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Cheerios To Go GMO-Free

Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes "ABC News reports that General Mills has ended the use of genetically modified ingredients in Cheerios, its flagship breakfast food. General Mills has been manufacturing its original-flavor Cheerios without GMOs for the past several weeks in response to consumer demand. Original Cheerios will now be labeled as 'Not Made With Genetically Modified Ingredients,' although that it is not an official certification. 'We were able to do this with original Cheerios because the main ingredients are oats,' says Mike Siemienas, noting that there are no genetically modified oats. The company is primarily switching the cornstarch and sugar to make the original Cheerios free of GMOs. Green America has been targeting Cheerios for the past year to raise the profile of the anti-GMO movement. 'This is a big deal,' says Green America's Todd Larsen. 'Cheerios is an iconic brand and one of the leading breakfast cereals in the U.S. We don't know of any other example of such a major brand of packaged food, eaten by so many Americans, going from being GMO to non-GMO.' For its part, General Mills says, It's not about safety,' and will continue to use GMOs in other food products."

419 comments

  1. GMOs feed over a billion people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Genetically modified food feeds over a billion people who would not otherwise be able to eat given the arable land available. The "organic" craze is for marketing.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Borlaug
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5amLAMRQk5I

    1. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · · Score: 5, Insightful

      So you're saying that the increase in productivity of GMO grains over "traditional" grains, given the same arable land area is enough to feed an additional billion people? In a word: bullshit.

    2. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      Nope, this is a lobbying message subsidized by Monsanto and co, it is actually very possible to feed everyone with the food we create and the land we have. More importantly, it hides the fact that GMOs are not at all used to feed the aforementioned starving peoples. Quite contrarily, GMO seeds have been repeatedly used for market domination through legislative bullying, most infamously ending in the suicide of farmers in india due to non-affordable seed prices after Monsanto cleared the market from other companies by undercutting and legal bullying before rising the cost.

    3. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We know this. GMO-free is a marketing term for affluent pananoid yuppies. It is not something that will ever feed mass numbers of needy people.

    4. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It's a commonly quoted number. See Green Revolution.

    5. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by fustakrakich · · Score: 4, Insightful

      We throw away over half the food we produce, and we let the commodities market manipulate the prices. We don't need GMOs. You're just spreading propaganda.

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    6. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · · Score: 2, Insightful

      GP is giving all the credit to GMO seeds. He's lying.

    7. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by ackthpt · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Nope, this is a lobbying message subsidized by Monsanto and co, it is actually very possible to feed everyone with the food we create and the land we have. More importantly, it hides the fact that GMOs are not at all used to feed the aforementioned starving peoples. Quite contrarily, GMO seeds have been repeatedly used for market domination through legislative bullying, most infamously ending in the suicide of farmers in india due to non-affordable seed prices after Monsanto cleared the market from other companies by undercutting and legal bullying before rising the cost.

      In other news today, 1/3 of the world is now Obese.

      We don't need no stinkin' GMO food, it's all about making seed banks all bound to Intellectual Property and making money for Monsanto, et al. Call a horse a horse.

      --

      A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
    8. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      this is a lobbying message subsidized by Monsanto and co

      Evidence, please.

      Quite contrarily, GMO seeds have been repeatedly used for market domination through legislative bullying, most infamously ending in the suicide of farmers in india due to non-affordable seed prices after Monsanto cleared the market from other companies by undercutting and legal bullying before rising the cost.

      Debunked (see link below). Citations within.

      http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Genetically_modified_organism#Farmer_suicide_in_India

    9. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by andydread · · Score: 2, Informative

      Yes but patenting lifeforms then suing zealously over those patented lifeforms that contaminate non-gmo farms is bad so say no to GMO until they quit patenting life.

    10. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by jedidiah · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Even before GMO foods were invented we allowed a lot of produce to rot in this country for various reasons. The problem isn't that we don't have enough land or good enough seed stock. Feeding people (or not) usually has to do more with local politics and who controls the land.

      It's like how the entire Irish potato famine was very avoidable.

      --
      A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
    11. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by ackthpt · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Who needs to go to India for evidence of Monsanto raids on farms? We've had stories of thess actions posted on /. for years, further, they are well documented in legal proceedings, where Monsanto goons have appeared with local law enforcement dragged in as their flunkies, to seize farms where they suspect a farmer is reusing seed or is using crop seed contaminated from a neighboring GMO field. All they need is their expert witnesses to show up in a court and state that Farmer Brown has some of their IP in his field, without paying them and he's done farming this year and likely stuck with a ruinous monetary settlement.

      --

      A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
    12. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'm seriously sick of this ignorant crap. There is absolutely no known possible mechanism for GM foods to cause cancer because they're GM. If you're going to speculate, at least look into real possible risks like those associated with glyphosate salts used in agriculture. If you're going to attack GM, focus on the real issues like intellectual property associated with staple crops.

      Also, look up mutation breeding, which is how most of our non-GM foods came into existence.

    13. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by ApplePy · · Score: 4, Interesting

      How much of our planet's fossil fuel resources should we continue to mine for large-scale agriculture, before we have the conversation about why there are so many starving third-worlders, and what we might do to control overpopulation?

      I see this assertion time after time -- that we must feed 8, 10, 15 billions of people -- without asking the question, "Does the planet need that many people?"

      GMO is a non-solution to a problem that we could much more easily prevent.

      The only winner in GMO is the patent holder who collects the royalties.

      --
      That I'm right, and you don't like it, doesn't mean I'm a troll.
    14. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      ...and I still can't eat them because the ADM mixed tocopherols in them give me an intense allergic reaction. General Mills & the FDA do not seem to grasp a difference between alpha tocopherol and the poison slop that mixed tocopherols can be.

    15. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by dentin · · Score: 0

      Yes. I would say exactly that.

      --
      Alter Aeon Multiclass MUD - http://www.alteraeon.com
    16. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by ackthpt · · Score: 5, Interesting

      We know this. GMO-free is a marketing term for affluent pananoid yuppies. It is not something that will ever feed mass numbers of needy people.

      No, it's about being open and honest about what goes into your food. We in California had such a staggering amount of BS inserted into a campaign season, regarding GMO product labeling, that consumers were completely baffled what the impact was going to be and voted with the most convincing and well backed ads. Therefore we do not have a state statute requiring the labeling of food as containing all or part GMO components.

      That was pretty damn insidious by Pro-GMO Big Ag.

      --

      A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
    17. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What idiot modded this insightful?
      The work of Dr. Borlaug and the green revolution had fuck-all to do with GMOs.

    18. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Genetically modified foods also keep the world's poorest farmers beholden to the corporations that are selling the GMOs. What a business plan, make a product that claims to end hunger that requires everyone to purchase your seed on a yearly basis.

      Fuck that and fuck you.

    19. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by ApplePy · · Score: 0

      Genetically modified food feeds over a billion people who would not otherwise be able to eat

      A billion people the planet doesn't need, perhaps? What good to anyone are billions of starving, or semi-starving, humanoids who rely on food aid to continue living, and then breed more of the same?

      Better birth control = no billion people starving without Monsanto raking in $Bns from seed patents.

      --
      That I'm right, and you don't like it, doesn't mean I'm a troll.
    20. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 4, Insightful
      So...why are you people ripping up GMO crops that have nothing to do with Monsanto and its legal bullying?

      http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/regions/08/09/13/militants-wreck-gm-rice-test-farm

    21. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Normal Borlaug is one of the greatest scientists of our times and I deeply respect him, but his research did not involve transgenics (that we otherwise know as "GMOs"). His research was mainly with hybrids which are generally not controversial.

      Borlaug, being a well-educated scientist with a background in biology, was completely in favor of GMOs and lashed out at critics, but his Green Revolution can't be credited to GMOs.

      With that said; there is no scientifically valid reason to oppose GMOs in their current form but let's get the facts straight.

    22. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Genetically modified food feeds over a billion people who would not otherwise be able to eat given the arable land available

      Right up until we breed enough insecticide-resistant insects that they have a population explosion and eat all our crops.
      Or we have a massive algae bloom that kills off our fisheries.

      You want to save the starving people of the world? Tell the catholic church to fuck off, and give these people access to birth control and condoms.
      Otherwise there will always be starving people in bad places because they keep breeding beyond their food supply (it's a modern human trait) no matter how much food you give them.

    23. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What is gained through product labeling when consumers don't have anywhere near the background or understanding to interpret the labels?

      I'm all for people being able to make well-informed and rational decisions about what they put into their bodies, but avoiding GM foods because of perceived health risks is NOT making a well-informed and rational decision.

      As it stands, I have pretty mixed feelings about GMO labeling, but I lean towards it being a bad idea. We don't need more confusing information and irrational fear.

    24. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Mr.+Flibble · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If you actually study the green revolution and agriculture, it is indeed an accurate figure.

      The only difference between modern GMO food and previous versions, is that radiation mutation was used to create the variants. Now, with targeted gene sequencing and replacing there is no need to use messy, time consuming and partially random radiation mutation methods.

      --
      Try to hack my 31337 firewall!
    25. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by kurzweilfreak · · Score: 1

      [citation needed]

      --

      kurzweil_freak

      5th Kyu Genbukan Ninpo/KJJR student

      Be the darkness that allows the light to shine.

    26. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      No, that's not how it works. You're just making shit up to defame Monsanto.

      If Monsanto accuses you of using their seeds outside of the bounds of their license, they will drag you to court. It's a civil matter, not a criminal matter. The police do not get involved (unless, after receipt of a court's order, you choose to disobey it).

    27. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Mr.+Flibble · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Have you actually looked into the actual court cases surrounding Monsanto?

      You would be surprised. The examples that people trot out of "Farmer Brown" as you say, had the farmers lose in court as they were deliberately and knowingly taking GMO seeds.

      Monsanto will in fact, pay farmers for any crops contaminated via cross pollination for farms that do not have an agreement.

      The truth of the matter in agriculture is much more complex than all the IT people here on Slashdot would have you believe.

      --
      Try to hack my 31337 firewall!
    28. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by erroneus · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The existence of GMOs have NOT boosted production in the slightest. What GMOs do is make the plants immune to a particular herbicide. This herbicide immunity, by the way, is an immunity being acquired by other "pest" plants which were the original target of the herbicide.

      In the absense of GMOs the people would still be fed. GMOs do not represent a world-saving technology. What they represent is a danger to the world's food supply not only because it comes under control of a small collection of companies, but because it reduces the varieties of plants available. In the event a disease develops to wipe out these GMOs, there may be extreme starvation and human suffering due to the continual growth of GMO use.

      Please shill for Monsanto elsewhere. You're just wrong about so much.

    29. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Population control is a loser argument in the court of public opinion.

    30. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Anne_Nonymous · · Score: 1

      >> In other news today, 1/3 of the world is now Obese.

      Vote Soylent Green Party 2016

    31. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Oligonicella · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Quiet - does not fit political narrative.

    32. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I agree with you that having money in politics sucks, and it's symptomatic of deep problems in our society BUT let's look at this specific issue.

      What specific health issues are associated with the consumption of GM foods? None that we know of. The vast, vast majority of studies can't find anything wrong with them.

      So why the fuck are we demanding an irrelevant label? The label conveys a stigma like the Surgeon General's warning on a pack of cigarettes. It's needless fearmongering that is not based on science.

