Huge companies censore that kind of research on the news!
At the USA (country with the largest amount of GMO) we can see a lot of fat people (no offense) and the most terrifying is the fact that from today every third child is going to have diabetes in their life! Seriously method of GM food got to stop!
GM food is harmless? Think again!

If feeding the world is your concern then GM is not going to save your day. We've had resources, technology and the man power for decades to put an end to world hunger, but nothing has been done. There should be elaborate vertical greenhouses being built all over the globe, but instead our collective wealth goes to supporting war and politicians' fancy life styles.

They say you should wash fruits and veggies to remove pesticide that may be on the skin still, but how do you remove it once its inside the flesh of the fruit? So if consuming pesticides have no adverse health effects then why even wash them in the first place?

GM, Monsanto, Bt corn, growth horomone, ehhh I got a nasty taste in my mouth just typing it...

Originally posted by sabbathcrazy
As for saving the world. YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING ME!!! Just look at all the products that have GMO corn soy and canola ITS ALL PROCESSED JUNK FOOD!!! Its most likely a depopulation program. Country's do have death quota's. This food is not going to Africa, its in your pantry.

Well said, I don't think there's any question, YES, this is a depopulation program.

And the average person has no idea... exactly what TPTB would want.

People actually believe eating at Subway is healthy... smh

reply to post by neonitus


DP

Originally posted by neonitus
i think its the term 'genetically modified' is what scares most people.
in most cases this genetic modification is just another term for selective breeding, which mostly gives better quality and more productive food sources.
i'd rather have GM foods.

What your saying is complete nonsense, selective breading is where you cross two plannts of the same family to make a hybrid. It is vastly different from taking genes from completly non related species and splicing them into plants.

reply to post by auraelium


Actually, "Selective Breeding" is not mixing plants together. It's choosing only plants that display qualities you want to breed with.

For example, you plant tomatoes one year, you take seeds from the strongest, healthiest plant. Next year you do the same. In a few years all your tomato plants are huge, fat, delicious tomatoes. mmmm.

Originally posted by Backslider
reply to post by auraelium

 

Actually, "Selective Breeding" is not mixing plants together. It's choosing only plants that display qualities you want to breed with.

For example, you plant tomatoes one year, you take seeds from the strongest, healthiest plant. Next year you do the same. In a few years all your tomato plants are huge, fat, delicious tomatoes. mmmm.

I covered that when i said "crossing two plants from the same family".

reply to post by Griffo


It has not been tested!

George Bush Sr. rammed it through without any regulation or testing from an outside source. They took Monsantos word for it!

Watch the video.

Austrian Government Study Confirms Genetically Modified (GM) Crops Threaten Human Fertility and Health Safety:

www.peakoil.com...

Genetically Modified Soy Linked to Sterility, Infant Mortality in Hamsters:

www.huffingtonpost.com...

Several animal studies indicate serious health risks associated with GM food," including infertility, immune problems, accelerated aging, insulin regulation, and changes in major organs and the gastrointestinal system.

www.rense.com...

GM soy-fed mice had altered DNA functioning:

superfoodgrower.com...

reply to post by Griffo


There are many documentaries where the farmers of gmo products will not touch their own produce. They know how bad and unnatural it is. They will not eat it or feed it to their families. Many people here are leading you to some good research on this genocide project. North America is suffering largely from malnourishment even though obesity and diabetes is on an all time high.

Obesity is a result of eating a diet that is devoid of all nutrients and actual energy. Even though people are obese they are completely malnourished. People stay hungry even though they appear to eat a lot and are harboring toxins that do not leave the body. The body is actually being starved. This is only one example of an endless amount.

There are so many serious health risks associated with gmo food that I can only refer to it as a type of genocide.

www.anh-europe.org...

www.foodmatters.tv...

there would be enough food to "go around the world", if farmers weren't forced to burn, bury it or even toss down the drain as sewage. this is done apparently to "insure" stable food prices as too much and the value goes down. farmers have quotas on how much their packers will take and the rest is just so much garbage. excess milk gets poured down the drain, (relatives had to do that all the time). field products are burned or tilled under. i have gotten bushels of tomatoes from a field that was already picked, the rest being left to rot and be tilled under.

then you have the "farm bank" that is farmers that are payed by the government to NOT GROW ANYTHING. supposedly so that if anything were to happen (makes you wonder what could destroy fields, gm crops perhaps), that this land would still be good for planting. in all reality it just seems to be one more way of insuring that only a limited amount of food is grown to insure market price stability. the less there is the more it's worth.

no there is no real NEED for gm foods. except for profits to companies like Monsanto.

reply to post by ararisq

Who told you it was safe and why do you believe it?

My knowledge on the subject of biology

who told you there isn't enough non-GM vegetables to go around?

Simple logic