Are we a GMO or what ?

[TheSeedObsesser]

Major,

We're using GMO to refer to the insertion of foreign genes into different species - (as an example) injecting bacteria DNA into corn. What you're talking about with the corn and wide diversity of our food crops is just the result of hundreds / thousands of years of selective breeding - (as an example) only saving the seeds from the plants that produce this color/ size of fruit. They're two completely different things.

BTW, maize is the exact same thing as corn, the ancient peoples in the Americas took a grass called teosinte and eventually bred it into the corn that we know today. I think that "maize" is just the Spanish word for corn (could be wrong).

I do understand your point on how a single person won't be able to get rid of all GM products in his or her household. However everything is possible if you really put your mind to it. There's no excuse not to get out and try to change things if you really want things changed. If every person opposed to GMOs was to make a good effort to get rid of these things, I would imagine that they would become less of a problem sooner or later.

Honestly - I don't think that actual GMOs in material goods are as bad (at least). Main reason being is that people don't eat printer ink or shipping peanuts.

 

[seedcorn]

1. GMOs are unhealthy.
The American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) urges doctors to prescribe non-GMO diets for all patients. They cite animal studies showing organ damage, gastrointestinal and immune system disorders, accelerated aging, and infertility. Human studies show how genetically modified (GM) food can leave material behind inside us, possibly causing long-term problems. Genes inserted into GM soy, for example, can transfer into the DNA of bacteria living inside us, and that the toxic insecticide produced by GM corn was found in the blood of pregnant women and their unborn fetuses.

Numerous health problems increased after GMOs were introduced in 1996. The percentage of Americans with three or more chronic illnesses jumped from 7% to 13% in just 9 years; food allergies skyrocketed, and disorders such as autism, reproductive disorders, digestive problems, and others are on the rise. Although there is not sufficient research to confirm that GMOs are a contributing factor, doctors groups such as the AAEM tell us not to wait before we start protecting ourselves, and especially our children who are most at risk.

The American Public Health Association and American Nurses Association are among many medical groups that condemn the use of GM bovine growth hormone, because the milk from treated cows has more of the hormone IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor 1)―which is linked to cancer.

Changes can also be due to cell phones, internees, and computers.. Do you muse any of these?

 

[majorcatfish]

believe what you want...
next time you hit the produce section for that red bell pepper in the middle of winter
gmo is gmo
done on this mutated thread..............................

 

[seedcorn]

3. GMOs increase herbicide use.
Most GM crops are engineered to be "herbicide tolerant"―they deadly weed killer. Monsanto, for example, sells Roundup Ready crops, designed to survive applications of their Roundup herbicide.

Between 1996 and 2008, US farmers sprayed an extra 383 million pounds of herbicide on GMOs. Overuse of Roundup results in "superweeds," resistant to the herbicide. This is causing farmers to use even more toxic herbicides every year. Not only does this create environmental harm, GM foods contain higher residues of toxic herbicides. Roundup, for example, is linked with sterility, hormone disruption, birth defects, and cancer.

Not even close. Because of GMO, ground insecticides are no longer used. We use about 20% of the herbicides that carry, 0-30 day effectiveness. So not even close to be accurate. As far as using more toxic-we are using same chemistries for last 20 years.

 

[seedcorn]

8. GMOs harm the environment.
GM crops and their associated herbicides can harm birds, insects, amphibians, marine ecosystems, and soil organisms. They reduce bio-diversity, pollute water resources, and are unsustainable. For example, GM crops are eliminating habitat for monarch butterflies, whose populations are down 50% in the US. Roundup herbicide has been shown to cause birth defects in amphibians, embryonic deaths and endocrine disruptions, and organ damage in animals even at very low doses. GM canola has been found growing wild in North Dakota and California, threatening to pass on its herbicide tolerant genes on to weeds.

Do your homework on Monarch butterfly. Populations down to wintering habitats are gone in Central America-nothing to do with NorthnAmerica.

 

[seedcorn]

8. GMOs harm the environment.
GM crops and their associated herbicides can harm birds, insects, amphibians, marine ecosystems, and soil organisms. They reduce bio-diversity, pollute water resources, and are unsustainable. For example, GM crops are eliminating habitat for monarch butterflies, whose populations are down 50% in the US. Roundup herbicide has been shown to cause birth defects in amphibians, embryonic deaths and endocrine disruptions, and organ damage in animals even at very low doses. GM canola has been found growing wild in North Dakota and California, threatening to pass on its herbicide tolerant genes on to weeds.

Urinating in water at levels they put Round-up in water KILLs them. So would you please stop urinating?

 

[seedcorn]

9. GMOs do not increase yields, and work against feeding a hungry world.
Whereas sustainable non-GMO agricultural methods used in developing countries have conclusively resulted in yield increases of 79% and higher, GMOs do not, on average, increase yields at all. This was evident in the Union of Concerned Scientists' 2009 report Failure to Yield―the definitive study to date on GM crops and yield.

The International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) report, authored by more than 400 scientists and backed by 58 governments, stated that GM crop yields were "highly variable" and in some cases, "yields declined." The report noted, "Assessment of the technology lags behind its development, information is anecdotal and contradictory, and uncertainty about possible benefits and damage is unavoidable." They determined that the current GMOs have nothing to offer the goals of reducing hunger and poverty, improving nutrition, health and rural livelihoods, and facilitating social and environmental sustainability.
On the contrary, GMOs divert money and resources that would otherwise be spent on more safe, reliable, and appropriate technologies.

They do not increase yield potentials, that part is accurate. They protect yields from disease, insects, etc....thus increasing overall yield averages.

 

[valley ranch]

Seedcorn, You should help rather than hinder the American people in their want for labeling, truth in government and protection from the harmful.

We are not the enemy, nether are you. I'm sure your mean well and believe Genetic tampering is a good thing and is the best thing for us.

 

[baymule]

Whether you believe GMOs to be good or bad, don't we as the public deserve the right to know what is in our food so we can make our own decision? Surely those in favor of GMOs would proudly proclaim on the label that the food item was GMO and on the cutting edge of food production ..... No? Why not?

 

[seedcorn]

1). I could care less what anyone outside of my family eats-as long as legal.

2). Commercial Ag is pro labeling. Problem most people hate is it has to be honest. Put Non-GMO-make sure it is. Put healthier in your claims, cite independent, scientific tests-not antidotal stories.

3). Be honest, what organic people do is encourage fear. GMO's created cancer. GMO's are spreading their genes in our ground water, killing all the fish, monarchs, people get cancer from them-we know that people in countries that ban GMO's don't have cancer and live till 120......

4). Submitted for your approval (in my best Rod Serling voice), over 40 generations of hogs have been fed GMO corn, most with slaughter checks on their innards, we now have the healthiest meat EVER produced in America. Why hasn't GMO corn/soybeans caused out breaks of some type of cancer in breeding herds? Why? Same with dairies where cows are long lived. Why?