      There is not a single good argument for the label, although a few of my pro-GM friends *want* the label so that people can understand how deeply GM technology is embedded into our lives and realize that it causes no harm (which is similar to the argument that the scientists behind the Flavr-Savr Tomato used when trialing their product in the market - they voluntarily labeled).

    33. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Penguinisto · · Score: 1

      Feeding people (or not) usually has to do more with local politics and who controls the land.

      Sometimes, but...

      Sometimes it's a matter of transport. Iowa has no shortage of pork at all, but the cost of shipping it to China before it loses its freshness may sometimes be more than the Chinese feel like paying.

      Sometimes it's a matter of not-so-local politics. See also farm bills, agricultural subsidies and price controls coming out of Washington DC - all done in order to keep crop prices artificially high.

      Sometimes it's a question of being held back/destroyed on suspicion of disease. Happens a lot, especially with fresh meat and produce.

      --
      Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
    34. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Penguinisto · · Score: 1

      Considering the alternative involves a whole lot of death and/or overly-intrusive governmental control of one's life (e.g. China's "one child" policy)... well, good luck with that.

      --
      Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
    35. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by cayenne8 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      What is gained through product labeling when consumers don't have anywhere near the background or understanding to interpret the labels?

      I'm all for people being able to make well-informed and rational decisions about what they put into their bodies, but avoiding GM foods because of perceived health risks is NOT making a well-informed and rational decision.

      Well, so far, we're not too stupid to have labels required for ingredients, for % of nutrients...

      We're not too stupid to have labels required on things like fish, to know what their country of origin is....

      So, what's the deal with giving us a label to know if it is GMO or not? I'd dare say, most people too stupid to study this and make an "informed decision" are likely not ever going to bother looking at the labels.

      But for those that do want to know..what's the harm? When is having information about your food ever a bad thing?

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    36. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · · Score: 4, Informative

      The original poster gave ALL the credit for feeding a billion starving people to (only) Genetically Modified/Engineered seeds, completely ignoring the better irrigation, fertilization, insect control, and crop rotation practices, and yes, hybrid seeds that have been being exported to the third world for the last 60-or-so years. I was simply taking exception to his outrageously false claim. Yet somehow, he's Insightful, and I'm Overrated. I think many people would have much less of a problem with GMO foods in general if Monsanto's business practices weren't so oppressively evil, and the notion of routinely spraying Roundup on all our cereal grains (both for humans and livestock) weren't quite so heinous.

    37. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by bws111 · · Score: 1

      Why do idiots such as yourself keep repeating this nonsense? Who, exactly, is 'beholden' to Monsanto? Farmers choose to plant GMO because, even though they have to pay mean old Monsanto, it is more profitable for them than planting non-GMO.

    38. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      WTF does organic have to do with GMO. In the words of Daniel Plainview "Don't be thick in front of me, AL!"

    39. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by WOOFYGOOFY · · Score: 2, Insightful

      What is to be gained by informing consumers when they just can't really understand the issues! This is what you're saying and not even in other words- that's just what you're saying. It's disgusting. I can see why you posted AC.

      It's called having faith in democracy and the ability of the polity to sort out issues. If that doesn't sound reasonable to you, then why not head off to N. Korea where the leaders think just like you do.

    40. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Don't mix up GMOs in general with RR-style "how to breed the weed equivalent of MRSA" idiocy.

    41. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by mythosaz · · Score: 1

      Clear and obvious logic isn't going to win any contests around here.

      Obviously there's a gun to the head of all farmers, worldwide.

    42. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by lgw · · Score: 1

      I'll say to you what I say to everyone who suggests "reducing the surplus population": you first.

      Somehow though it's always the "third world" that needs population control: you know, those foreigners, those threatening not-quite-people who we could do with fewer of. I get tired of seeing such BS.

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    43. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by lgw · · Score: 3, Insightful

      What is a non-GMO food anyhow? Aren't all of our modern foodstuffs heavily modified through centuries of selective breeding? Labeling food with made-up categories doesn't seem to help.

      Let's face it: what the hipsters really want is food labeled "not associated with any Evil Corporation", as if inefficiency were something to be proud of. We already have the "Organic" label for you losers, can't you be content with that?

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    44. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      More food = higher quality of life; higher quality of life = lower birth rates; lower birthrates = lower population.
      By advocating letting those in poverty starve (side note: fuck you), you are contributing to the problem.

    45. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      First off, the USA has no democracy. I'll never understand why people think it does.

      GMO labeling simply does not give anyone any useful information. I am pro accurate information, and anti-ignorance. GMO labeling feeds ignorance and is incredibly misleading. It's related to conspiracy theories and spin and that is all. We do not need more of that.

      There are companies who stand to profit from it, and they're of the variety who will charge high premiums for a product which is misrepresented to be superior. That's hardly an ethical alternative to the current massive corrupt agribusiness.

      Also, I only post AC because I'm at work and I cannot log in because of network weirdness.

    46. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by kumanopuusan · · Score: 1

      centuries of selective breeding

      Millennia, but yeah.

      --
      Use of the words "good", "bad" or "evil" is almost invariably the result of oversimplification.
    47. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Jherek+Carnelian · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I'm seriously sick of this ignorant crap. There is absolutely no known possible mechanism for GM foods to cause cancer because they're GM.

      That's kind of like all the anti-drug people who say that there is no scientific proof that marijuana has any medicinal value. It was absolutely true. But the reason it is true is because you needed the DEA to give you a permit to work with banned drugs and they only like to give out permits projects researching adverse effects, not beneficial effects.

      Same thing with GMO's -- the testing coverage of GMOs is very weak. There is this get out jail free card they use to legally avoid testing called substantial equivalence - the theory is that if you are just mixing genes from two different kinds of food, then its all good. They do very limited testing to make sure there is nothing obviously wrong (like the potatoes genes haven't turned the new GMO crop into belladonna) but the basic testing is all that's ever done if they can claim equivalence. Of course they do this because comprehensive testing would be really, really, really expensive. So, you know, let the customers beta test it.

      So yeah, there is no known mechanism because no one is looking for one.

    48. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Obfuscant · · Score: 1

      Well, so far, we're not too stupid to have labels required for ingredients, for % of nutrients...

      If you look at those labels, most of them contain numbers based on suggested "percent daily values", which is pretty meaningless when it comes to most constituents.

      But for those that do want to know..what's the harm? When is having information about your food ever a bad thing?

      When that information is for political and not scientific purposes, then forcing a scare label on something is a bad thing. "We want to drive Monsanto out of business so we'll force every manufacturer of every food product to put a 'contains GMO' label on their product unless they can prove it doesn't have even a speck of GMO material..." is a purely political goal. It isn't that you think the GMO content would actually hurt anyone, it's that some big bad company might profit. You'd drive prices of food up as the bookkeeping becomes onerous, and drive smaller companies out of business because they can't compete, all because you want to scare people into an unwitting boycott of a large company you dislike.

      All this will do is create another scare like "gluten free" is doing now. It's amazing to see food products that contain the "gluten free" label when they consist only of things that never had gluten to begin with. Gluten free meat, gluten free milk, gluten free green beens ... all cashing in on the gluten free scare. And the peanut allergy scare, where a lot of products now contain labels saying "this product may have been produced on equipment where peanut products have been produced, or in a factory where peanuts are used, or somewhere in the vicinity of someone who ate peanut butter for lunch... Boo!"

    49. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm trying! Turns out getting us off planet and onto another rock is bloody expensive, so it's taking longer than I'd hoped...

    50. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by WOOFYGOOFY · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You're not getting it. It's not about the absolute rightness or wrongness of GMO . It's about the fact that a very significant portion of the people WANT GMO labeling.

      People also want a lot of things I could do without, but so what. Who am i? Who are you? Who is Monsanto to decide we can't know true facts about the things we put in our bodies???

      The worst disasters in history haven't been because people had too much information some of which was useless. The worst disasters come about because some small segment of our population thinks it knows what's good for the rest of us and tries to impose it's will on us. So that's shit like Vietnam and all kinds of imperialism generally. People want this- it means something to them. People also want kosher shit because it MEANS something to them. People want country of origin labeling for meat for GOOD reason- because some nations practice poor CJD defense and some don't. People want dolphin free tuna because it MEANS something to them and their value system. Stop telling people what should and should not be significant to them.

      Just. Stop it.

      Also, as a matter of fact, you don't know that all present and future GMO products are not unsafe in ways people fear. I know what because I looked into it and decided for myself that the risk it low, but by no means zero. By no means.

    51. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by TrollstonButterbeans · · Score: 1

      Yours is one of the most insightful posts I have seen in a while on this topic.

      On both counts (#1 the USA isn't a democracy, it is quite clearly a republic and this is beginning to show in government attitudes sadly. #2 - "GMO" doesn't mean anything and a label that conveys no information isn't helpful and the label itself is counterproductive because it stresses importance in itself without pointing out why.

      Which is vacuous marketing, but it affects and confuses people.

      [People that like to argue and posture with their brains disconnected won't see the brilliance of your post, but how is that different than any other day ... ]

      --
      Priest: "Universe from nothing, no laws of physics, sped up time"+ huge discrepancies. Creationism? No. Big Bang Theory
    52. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by TrollstonButterbeans · · Score: 1

      "We throw away over half the food we produce,"

      We certainly do! It is called health regulations to make sure food is safe.

      And a good amount of the food thrown away probably is edible. But ...

      A. Food is part of the ecosystem.

      B. Poor people in a far away place wouldn't be able to eat it because they aren't close and it would take weeks to ship.

      C. Contrary to popular Western belief, there are very few parts of the world these days that encounter starvation. This isn't the 1950s.

      Also food is not a true commodity, because it is perishable so different economics and limitations affect its distribution --- you can't try to apply free market economics world-wide to food, which annoyingly you hear all the time.

      --
      Priest: "Universe from nothing, no laws of physics, sped up time"+ huge discrepancies. Creationism? No. Big Bang Theory
    53. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by danlip · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The first world generally has negative population growth, not counting immigration. So yes, it is the third world that needs population control, and there is nothing racist about that statement. I suppose you could debate whether the first world should be putting pressure on them or just let them figure that out themselves, but the pressure is applied via strings attached to foreign aid: are you suggesting we should stop giving them aid and just let them starve?

    54. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The original poster gave ALL the credit for feeding a billion starving people to (only) Genetically Modified/Engineered seeds,

      I don't read his post that way. The Green Revolution was a combination of better seed varieties and better agricultural practices, both were required. Without better seed it would not have happened.

    55. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by TrollstonButterbeans · · Score: 2

      >What idiot modded this insightful?

      Doesn't matter.

      The important part is that you located him --- his village has been notified and arrangements have been made for his return.

      --
      Priest: "Universe from nothing, no laws of physics, sped up time"+ huge discrepancies. Creationism? No. Big Bang Theory
    56. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There has been much research and there is wide consensus on the safety of GMOs. Stop fear mongering.
      http://www.geneticliteracyproject.org/2013/10/08/with-2000-global-studies-confirming-safety-gm-foods-among-most-analyzed-subject-in-science/#.UsdTOfZQ1KA

    57. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I see nothing in the statement which says all the credit goes to GM seeds. Specifying "A does B" does not automatically preclude the effects of "C", "D", and "E".

    58. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by icebike · · Score: 4, Insightful

      True, the so called "Green Revolution" is not principally due to Genetically Modified Organisms, at least not in the sense those words are used today. (The above referenced wiki article on this subject is about as biased as anything I've ever seen on wiki, bordering on the vitriol normally seen regarding political campaign.)

