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Opposition to GMO's is Immoral

HowardBThiname said:
There's a big money factor -- to be sure. Monsanto sued a farmer in my county for unauthorized planting of GMO corn. The farmer counter-sued and it settled out of court. Someone tested the farmer's corn the year AFTER he planted GMO seeds. That year he planted non-altered seed but whoever tested that crop found genetically altered corn. The farmer was accused of "saving seed," which is not allowed. However, he was able to show his receipts for purchasing non-altered seed and he also had independent tests that determined not ALL of the corn was genetically altered.

From what I understand, they think a number of the seeds from the previous year's crop were already in the ground, which resulted in some of the corn testing as altered. They settled out of court so I don't know what the dollar figure was, but the talk is that Monsanto had to pay the farmer's legal fees and testing fees.
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Monsanto has been very aggressive prosecuting farmers for replanting seeds...The truth is the seeds in a bag of non GMO corn can have lots of GMO contamination. I have seen a non GMO field of corn get sprayed accidently with Roundup, and nearly half of the corn survived. This proves that GMO corn makes it difficult to keep traits out of non GMO varieties, but I have yet to see Monsanto taken to court over that..

Pollen drift is a huge issue as well. Non GMO corn can produce GMO grain if pollinated by the neighbors crop.. And that pollen can travel up to several miles in the right conditions.

We have lost large export markets because of this type of contamination, and no one has ever been successful in suing Monsanto or anyone else, for the contamination..

GMO may have a place in the developing world, but caution, extreme caution needs to be exercised. Not only that, but I don't see third world nations being able to afford the royalties demanded by the seed companies.
 
Jack Hays said:
I grew up working on farms, so I'm quite sympathetic, but it seems to me the case is conclusive.

". . . Travel to Africa with any of Purdue University’s three recent World Food Prize winners, and you won’t find the conversation dominated by anti-GMO protesters. There, where more than half of the coming population increase will occur, consumers and farmers alike are eager to share in the life-saving and life-enhancing advances that modern science alone can bring. Efforts to persuade them otherwise, or simply block their access to the next round of breakthroughs, are worse than anti-scientific. They’re immoral. . . ."
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I don't understand anti-GMO. A protein is a protein is a protein. Your body can either digest it for sustenance, or it'll just pass it through.

Something I'm missing?
 
HowardBThiname said:
As someone who owns a farm and keeps bees, I have to disagree with this one, at least to an extent. Along with other beekeepers (in a multi-state, self-funded project), I've tracked colony loss as it correlates to genetically altered soybeans that produce biopesticides being planted within a 2-mile radius of my hives. While some studies indicate biopesticide-producing plants are not detrimental to honeybees, a whole lot of beekeepers feel differently. I've consistently lost hives during soybean bloom season when these plants were within the 2-mile radius. I have many hives, located in different spots in a number of surrounding counties. Hives located farther than the 2-mile radius have far fewer (or no) incidence of collapse.

It may all be a coincidence, but if you're in the beekeeping business, you might not think so. As I said, there's a multi-state initiative right now going on that's tracking colony collapse in correlation with genetically altered soybeans that contain internal pesticide properties.

On the one hand, it's nice to think that we can reduce the amount of broadcast pesticides (and herbicides) by genetically altering plants. Gawd knows we use enough of those chemicals around here that our water tables show high nitrite contents and it's not too safe to drink that water.

But, when the use of broadcast pesticides is reduced (as is the case with biopesticide-producing plants), yet the incidence of colony collapse is drastically increased within a 2-mile radius of those plants (during their bloom season), I think we need to take a closer look.

The only other crop we've noticed that correlates with colony collapse is canola, but, that's rarely planted around here so I, personally, haven't seen any effect. GMO wheat does not appear to correlate with colony collapse.

Like I said -- we aren't scientists and we can't be sure, but there is a notable correlation when biopesticide-producing soybeans are planted within a 2-mile radius (that's standard honeybee harvest distance) of hives.

It warrants further (non-biased) study.
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Ahh. I see. Environmental impacts.

Clearly the genetically altered soybeans that produce biopesticides shouldn't be allowed to in the outdoors at the expense of the pollinating bees. That cost is too great for the benefits.
 
eohrnberger said:
I don't understand anti-GMO. A protein is a protein is a protein. Your body can either digest it for sustenance, or it'll just pass it through.

Something I'm missing?
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You're missing the EU's desire to use a non-tariff barrier to keep out US agricultural exports.
 
Jack Hays said:
You're missing the EU's desire to use a non-tariff barrier to keep out US agricultural exports.
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Oh geez. 'Our buddies' :roll:

I still stand on my "A protein is a protein is a protein" with the modification that negative environmental impacts caused by GMOs need to be avoided. We have only one bioshpere, after all.
 
eohrnberger said:
Oh geez. 'Our buddies' :roll:

I still stand on my "A protein is a protein is a protein" with the modification that negative environmental impacts caused by GMOs need to be avoided. We have only one bioshpere, after all.
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A protein is not just a protein

Ricin is a protein that will kill you. Others might just cause allergenic responses

BT corn produces a protein that kills insects
 
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