Is G.E. what's for....... - Page 2 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

elchivito · #16 12-28-2011, 08:16 AM

I don't jump on bandwagons either. You seem stuck on the Chronic Wasting Disease example, which has little to do with human beings and nothing to do with genetically modified food.

aklim · #17 12-28-2011, 08:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by elchivito

I don't jump on bandwagons either. You seem stuck on the Chronic Wasting Disease example, which has little to do with human beings and nothing to do with genetically modified food.

The point was that there was panic then when there was no cause as yet. But fine. What is the evidence on genetically modified food?

elchivito · #18 12-28-2011, 09:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aklim

The point was that there was panic then when there was no cause as yet. But fine. What is the evidence on genetically modified food?

The research is inconclusive at best. Safety isn't my first concern on this issue. What bothers me more is that traditional farmers worldwide who save seeds and raise local varieties of both crops and livestock are being pressured economically to switch to seeds patented by Monsanto and others and are abandoning their locally adapted races of livestock in favor of breeds that will provide increased production but less diversity of product. Companies like Monsanto are researching traditionally conserved seeds worldwide. When they find a seedstock they like for some genetic attribute it has, they'll hybridize and patent it, and then file suit against the very farmers they got the seed from in the first place, forcing them to stop saving seed and begin buying new seed each year. It's happening in many places including this country. I don't want just one color of corn, one flavor of cheese, one kind of factory farmed beef. Ecosystems thrive on diversity, and to think for even a second that our food supply is somehow separate from the larger natural world, or should be, is naive and dangerous. There is worldwide erosion of both animal and plant genetic resources due to factory farming, seedstock patenting and genetic engineering. The pool is getting wider, but much more shallow. In any population, genetic diversity is strength.

aklim · #19 12-28-2011, 10:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by elchivito

The research is inconclusive at best. Safety isn't my first concern on this issue. What bothers me more is that traditional farmers worldwide who save seeds and raise local varieties of both crops and livestock are being pressured economically to switch to seeds patented by Monsanto and others and are abandoning their locally adapted races of livestock in favor of breeds that will provide increased production but less diversity of product. Companies like Monsanto are researching traditionally conserved seeds worldwide. When they find a seedstock they like for some genetic attribute it has, they'll hybridize and patent it, and then file suit against the very farmers they got the seed from in the first place, forcing them to stop saving seed and begin buying new seed each year. It's happening in many places including this country. I don't want just one color of corn, one flavor of cheese, one kind of factory farmed beef. Ecosystems thrive on diversity, and to think for even a second that our food supply is somehow separate from the larger natural world, or should be, is naive and dangerous. There is worldwide erosion of both animal and plant genetic resources due to factory farming, seedstock patenting and genetic engineering. The pool is getting wider, but much more shallow. In any population, genetic diversity is strength.

So if the evidence is inconclusive and it has gone thru animal trials and has gone into the world with no ill effects as yet, what is the issue?

Or is your issue one of "I don't like how Monsanto does business."? That and "They sell a poisonous product" are totally different issues. The former, I might think about someday. The latter, I will deal with today.

MTI · #20 12-28-2011, 10:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ara T.

There is 130 or so calories in a serving of corn

Thats one cup of kernels or one big ear of corn.

It has a fair amount of protein and fiber as well

I guess he meant that if one stops eating altogether, weight loss will follow. Just like Steven Wright's advice: Smoking causes weight loss . . . eventually.

elchivito · #21 12-28-2011, 11:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aklim

So if the evidence is inconclusive and it has gone thru animal trials and has gone into the world with no ill effects as yet, what is the issue?

Or is your issue one of "I don't like how Monsanto does business."? That and "They sell a poisonous product" are totally different issues. The former, I might think about someday. The latter, I will deal with today.

I don't know that "it" has gone thru animal trials. There is no "it". Virtually every possible food is being genetically experimented with by somebody. If you've boiled down my explanation above to "the way Monsanto does business", it's lost on you. Enjoy your Frankenberries.

aklim · #22 12-28-2011, 12:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by elchivito

I don't know that "it" has gone thru animal trials. There is no "it". Virtually every possible food is being genetically experimented with by somebody. If you've boiled down my explanation above to "the way Monsanto does business", it's lost on you. Enjoy your Frankenberries.