      However, there is no doubt that prior methods of gene selection (breeding) resulted in massive increase in grain crop yields, with Rice crops developed in the US saving many different countries in South East Asia from huge famines. Resistance to pests was accomplished by selective breeding long before gene splicing was invented. But there is no doubt that these grains were genetically modified.

      --
      Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
    59. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      it hides the fact that GMOs are not at all used to feed the aforementioned starving peoples

      And Your verifiable evidence for this claim would be ... ?

    60. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by kenshin33 · · Score: 1

      And the peanut allergy scare,

      wtf man? it's not a scare, it's a real problem.I have a cousin that is so alergique (I'm not kidding) that the mere presence of peanuts in the room provoque a reaction (a call a freaking ambulance, reaction), it is not an anecdote, I've seen it with my own eyes!
      there are people out there that are intolerant to diffrent things, labeling is something that helps them make INFORMED decisions!

    61. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by ackthpt · · Score: 1

      I agree with you that having money in politics sucks, and it's symptomatic of deep problems in our society BUT let's look at this specific issue.

      What specific health issues are associated with the consumption of GM foods? None that we know of. The vast, vast majority of studies can't find anything wrong with them.

      So why the fuck are we demanding an irrelevant label? The label conveys a stigma like the Surgeon General's warning on a pack of cigarettes. It's needless fearmongering that is not based on science.

      There is not a single good argument for the label, although a few of my pro-GM friends *want* the label so that people can understand how deeply GM technology is embedded into our lives and realize that it causes no harm (which is similar to the argument that the scientists behind the Flavr-Savr Tomato used when trialing their product in the market - they voluntarily labeled).

      For decades we didn't know lead, mercury and various compounds routinely used in coloring interior paint or preserving food were toxic. That we don't know the extent of potential dangers yet is no indication there are none.

      --

      A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
    62. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In other news today, 1/3 of the world is now Obese.

      Correlation is not causation. Yes, the world has GM food. The world also has cable TV. You have to show causation if You want to change Peoples' opinions.

    63. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by icebike · · Score: 2, Informative

      Radiation mutation in agriculture is a myth, it was the favorite whipping boy of the same people who cry about current GMO gene splicing technologies.

      The actual truth is that the major advances in the Green revolution was by good old fashion selective cross breeding by (mostly american) scientists to increase wheat, rice and corn production, and developed new strains that changed India from the famine capital or the world to a large net food exporter.

      --
      Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
    64. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by icebike · · Score: 2

      Sometimes it's a matter of transport. Iowa has no shortage of pork at all, but the cost of shipping it to China before it loses its freshness may sometimes be more than the Chinese feel like paying.

      Its not like China has any problems raising pork of their own. Half the world's pig population is in China.
      The problem is their back-yard farming techniques are inefficient. Its often more efficient to import from the US.
      They are buying US Port producers lock stock and barrel simply to gain efficiency.

      --
      Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
    65. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by ApplePy · · Score: 1

      Yes, it's an ugly prospect all around. But think of the alternative: how far can the population grow before we actually do overload the carrying capacity of the planet, and we ALL starve? 10 billion? 12 billion? All consuming more and more?

      Population control is definitely bad political juju. But it's something we need to start thinking about before it's too late, don't you think?

      --
      That I'm right, and you don't like it, doesn't mean I'm a troll.
    66. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Population growth is directly correlated to class. Your solution seems to be 'let's regulate these other people's bodies' rather than 'let's elevate their standard of living', which would also actually reduce their population growth without being remotely as inhuman and heinous.

    67. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Rhacman · · Score: 4, Informative

      Nobody needs to kill themselves to control population, just not reproduce so much. You first? Sure. Who's next?

      Many developed countries already have low or declining population growth so again; us first? Working on it. Who's next?

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population_growth_rate

      --
      Account -> Discussions -> Disable Sigs
    68. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by mcneely.mike · · Score: 0

      Hey, good old 'Quatro-triticale' was a "Wussian" inwention: if it's good enough for tribbles....

      --
      soylentnews.org Go there to enjoy the people!
    69. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Selective breeding over centuries is NOT the same as GMO. For one the time frame is radically different. 1000s of years is plenty of time to test something to see if it's OK. Furthermore the SCOPE of what's possible with GMO is NOTHING like what can be done naturally , which is the whole pint of GMO in the first place. No one knows with certainty that a frankenfood with unpredicted and very negative properties won't be created using GMO. So a mere label is the lest people can expect

    70. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by ApplePy · · Score: 0

      always the "third world" that needs population control: you know, those foreigners, those threatening not-quite-people who we could do with fewer of.

      Considering that those are the people in the parts of the world that are not able to feed themselves... that would seem to be the obvious answer, wouldn't it? You wouldn't cut off your left hand if your right foot had the gangrene, would you?

      If we were to kill off the evil white man instead, who would feed the third world? They'd all starve even faster.

      Do you have a better idea? Or were you just looking for someone at which to direct some sanctimonious liberal outrage?

      --
      That I'm right, and you don't like it, doesn't mean I'm a troll.
    71. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by icebike · · Score: 1

      Scottish.

      --
      Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
    72. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by dk20 · · Score: 1

      "Also food is not a true commodity".... Re-read what he they wrote "we let the commodities market manipulate the prices"

      Without getting into the manipulation angle, take a look at the CME's agricultural offerings: http://www.cmegroup.com/trading/products/#sortField=oi&sortAsc=false&group=2&page=1

      Sure seems that "food" (well, the base blocks like wheat, hogs, etc) trades as a commodity.

    73. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How about spraying in forests to make it easier to cut timber, thus killing 99% of amphibians?
      How about spraying everywhere, killing bees?

    74. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by HiThere · · Score: 4, Insightful

      There's reasonable evidence that the prevalence of obesity is related to the liberal use of high-fructose corn syrup on prepared foods. And a part of the reason for that use of corn is GM corn. More of the reason, of course, is government subsidies, Of course the government subsidies are totally unrelated to lobbying from Monsanto, the vendor of the GM corn seeds. And the only legal vendor of those seeds.

      Yeah, I'd have a lot less problem with GM foods, if they weren't leading to monopolization of the food provision chain by one or a very few companies.

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
    75. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by andydread · · Score: 1

      How about letting the marketplace decide? Just label the foods and let the market decide. Right now the market cannot decide because the market cannot differenciate between GMO and non-GMO

    76. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I see this assertion time after time -- that we must feed 8, 10, 15 billions of people -- without asking the question, "Does the planet need that many people?"

      No, the planet does NOT need that many people. In fact, the planet does not need ANY people at all, including YOU.

      So why don't you start the revolution by removing yourself from the planet as the first step?

    77. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're not getting it. It's not about the absolute rightness or wrongness of GMO . It's about the fact that a very significant portion of the people WANT GMO labeling.

      Do you also want labeling for other potentially dangerous stuff in your food? Like chemicals or radioactive materials? If not, why the single fixation on GMO? Any GMO only through a particular method? Selective and cross breeding is human intervention to change the plant genes also, and nobody had even proven cross breeding to be safe to the standard that people are clamouring for GMO products, why not?

      What use would it be to have all bananas labelled as "radioactive"? And most packaged food to be labelled as "contains chemicals"?

      From the cynical, all these GMO labeling seems to be only scaremonger to feed the "Organic" scam.

    78. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're both morons that have never stepped foot on a farm.

    79. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The 'White Man' feedling the third world is part of the problem. When the UN air drops in tons of free grain, it completely decimates any motivation on the part of the local population to grow their own grain, because it drops the price of the grain to near zero. It wipes out local producers completely.

      The solution is technology transfer: help the local producers obtain the means to locally grow the food the local people need.

      This, however, does not give the large Agribusinesses in the first world tons of money from the government buying their grain and/or collecting it in exchange for price-support subsidies. In fact, it enables the people in other parts of the world with the ability to complete with said large Agribusinesses.

    80. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by TheRealMindChild · · Score: 4, Funny

      Right, but apart from the sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?

      --

      "When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
    81. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

      Tune those food reactions to resonance, man.

      Don't let your kid outta the glass bubble, he would develop antibodies.

      Did your cousin ever play out-of-doors to get exposed to nature? Does your aunt have a peculiar fascination with lysol, perchance?

    82. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

      We've known lead and mercury were toxic for centuries. Where do you get the idea it's been mere decades?

      There wasn't the will to begin regulating lead and mercury emissions. And lead was being placed in gasoline and thus pumped into the air when vehicles burned said gasoline. Paint chips are also a problem, but we and our children were literally breathing large quantities of lead.

    83. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

      Welcome to Slashdot, where compiling your own kernel is a liberating experience and gives you vast insight into every aspect of human knowledge.

    84. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

      Otherwise there will always be starving people in bad places because they keep breeding beyond their food supply (it's a modern human trait) no matter how much food you give them.

      There's the key. When you give somebody free food, it takes away all incentive for them to produce their own, and it depresses food prices, which wipes out of business anybody in the local economy who is still motivated to want to grow local food.

      It's the 'give a man a fish/teach a man to fish' deal. Something taught by those, uh, Catholics that you're having your five-minute-hate over.

    85. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by soupbowl · · Score: 0

      As a 3rd gen logger, this is total bs.

    86. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by ChromeAeonium · · Score: 1

      The existence of GMOs have NOT boosted production in the slightest.

      Tell that to the papaya farmers in Hawaii. Virus resistant GMO papaya saved the industry. Without GMOs, there would be no papayas on the Big Island. How's that for a yield gain?

      Second, you completely ignore the also prevalent Bt crops, which while they have not had much of a yield impact in developed countries (which is no surprise since insecticides are readily available there) but have had noticeable impacts in developing countries like India.

      Third, why do you pretend this is all about yield? It's not. You criticize herbicide tolerant crops, yet I don't see you proposing a better idea for weed control. Would you like to go back to harsher herbicides? Or maybe tilling the hell out of the soil? Besides economic benefits, there is also the benefits of no-till and replacing harsher herbicides. It is a perfect system? Nope, but I don't hear the anti-GMO crowd volunteering to weed a few million acres by hand.

      This herbicide immunity, by the way, is an immunity being acquired by other "pest" plants which were the original target of the herbicide.

      The first example of an herbicide resistant weed was in the 70's, so your argument has more to do with over-reliance on a single mode of action herbicide than genetic engineering. Surprise, evolution in the weed population works the same regardless of whether or not a transgene is present. It is telling that one of the best arguments against genetic engineering is 'we might lose some of the benefits it has provided.'

      GMOs do not represent a world-saving technology.

      No one is saying they are, but to point that out is like saying that vaccines won't cure everything, therefore they are bad. That's an asinine argument. As the case of papaya in Hawai'i and Bt crops in Asia & South America, while they are no panacea they can indeed help.

      What they represent is a danger to the world's food supply not only because it comes under control of a small collection of companies,

      The consolidation of seed companies has been going on for a very long time. Just because you didn't start paying attention until GMOs showed up doesn't mean GMOs did it. Correlation, not causation.

      but because it reduces the varieties of plants available. In the event a disease develops to wipe out these GMOs, there may be extreme starvation and human suffering due to the continual growth of GMO use.

