GMO Monsanto
susanlynne48
14 years ago
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Monsanto petition.
Comments (55)http://www.ijbs.com/v05p0706.htm http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/19/us-gmcrops-safety-idUSBRE88I0L020120919 The point of the reuters article was to see if longer term studies were needed, and it seems that both of these studies agree on such things. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=rat-study-sparks-furor-over-genetically-modified-foods Same thing as the reuters one. Both of those articles never state that either or is right. Any scientific study will meet criticism its just that the GMO thing is more public. http://www.organic-systems.org/journal/81/8106.pdf Another study suggesting further long term studies (yeah, maybe a bit bias...) Then there is this one http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/25/roundup-health-study-idUSL2N0DC22F20130425 this is the one fab posted, and again, suggests that more studies need to be done (with apparently the EPA is already doing in the US). Im assuming the study was published in entropy, because roundup is thought to cause problems with ecosystems (or the opposition of GMO/monsanto say) Also, im sure youve all heard about the oregon wheat fiasco: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/05/29/genetically-modified-wheat/2370533/ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrew-gunther/unauthorized-gm-wheat_b_3392319.html The point is, many people who are against gmo, do indeed need to stop beliveing everything they read on the internet. Motherearthnews.com is a horrible source.... on the other hand, many people for GMO, cannot ignore the studies that are comming to light now, and at the very least long term studies need to be done....See MoreMonsanto,Dupont,and others buying seed companies
Comments (31)Sorry I was off line this weekend, but let me add some facts (not opinions, which I will add as opinion) on couple of issues, addressing each separately. Monsanto and other major companies buying up other seed companies: Actually, many of the companies listed on various websites as having been bought up by Monsanto have not been so bought. I've seen numerous blogs that claim Monsanto bought Burpee, Fedco, Territorial Seed and others. None of that is true. Monsanto bought one company Seminis. Many seed companies buy some of what they offer for sale from Seminis, some of which may be genetically engineered, although most of their varieties are not. This is not about whether GMOs are good or bad; I'm just talking about the first claim that Monsanto is taking over the seed industry. This applies even to farm seed. There are actually more seed selling companies today than ever before, especially with home garden type seeds, for many reasons including that the Internet allows people (companies) to reach a wide audience with little investment and the rise of interest in heirloom varieites. Seed saving: There are no laws against seed saving, only saving and reproducing patent protected varieties. This applies to proprietary seeds whether they are genetically engineered or not. If you don't like that proprietary varieties were developed at great expense and that a company would like to get a good return on their investment, don't buy them. No one is forcing people to buy proprietary varieties and everyone, including farmers, can choose to buy nonprotected varieties and save the seed as much as they want. Because I was curious about the Monsanto sues farmers issues, I did some primary source investigation. The following information was typical of the few actual court cases. The material I am paraphrasing here comes from the injunction issued by the U.S. District Court in Lafayette, Indiana It was proven that Maurice Parr, who operates a seed cleaning business in Indiana, knew about the patent law for Monsanto�s Roundup Ready� soybeans, and he knowingly disregarded this information. Mr. Parr confused farmers about the law regarding patents, which led to some of his customers breaking their contracts by saving seed as well, although they were not sued. The U.S. District Court in Lafayette, Indiana issued a permanent injunction against Mr. Parr prohibiting him from dealing in Roundup Ready soybeans. His business will be able to continue to clean conventional soybeans, wheat and other seed crops. Monsanto has agreed not to collect the damages awarded against Mr. Parr as long as Mr. Parr honors the terms of the court order. GMO genes spreading: There are many articles that talk about Bt cotton's engineered genes jumping to non genetically engineered "wild" cotton, especially in Mexico. In every case where Bt genes were found in doorway cotton (cotton plants planted or growing wild at some one's home usually as an ornamental), it was found that someone living there had recently worked in cotton fields in the U.S. and was shown to have brought back some of the cotton seed to plant at home; by DNA analysis the genes had not jumped; the plants were the original Bt cotton variety Again I went to the actual studies done on this case to see how the cotton plants were traced. Actually there was a study done in England some years ago that planted four GMO crops in plots with non GMO plants and wild relatives of the crops with in pollen drift distance. They followed the "engineered genes" for 10-12 years. Not only did the genes not jump, but the crops bred back to the original in three of the four crops. I'll be happy to supply a link tto he scientific study if anyone wants it. GMO allergens: No one has ever been able to reproducibly show an allergic reaction to a GMO crop. Lots of claims out there, but when people try to show it (rather just "well it happened"), nothing. So there is as much hard evidence that GMOs cause allergic reactions as there is for cold fusion and alien abductions. The one case where a peanut gene was added to soybeans, the variety was never allowed to be produced or sold because the requirements for licensing caught the "potential allergen." So the system worked there. Herbicide resistant weeds: According to the Weed Science Society of America, there have been reports of resistant in 362 biotypes in 198 species. The first