GMOs causing autism?! We report, you decide!

[FriendlyFire]

Impeach OBAMA !

 

[bhsup]

Okay! But... why?

 

[Farm Boy]

My big issue is, as always, with the role of government in oversight, and it's collaboration with agribusiness that puts them at an unfair advantage over the smaller family and single-proprietor farms, who go into hock at the beginning of the season and fight an uphill battle to get ahead.

As a communist, the whole intellectual property thing rubs me the wrong way... Like, Salk said "Patent? What patent? Could you patent the sun?"

I am not anti-business, and I am certainly in favor of using less water and fossil fuels, but what we have is a beast ( Monsanto, et al) that cannot be satiated and is not subject to the same restrictions as We The People are. That has to change.

In a nutshell...

That link. Ow. Ow ow ow ow ow. At least it's John Daily so I can discuss the opinion of somebody with an educated an in-depth take on the matter. Do people actually take this at face value? Please tell me people don't believe this is anywhere representative of the issue. Like seriously. Please.

It takes years of testing to come up with a hybridized improvement in a variety of corn through non-GMO means. It takes even more to develop a useful genetic modification and splice it in with a valuable hybrid variety. Then it takes research, regulation, field testing and propagation. They bounce varieties back and forth from the Northern Hemisphere to the Southern and back again constantly to cheat and get 3 growing seasons a year. I've worked on a Monsanto farm. I have friends that work in seed research for their competitors. There is a lot of work going on there. Seeds are way, way better than they were 20 years ago. Much as I don't actually like Monsanto, which is really easy not to do, John Stewart's take is terribly offensive.

If a seed company gets a license for the duration of a patent, then said patent expires and goes public domain as it should, I am more than willing to pay the licensing fee for a superior product delivered to me in the spring. The thing people seem to like to complain about the most, insertion of genes that make non-hybrid-vigor plants, such as soybeans yield well for exactly one generation and then produce like crap are actually a fantastic development. Most of the lawsuits from big firms involve either farmers holding over seed in violation of said licensing contracts or confusion regarding spillage/cross pollination/etc. If the plants that result from said confusion or contractual violations are not viable, it clears up the issue nearly completely for an American farmer. To be in violation then one would have to physically steal thousands of pounds of "seed" seed from a company distributor(as opposed to final end-use seeds). If, as the patents expire, the "source code" of the modifications goes into public domain and distributed use, like patents are intended to, then it seems to me like unspooling the genes that render year-after-year planting not viable from useful genetic modifications and varieties is a damned good and appropriate task for the Land Grant Universities. We still have those out here in the middle of nowhere. They're still great. Fund them. There will still be profit in propagation and distribution of seeds so long as they are competitive. Then, God willing, research will come up with an even better modification or stronger variety that makes it still profitable and a smart environmental decision to pay the licensing fee for the new stuff.

 

[Kyriakos]

Mud likely doesn't cause autism, but i still would not eat it. Like gmo

 

[Loppan Torkel]

I oppose GMO because the risks outweigh the benefits. Poor people won't get cheaper and better food, but some companies will be more profitable and a few people will get colossally rich.

 

[brennan]

Given that every extant species on the planet shares most of their genes already, there's no reason to think GMO will involve us eating any genes that weren't on display at your local supermarket in 1977, let alone that a gene with *shock, horror* one base pair changed to another in it will be dangerous for some weird reason.

There's absolutely no reason to think GMO are a health risk.

 

[Kyriakos]

^The gmo companies bought off 'Merican politicians (including BObama) so as to force even the ban on having them name their products as GMO. So it is not that unlikely they aren't controlled as to what altering processes they do on them either

 

[Loppan Torkel]

Given that every extant species on the planet shares most of their genes already, there's no reason to think GMO will involve us eating any genes that weren't on display at your local supermarket in 1977, let alone that a gene with *shock, horror* one base pair changed to another in it will be dangerous for some weird reason.