      Please explain how the presence of a transgene is reducing the varieties of crops out there. you are confusing the selection of genes, aka conventional breeding, with the insertion of a small number of genes. They are very different. Genetic monoculture is caused by having a lot of similar genetics, not from having a single gene inserted. Now, to be fair, over relying on a single inserted transgene can and has resulting in pests overcoming the resistance, but the same thing has happened in with conventional systems, from hessian fly overcoming the conventionally bred resistance in wheat to late blight overcoming tomato resistance, to the fall of the Gros Michael banana. You are taking a basic agricultural issue completely out of context.

      Please shill for Monsanto elsewhere.

      Ah, the big shill gambit. Not just for anti-vaxxers anymore!

    87. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by ChromeAeonium · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I think many people would have much less of a problem with GMO foods in general if Monsanto's business practices weren't so oppressively evil

      While I am not a fan of finding myself defending some big multinational, here's the problem with that thought: it didn't start with Monsanto. The fear mongering surrounding GE crops started with the Flavr Savr tomato, developed by a small company called Calgene. Then Monsanto come along and people say 'GMO foods are bad because of Monsanto.' Well, that is clearly ignorant of the history of the matter, and furthermore, a lot of the 'evil' things Monsanto does, like suing farmers for being cross pollinated, are mostly myths spread by, you guessed it, the anti-GMO groups.

      Fact is, if there were no Monsanto, it would be necessary for the anti-GMO moment to invent it. When your argument largely revolves around everyone disagreeing with you being paid shills, and most scientists disagree with you, you need a conspiracy. Doesn't matter if we're talking evolution, climate change, vaccines, or GMOs. Same thing. In this case, it is Monsanto who ties together the GMO conspiracy. Clearly, I am a paid shill, because the facts have a pro-Monsanto bias.

      and the notion of routinely spraying Roundup on all our cereal grains (both for humans and livestock) weren't quite so heinous.

      What gets me about that is it isn't! I'd much rather glyphosate be sprayed than one of the nastier herbicides out there. And what are your other options? Tillage and hand weeding mostly, and the first destroys the soil while the second is economically preposterous. The problem is that people are so damned disconnected from agriculture that what should be seen as a good thing is instead demonized. I'm not saying that it is an ideal situation, but realistically, you have to deal with weeds somehow. weed control is not optional, if it were farmers wouldn't bother spraying in the first place, but for not, herbicide tolerant systems are the best we've got.

    88. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What is to be gained by informing consumers when they just can't really understand the issues!

      With GMO food being labeled, someone understanding the issues could collect the information (who ate what and how often) and then correlate it to the long term health. AKA statistical analysis.

      With GMO industry professing the neutral or even beneficial effects of their product, one has to wonder why are they so opposed to labeling.

    89. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by ChromeAeonium · · Score: 1

      Radiation mutation in agriculture is a myth

      Not sure what you mean by that, lots of varieties out there have been developed with mutation breeding, like the Pusa Nanha papaya, the Rio Red grapefruit, and lots of other things that don't get such easy to remember names. IIRC, about 80% of the world's wheat has such plant in its ancestor somewhere.

    90. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by ChromeAeonium · · Score: 0

      We don't need no stinkin' GMO food

      Maybe you don't, but you don't speak for the world, do you? I'm sure if the farmers agreed they would be planting things like Golden Bantam, but they aren't.

      it's all about making seed banks all bound to Intellectual Property

      Seed banks? Not sure the relevance to seed banks here.

      making money for Monsanto

      That someone profits does not imply the thing they profit from is bad.

    91. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Jherek+Carnelian · · Score: 1

      So I read that article and all I could think of was advertising for pyramid schemes selling "superfoods" - those superfood MLM guys love to throw out hundreds of citations to studies that "prove" that superfoods really are super. Sounds super impressive. But it all falls apart once you go look at the actual studies and see that they don't support the MLM's claims, they are just a list of keyword matches for whatever the MLM is selling.

      Same thing with that article - they cite 2000 studies as proof that GM foods are "highly analyzed." But when you go look at the studies themselves it isn't analysis of specific foods, instead it is reports with names like "Five years of Bt cotton in China - the benefits continue," "Action needed to harmonize regulation of low-level presence of biotech traits" and "Swedish farmers attitudes, expectations and fears in relation to growing genetically modified crops."

      By citing that article what you actually did was affirm my point. I mean if that list of studies is representative of the kind of testing GM crops actually get, then they are barely getting tested at all.

    92. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by ChromeAeonium · · Score: 1

      Oh okay, well we'll just fix all the social, economic, and political issues that need to be fixed before creating this perfect distribution system. How silly of those dumb agricultural scientists for not thinking of that simple solution sooner!

      But seriously, what you are talking about is a lot harder than inserting a gene into a crop. You can insert a gene for pest resistance into a corn, but you can't fix a government or poverty so easily. In the meantime, people are starving. And even if it were so simple to fix all the world's problems, that still would not imply that genetic improvements cannot be sued to improve agriculture.

    93. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by quenda · · Score: 1

      And the peanut allergy scare,

      wtf man? it's not a scare, it's a real problem.I have a cousin that is so alergique (I'm not kidding) that the mere presence of peanuts in the room provoque a reaction (a call a freaking ambulance, reaction), it is not an anecdote, I've seen it with my own eyes!

      Your anecdote merely adds to the evidence of mass hysteria over actual allergy.

    94. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Penguinisto · · Score: 1

      There is one more option that allows population growth, but it involves a lot of investment in rocketry, self-sufficient environments, and zero/low-gravity construction techniques.

      --
      Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
    95. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by WOOFYGOOFY · · Score: 1

      Bad Debating technique #354- change the subject to something no one is contemplating.

      We're not talking about infinite other hypothetical possibilities, we're talking about this real one.

      In the real world, where real people live their real lives, only a subset of possibilities is ever realized and those are the ones we address.

      If there ever IS a significant percentage of the populace that feels strongly about some other label, then those should be provided also. It is, after all, the 21st century- we're not running out of "room for information" wrt to the things we purchase.

      Really when it comes down to it, that's a very 20th century concern.. so many labels, why In can't even tell what the product is! Time to update that one.

      It's amazing to me to listen to people actually argue that factual information needs to be suppressed from consumers. It's really.. something.

    96. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by ChromeAeonium · · Score: 1

      It's like how the entire Irish potato famine was very avoidable.

      Assume you are alive during that period in Ireland. Would you rather have a GMO potato to eat, or someone simply telling you that you wouldn't need it if only the English would be more compassionate? Yes, the world does produce enough food for everyone, for now anyway, given current trends we are going to need more technology rather than less (and for some reason, everyone seems to think going backwards in agricultural progress is a good thing...no one seriously says that about computer, medical, or energy technologies). Nonetheless, unless those problems are fixed, it doesn't help those who could use genetically improved crops in the meantime, especially considering the arrangements against them ranger from weak to veritably false.

    97. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh please. Stop being a Monsanto apologist.

    98. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nuke them from orbit?

    99. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by stenvar · · Score: 1

      How much of our planet's fossil fuel resources should we continue to mine for large-scale agriculture, before we have the conversation about why there are so many starving third-worlders,

      There are fewer and fewer "starving third-worlders" thanks to economic development.

      and what we might do to control overpopulation?

      We already know what to do to control population growth, namely economic growth.

      The enemy of that is people like you, people who threaten to destroy economic growth through heavy-handed and ill thought out interference in markets.

    100. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by stenvar · · Score: 2

      So, what's the deal with giving us a label to know if it is GMO or not?

      Because "GMO" is not a scientifically meaningful category of food. It's like labeling food for whether it was at one point stored in containers with the number "13" printed on them, or whether it was ever touched by a Mennonite priest.

      When is having information about your food ever a bad thing?

      When it's not actually information and instead reinforces superstition and irrational fears.

      If you are going to have food labeling laws, then make them rational: have the food labeled according to actual content. Of course, a lot of "organic food" would end up with the same content labels as GMO foods.

    101. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by ApplePy · · Score: 1

      Not to mention, the Howard Families to lead the way.... ;-)

      --
      That I'm right, and you don't like it, doesn't mean I'm a troll.
    102. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by stenvar · · Score: 1

      You're not getting it. It's not about the absolute rightness or wrongness of GMO . It's about the fact that a very significant portion of the people WANT GMO labeling.

      So if a significant portion want people to be labeled with yellow stars or pink triangles, they should get that too?

      People also want kosher shit because it MEANS something to them.

      And people who want "kosher shit" choose brands that voluntarily label themselves that way; they don't band together and force every food manufacturer to label their food as to whether it is kosher or not. If they did, I would certainly object, just like I object to mandatory GMO labeling.

      Stop telling people what should and should not be significant to them.

      The problem isn't about what's "significant" to people, it's about a group of people trying to impose idiotic and irrational labeling requirements on others.

      If you want GMO-free food and some manufacturer chooses not to label their food, don't buy their shit. Simple as that.

    103. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by erroneus · · Score: 2

      Try again:

      http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/04/business/energy-environment/04weed.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

      There was an article right here on slashdot which served to announce the problem which had been speculated to happen eventually has been confirmed.

    104. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by ChromeAeonium · · Score: 2

      No, it's about being open and honest about what goes into your food.

      Okay, what gets labeled? Personally, I want to know if my peanuts have genes for nematode resistance bred in from other Arachis species? Or maybe what resistance gene (Ph-3, Ph-5, ect) is in my tomato. Maybe I'd like to know what rootstock my pear was grafted onto. I'd also like to know if my carrot was the result of a doubled haploid hybrid. Tell me what line of wheat is in my bread, and if it is the result of a mutation breeding line. Is my banana the result of tissue culture? What bud sport of apple am I eating?

      Here's another thing to think about: GE corn has higher levels of fungal toxin. If Monsanto, in the name of consumer education, lobbied for non-GE corn labeled as having increased mycotoxins, would you think them scummy? What if they pushed for a clear label on organic food if I was grown in manure? Now reverse that, and when organic producers and organization try to push labels on things they conveniently sell the alternative to, then suddenly it is out of their own benevolence? Bollocks to that.

      Why is no one advocating those? I'll tell you why. You could label all sorts of things about food, but they are not required because that is as meaningless as labeling the day of harvest. You want to know if something is GE or not; it is easy, corn, soy, canola, cotton, alfalfa, sugar beet, papaya, summer squash. If it has them, with some nuance, and isn't organic, it is likely GE. With a little education, no labels needed, so why push for them? Why not just do voluntary labeling for those who care, like Kosher and Halal? Because the organic companies funding those initiatives are looking to get government mandated marketing, that's why. There is a reason they are pushing for labeling and not education (although their versions of education are about as scientific as creationism). There is a reason they are singling out a single thing and not giving any of the background information to understand the significance of that thing.

      That was pretty damn insidious by Pro-GMO Big Ag.

      Well, considering that the anti-GMO guys tried to manipulate the law to benefit their own organic businesses, I'd say there's more than enough anger to go around. Sure, I'm mad at Monsanto too, but organic producers tried to irrationally demonize a beneficial technology that could be saving lives simply for their won profit, and that's way worse than Monsanto's anti-prop 37 campaign.

    105. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by ChromeAeonium · · Score: 1

      what's the deal with giving us a label to know if it is GMO or not

      Demonizing a beneficial technology is a good one. Furthermore, you could say that about a lot of things. What's the harm in knowing if food is Haram? Maybe we should have mandatory labeling for Islamic dietary laws? But of course, that would be silly. Same here. There's lots of things that could be labeled on food, but unless something is has a good reason beyond 'I want it' (like allergens or calories, for instance) then I don't see your legal grounds for mandatory labeling. Besides, it is pretty easy to tell if something is GE or not with a little education for those who really care. There are only eight food crops that are actually genetically engineered, and if you can't take a few minutes to educate yourself, that's your own lazy problem.

