Posted on 11/04/2013 10:55:03 AM PST by KeyLargo
GM Debate Not Settled, Say European Scientists
Controversy erupts after World Food Prize awarded to Monsanto
By Justina Reichel, Epoch Times | October 24, 2013
In the wake of biotech giants Monsanto and Syngenta being awarded the World Food Prize, a European coalition of scientists is challenging claims that the debate around genetically modified foods is settled and that GM foods are safe.
The European Network of Scientists for Social and Environmental Responsibility, which consists of more than 90 scientists, academics, and physicians, released a statement Monday in response to “sweeping claims” that GM products are safe.
“We strongly reject claims by GM seed developers and some scientists, commentators, and journalists that there is a ‘scientific consensus’ on GMO safety and that the debate on this topic is ‘over,’” the group said in a statement.
“The claim encourages a climate of complacency that could lead to a lack of regulatory and scientific rigour and appropriate caution, potentially endangering the health of humans, animals, and the environment.”
The coalition cites several studies that suggest GM crops and foods can be toxic or allergenic, and raises the concern that many GM products remain under-tested.
(Excerpt) Read more at theepochtimes.com ...
Labeled will work just fine for me, too-if someone wants to eat frankenfood, that is entirely up to them, but I will continue to avoid it, and eat what is cultivated and improved, raised and grown by natural means, thanks...
The problem is we don’t know what the dangers are, other then some of the things they’ve created have made people sick. Its not a black/white discussion as there are billions of variables.
I’d prefer to know where my food comes from so I can make decisions for myself and my family. Whats wrong with that?
That's mostly true, and more than once I've said to "let the bastards starve to death". I've meant it.
However, there are some people who are willing to work and do the things necessary to feed thier families. GMO is an enormous tool that they can use to accomplish that goal.
It's probably the largest, most effective tool since farming began thousands of years ago.
What things have made people sick?
Eat what you know is good for you, and don’t eat what isn’t.
There are other synthetic or semi synthetic products in the food chain and I don’t want to give up enjoying them at my choice because they are bummers to other people.
Most GMO does in the lab what viruses often do in the field.
I think we get in trouble when we start to take the attitude that we are superseding nature rather than helping it do its thing better.
You don’t have to be a hippie leftist to not eat GMOs and food laced with drugs-some of us just don’t think it is healthy to eat that stuff, and that is a choice-nothing more. Plenty of folks here take prescription drugs-I do not-I believe in natural remedies-but that just means I have a different lifestyle from someone who does otherwise-I don’t see it as a big deal.
“However, there are some people who are willing to work and do the things necessary to feed thier families. GMO is an enormous tool that they can use to accomplish that goal.”
GMO is only a tool to help the food conglomerates gain a stranglehold on the food supply. Despite ethanol we are paying people not to grow crops here in the US. We can already grow enough food to feed a good portion of the world. Supply isn’t the problem. Politics, corruption, war and greed are certainly bigger causes of hunger.
I’m fine with selective breeding that works within the constraints of nature. When some hack in a million dollar lab starts splicing genes from a spider or goat into corn it crosses the line. And yes they are doing that. They don’t know if it will cause cancers, disease or gene mutations in the people that eat it. They don’t even really care. The only thing they care about is can they make their plant immune to roundup or some other chemical or bug.
growth hormones, MSG, Aspartame, Splenda for starters.
Same here. This is a personal choice and I’ve made mine after years of research. I was trying to find a “cure” for my migraine headaches and that’s how I became interested in this subject. If there are no problems then why won’t they label it?
Take away the welfare going the corn industry and tell me how affordable that roundup soaked crap really is.
Good for you-it was easy for me-I was brought up eating that way, so I’ve always been a reader of labels and a grower of at least some produce. Did you find a fix for your migraines?
If they got rid of the ethanol program altogether, there might actually be plenty of non-enhanced corn for consumption by humans and animals and the price would go down to where it was before the welfare...
They are less severe since I’ve been eating better, on a scale of 2/10 instead of 10/10. I feel much better.
Unfortunately, like you I wasn’t brought up this way, but I wish I was. I’m 57 and not only meds. I truly do believe that food is medicine, and I don’t want to eat GM foods. I don’t care if others do, I just want to know what I’m eating so I can make that choice.
typo, not on any meds.
Doesn’t it totally depend on how they were modified? Couldn’t you genetically modify something to either be super-healthy or poisonous depending on what you do? Since genes are the basic building blocks you’re dealing with. It doesn’t seem so simple as an all or nothing question and each GM food would need to be analyzed.
Unfortunately a few on FR are big supporters of Monsanto and GMO foods....even though both rely on Big Government and your tax dollars to push FreakFood. Monsanto/GMO supporters are also Open Borders/Free Trade Liberals who support the UN, EU, WTO, and other anti-American entities
The issue at stake here is whether...
1.Monsanto should be given vast extra rights and advantages in the market as a result of political bribes.
2.They should be able to sell you a product which is possibly unsafe without labeling it as to distinguish it from other products that don't elicit the same concerns.
Good for Monsanto for making cheap soybean, milk and corn. If I were a starving African I wouldn't care if the food I purchased was GMO or not. If I were an American in sea of overweight, diabetic, cancer sticken, allergy suffering, psychologically damaged citizens who have by and large got this way since the introduction of GMO and the governmental policies favoring corporate industrial farming....I may feel differently.
“growth hormones, MSG, Aspartame, Splenda for starters.”
None of these are genetically modified organisms.
That is great-that you are what you eat thing was heard just about every day at our house. I think God put everything we need here in the natural world-we need to put the effort into re-acquainting ourselves with it instead of relying on unnatural substances so much-we are only beginning to see the long-term effects of these drugs and such, and so far, I’m not impressed...
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