makemineirish
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Apr 25, 2013
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CaliChan and Clemmey
I agree that there is conflicting information on the safety concerns and nutritional composition of GMOs. They are not inherently bad. There are scientists doing amazing things to revolutionize the food supply.
Golden rice is a variety of rice genetically engineered to contain beta-carotene. The rice was developed to combat vitamin A deficiency in impoverished countries, a deficiency that is estimated to kill 670,000 kids under the age of five each year and leaves as much as a third of African children visually impaired. Rice is readily grown in much of the world, inexpensive to store, and does not require refrigeration to transport.
The problem is that ideological motivations are not profitable. A prime example would be strains such as Monsanto's Roundup-resistant corn, allowing you to douse the crop with MORE herbicide without damaging the crop.
http://www.businessinsider.com/monsantos-roundup-and-resistant-corn-found-to-be-toxic-2012-9
To me, there is a much more malevolent aspect ofGMO food that is largely undiscussed. Corporations are currently allowed to patent the genetically modified seeds that they engineer. This means that the world's food supply is becoming privatized and is as contentious of a debate as to whether companies should own the water supply. There have already been legal precedents set were large agri-business tested neighboring farmers crops and sued them for patent infringement. The farmers did not steal anything, simply had the misfortune to be downwind and a victim of cross-pollination. As a result, they were bankrupted.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/28/monsanto-lawsuit-organic-farmers-appeal_n_1385693.html
In another instance, the supreme court recently ruled against a farmer who deliberately cultivated and sold seed he propagated from legally purchased parent stock.
http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/13/4...enetically-modified-seeds-patent-infringement
Regardless of your opinion of GMOs, villainous or heroic, it should be your individual choice whether to consume them. Labeling should be mandatory.
I agree that there is conflicting information on the safety concerns and nutritional composition of GMOs. They are not inherently bad. There are scientists doing amazing things to revolutionize the food supply.
Golden rice is a variety of rice genetically engineered to contain beta-carotene. The rice was developed to combat vitamin A deficiency in impoverished countries, a deficiency that is estimated to kill 670,000 kids under the age of five each year and leaves as much as a third of African children visually impaired. Rice is readily grown in much of the world, inexpensive to store, and does not require refrigeration to transport.
The problem is that ideological motivations are not profitable. A prime example would be strains such as Monsanto's Roundup-resistant corn, allowing you to douse the crop with MORE herbicide without damaging the crop.
http://www.businessinsider.com/monsantos-roundup-and-resistant-corn-found-to-be-toxic-2012-9
To me, there is a much more malevolent aspect ofGMO food that is largely undiscussed. Corporations are currently allowed to patent the genetically modified seeds that they engineer. This means that the world's food supply is becoming privatized and is as contentious of a debate as to whether companies should own the water supply. There have already been legal precedents set were large agri-business tested neighboring farmers crops and sued them for patent infringement. The farmers did not steal anything, simply had the misfortune to be downwind and a victim of cross-pollination. As a result, they were bankrupted.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/28/monsanto-lawsuit-organic-farmers-appeal_n_1385693.html
In another instance, the supreme court recently ruled against a farmer who deliberately cultivated and sold seed he propagated from legally purchased parent stock.
http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/13/4...enetically-modified-seeds-patent-infringement
Regardless of your opinion of GMOs, villainous or heroic, it should be your individual choice whether to consume them. Labeling should be mandatory.
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