The question is very simple. Am I going to die or be mutated by eating it? If it is "Yes", get rid of it. If it is "No", we can discuss further the impact. This many people having eaten it in the world, if something bad was happening, the population would be large enough to get a proper sample size that makes sense for a diagnosis.

Skippy · #23 12-28-2011, 03:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aklim

The question is very simple. Am I going to die or be mutated by eating it?

Probably not, but you might get mighty hungry the next time monoculture agriculture blows up in our face. Example:Great Famine (Ireland) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Clk Man · #24 12-28-2011, 06:56 PM

Genetically engineering of food would be a effective way for an evil person to kill a bunch of people with an implanted virus. I think I'm going to start me a Garden of my own.

aklim · #25 12-28-2011, 06:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Clk Man

Genetically engineering of food would be a effective way for an evil person to kill a bunch of people with an implanted virus. I think I'm going to start me a Garden of my own.

Thinking of the James Bond movies with some evil genius?

The Clk Man · #26 12-28-2011, 07:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aklim

Thinking of the James Bond movies with some evil genius?

No, just a disgruntled engineer who has a score to settle with humanity.

elchivito · #27 12-29-2011, 10:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Clk Man

No, just a disgruntled engineer who has a score to settle with humanity.

There is a very effective bacteria that's used against various soft bodied pests. It's called Bt, short for Bacillus Thuringensis. It can be changed and modified endlessly depending on the target pest, and tweaked so that bugs don't become resistant to it. It's what's in those pond pellets you put in ponds and livestock tanks to control mosquito larvae. Harmless to everything except wormy type bugs and larvae. I use Bt powder on tomatoes if I have a particularly bad tobacco worm infestation some years. It's nearly a perfect pesticide, or was.

Some genetic engineers figured out how to put the operative genetic material into the the DNA of corn. Built in pesticide. When the ear worms eat the corn, they get killed just as if they'd ingested Bt powder. Sadly, bugs develop resistance to it pretty quickly, and more engineering and hybridization is necessary to "upgrade" the corn seed.

Like CLK man says, what's to keep some sociopathic genius from putting some genetic material from, say, a Fer de Lance snake into the food supply? If we can build bacterial genetic material into plants, why not poisonous animals? Why not Smallpox?

The Clk Man · #28 12-29-2011, 11:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by elchivito

There is a very effective bacteria that's used against various soft bodied pests. It's called Bt, short for Bacillus Thuringensis. It can be changed and modified endlessly depending on the target pest, and tweaked so that bugs don't become resistant to it. It's what's in those pond pellets you put in ponds and livestock tanks to control mosquito larvae. Harmless to everything except wormy type bugs and larvae. I use Bt powder on tomatoes if I have a particularly bad tobacco worm infestation some years. It's nearly a perfect pesticide, or was.

Some genetic engineers figured out how to put the operative genetic material into the the DNA of corn. Built in pesticide. When the ear worms eat the corn, they get killed just as if they'd ingested Bt powder. Sadly, bugs develop resistance to it pretty quickly, and more engineering and hybridization is necessary to "upgrade" the corn seed.

Like CLK man says, what's to keep some sociopathic genius from putting some genetic material from, say, a Fer de Lance snake into the food supply? If we can build bacterial genetic material into plants, why not poisonous animals? Why not Smallpox?

I read somewhere that Russia has several TONS of the smallpox virus stored somewhere.

elchivito · #29 12-29-2011, 12:58 PM

I read that too, and also that they'd forgotten where they put it, or that some of it was missing.

R Leo · #30 12-31-2011, 06:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aklim

As far as BSE went, weren't there something like a couple hundred cases despite of how contaminated they told us the beef we had was?

Because of the risk of BSE, animals more than 30mo of age must be processed so that there's no possibility of spinal ganglia being consumed as food. Say good bye to your t-bone on 30+ month old critters.

Just had one done that was about 36mo old. I have lots of tenderloins and NY Strips but no t-bones.