Genetic modification: fear it! fear it like THE BOMB!

Hi everyone. I'm a newbie here. I do feel that more tests should be carried out on GM foods before actually letting them out in the market. (I know the FDA requires tests, but they are not very thorough). And of course, more supervision is required to prevent cross-contamination with other crops.

But what really bothers me is Monsanto's monopoly over GM foods. In Europe, for example, they have a patent over all forms of genetically engineered soybean varieties, regardless of the genes used or the transformation technique employed. During nine years the industry has tried to have that patent revoked without any success.

 

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Welcome Konek,

My problem is that people see GM in general as bad or dangers, this is simply not true! Some GM products do have legitimate problems, but not all GM products. GM products should be treated and tested on a individual level, there should not be some general label on all foods saying it contains GM products that just stupid and promotes this generalization fallacy.

But ya, Monsanto lock on the industry is a problem.

 

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I guess it would all depend on what trait they are introducing and why they are introducing it. People are scared of the soybeans because they are resistant to pesticides, and that resistance might end up in some other unwanted plant... very unlikely, but possible. Others worry about allergy issues when introducing foreing genes.

But let's say you're introducing genes from a commonly eaten crop into another... still the same DNA you've been eating all along, only now you find it in a different plant that you've still been eating all along. I have no problem with that.

 

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I think there are some misconceptions here. I am not a chemist
nor a farmer, but I will try to give some insights from a layman's
perspective. As I have stated before, my closest friend is a
farmer, from generations of farmers. He and his family own
several thousand acres of land, acquired over generations.
First of all, Roundup is a herbicide, not a pesticide. Pesticides
kill insects, herbicides kill plant life. Herbicides are necessary
to keep grass and weeds from overtaking the crops. I am not
aware of any pesticides that are used on soybeans. I was
visiting my friend yesterday and he was pointing out a field
of beans that had been sprayed with a herbicide recently. The
soybeans and the grasses were both about 6 to 8 inches in
height. The soybeans were green, the grass was turning
yellow. The herbicide was blocking photosynthesis in the grass
causing it to slowly die, much as laying a sheet of plywood on
your lawn will cause the grass to die if left in one spot. The
Roundup Ready soybeans have a protein introduced into them
to keep the herbicide from having a serious effect on them. The
long chemical name of the protein can sound intimidating to the
non-chemist, but it is derived from a substance found in the soil
and is simular to baker's yeast, among other things, not toxic to
humans. Roundup heribicide has been around for many years,
its 25 year patent already expired. There are less costly generic
copies on the market now. It has been extensively tested over
many years and is known to be safe. Most of the time the soybeans are only sprayed with herbicide one time, early in
their growth period. Sometimes excessive rainfall can make a
second spraying necessary. It is not done unless necessary
because it cost MONEY each time. After the soybeans are larger,
they effectively block most grasses from becoming a problem
because the grass doesn't grow well in the shade. (Remember
photosynthesis?)
OK, now a problem effecting small farmers like my friend. A lot
soybeans are now imported, many from South America. In the
U.S., farmers have to buy seeds from Monsanto to plant because
of the patent laws. Monsanto charges about $22.50 for each
50lb bag of soybeans which plants about one acre of land. He
sold his beans for about $5.32 per bushel (about 60lbs) this
past year. He cannot save part of the beans for planting the
next year because of the patent laws. The farmers in South
America are immune from U.S. patent lawsuits. They replant
seeds they saved and it costs them much less to plant their
crops. They also are blessed with a deeper and better quality
topsoil than my friend has and often don't have to use the
expensive nitrogen-based fertilizer that he has to. In other
words, it costs them much less to grow their crops. They can
sell for less and still make a good profit. My friend hasn't been
making money on his soybeans the last 2 or 3 years. He has
already stopped growing some other crops because he was
losing money on them. Many of his fields are now planted with
grasses for pastures. His cattle business has been profitable.
He hates to stop growing crops because that is how he was
raised, as a farmer. He is not a "country hick" as some have
sterotyped farmers. His equipment costs hundreds of thousands
of dollars and includes many electronics and GPS. My point?
Could we (the U.S.) become as dependent on foreign suppliers
for our food and agricultural products as we are now on our oil?

 

2 inquisitive

"could we (the US that is) become as dependant on foreign suppliers for our food and agricultural products as we are for our oil." ?
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Gees thats a quantaum leap from anthing that is related to fact.


Yes pesticides, are, and have the last 60 years, been sprayed on soybeans.

http://216.27.49.98/pg07_WildlifeSpeciesCon/pg7f2b8.htm

I repeat my greatest concerns with GM is to jump in with both feet without having or planning for any form of backup should anything go unexpectedly drastically wrong.

The human body is a curious thing. Things may suddenly go awry, or it may take some time.