    106. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by ChromeAeonium · · Score: 1

      How about letting the marketplace decide?

      I don't think you know what a free market is. There is already non-GE options out there. In a free market, people will chose them if they really want ot. In a less free market, those selling the non-GE crops will have the government enforce what amounts scare labels (at least after years of baseless fearmongering anyway) on competitors' products.

    107. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by kenshin33 · · Score: 1

      it is not a mass hysteria, it's a freaking life threatening condition!
      there are allergies that makes you sneeze, and others that send you straight to the grave!
      You're lucky (I assume) you don't have those, some do not share your luck!

    108. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by ChromeAeonium · · Score: 1

      You are basically saying that if the problems of the world were to go away we wouldn't need solutions. That's a pretty vacuous statement.

      GMO is a non-solution to a problem that we could much more easily prevent.

      And yet, no one would say the same of breeding for higher yield or disease resistance, but suddenly when you use technology, it is wrong.

      The only winner in GMO is the patent holder who collects the royalties.

      And the farmers, and the people, and the environment. Things look pretty grim when you ignore a lot of facts.

    109. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by ChromeAeonium · · Score: 1

      And I forgot to add that one of the reason people in developing countries have so many kids is because they need them. Improve their social conditions, and that need goes away. If you give people food, they will have more kids yes, but only in the short term. Letting people starve, besides being inhumane, is doesn't even address any issue with overpopulation (which has been predicted to kill us all for quite some time now...the population bomb as the consistency of every other end of the world).

    110. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by kenshin33 · · Score: 1

      Don't know, but what's done is done. he's stuck with it! all he can do is avoid at any price any contact with anything that touched peanuts. And for that he has to know -it's a matter of life and death for him-
      . I know some kid (neighbours) that has never lived in a bubble and I know for sure that he's mother has no fascination for Lysol or anything like that, but he has a mild allergy to shrimps and stuff like that (inconvenienced if he eats any, but that's it).

    111. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by WOOFYGOOFY · · Score: 1

      Is this supposed to somehow be different than your earlier argument? It just goes to show you still don't get it. You're not making your point "clearer" by making the example more ridiculous.

      In a democratic republic the whole point of government is to enact the will of the people, excepting when that will tramples the inalienable rights of a minority.

      What you're saying with your argument is that if people want something YOU consider to be pointless and stupid, then the government should ignore THEM and do what YOU want because YOU know better than they do. That's rule by fiat and nothing more. Someone other than the People - who knows better, always - has decided the issue for them. This is not democracy in any form. Quite the opposite.

      People with strongly held values have a right to see those values enacted into law through legislative process. Where people disagree, then it's a battle with compromise. I don't know of anyone who feels strongly that they don't want accurate and complete information about the food they eat except people who are employed by food companies who are afraid it will hurt their sales if people have that information. There is no constituency for "don't let us know" . People want this and because they want it, because it's important to them because it's their value they should get it. Same thing with dolphin-free tuna. Same thing with country of origin.

      People with dollar signs in their eyes grotesquely underestimate the passion that the human animal brings to the subject of what it eats. Don[t fuck with it. Don't even think of fucking with people's food in a way they don't like. You have no idea the depth of feeling involved with this. It's genetic and primal, coming virtually straight out of the brain stem. People are born to be obsessed with food and its safety and security. Food insecurity topples governments. Anything that even comes near to invoking food insecurity gets the hammer of the gods drawn down upon it.

      Supposing you're from the industry, believe me. you want to pick another fight. You want to work your PR from another angle. Label it and let people get used to it, then it won't matter. But if people want GMO labeling, they're going to have it or heads are going to roll, THEN they're going to have it.

    112. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by ApplePy · · Score: 1

      There are fewer and fewer "starving third-worlders" thanks to economic development.

      Citation, please? Kindly don't forget to count people on food aid.

      We already know what to do to control population growth, namely economic growth. [...]people who threaten to destroy economic growth through heavy-handed and ill thought out interference in markets.

      Now hold on there, bub. Nowhere did I even hint at interference in markets. But since you went there, let's talk about interference in markets.

      How about agribusiness conglomerates interfering in markets? Like, say, dumping American corn in Mexico at far below the Mexican cost of production? That one thing directly caused economic failure for millions of Mexican farmers, forcing them northward for work. That's heavy-handed, don't you think?

      What about corporations "privatizing" the water supplies of South American countries, charging for what was once free? How is that not interfering in the market?

      What about building sweatshops in the poorest countries to take advantage of cheap labor, as unemployment and poverty grow back home? How many thousands of American unemployed does it take to rate "heavy-handed"?

      What about forcing Bt cotton into India? Roundup-Ready soybeans into Brazil? Those weren't voluntary actions by peasant farmers; those were forced actions carried out by bribing government officials. That's not market interference?

      I'm sorry, but you need to unplug from the propaganda mill for a moment. Free markets (a la Adam Smith), and what we know today as capitalism, are not even distant relatives. They're different species. I'm all for free markets. I think a free market would be a great idea, but I don't think any of us have ever seen one.

      Anyway: the economic growth mantra is not a solution; it's a mantra. Unlimited, perpetual economic growth is no more possible than unlimited, perpetual population growth.

      --
      That I'm right, and you don't like it, doesn't mean I'm a troll.
    113. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by aardvarkjoe · · Score: 1

      Supposing you're from the industry, believe me. you want to pick another fight. You want to work your PR from another angle. Label it and let people get used to it, then it won't matter. But if people want GMO labeling, they're going to have it or heads are going to roll, THEN they're going to have it.

      If you actually believed this, then you wouldn't be trying to use the government to force GMO labeling -- because people simply would refuse to buy food that wasn't labeled.

      --

      How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?
    114. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by ne0n · · Score: 2

      Feel free to be part of Monsanto's unpaid alpha-testing group. Those of us who plan to be around for a while and care for the environment will stick to real food. The "organic craze" is not just about avoiding Monsanto's blunders - it's about sustainable ecology and doing your part for a better earth. Less pesticides is a huge win (ie, not poisoning your kids and pets and anybody in a windspeed*time radius). Organic typically means you have to rotate your crops, leading to healthier soil (ie, no dust bowl effect) and better nitrogen fixation for healthier more disease-resistant crops all round. Growing organic also means composting instead of imported fertilizers so kids in foreign countries don't have to sweat in bat-shit mines.

      In addition to saving the topsoil for future generations (a big deal if you know squat about American farming) there's less runoff to poison neighboring fields.

      Ultimately there's a ton more to organic than you know about, and I tend to blame your incurious child-like ability to believe anything told you by people in white coats. Oh, and Monsanto too, for being the biggest lying fucktard organization on the planet. They have no safety track record, have contaminated just about every crop market they enter beyond reasonable salvage while their marketing droids to spew out the same nasty jizz so fools like you can lap it up like old dirty hookers. Enjoy that on your GMO cereal.

      --
      $ :(){ :|:& };:
    115. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by ApplePy · · Score: 2

      And yet, no one would say the same of breeding for higher yield or disease resistance, but suddenly when you use technology, it is wrong.

      Not "wrong". Untested, unproven, with insufficient research on safety. Also, GM crops have thus far failed to deliver on the higher yield claims: http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_agriculture/our-failing-food-system/genetic-engineering/failure-to-yield.html

      And the farmers, and the people, and the environment.

      Well, let's see. Your first link leads to a German academic paper that would cost me 40 bucks in PDF to debunk. But the summary provides a few bar graphs which immediately give the lie to the text -- at best, pesticide use is only *slightly* reduced on Bt cotton.

      The third link is an advertisement, full of lies, damned lies, statistics, and weasel language. Its authors, Graham Brookes and Peter Barfoot of
      PG Economics Ltd., Dorchester, UK, trace back to here -- http://www.pgeconomics.co.uk/who-we-are.php -- where it says things like: "PG Economics Limited is a specialist provider of advisory and consultancy services to agriculture and other natural resource-based industries. Our specific areas of specialisation are plant biotechnology, agricultural production systems, agricultural markets and policy." and "...on-going management consultancy and advice in the following core areas: Commercialisation of new technology/biotechnology". Translation, in case you didn't catch it: they're selling something.

      The advertisement's premise is that chemical use is reduced because of herbicide-tolerant GM crops. Sounds great. Except, well... it's bullshit. A quick Google search kicks out 14 million results for "pesticide use up", this one from Reuters at the top: Pesticide use ramping up as GMO crop technology backfires: study The chemical companies are selling more herbicide than ever, because farmers didn't used to spray herbicide on crops because it would fucking kill them! Topping that off, the weeds are developing herbicide resistance... so... now what?

      Things look pretty grim when you ignore a lot of facts.

      Try harder next time; I've got plenty more ammo.

      --
      That I'm right, and you don't like it, doesn't mean I'm a troll.
    116. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Therefore we do not have a state statute requiring the labeling of food as containing all or part GMO components.

      That was pretty damn insidious by Pro-GMO Big Ag.

      Yes, that is very unfortunate. I suggest mandatory labeling all the non-GMO food, with a big warning label, similar to cigarettes, or a red triangle: "WARNING: DOES NOT CONTAIN GMO". That should work for anti-GMO folks too - after all, it's about people's right to know, not about scaring people, right?

    117. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by quenda · · Score: 1

      It is both. Seafood, milk, egg and beestings can be life-threatening conditions, but oddly we are not banning those foods or flowers from schools.
      Peanuts alone have passed well into the hysteria realm.
        Its got so bad that some nutters think that contact or even smell of peanuts can cause an anaphylaxis. Yes, it has been in media reports, but they were wrong, and retractions go unpublished or unnoticed. Thats how hysteria spreads.

    118. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by ranton · · Score: 2

      You're not getting it. It's not about the absolute rightness or wrongness of GMO . It's about the fact that a very significant portion of the people WANT GMO labeling.

      People also want kosher shit because it MEANS something to them. People want country of origin labeling for meat for GOOD reason- because some nations practice poor CJD defense and some don't. People want dolphin free tuna because it MEANS something to them and their value system. Stop telling people what should and should not be significant to them.

      I'm confused. Are you advocating that all food should be labeled "Non-kosher" if it isn't kosher? And that all seafood should be labeled "May have dolphin" if it may have dolphin?

      I am perfectly fine with kosher shops labeling their food kosher, and for EarthTrust and the Earth Island Institute creating dolphin free labeling. I am also perfectly fine with food producers using GMO-free labeling if they wish. Forcing people to put a big GMO label on all food that uses it is where I draw the line. Just like I draw the line at labeling all foods Non-kosher.

      --
      -- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke
    119. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by kenshin33 · · Score: 1

      not baning, (I'm for anyone buying- procuring- anything if they feel like it) but merely labelling. This product can contain this and that and let people make the decision to consume or not (someone who's allergic will probably not, someone who doesn't like either -- I don't like hot sauce that contains sugar, usually I look for it on the label, if it weren't on the label i'd have to taste the thing before buying it, which is impossible in the store, before buying it --)
      saves lives, and no liability in case of a big incident (lack of information might kill in this instance). The one thing I don t get though in regarding the GMO labelling, if this or that company refuses to label, let them. Then those are not using any GMO in their product, should stop bitching and start advertising that on their boxes. From that consumers should assume that by default GMOs are present. What they do with that info is up to them
      -- that said, the fact that GMO are dangerous or not is really irrelevant, as many people stated above and below they avoid GMOs for "political" reasons --

    120. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by quenda · · Score: 1

      I never heard anyone arguing against mandatory labelling of allergen ingredients. ( Is that not done in your country? )
      Except at the school cake stall, where i think its best optional.

