What do you think of GMO's?

[No_God]

We need them. We need to modify our food to survive. End of story.

[The Grand Nudger]

Tis true, we're fucking up on a massive scale.

[HopOnPop]

I am quite relieved to read that the vast majority of people here are pretty well informed about GMOs. Like so much else in our society -- nutrition, healthcare, food supplements, energy production, the benefits of sleeping nude.... -- the amount of utter shit that usually gets discussed when the topic of GMOs comes up is simply so damned irrelelvant (i.e. "not even wrong") it serves no purpose whatsoever. It merely keeps people "barefoot and ignorant" by distract them from actually learning about and considering the REAL issues that do matter to GMO. Its akin to fear-mongering....which often applies to GMO discussions too, but often is just "bullshit-mongering." I am often left wondering, who (if any) is benefitting from this overwhelming campaign to keeping people ignorant and distracted?

[FatAndFaithless]

People have a tendency to conflate Monsanto's shitty business ethics with their product, which isn't fair to the people that GMOs could help and save.

[Ryantology]

The benefits gained from the technology are seemingly all going to the producers. If they gave consumers a cut, they might find some allies.

No, it's all going to the executives of the companies that produce. If they're going to feel entitled to take the majority of what their employees produce, why should they treat consumers any better?

[The Grand Nudger]

Again, there's a wall between who is a "producer" and "who makes the shit you get at the freezer isle". That's not a producer in this industries parlance. Its a processor. The processors execs are sucking it up..lol. The majority of "producers" in ag don't employ anyone at all, it's a one man show. The guys who sell bags of chicken nuggets, for example, are selling cardboard at a higher price than chicken commands by the pound (from a producers pov). There's your crook- point at that guy.

[TaraJo]

The guys who sell bags of chicken nuggets, for example, are selling cardboard at a higher price than chicken commands by the pound (from a producers pov).

Everyone kinda does that, though. Buy in bulk and you get better prices. It even happens on the consumer level with those warehouse stores where you buy like 80 roles of toilet paper at once or 10 lb bags of pasta.

However, yes, it would probably save a lot of people a lot of money if we made more of our food fresh instead of buying crap we can just throw in a microwave or 10 minutes in the oven.

[HopOnPop]

People have a tendency to conflate Monsanto's shitty business ethics with their product, which isn't fair to the people that GMOs could help and save.

I don't believe it was a Monsanto product, but your post reminded me of the 10+ year battle over the GMO called Golden Rice, a genetically enhanced Beta-Carotene enriched version of regular rice that could solve within a few growing seasons -- if it wasnt for the anti-GMO hystrionics that errupted over its introduction (largely centering around past shitty business practices no less) -- the endemic and severe vitamin-A deficiency (which leads to blindness) that has plagued much of Asia and the Phillipines for decades. A classic example of where a GMO product could benefit a HUGE population in a life-changing way if it weren't for the barking idiots.

[FatAndFaithless]

People have a tendency to conflate Monsanto's shitty business ethics with their product, which isn't fair to the people that GMOs could help and save.

I don't believe it was a Monsanto product, but your post reminded me of the 10+ year battle over the GMO called Golden Rice, a genetically enhanced Beta-Carotene enriched version of regular rice that could solve within a few growing seasons -- if it wasnt for the anti-GMO hystrionics that errupted over its introduction (largely centering around past shitty business practices no less) -- the endemic and severe vitamin-A deficiency (which leads to blindness) that has plagued much of Asia and the Phillipines for decades. A classic example of where a GMO product could benefit a HUGE population in a life-changing way if it weren't for the barking idiots.

Yeesh, I hadn't heard of that one, is the debating still going on today or is it kind of a dead issue?

[John V]

Might not effect the price all that much, but it can change the amount of food produced and with a popuation that's already more than the world can really handle, massive starvation is almost inevitable without some kind of technology to increase our global food supply.

If it doesn't affect the price, the poor will still starve.

You're only considering technology, while ignoring economics and human greed.

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Yes. Producers have been intentionally left ion the shitter for decades -precisely so- the consumer can acquire these goods.


LOL, as a producer, let me tell you right now, that the profits don't go to the producers. They go to the processors and retailers, who compete for your business, based upon price...but who do not compete for my business. In fact, they cabal right the fuck up to drive my price down so that they can better compete over you. Don't get me wrong...I wouldn't have it any other way. I'd do what I do for free...and sometimes I do. I just want to make sure you have an accurate picture of food production in mind when you go to the checkout isle.

I meant that the benefits gained from the technology are seemingly all going to the producers of that technology, not the producers of the actual food. Sorry for any confusion. Maybe I'm wrong or simplistic in that statement, too. You apparently know a lot more about the industry than I do. Whoever's getting the benefit, my point is that it's not going to the consumers. As a consumer, I don't really know if there's any danger to these products. IMO no one really knows, as we'll need to see people eating them for a lifetime to really be sure. So, if I don't know if there's danger, and there's no benefit for me in choosing these products, I'm going to stick with the known product.

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People have a tendency to conflate Monsanto's shitty business ethics with their product, which isn't fair to the people that GMOs could help and save.

If Monsanto's shitty business ethics keep the products out of the hands of the people that they could help, then it's reasonable to take those practices into consideration.

No one's going to develop these things for free, you know.