Why GMOs Will Only Make the Global Food Crisis Worse

re: Why GMOs Will Only Make the Global Food Crisis Worse

beccasnow19952005 — Sat, 02 May 2009 19:14:03 GMT

Herbicide Used in Argentina Could Cause Birth Defects

Latin American Herald Tribune

Caracas,

Saturday, May 2,2009

**The herbicide used on genetically modified soy – Argentina’s main crop – could cause brain, intestinal and heart defects in fetuses, according to the results of a scientific investigation released Monday . Although the study “used amphibian embryos,” the results “are completely comparable to what would happen in the development of a human embryo,” embryology professor Andres Carrasco, one of the study’s authors, told Efe.

“The noteworthy thing is that there are no studies of embryos on the world level and none where glyphosate is injected into embryos,” said the researcher with the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research and director of the Molecular Embryology Laboratory.

The doses of herbicide used in the study “were much lower than the levels used in the fumigations,” and so the situation “is much more serious” that the study suggests because “glyphosate does not degrade,” Carrasco warned...

Carrasco said that the research found that “pure glyphosate, in doses lower than those used in fumigation, causes defects ... (and) could be interfering in some normal embryonic development mechanism having to do with the way in which cells divide and die.”

“The companies say that drinking a glass of glyphosate is healthier than drinking a glass of milk, but the fact is that they’ve used us as guinea pigs,” he said.

He gave as an example what occurred in Ituzaingo, a district where 5,000 people live on the outskirts of the central Argentine city of Cordoba, where over the past eight years about 300 cases of cancer associated with fumigations with pesticides have turned up..**

Full story at:

www.laht.com/article.asp

re: Why GMOs Will Only Make the Global Food Crisis Worse

IngridB — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 15:03:15 GMT

Seawolf526, Surely nobody can be that naive to believe that the CEOs of biotech companies woke up one morning with the pressing urge to feed the hungry and the poor. I do live in Africa and most African nations reject genetically modified crap except for South Africa, the only nation on the African continent that grows its staple food, white maize, in genetically modified form -with devastating consequences. Consider this and draw your own conclusions: the promoter most commonly used in genetic engineering is the cauliflower mosaic virus, which is closely related to the Hepatitis B and HIV virus! Due to its recombination hotspot, it is prone to break and join with other DNA to integrate into the cell's genome, which could activate host genes and lead to cancer. Furthermore, due to its ability to propagate in plant and insect hosts after recombination may also recombine with related Hepatitis B and HIV to create a most powerful disease in a large number of people consuming large numbers of virus genes incorporated into crop plants. Add to that antibiotic resistant marker genes, then nobody should be surprised at the sharp rise in multi-drug resistant tuberculosis and HIV infections. This can only be labeled as premeditated genocide!

Ingrid Blank/South Africa

re: Why GMOs Will Only Make the Global Food Crisis Worse

seawolf526 — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 21:04:39 GMT

This take is disturbing, because it examines only a single side of the issue. There was no discussion of the fact that GM crops have made possible the existence of likely billions of people in the world today. Perhaps the poulationists out there would say this is a bad thing, but if you ask any country who has been the benficiary of the "Green Revolution," I suspect that they would be eternally grateful to the work of people like Norman Borlaug, whose pioneering in the areas of crop yields and genetic modification of foods made possible not only most of the relatively low cost and wide availability of food we have to day, but has put a dent in famine and hunger in many areas of the world. I suggest the following articles for anyone who is interested in looking at a historical perspective:

en.wikipedia.org/.../Norman_Borlaug

en.wikipedia.org/.../Green_Revolution

It is the easiest of human emotions to condemn based on a single set of criteria. It takes fortitude to look at the many aspects of an issue and take into account all the considerations. We should not be so quick to condemn something that has helped so many people.

