Why do uneducated people think that GMOs are okay?

No mention of mono cultures and their associated problems in this thread.

In the 70's there was a 10 year moratorium on recombinant DNA research but what would the scientists in the late 60's know. They only put men on the moon with computers far less intelligent than your average smartphone.

 

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@ gravage,
I spent many years staking out farms as a Soil Engineer. Even Organic farms of any real size require pesticides. It is a huge debate.

If you are growing vegetables in your backyard, or a neighbor is growing them for you, then it is more likely you can keep a close watch on your weed and insect problems and avoid pesticide use.

I have a friend that won 12 million dollars in the lottery and now raises his own cattle and chickens for his family and grows their vegetables. His animals were corn fed top quality, and his field were full of diverse vegetables. I remember even he had to spray his crops and was upset the first time he had to. He also used conventional pesticides as although there may be plenty of organic alternatives none were offered for a farm his size in his location. He might have been convinced by a salesman however, as he always was an easy sell.

I know the idea of working a farm sounds insane with a lotto win like that, but that's what he wanted. He did marry a professional cheerleader though who also was content with farm life. If it were me, I'd have all the animals named and sleeping in the house and could never send one to slaughter.

The main thing is to be sure to wash all your fruits and vegetables like I said in my last post.

Any crop facing weeds, insects, and wildlife is not going to output much, and unless you want to spend everyday weeding manually you likely would get buried in them, with the problems mounting every year.

I know vegetables are healthy, but if you look at what gets put on them it seems less healthy. I like peas and corn because they are somewhat sheltered from chemical sprays. Obviously anything you peel is also likely healthier in my opinion (unsure how it compares to simply washing)

NOTE: Chemical content above background will cause an increase in chemicals throughout the vegetable. This means a newer farm would have safer vegetables than an older farm. Obviously this is not true if the farms replace their soil or add fertilizer and loam mixtures, and also the amount of rainfall in the region would have an effect.

NOTE: I wonder if it would be possible to invent a plant that LOVED ground chemicals and had an extensive root that sucked them out of the ground. You could then plant such a vegetable every so many years to clean your soil and ship your contaminated produce off to a designated landfill.

Plus the vegetables are all genetically engineered now. I know we are talking about organic stuff, but yikes. Maybe we should just forget about vegetables.

 

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Big thanks for these advices. I always try to avoid in buying food in suspicious places, my neighbour never uses pesticides and chemicals, and there ar also trees of purely natural fruit in his backyard, but when I'm in town knowing these facts is very helpful to me (and everyone else).
Big thanks again, Kwhilborn.

 

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It's not a surprise to me, countless people turn to nature a lot more as they get older. I remember reading in a fruit and veg growing magazine about how half their club members were seniors or something close to it. Another thing they do a huge amount is turn to management, politics, writing, even photography - anything human. It's amazing the amount of people who end up saying to hell with all the modern craziness and buying a house in the countryside with a farm.

I think they start to realize that all of these technical and highly specialized fields are really a bit pointless and a waste of time, and if anything toxic to you because you're not doing or learning anything human. Unfortunately their ego usually doesn't let them admit that it was all worthless and a mistake and they would rather consider it just a change or a transformation.

 

No, they aren't. It's very easy to find fruit and veggies that are not genetically engineered.

It's also pretty easy to find fruits and veggies that have not been "chemical sprayed" with stuff that builds up in the soil or the plants. You might have to deal with the occasional potato beetle or broccoli worm or apple maggot, of course. Personally, I find sterility and cosmetic glossiness in produce a bit disturbing - like the results of radical cosmetic plastic surgery, they can spook a guy if examined too closely.

Corn fed cattle are not top quality - cattle are ruminants, best fed grass and other cellulose heavy fodder.

The most common genetically engineered varieties of corn and some other plants often sequester herbicide complexes in the kernel or other consumed part of the plant. Others produce and maintain pesticides within the plant. They are not "sheltered" from these chemical sprays and compounds.