For instance the medical profession had been using synthetic latex gloves for nearly half a century, when a few years back medical workers and a few patients started having an allergy problem. After a few more years had passed the problem was so prevalent among health care workers that latex had to be replaced with forms of polyethelyne. Why?? beats me, thats just the way the human body is.

And the same type of situation could be triggered by any sudden deviation from the chemical structure of any of the foods that we have eaten, primarily unchanged, for hundreds of years.

 

justiceusa,

I advice you don't live in a country with a exotic diet, it may kill you. or perhapes this little number:

 

WCF

The quote is exactly what I am talking about , any change, be it traditional or genetic has the possiblity of causing problems.

Those who live in countries with exotic diets have always eaten those exotic diets. Those who go there infrequently are the ones who experience problems.

 

And my point is GM or not changes are always being made so why focus on GM as if it was some new kind of evil? Also human digestion is effected by how your digestive track has gotten use to your diet and not evolutionary effects because the diet just 2 generations ago was already very different from what it is today (in the USofA that is).

 

WCF

Your probably right for the most part, but I would rather err on the side of caution. Its the old geeser in me.

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My mistake, sorry.

Not quite. Actually, anyone is free to save seeds from the previous crop and plant them, provided the seeds are not genetically modified. Of course, the problem in other countries is that laws are not always properly enforced.

Those in the agricultural business in the US keep buying GM soybeans because their cost analysis proves that it's still cheaper to buy the GM crops and reduce herbicide costs.

As for becoming dependent on foreign suppliers for food.... that will not happen. The U.S. has subsidies that allow farmers to keep their costs competitive. You'd be surprised to learn that in many third world countries production costs are much higher than here simply because they don't use modern technology.

 

I also believe in universal testing.

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Yup. As long as a genetically modified product is tested and is proven not to be dangerous it should be usable.

After a small testing then large testing of the product.

Also you need to check for weird allerges that only a few people have.

Don't want someone who is allergic to peanuts to get sick from a peanut/corn hybrid.

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As well as testing of new hybridized and selectively breed products with traits that have possible human health or environmental concerns.

 

Konek, I apologize. Herbicides and INSECTICIDES are both
included in the catagory pesticides. In an Iowa State study
on the effects of pesticides on the FARMER and his family,
(a study of 25 farm families who grew both corn and soybeans)
it was found all corn and soybeans were sprayed with herbicides,
all corn was sprayed with insecticides and no soybeans were
sprayed with insecticides. Insecticides are only sprayed on
soybeans if there is a very serious insect infestation that could
cause a threat to the crop. Some insecticides on the market
are to protect soybeans in storage for replanting from insect
infestation. South American farmers ARE using Roundup Ready
soybeans and saving some of the beans for replanting, hence
the savings.
justiceusa, I found no estimate of the percentage of imported
foods we now consume, but I did find the following in the new
Bioterrorism Act just passed.
Nearly 20% of all imports into the U.S. are food and food products. Congress passed the Bioterrorism Act as part of its ongoing effort to combat terrorism - in this instance, by reducing the ability of international terrorists to carry out terrorist attacks in the U.S. by contaminating imported foods. The Act requires that FDA receive prior notice before food is imported or offered for import into the United States. The advance notice of import shipments will allow FDA and CBP to target import inspections more effectively and help protect the nation's food supply against terrorist acts and other public health emergencies.
20% of ALL imports seems like a lot of foods are already imported.

 

Another thing to watch out for is "Auto Die Crops".
These were made so after one season of growing normally a crop will have infertile seeds and be unable to reproduce more of the plant.

This was done to the plant seeds so that after one season a farmer has to by new seeds instead of reuseing the seeds from the previous season.

This company did this just to make a little extra money.

But besides costing the farmers more money this also brings up a problem.

What if this got into the ecosystem?

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Yeah, because then all those nasty BioEngineered plants would die off instead of spreading everywhere? I don't see the point. Do you seem then as cross breeding with plants and killing them all in a year? It seems like a good way to control it to me. A plant with a single season life cycle can't take over the world unless that is one ass kicking season.

 

These plants are dangerous when they cross pollenate which could cause limited local extintions of closely related species.
It theres to many local extintints then a species would go extinct.

But on the bright side the magazine I got this info from says this type of genetically modified crop was canceled.

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One way around that is to prevent them from being able to produce (much) pollen, making artificial insemination the only viable means for them to reproduce.

 

They are already working on making GM plants make less pollen and have it travel not as far.

The problem is its not a hundred percent accurate.

This is because its against the laws of nature for something to not be able to reproduce.

Its also not a good evolutionary adaption.

Creature can reproduce its species stays alive.

Creature can not reproduce species goes KABOOM!

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These are not natural animals and do not abide by natural laws. Most domestic plants and animals could not survive on there own in nature, yet they are still alive because a farm is not nature.