      GMO labelling though is a different issue. Much more political than a health issue.

    121. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by ttucker · · Score: 1

      I'm not saying that it is an ideal situation, but realistically, you have to deal with weeds somehow. weed control is not optional, if it were farmers wouldn't bother spraying in the first place,

      Prepare for a diatribe about neo-communist subsistence farming.

    122. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Common+Joe · · Score: 1

      So, you know, let the customers beta test it.

      This is my biggest problem with GMOs. That and any testing done is extremely questionable until the real financial backers are ferreted out. (That goes for both sides of the GMO argument.) When it comes to GMOs, the truth is very obscured. Based on history, when it is hard to find out the truth, it usually means something bad is buried and hard to find. (Again, that goes for both sides of the GMO argument.)

    123. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by phayes · · Score: 1

      Oh bullshit. DNA Testing has made it possible to expose plants to radiation & winnow out the unwanted mutations. It's much less efficient than cutting & splicing but how exactly do you think Nature has come up with the current genetic codes?

      --
      Democracy is a sheep and two wolves deciding what to have for lunch. Freedom is a well armed sheep contesting the issue
    124. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bzzzt. If a scientist could demonstrate GMOs cause cancer (or even produce novel mutagenic metabolites), that would make their career. There's no known mechanism because there probably isn't one.

    125. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Solandri · · Score: 2

      The examples that people trot out of "Farmer Brown" as you say, had the farmers lose in court as they were deliberately and knowingly taking GMO seeds.

      Have you actually read the case? Schmeiser lost because he was indeed using Monsanto's seed without a license, but was fined only $1 because he did not benefit from the GMO seed in any way. He used RoundUp to kill weeds in the ditches surrounding his crop, but not on the crop itself. There was no motive for him to "deliberately and knowingly take GMO seeds." That's just the way Monsanto's PR spun the case.

      Essentially the case established a precedent (in Canada) that the burden of preventing accidental spread is on the farmer - even if you're just farming with no intent of using GMOs, you must pay to test your seeds to insure that you weren't accidentally contaminated. IMHO this is contradictory to a fundamental tenet of responsibility most of us learned in grade school - if you make something and benefit (profit) from its positive aspects, you are also responsible for its negative effects. If Monsanto is benefiting from selling GMOs, they should be the ones paying to prevent its unwanted spread, not the farmers.

      Monsanto will in fact, pay farmers for any crops contaminated via cross pollination for farms that do not have an agreement.

      Interesting. First I've heard of it. Do you have a reference? The last I heard on the topic was that Monsanto's lawyers had gotten a combined cross-contamination case thrown out of court because the plaintiff (an organic farmers organization) lacked standing (were not the directly injured party - the farmers were). A quick google search only turns up cases of Monsanto suing farmers for cross-contamination, or promising not to sue if the contamination is "slight" and squelching any legal attempts to assign a definite amount.

    126. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Urkki · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Selecting something is not modifying it. Genetic modification (in today's context) is about producing individual specimens with modified or new genes, not just differently mixed genes of its parents. Trying to muddle this is dishonest.

      Actual genetic modification is going to be the biggest revolution in human history, possibly biggest revolution in the history of life on this planet if we don't destroy our civilization before it becomes as ubiquitous as cell phones are today. Saying it's just extension of what we've been doing for millenia is like saying updating globally accessible Wikipedia article with mobile device on-location and real time is just extension of prehistoric people drawing stuff in sand with a stick. Sure, it is, if you select your viewpoint carefully.

    127. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Even so, we've already seen where purely profit-driven practices has lead us.

      Leaving aside other industries (housing maket crash, .com boom, etc.), in the food industry, a major contributing factor to the mad cows thingie were farmers feeding animals with slaughterhouse leftovers. And while we can live without beef for a while, if anything goes wrong with a GMO crop it would probably spell mass starvation to many areas of the world in the effort to contain the crisis.

      Even if Monsanto is not putting any pressure on the farmers to choose GMO, it is still a good idea to regulate their use just to avoid monocultures.

    128. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by ChromeAeonium · · Score: 2

      Untested, unproven, with insufficient research on safety.

      Ignoring all this perhaps. Hey, if they are so untested, why is it that all those things currently awaiting approval listed on the APHIS site are not yet on the market? Is it our of Monsanto's altruistic concern? And why can't university labs muster up the funding to jump past the regulatory hurdles? Which is it, not tested, or Monsanto cares?

      Also, GM crops have thus far failed to deliver on the higher yield claims

      Note how they specify 'in the United States' with the implication that GE crops were supposed to improve yields. You do realize there is more to agriculture than yield, yes? If you are already tilling and spraying insecticides/herbicides, as is the case in developed countries, do you honestly expect insect resistant and herbicide tolerant crops to improve yields? Of course not, though if you talk to a farmer about the Round-Up/LibertyLink systems, they still prefer it (hell, there's even some evidence to indicate that sometimes they have lower yield in those systems, but railing on that makes the silly assumption that agriculture can be measured with a single number). If the UCS's report is news to you than you are pretty uninformed.

      Naturally of course, they conveniently ignore the Rainbow papaya that saved the Hawaiian papaya industry, which should undeniably demonstrate that GE crops can serve a purpose for yield gains, even if we assume that preventing insect damage, by some curiously unexplained phenomenon, does not reduce losses.

      As for your criticisms, first off, you must be looking at a different graph that I am, second fails to point out anything of interest, and third your criticism is basically 'we might lose the benefits already provided by GE crops therefore GE crops are bad' which is pretty silly, especially considering that not all herbicides are the same, a fact Benbrook consistently ignores (sort of like a liter of wine has more mass than a line of cocaine but less impact, which is the true measure of a substance), that same scenario, and similar cases with respect to pests and pathogens, has happened with numerous crops in the past, yet it is only with GE crops that people direct criticism for basic issues of agriculture.

    129. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      where Monsanto goons have appeared with local law enforcement dragged in as their flunkies, to seize farms where they suspect a farmer is reusing seed or is using crop seed contaminated from a neighboring GMO field.

      When a farmer buys tons of chemicals to mix himself a copy of Roundup and sprays Roundup on his fields any claim that he did not know and did not want Roundup ready crops you should really suspect that something is of.

    130. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by ChromeAeonium · · Score: 1

      the testing coverage of GMOs is very weak.

      Then why has Monsanto/Dow not released their 2,4-D and dicamba tolerant crops? Why did it take so long to release DroughtGard? What you are saying is the exact opposite of true; the testing is too stringent, preventing university research from seeing fruition (except fo the University of Hawai'i's Rainbow papaya).

      There is this get out jail free card they use to legally avoid testing called substantial equivalence [wikipedia.org] - the theory is that if you are just mixing genes from two different kinds of food, then its all good.

      No, substantial equivalence says if two things are functionally the same you can treat the like it. So, if a corn is a corn except it has a cspB in it, and if this protein is shown to be treated by the body no differently than the rest of the proteins produced by the plant, and the corn has no other meaningful differences, then it is treated the same as any other corn. You are completely misrepresenting the concept.

      So yeah, there is no known mechanism because no one is looking for one.

      No, there is no known mechanism because there's no known mechanism. And by the way, why is it that you claims no one is looking for any mechanism? Another ridiculous Monsanto conspiracy about how everyone in plant & agricultural science are evil/paid off? We eat the same food you do you know, and if there were any evidence that it were dangerous, it is pretty insulting to say that every plant scientist, except for a few crackpots like Séralini, would turn a blind eye to it. And why is it that if you said the same thing about climate change, evolution, wifi, or vaccines, then you would be recognized as very silly, but somehow when you say the same thing about GE crops it is insightful?

    131. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Fuzzums · · Score: 1

      So what happens is that seed production is in the hands of one big corporation. Monsanto.
      It's suing farmers for accidental cross pollination or in other words they pollute the crops of farmers with their product and then they sure them.
      Farmers, thinking their production will go up, don't realize their expenses go up three times, making their profit less.
      What already has happened, is that a lot of farmers use the same seeds and, oh, surprise, there was a disease that targeted their expensive crops... Aaaannnd it was all gone. The harvest of a very big region ruined. In India this has already led to whole (cotton) farmer communities to go bankrupt.
      Great job GMO.

      Root cause: we are with too many people on this earth. GMO will not solve that problem.

      --
      Privacy is terrorism.
    132. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by ChromeAeonium · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Yeah, I'd have a lot less problem with GM foods, if they weren't leading to monopolization of the food provision chain by one or a very few companies.

      Then you should advocate for less restrictions of GE crops. Many in academia would love to be able to release new GE lines of crops, but cannot because the high regulatory burden favors large companies like Monsanto. Ironically, people who are ideologically opposed to GE crops and demand greater regulation are shielding Monsanto from competition.

    133. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by ChromeAeonium · · Score: 1

      It's about the fact that a very significant portion of the people WANT GMO labeling.

      A very significant portion, when asked, also want a Lamborghini. What's your point? If people really want GE labeling, there are already things like the Non-GMO project. Have at it. But wait, those products don't have a majority market share, almost as if most people don't actually care, and the push for labeling is coming form organic groups and ideologically opposed groups trying to legislate their marketing. I want organic products to clearly start 'grown in poop.' Hey, why are they hiding that fact by not labeling it, hmm? That works both ways.

      Who is Monsanto to decide we can't know true facts about the things we put in our bodies???

      The information is freely available, just because you are too lazy to do a five second Google search to find it does not mean it should be labeled. You are creating a controversy where none exists.

      you don't know that all present and future GMO products are not unsafe in ways people fear. I

      You are demanding I prove a negative? You have no idea how science actually works do you?

    134. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Terminus32 · · Score: 1

      GMOs are EVIL. They don't 'feed' people, they are slowly killing them as part of a eugenics agenda. GMOs aren't real food. People are waking up, time to switch back to eating organic raw foods - food that your body recognises as food, none of this processed junk.

      --
      http://nathanlindsell.blogspot.com/
    135. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 1

      More importantly, it hides the fact that GMOs are not at all used to feed the aforementioned starving peoples.

      Right. And if I buy a wino food, I'm not supporting his wine habit, because it doesn't free up what money he does have for wine.

      Because nothing is fungible.

    136. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Genetically modified food feeds over a billion people who would not otherwise be able to eat given the arable land available.

      That is a lie, and you are a liar. No wonder you didn't log in.

      The Green Revolution led directly to famines. You really have no idea what you're talking about, not even close. Zero-tilth organic agriculture actually produces higher per-acre yields than so-called "green" revolution farming. It doesn't lend itself to machine cultivation, but it is superior in literally every other way. In short, GM and even the green revolution are about profit first and everything else second, and you are a useful idiot.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    137. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      If you actually study the green revolution and agriculture, it is indeed an accurate figure.

      If you actually study agriculture, you'll know that the world produces more than enough food to feed all of the humans on the planet every year.

      If you actually study agriculture, you'll know that no-tilth biointensive organic agriculture produces higher yields than "green revolution" farming which supposedly has made it possible to feed the world.

