Also known as "Frankenstein foods", genetically modified foods have become increasingly popular in the last few years.
Just recently, there was an uproar about a local restaurant nearby serving GM foods, and a few people vowing never to eat there again just because of it.
This begs the question: are GM foods really that bad?
And if they are, what's really so bad about them? And if they aren't, why not?
In my opinion, i really don't see anything wrong with them. They're put through several tests to make sure they're safe, just like any other food, and they show a lot of promise in both improving our quality of food and the quantity in which it's produced.
So what's your opinion?
Monsanto is the main company in charge of GMing corn, and they have a track record of not making sure it's safe. The modification process has caused cancers and allergic reactions in humans, which is why there's such an outcry. We are talking about modified genes entering our bodies, which can have tons of unexpected results since the genes are not tested on human cells to see if they'll cause damage or not. All the modders know is that it makes the food grow faster.
http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_11361.cfm
http://www.ehow.com/info_8181702_problems-gmo.html
http://www.organicauthority.com/health/what-if-gmos-were-banned-in-the-us.html?amp;fb_action_ids=4743082349656&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582
http://responsibletechnology.org/health-risks
A lot of the genetically modified and hyper-processed foods we eat cause issues with depression, ADD, ADHD, allergies, obesity, and general poor health because these processes basically kill the nutrients in food and push toxins into our bodies that we can't process. That's why you see reports of children doing better in school when they have healthy lunches. The processed and modded food messes with the brain, decreasing focus and increasing hyperactivity (though the latter is more from the metric tons of sugar in processed foods). I work with a woman from India and she said that she didn't understand why her son was always coming home from school sick. When she would pack his lunch herself, he would come home fine. We narrowed it down to the crazy snacks he was eating to try to fit in with the other school kids. He was doing better on the organics his mom would buy and cook with.
Some of the genes and other mods being used are ones that tell you that your full, tell you that you're still hungry, and tell you that what you're eating tastes good. Bypassing human judgment and going straight to the brain to tell it what it does and does not think is decidedly bad.
To be fair, the quest to increase food production and keep pests away from food is indeed noble, but the deadly methods being used to achieve these results are what people have a problem with.
(I'm not even going to start with the antibiotics and injections in livestock, because that gets really dark. Two words: animal abuse.)
EDIT: For a specific example, let's take a look at how http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propylene_glycol.
Thanks for being the first person ive ever seen to make a logical arguement against GM foods
Now about theese scources...
True. I agree with everything you said. I did broaden the topic to cover things more related to processing since my mind went straight to "people screw with food, bad things happen as a result". That's my fault. http://www.livestrong.com/article/296247-health-risks-of-gmo/.
http://www.who.int/foodsafety/publications/biotech/20questions/en/
Yes, the FDA has serious issues when it comes to regulation. That is a big part of the problem, too. They can be paid off to keep from asking questions or something of the sort/they just don't care. There are lawsuits flying around everywhere because of this.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bovine_somatotropin, though milk from such cows doesn't hurt humans.
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/332822.
No, the GMO's don't do anywhere near as much damage as the hyper-processing does. I merged two topics together by mistake, and I apologize. *facepalms self* The effects of genetic modification and antibiotics are most evident in livestock. They end up getting intestinal tumors and physical weakness.
I'm sure we're probably poisoning ourselves with whatever we are currently eating in America and other first world places, but as long as we remain dependent on that (AKA forever), I don't think throwing untested chemicals into our foods will change.
I recently went to the March Against Monsanto protests in Montreal (Canada), actually. As a person who isn't necessarily pro-civilization and technology, I do not think that using these methods to make food grow faster or taste better is healthy or good for the people. But I think most would agree on that, what concerns me the most is that we are not told this, at least not in the US and Canada. I think in our point of time, stopping the use of genetically modified foods is not a high possibility, if it is at all. But we should certainly know when we are consuming them. If you buy corn at your local supermarket, you expect it to be fresh and healthy, if however it is not then they should label it or find other ways of informing the people. I think genetically modified foods should be banned, and if they are not they should at least be labelled.
Majority, if not all of current studies (that aren't biased) say that there's nothing to worry about with GMOs. They don't pose a threat to our environment. I mean, your pets are GMOs, cause GMOs stand for genetically modified organisms (whether through natural selection or artificial means).
I'm going to approach this purely as someone who has worked with human GMOs and non altered GMOs.
Yes, that is an important distinction. All food is genetically modified. It's been bred and hybridized over generations. Stick around farmers long enough and you'll find people eventually cooing over various strains of tomatoes, corn, beans, potatoes, etc that whatever family has been breeding for years, even generations. They've hybridized them for what they want. These are those "heirloom" plants you pay top dollar for in big box stores, or the really expensive seeds for your organic garden.
However, when most people talk about GMOs they're talking about scientists playing with lasers and making dinosaurs. Oh...wait.
So, GMOs. They're becoming an issue for farmers for multiple reasons.
1. Seed price. With popularity spikes a decade ago and since, GMO crops have cornered a lot of the market and the seed price has raised on farmers to make them actually more expensive, because those companies don't see anyone moving away from them in the long run. Also? Farmers can't save seeds year to year, because of patents. GMO seeds cost 40% more than conventional seeds.
2. Genetic drift and GMO contamination, which can kill farms because farmers are blamed, even though they can't control pollination. StarLink Corn contaminating food supplies depressed corn prices and put farms out of business. They sued and won. This happened with rice in 2006, wheat in 2013, and corn again in 2014. Why were all these an issue? Because they weren't approved for human consumption yet, or weren't approved in other countries. So, it killed our exports and farms went under, and organic farmers who don't even use GMOs can lose their certification if cross-pollination happens with GMO plants from another farm.
3. Weeds: Heard about issues with Roundup? It was created to deal with weeds around GMOs. However, since it was created there are glyphosate-resistant weeds, that are very hard to kill. At least 14 documented. Glyphosate increases diseases in crops and blights by altering plants’ ability to absorb nutrients, not to mention destroying soil microbes and ecology. Why was it used? Because it was required to tend GMO corn from Monsanto.
4. Lack of biodiversity. Some people claim we should move to 100% GMOs. If that were to happen, say everyone was using GMO 60 corn, and a blight were to occur that would wipe out GMO corn, all corn would be lost.I don't know if anyone knows history, but does anyone know why Irish came to America in droves? This. Right here. There was little to know biodiversity between potato species, a blight came, and hey, presto change-o, Irish Potato Famine.
5. Issues with GMO plants. Feeding animals BT corn is just not goin to happen unless you give them nothing else. Conception rates also drop for them on BT corn if that's all they get. Dr. Judy Carman from Flinders University did a long term study and found a thickening of the uterus in livestock fed with genetically modified corn and soy, while others had severe stomach inflammation not found in the control groups.
6. Financial issues: Many countries won't accept GMO grown foods. This means that GMO farmers often can't sell off the stock they grow. The government has to save them, but the farm stays afloat because it gets money for "tech fees." This hurts our exports, creates more waste, and strains the Dept of Ag.
And now I will shut up.
Powered by Invision Power Board (http://www.invisionboard.com)
© Invision Power Services (http://www.invisionpower.com)