Genetically Modified Food

The point isn't just to drop off food, it is to give them seeds and allow them to get more food, while farming the exact same amount of land they had before.

 

Commercialization and Wide Spread use are 2 different things, and I'm not confused at all. You guys are.

I am not talking about Monsanto.

 

Funny they've had hybrid semi-dwarf wheat since the 70's and yet millions are still starving. Takes a lot more than seeds, even hybrids and GMO's can't grow in infertile desert lands. High yield plants need lots of nutrients in the soil to grow, it doesn't just magically happen. Also it's never been the primary goal of most missions.

The majority have been Christian missions to spread their faith under the guise of humanitarian aid. It's bad enough they go under false pretenses but as we all know, Christianity is against birth control and encourages large families. "here's some food and a bible, now go make lots of Christian babies...".

The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Now religious industrialists have paved a 6 lane highway straight to hell for billions.

 

I wasn't talking about Monsanto, either.

Where were GMO's widely used pre 80's?

Edit: Oh, never mind...

 

the problem here is privatized genomes and the threat they pose to future availability of food diversity. that's what i have a problem with. not that you can make a tomato you can play raquet ball with and not bruise it, but that an agrabizness suplier can sue a farmer for saving seed and replanting it.

 

this too! I don't think this has even been mentioned in the thread yet. Patenting seeds is a dangerous practice. If people don't control their own food supply they really don't control anything. Above all health reasons, I would say this is the single most important reason to support local, organic farmers.

 

People's ignorance about food is a big problem. Not their fault though. Just a cultural thing that happened due to the high degree of specialization in our society.

The thing about food is that people spent thousands of years adapting to very specific diets and climates. Not only do people respond differently to certain foods, but those foods must be cooked in a certain way. This is why some people can drink cow's milk and others can't.

Take phytic acid for example. Over a thousand years, people figured out that when they soaked certain nuts before eating them, they 'digested' better. Turns out that soaking them destroys phytic acid. An anti-nutrient.

You ever wonder why people all over the world ate white rice when it seemed easier to leave the bran on? And our nutritionists told us that the bran was full of vitamins and minerals? Same thing. Its also full of phytic acid. Eat too much of it and your bones break. But people figured out over thousands of years that white rice 'digested' better.

People's gut bacteria also evolved in tune with diets.

Enter modern America. We take foods and synthetic chemicals from all over the world. Then we have a multicultural, multi-genetic racial group, and we load our foods with anti-biotics, destroying gut bacteria.

Its a recipe for disaster.

But then, to make it even worse... we introduce GMO food. Food that has never been seen on earth and has entirely new proteins and chemicals in its structures.

There can only be one outcome. Our bodies are not adapted to handle these new chemicals. And so of course they will be toxic.

And all that crap about world hunger is just crap. I could elaborate on it, but I've been long winded enough.

 

You might try reading "Food First" by Frances Moore Lappé.

 

This is also a huge issue in the various trade agreements being negotiated around the world. In Thailand, the farmers are protesting against the FTA because it's stacked in favor of Monsanto and other such companies who are trying to force the farmers to use just their seeds, reducing biodiversity. Here in the US, the big deal is the secret Trans-Pacific Partnership which Obama is pushing. This would also give Monsanto and others new powers to force farmers to use their patented seeds. The good news is that as people are finding out what's in the deal, thanks to WikiLeaks, it's looking less likely that the TPP will pass Congress.

 

I think its about the money, more yield, more profits... and control Monsanto has a copyright on the crops and can sue any farm they wish just for using the seed, its a double edged sword.
is the health consequences really worth the extra profit? hey everyones just trying to make a living. ill be growing my own non gmo and self sustaining in the near future.

 

I think it has more to do with 'mom and pop' wanting to have everything their own way and reduce imports from elsewhere.
American protectionism.
Then saying: It's not us, it's those big boys that want to import export where ever they feel like it.
Mom/Pop: American for Americans.

 

Well, to anyone that cares... May 24, 2014 is the next March Against Monsanto.

I will be attending the one in Philadelphia. (They will be everywhere).

 

What the fuck for? What is the point?

 

Monsanto is widely regarded as an evil company.

 

GMO's aren't the first thing Monsanto has done that is terrible- starting with various toxic chemicals in the 1970's. In any case, in the U.S. the main goal isn't elimination of genetically modified food but for mandatory labeling of what has GMO's in them. Most other countries already have this and in the U.S. there are a lot of companies lobbying/putting a lot of money towards not making the labeling mandatory. So, that is the main goal that I am concerned about. Labeling should be mandatory and people need to have a voice until that is accomplished.

 

And this too.

GMO's are not the first crime on humanity that Monsanto has been behind.

Even if these march's don't chance policy, they can at least open up more eyes to the terrible things Monsanto has done and is still doing and get more people interested.

 

If Obama gets his way and signs the Trans-Pacific Partnership, any American government, federal, state, or local, can be sued by foreign investors in Monsanto if they pass any mandatory GMO labeling laws.

This is one of the main reasons my opinion of Obama has gone way down. (One of the other reasons is his failure to re-classify marijuana as a scheduled drug.)

 

That's so sick. Those two reasons and drones are my reasons that Obama is... not on the top of my list, not by far. MJ should NOT be a schedule 1 drug when a good while ago the AMA came out and said that MJ DOES have medical benefits.... since schedule 1 clearly says "having no medical benefits". That mis-labeling is a crime.
And I didn't even know that about the labeling of GMO's til now so now my already low opinion of Obama just went WAY DOWN.

I will have to search my email later.
I have a list of the companies (most of them organic companies, which btw, organic is supposed to be, by being organic non-GMO, so go figure what I'm gonna say...)--that have put money towards either being FOR the mandatory labeling of GMO's and also the companies that have put money AGAINST the man. labeling. I will not purchase products by the companies that are against and I consider them the "fake organic" companies... some examples are Cascadian Farms, Naked Juice drinks, R.W. Knudson, and many, many more...
I will search my email then and post this list when I have more time and when my brain is fully functioning. I have massive pregnancy brain today.

 

By whom? People like you? Evidence.

 

I have no desire to reignite boring discussions from the seventies.

Label GM. Cool. No problem here.