report of insects resistant to insecticides was in 1908, of plant pathogens resistant to fungicides in 1940, and of weeds resistant to herbicides in 1968. All before GMOs. Is there concern that GMO crops could introduce more resistance? Absolutely. This is why, among others, USDA's Agricultural Research Service has been spending $24 million for biotechnology risk assessment and risk mitigation research. For example, ARS is monitoring for appearance of insect resistance to Bt at the request of EPA. Truth in communication here--I work for ARS. That is how I ended up on the Bt corn/monarch butterfly taskforce. Of course under the next budget this may be curtailed. Going to opinion now: I'm open to any hard evidence that anyone can present of problems caused by GMOs. My opinion is never set in stone. But I tend to base my opinions on verifiable facts. I don't trust Monsanto or any other company (and damn few people) to do the right thing out of the goodness of their heart. I trust penalties that would hurt the company's financial bottom line a lot more. I expect that companies want to make a profit off investment, so I don't have a problem with patent protection of new varieties. I'm not happy with current legislation on owning genes, which is about 20 years behind the times. But I would like to see the legislation updated, not eliminated. There are qualities that simply cannot be naturally bred for in plants. For example, there are simply no genes for resistance to plum pox virus in any of the stone fruit trees including plums, peaches, cherries and ornamentals such as flowering cherry and flowering almond. Right now, they've been able to stop every outbreak of plum pox, but one day it will get out of control. Either genes for resistance are added from another source through genetic engineering or we will have no stone fruit. Everyone has a right to their opinions and positions. I have not attacked cAROL for being anti GMO. She has every right to her position. But her response about me was that my "kind of attitude is uncalled for." All I have done is tried to make a distinction between facts and opinion. Feel free to stand up for your opinion and position. But don't use myths as facts. I can show you websites that say the earth is flat, but that will not change the fact that you cannot fall off the edge. But I will always welcome facts that I am not aware of. And I am not claiming that just because a scientist said something it is so. Of course a scientist can be wrong, like anyone else. I am looking at actual data from experiments as facts. People can continue to claim that Bt corn is killing monarch butterflies until the cows come home. That will not change the fact that the actual data says otherwise. I will never forget covering Jeremy Rifkin as a reporter when he answered a question at a press conference about what it would take to prove to him that GMOs were safe by saying there was no amount of evidence could prove GMOs were safe because he just didn't like the idea of them. Only two reporters out of 20+ reported that in their stories. My usual apologies for my long windedness....See MoreWhat's the bid deal with GMO's?
Comments (6)The big deal for me is that it's not tested and it's here forever. It'll never go away. Mess with nature too much and it'll slap you, nature evens things out. I saw that Monsanto's treated corn has now created resistent corn root borers, Monsanto is downplaying that problem but people in agriculture know how bad that is. Monsanto is also destroying any genetic diversity and creating a huge monopoly. Any farmer saving seeds that may have been accidentally cross pollinated with a GMO Monsanto seed will be sued by Monsanto and the courts have sided with big agriculture, of course. One of the local farmers bought some Round Up Ready corn and planted it. The next year he didn't plant corn and got a visit from a representative from Monsanto, telling him that if he saved any of that seed and planted it, that he would be prosecuted and that they'd be flying over his fields to make sure he wasn't growing corn. Funny how all those other countries have banned GMO foods, but it's OK here. Yeah, could it be that the Assistant Director at the USDA (or is that FDA, I get confused) used to work for Monsanto? Hmmmm. Along with a lot of other ex-Monsanto employees that are now on the government's payroll. Yeah... OK, now that my blood pressure is all up, I'll step away from the soap box and go think about things like the National Animal Identification System and the survey that I just got from the Department of Agriculture telling me that I must fill it out by law and how many chickens did I have? How many pigs? Cattle? Horses? Bees? Goats and sheep? Do I sell produce? How much? Any agricultural product? Do I get any federal subsidies? Yeah, right, I'm not commercial agribusiness so I won't be getting any federal help for my farm, that's for sure. So, how many acres of pasture do I have? How many acres of tillable ground? Do I raise fish or other aquaculture? Grow grapes? Blueberries, strawberries, raspberries? do I sell eggs? Yes, I'm gonna get rich on my 60 acres selling eggs. And I'm going to eat the horses, I guess. Pah. Eight pages of survey questions because I have "farm acreage". Arrgghhh.... Annie...See MoreA new way to ask ? from Monsanto on GMOs
Comments (2)I know for a fact that "scientific studies" can be made very favorable to the entity who benefits the outcome of a favorable "study". I trust no one, and in particular Monsanto or anyone associated with them. Natural hybrids as nature deems fit are not usually a problem. We were not intended to eat foods that have been altered with unrelated species or chemicals that nature in her wildest dreams wouldn't consider doing, but man has taken upon himself to do. I despise greedy companies and people whose only interest is in controlling and greed, with no cares as to long term health, or effects on nature. I've never quit figured out why many people will discount and make fun of studies that show the bad effects of GMO products, but will mindlessly accept whatever they are told from a large corporation....See MoreOkiedawn OK Zone 7
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