      The only difference between modern GMO food and previous versions, is that radiation mutation was used to create the variants.

      That's a massive difference for a whole host of reasons which should not have to be detailed to anyone who can string a sentence together.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    138. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by drinkypoo · · Score: 0, Troll

      Fact is, if there were no Monsanto, it would be necessary for the anti-GMO moment to invent it.

      Fact is, if there were no Monsanto, there probably wouldn't be an anti-GMO movement, or at least it would be a pale shadow of its current self. Because Monsanto is provably pure, unadulterated evil which should have been destroyed and its officers imprisoned for their environmental crimes long before they knowingly created dioxin-contaminated Agent Orange which we sprayed all over Viet Nam. The only good thing about Monsanto is that you know anything they are involved with must be evil.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    139. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      and the notion of routinely spraying Roundup on all our cereal grains (both for humans and livestock) weren't quite so heinous.

      What gets me about that is it isn't! I'd much rather glyphosate be sprayed than one of the nastier herbicides out there. And what are your other options? Tillage and hand weeding mostly, and the first destroys the soil while the second is economically preposterous.

      Guess what? Glyphosphate is used with soil which is tilled, because that's what they do before planting the crops that it's used on as SOP. Your other option is zero-tilth organic agriculture with trap crops and integrated pest management. At this time you have to weed and harvest it by hand, but there's millions of people out of work in every country which produces any significant amount of food, so there's plenty of labor available. And we're on the cusp of building robots which can pick fruit better than humans, being able to use laser spectrometry to detect ripe produce and attached to the end of an arm instead of climbing up and down ladders, or bending over.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    140. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Same thing with that article - they cite 2000 studies as proof that GM foods are "highly analyzed." But when you go look at the studies themselves it isn't analysis of specific foods

      Yes, this is how I detect morons and liars now. They cite articles instead of studies.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    141. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Considering the alternative involves a whole lot of death and/or overly-intrusive governmental control of one's life (e.g. China's "one child" policy)... well, good luck with that.

      It's not overly intrusive simply because you say it is. If the earth cannot support more people, and controlling how many children people can have is the answer, then it's needful intrusion. And if the Chinese cannot regulate their breeding without government interference, then clearly they need their breeding regulated. That goes for everyone else, too.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    142. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      You do realize there is more to agriculture than yield, yes?

      Sure there is. But you do realize you're engaging in disingenuous prevarication when you say this, right? Because anything else you improve in agriculture is going to improve yield as well. If you take out more of the competing plants, then you're going to improve yield. If you lose less plants to fungus, you're going to improve yield.

      Except, what if you don't? What if your hack to make strawberries fungus-resistant actually reduces rainfall because of the reduction in fungal spores? Then your yields might well remain the same, and meanwhile you've wasted your money. And, by the way, you've harmed your neighbors.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    143. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, I'd have a lot less problem with GM foods, if they weren't leading to monopolization of the food provision chain by one or a very few companies.

      Then you should advocate for less restrictions of GE crops. Many in academia would love to be able to release new GE lines of crops, but cannot because the high regulatory burden favors large companies like Monsanto. Ironically, people who are ideologically opposed to GE crops and demand greater regulation are shielding Monsanto from competition.

      People idealogically *opposed* to GE crops *do not want* more companies making them... So no, it's not ironic.

    144. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, so far, we're not too stupid to have labels required for ingredients, for % of nutrients...

      If you look at those labels, most of them contain numbers based on suggested "percent daily values", which is pretty meaningless when it comes to most constituents.

      But for those that do want to know..what's the harm? When is having information about your food ever a bad thing?

      When that information is for political and not scientific purposes, then forcing a scare label on something is a bad thing. "We want to drive Monsanto out of business so we'll force every manufacturer of every food product to put a 'contains GMO' label on their product unless they can prove it doesn't have even a speck of GMO material..." is a purely political goal. It isn't that you think the GMO content would actually hurt anyone, it's that some big bad company might profit. You'd drive prices of food up as the bookkeeping becomes onerous, and drive smaller companies out of business because they can't compete, all because you want to scare people into an unwitting boycott of a large company you dislike.

      Replace "GMO" with "arsenic" so you can see your logic fault. Monsanto is gonna profit *anyway*. If you have nothing to hide... don't hide it.

      This fool is *seriously* misinformed.

      -Ironhide from the grave

    145. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, so? What if the GMO foods turn out to have adverse effects?

      Take smoking. In the first half of the 20th century it was seen as a healthy thing to do, even doctors smoked. Nobody knows what effect the GMO's really have on the long term because they haven't been around long enough to know.

      On top of that, GMO is purely profit motivated. It's just a tool to sell round-up, basically. Farmers hooked on GMO seeds must buy seeds again each year because the plants grown do not produce seeds. How's that for lock in. What monsanto does is evil and inhumane. The people working for them are so too.

      Enough food to feed 'over a billion' people is thrown away each year due to bad infrastructure, market dumping and plain spillage. There are alternatives to GMO, the same as there have been for millennia. There is enough food for everyone on earth, but the reason why people are hungry is only a single ONE reason: other people's greed.

    146. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by RabidReindeer · · Score: 1

      It's like how the entire Irish potato famine was very avoidable.

      Assume you are alive during that period in Ireland. Would you rather have a GMO potato to eat, or someone simply telling you that you wouldn't need it if only the English would be more compassionate? Yes, the world does produce enough food for everyone, for now anyway, given current trends we are going to need more technology rather than less (and for some reason, everyone seems to think going backwards in agricultural progress is a good thing...no one seriously says that about computer, medical, or energy technologies). Nonetheless, unless those problems are fixed, it doesn't help those who could use genetically improved crops in the meantime, especially considering the arrangements against them ranger from weak to veritably false.

      There were only 2 strains of potatoes in common production in Ireland at the time of the famine. That lack of diversity was what make the blight so devastating. There are many more strains of potatoes in my local supermarket than were being grown in all of Ireland.

      What was a more serious problem is that the English were actively suppressing their ability to grow other crops such as wheat. I think we can take it as probable that if the choice was a GMO potato, England would have been Monsanto.

    147. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So what? Label everything and let people decide whether they want to buy GMO or non-GMO food.

      Personally, I hate Monsanto and all the other patented-GMO profiteering shitheads enough that the choice is clear for me.

    148. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by stenvar · · Score: 1

      Is this supposed to somehow be different than your earlier argument? It just goes to show you still don't get it. You're not making your point "clearer" by making the example more ridiculous.

      I didn't make "an earlier argument". I joined other people in pointing out how stupid your argument was.

      People with dollar signs in their eyes grotesquely underestimate the passion that the human animal brings to the subject of what it eats. Don[t fuck with it.

      You can eat shit for all I care; that still doesn't give you a right to force others to put arbitrary and non-sensical labels on their food.

      What you're saying with your argument is that if people want something YOU consider to be pointless and stupid, then the government should ignore THEM and do what YOU want because YOU know better than they do.

      What I am saying is that it isn't the job of government to restrict liberties arbitrarily just because morons like you decide they like the world better that way. The world and democracy need to be protected from people like you.

    149. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by WOOFYGOOFY · · Score: 1

      Your same same logic applies equally to to all health codes- "if people wanted their food inspected, then they wouldn't buy food which wasn't inspected. " If people didn't want meat from cows who weren't slaughtered so as to prevent CJD, then they wouldn't buy meat from those sellers. It's the argument that savvy consumers will energetically and infallibly parse the marketplace and in the end, get what they want, sending those who don't give it to them away.

      That idea has its root in a imaginary construction of mid 19th century economists -Ecco Homo- the economic man- who has infinite time energy attention ability and perfect information to parse all his economic decisions, always making the one which is best for himself.

      None of this is true, as experiments have shown. Few economists under 40 believe it anymore, however the old walruses who are squatting in tenureship are still faithfully and with much gravitas packaging this crap up and having their students recite it line and verse, (all the while being snickered at by same.)

      However if you need to think of the world in just the terms the 19th century left you , we will accommodate you. You can think of government inspection and labeling as the market's way to outsource the specialization of securing the integrity of the food supply, as the consumer wishes integrity to be defined.

    150. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by stenvar · · Score: 1

      Citation, please? Kindly don't forget to count people on food aid.

      I have a better idea: you provide data to support your outrageous claims.

      Now hold on there, bub. Nowhere did I even hint at interference in markets.

      Of course you did: you talked about altering fossil fuel use and controlling overpopulation.

      How about agribusiness conglomerates interfering in markets? Like, say, dumping American corn in Mexico at far below the Mexican cost of production? That one thing directly caused economic failure for millions of Mexican farmers, forcing them northward for work. That's heavy-handed, don't you think?

      No, that's a free market, and it's a good thing. If Mexican farmers can't compete with US agribusinesses, they would be better off doing something else.

      What about corporations "privatizing" the water supplies of South American countries, charging for what was once free? How is that not interfering in the market?

      South American countries tend to be corrupt, so if that causes problems, those are problems due to government corruption, not privatization.

      What about building sweatshops in the poorest countries to take advantage of cheap labor,

      That's what causes those nations to develop.

      as unemployment and poverty grow back home? How many thousands of American unemployed does it take to rate "heavy-handed"?

      Absolute poverty isn't growing in the US. And unemployment is due to the kinds of policies you implicitly advocate, not due to low-cost labor from developing nations.

      What about forcing Bt cotton into India? Roundup-Ready soybeans into Brazil? Those weren't voluntary actions by peasant farmers; those were forced actions carried out by bribing government officials. That's not market interference?

      If government officals force people to buy products, it's obviously not a free market. Most of those nations are run by the same kind of economic incompetence you exhibit: erroneous ideas that foreign competition destroys jobs, erroneous ideas that forcing people to buy anything from specific agricultural products to health insurance is good for them, etc.

      However, given a choice, many farmers buy GMO seeds voluntarily, because it maximizes their profits and productivity.

      I'm sorry, but you need to unplug from the propaganda mill for a moment. Free markets (a la Adam Smith), and what we know today as capitalism, are not even distant relatives. They're different species. I'm all for free markets. I think a free market would be a great idea, but I don't think any of us have ever seen one.

      Given the economic nonsense you are spewing, you don't know what free markets are or what Adam Smith wrote about.

      Anyway: the economic growth mantra is not a solution; it's a mantra. Unlimited, perpetual economic growth is no more possible than unlimited, perpetual population growth.

      We can worry about limits to economic growth when we find that there are clear and concrete obstacles to further growth. For the foreseeable future, there is no obvious physical limit to economic growth, and we certainly have more than enough room for economic growth to achieve low population growth across most of the world.

      The threat to the world economy is the kind of erroneous economic beliefs people like you hold and that people like you attempt to translate into government policies. The anemic growth across Europe and some other nations is the consequence and we don't want that here in the US.

    151. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by WOOFYGOOFY · · Score: 1

      >>A very significant portion, when asked, also want a Lamborghini.

      And a million dollars too ! So what? Are you conflating what laws people want passed in a democracy with their casual wishes for their personal lives?

      >>The information is freely available, just because you are too lazy to do a five second Google search to find it does not mean it should be labeled. You are creating a controversy where none exists.

      Yeah from who? Monsanto? Activists who had access to leaked information and published it? What kind of regulation is that? What kind of transparency is that?

      >>The information is freely available, just because you are too lazy to do a five second Google search to find it does not mean it should be labeled. You are creating a controversy where none exists.