There's absolutely no reason to think GMO are a health risk.

I don't think there's any risk in consuming current GMO-foods, but there's a risk in decreasing biodiversity and there are risks involved on a political level when more and more food is tied to a few corporations. Under the current system, patented GMOs are a bad idea.

 

[brennan]

Those are complaints about politics and big business, not about Genetic Modification.

 

[Loppan Torkel]

You still have to decide whether you like it or not under current circumstances. GMOs not causing autism isn't good enough for me.

 

[useless]

GMO's no more cause autism then the vaccines that were falsely accused of doing.

You're either born with autism or you're not, you don't suddenly develop it. Jesus christ.

 

[Kyriakos]

GMO's no more cause autism then the vaccines that were falsely accused of doing.

You're either born with autism or you're not, you don't suddenly develop it. Jesus christ.

Well, given that the first human populations likely were very small, would 1/200 of a human be able to have autism?

(ie i am noting that such issues are not that clear, let alone for laymen of the particular fields of study).

 

[bhsup]

The title was meant as a joke... (not the subject, just the title)

 

[choxorn]

Well, given that the first human populations likely were very small, would 1/200 of a human be able to have autism?

That depends. Do the various parts of a brain that are affected by autism amount to about 1/200 of a person?

I'm feeling like it's more like 1/100 of me, my brain is quite large and autism affects a good deal of it.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Are GMO manufacturers still suing non-GMO farmers who get pollen on their fields from GMO ones? Also, are they suing farmers who keep seeds from their current GMO crop for future use?

 

[Farm Boy]

I don't think there's any risk in consuming current GMO-foods, but there's a risk in decreasing biodiversity and there are risks involved on a political level when more and more food is tied to a few corporations. Under the current system, patented GMOs are a bad idea.

Reducing biodiversity? You insert genetic modifications into a wide variety of crop strains. Just because over ninety percent of corn planted is 'GMO' doesn't mean it's all the same plant. There is short season, long season, medium season, short medium, stuff good on wet, stuff good in dry, etc, etc, etc. Same with beans. I would guess the same with cotton.

There is also nothing forcing you to plant licensed GMO seed from Monsanto or Pioneer or Cargill or anyone, though people have been for seventy plus years. Like people who plant organic for the legitimate market of selling to food mystics.

I think what you are concerned about is monoculture farming? I mean, that's an ok thing to worry about if you take the time to learn about natural growing bands, but it's not actually a GMO issue.

 

[Farm Boy]

Are GMO manufacturers still suing non-GMO farmers who get pollen on their fields from GMO ones? Also, are they suing farmers who keep seeds from their current GMO crop for future use?

Don't know about the first one. I suspect there are idiot lawyers and judges out there, yes. Just like some farmers are thieves. For the second one, if you plant 2nd year seeds in violation of your contract, you should be sued. And you should lose.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Seed replanting, an age-old agricultural practice, is now illegal. Ah, the wonders of patenting the building blocks of life itself.

 

[Gori the Grey]

The title was meant as a joke... (not the subject, just the title)

Poe's Law probably applies at least four-fold to titles, where there isn't yet any context from which a reader can judge where an author is deadpanning or not.

 

[Farm Boy]

Seed replanting, an age-old agricultural practice, is now illegal. Ah, the wonders of patenting the building blocks of life itself.

"Now illegal?" No. Seed replanting is not illegal. You can replant the heck out of anything not under patent and licensed for one year. But you can also get a one-year product from a seed company if you want to. Just like it's been for 70 years! Mix strains with paper bags and manual pollination to get the genetics you want, same licensing system, nobody pays attention. Put in a gene that lets you reduce insecticide application drastically, everything else remains the same, now apparently the whole thing is an issue. Thepiratebay man, fight the system! Yea I know Diablo III just came out yesterday, but the price is ridiculous man! I'm doing civil disobedience by downloading a crack. How dare Blizzard, how dare they!