re: Why GMOs Will Only Make the Global Food Crisis Worse

jayp — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 13:57:01 GMT

im interested in knowing more about this morgellons disease... How do the people with it get it and what is being done about it .. i know at first that cdc wouldnt even recognize it as a real problem despite the ridiculous rls being recognized.... also i looked up the true food guide and i saw more then one product on the non gm side that had canola of some kind as there first ingrediant listed how can that be right... i thought most all the corn soy and canola in this country are gm can someone help clarify this for me. Also if there is no cure for such a disease then why would there be food produced which supposedlyy induces it if there is no "profit making concoction " used to treat it... then these people kill themselves which would ultimatly lead to the loss of profits comming from these consumers... i think gmfoods are gross but how this is all relative to eachother is not clicking in my head. Although i dont doubt that this new disease is linked to gm its just not really making sense to me... If it is gm that is causing this disease does anyone know how much was ingested before the diseaase was contracted and that is something that would be hard to monitor as gm foods are not labled in this country... unfortunalty the organic farm that i buy from has gone on vacation for the summer months of end of june & july

re: Why GMOs Will Only Make the Global Food Crisis Worse

Julieanne — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 11:03:48 GMT

I don't know what the situation is like in the USA, but here in Australia, demanding that your supermarket stocks more organic (non-GM) food is pointless - the supply can't keep up with demand. There just isn't enough. I'm not sure what the government could do about it, apart from providing a subsidy, and the chemical lobby is too influential for that to happen.

Organic growers who have entered into contracts to grow for supermarkets usually bitterly regret it. They just get ripped off and end up compromising or going broke. Just buy your fresh produce from small retailers.

re: Why GMOs Will Only Make the Global Food Crisis Worse

technologist — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 07:24:06 GMT

What a shock that GM was a bad idea! No, really, I am being sarcastic. I am not a scientist, but that sounded like a bad idea from the start to me. Organisms should be left alone to do their own modifications as necessary.

re: Why GMOs Will Only Make the Global Food Crisis Worse

All Under Heaven — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 20:42:19 GMT

I agree. It's greed. Scientists still haven't fully understood DNA, so how can they start playing God with it? This article was good news to me. Hopefully this will bring about a severe backlash against GM crops from spreading.

That's not the only crime, Mr. AK. The people of impoverished countries are often the first guinea pigs to be expeirmented on, in the name of "aid". Look at the drug makers always going into Africa to be the "miracle makers" with their new drugs and vaccines. It's like their playground. Because the people are so impoverished and also maybe illiterate not understanding the depth of things here, they're easy targets.

No doubt. The government sees its people and individuals alike as expendable. And no one is spared. Why should we continue to support this government, if it doesn't act in the people's best interest? I love democracy. I love freedom. I love America, and its people (well, mostly), its culture, its diversity. I love the very dirt and soil of this country. But I hate the government. Is it not the word of America's founding fathers and taught to us that it's the people's right to oust the government and replace it with a better government if the previous stopped to serve the people? As far as I'm concerned, the only thing the government serves are industry and its own twisted agendas, whatever it may be.

re: Why GMOs Will Only Make the Global Food Crisis Worse

Mr.AK — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 16:19:46 GMT

The worst crime is when we use GM seeds to "help" nations in distress over food supplies - all in the name of "aid."

re: Why GMOs Will Only Make the Global Food Crisis Worse

ruskar — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 13:28:35 GMT

Anything that makes us all sick and puts us in the ground faster, our government is all for it.

re: Why GMOs Will Only Make the Global Food Crisis Worse

bmc — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 13:09:48 GMT

From the little I learned about genetic engineering in micro, I am really amazed that people think they are ready to put genetic engineering into marketable use. I certainly did not get the impression that science has fully mastered it's knowledge of DNA, and how it works.
As Aaltrude said, it's all about greed.

re: GMOs Will Only Make the Global Food Crisis Worse

Aaltrude — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 21:08:32 GMT

There is one main reason for the existence of GMO's and it can be summed up in one word - GREED.