      Yeah nice try. We're not discussing the science of GMO we're discussing the politics of it and the nature of the psychological impetus behind the desire to see labeling. But nice try.

    152. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by WOOFYGOOFY · · Score: 1

      It's amusing to hear you argue that non-knowledge is somehow empowers the consumers to choose. What it does it empowers corporations to hide facts about their product so the market can'''t work. You're not pro free market- where consumers decide based on accurate information- your pro corporate . There's a big difference.

    153. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by aardvarkjoe · · Score: 1

      That idea has its root in a imaginary construction of mid 19th century economists -Ecco Homo- the economic man- who has infinite time energy attention ability and perfect information to parse all his economic decisions, always making the one which is best for himself.

      It takes "infinite time energy attention [sic] and perfect information" to only buy products that are labeled as non-GMO only?

      You realize that this entire story is about a company adding a non-GMO label to their product, specifically because General Mills thinks that people will choose on their own to buy it?

      --

      How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?
    154. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      Gee, something is hard, so let's cut corners and put everybody at risk. GMOs are about profit and protecting the markets, not feeding starving people. The benefits are marginal at best.

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    155. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are cherry picking and I doubt you have read any of the aforementioned reports to verify they do not address health or environmental impact. I can cherry pick as well.
      "Nutritional and Safety Assessments of Foods and Feeds Nutritionally Improved through Biotechnology" sounds rather on point.

      There are surely lower quality articles and high quality studies in the list. Each one clearly identifies the Journal it is located in so feel free to go through all of them and pretend not a single one of them shows any proof of safety. GMOs have been widely used in the US for at least 20 years. So if you don't want to acknowledge real studies, at least consider that long term use on humans has happened and we aren't all dead yet.

    156. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well it is a good thing the article lists where all 1783 can be found. Feel free to look them up in the appropriate journals.

    157. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by ApplePy · · Score: 1

      Hey, if they are so untested, why is it that all those things currently awaiting approval listed on the APHIS site are not yet on the market?

      There is *some* government mandated testing before things go on the market. Everyone knows this. In my opinion, and in the opinion of many others, it's not sufficient. You can eat some arsenic and not be dead in a month -- it doesn't mean arsenic is good for you. Not to tie GM crops to arsenic, but the point is, there have been no long-term studies done on possible health impacts.

      Me, I try to avoid, as much as possible, anything GM. It's getting more difficult as time goes on, especially when agribusiness is trying to legally prevent non-GMO products from advertising that fact about themselves. Wonder why they'd want to do that, if GM stuff is equivalent? Why not label, and let the market decide?

      You do realize there is more to agriculture than yield, yes? [...] but railing on that makes the silly assumption that agriculture can be measured with a single number).

      I know a lot of farmers. I do business with farmers. I'm related to a lot of farmers, too. There is one number that measures their success: bushels to the acre. So no, there is absolutely NOTHING more to agriculture, commercially speaking, than yield. Yield equals money, period, end of story. Seriously... where do you even get off thinking you can peddle bullshit like that?

      Oh, and anyone can go look at the ag magazines; look at the advertising for GM seeds. All of it is Yield Yield Yield. That is the only thing. That is what Monsanto, Bayer, Pioneer -- all of the seed companies -- promise: yield. They may couch it in other marketing mumbo-jumbo and legalese, but the end message to the reader is yield.

      Some farmers do have other personal yardsticks, like how much topsoil they replace, or how much wildlife comes back... but those aren't the kind of farmers who grow GM crops -- or even row crops at all -- they're the graziers.

      I'll tell you what your line means to me: it's back-pedaling. The whole advertising campaign being pushed on the whole planet for GMO -- is "feed more people" which is yield. Now you're trying to say it's something else... and it's because the yield claims have thus far failed to... yield.

      your criticism is basically 'we might lose the benefits already provided by GE crops therefore GE crops are bad' which is pretty silly,

      Would you like to phrase that differently? Because it doesn't make sense at all.

      not all herbicides are the same, a fact Benbrook consistently ignores (sort of like a liter of wine has more mass than a line of cocaine but less impact, which is the true measure of a substance),

      Not all herbicides are the same... sure, that's a true statement. It's also completely meaningless. We were promised by the chemical companies that herbicide-tolerant crops were going to reduce herbicide usage, and that turned out to be an enormous lie.

      Some of us weren't surprised by that. Why would a company put something on the market that will cost it profit over the long run? Why would you spray less chemical on a crop designed to tolerate it? You'd have to be an idiot to believe the advertising.

      They knew what they were doing. How can you go on defending this?

      --
      That I'm right, and you don't like it, doesn't mean I'm a troll.
    158. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by litehacksaur111 · · Score: 0

      I think you need to look to India as an example of what happens when Monsanto decides to invest and give seeds to farmers. Monsanto locks them into a contract to buy seed, pesticide, and herbicide from them. However, the yields of the GMO crops were the same as non-GMO crops so the farmers were out the cost of all those chemicals. Millions of farmers in India committed suicide over this. You have to remember that Monsanto is a chemical company not a seed company. Their only goal is to control the world's food supply through licensing and patenting seeds to increase the market for their chemicals.

    159. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by kenshin33 · · Score: 1
      No, they are (I suppose, as I have no allergies, nor does my direct family for whom I buy things).
      When there is the possibility to ask (allergic people will ask) no need for "mandatory" label. But in my experience if a question gets asked most of the time, it is more efficient to answer onces and for all on a big enough display device (be it a screen, paper or anything that might serve that purpose).

      GMO labelling though is a different issue. Much more political than a health issue.

      indeed, what I said in my previous post seems like a solution to the labelling problem (without forcing anyone to do anything).

    160. Re: GMOs feed over a billion people by tolkienfan · · Score: 1

      It's at least disingenuous. Especially when most of B was due to C, D and E.

    161. Re: GMOs feed over a billion people by tolkienfan · · Score: 1

      +1

    162. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Often the people who claim GMOs are unsafe are also the ones which think vaccines cause autism and that anything modern is slowly destroying us. I know a group of people who don't use disposable diapers due to the use of chemicals, campaign against Gluten and GMOs, refuse to vaccinate their children, etc. No amount of research can satisfy those whom think this way. It is always biased because of those greedy companies who fake data and don't care that they are killing for profit. Independent researchers and regulators? Clearly they are payed off by the industry.

    163. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Jherek+Carnelian · · Score: 1

      "Nutritional and Safety Assessments of Foods and Feeds Nutritionally Improved through Biotechnology" sounds rather on point.

      No it doesn't. It sounds like a survey -- not actual testing of specific crops. And guess what? It is just a survey.

      I only cherry-picked in that the articles were obviously pointless. But I only saw maybe two that looked like they were probably real testing based on the fact that they mentioned a specific crop (alfalfa) in the title. I'm sure there were more, but I'm also sure that it is a tiny fraction of the ~2000 listed.

    164. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Jherek+Carnelian · · Score: 1

      at least consider that long term use on humans has happened and we aren't all dead yet.

      Forgot to respond to that statement.

      What a fucking stupid thing to say. Lead in paint and gasoline didn't kill everybody, it barely killed a tiny minority. Same thing with DDT, fen-phen, asbestos, cigarette smoking and nearly every other dangerous substance known to man.

      That kind of thinking is thousands of times less rational than anything I've written here.

    165. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Jherek+Carnelian · · Score: 1

      Yes, this is how I detect morons and liars now. They cite articles instead of studies.

      That sort of thing is blatant. But the MLM guys make a big deal of "peer-reviewed" studies. They've latched on to the phrase and tend to only cite actual studies from actual journals (some of the journals are a little sketchy, but many are legit). It's just that the studies rarely have anything relevant to say about the benefits of whatever the MLMs are pushing.

      Same thing here, I'm sure that list has lots of good science in it, it's just that most of the science there is not relevant as to whether or not specific crops have dangerous long-term effects. And I'm pretty sure it isn't that way out of malice, it's more convenient neglect. It is really expensive and slow to do research like that and the guys with the serious money don't really want to know anyway. So facing all that inertia very little pertinent research gets done.

    166. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by taiwanjohn · · Score: 1

      Yes, unfortunately this meme seems to have infected the discourse. Niall Ferguson was on Bill Maher's show a couple of months ago, and embarrassed himself badly by completely misunderstanding this distinction.

      What "GMO" means in the modern context has nothing to do with the line-breeding that has been going on for thousands of years... unless you can show me some way to make an octopus successfully mate with a rice plant (without the aid of gene splicing in the lab).

      Folks, this is not your grandpa's "animal husbandry" anymore, it's playing with a kind of "fire" we don't yet fully understand. I don't know about you, but personally, I would recommend that we tread cautiously in this new territory of knowledge.

      --
      XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve your problem, you're not using enough of it. --AC
    167. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by mapkinase · · Score: 1

      I listened to a dramatic program on NPR about licing in India and they mentioned that "green revolution" had significant harmful effect of using chemicals in agriculture of the Third world. They are getting out of it now, in the process.

      --
      I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
    168. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by HiThere · · Score: 1

      The thing is, I'm NOT ideologically opposed to GE crops, though my wife is. I am, however, opposed to monopoly crops, for the same reason I'm opposed to monopoly software. So I use FOSS tools, because it's harder to take them away from me. Sometimes they aren't quite as good, but I've had several bad experiences with becoming dependent on a proprietary package just to have the vendor decide that they want to change, say, the file format, and being totally unable to do anything about it. FOSS tools don't do that to you, even though they are just as subject to manipulation. (Can you say Gnome3? But Gnome3 couldn't stop me from taking my data and moving to KDE4 or xfce. [I'm still debating which, but while I'm debating I've already moved away from Gnome. Some people moved to Mate, another option that would not exist.])

      Now use your understanding of the software community to understand what the privitization and monopolization of the sources of food is threatening, and understand that food is a lot more basic a need than software. So the monopolies have greater leverage.

      And that's why I support organic food, etc. I've got nothing against GE foods, except that they tend to be proprietary. And that means that when monopoly is achieved, the prices can be raised arbitrarily high.

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
    169. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Jherek+Carnelian · · Score: 1

      Then why has Monsanto/Dow not released their 2,4-D and dicamba tolerant crops? Why did it take so long to release DroughtGard?

      I don't know. Are you trying to imply something? How about outright stating your claim and backing it up with a meaningful citation?

      Another ridiculous Monsanto conspiracy about how everyone in plant & agricultural science are evil/paid off? We eat the same food you do you know,

      No one ever thinks they are doing evil. They always have some sort of rationalization to believe that their actions are good, true, positive, etc. The concept of the evil villain rubbing his hands in glee is just fiction. Just as I believe that many in the NSA are utterly convinced that they are the good guys and that what they do is really important and necessary so am I sure that most of the people working for Monsanto (apparently you are included in that list) are utterly convinced that they are making the world a better place. But that doesn't necessarily make it so.

    170. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So you're saying that the increase in productivity of GMO grains over "traditional" grains, given the same arable land area is enough to feed an additional billion people? In a word: bullshit.

      NoNonAlphaCharsHere: This is one instance of you calling something bullshit even though it ain't. Feeding an extra billion people is not even capacity.

    171. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by jellomizer · · Score: 1

      GMO food is to liberals as Global Warming is to conservatives.
      Your political leaning doesn't mean you actually care or know more about science. It is just picking and choosing what fits your agenda.
      The basic idea behind Liberal thinking, is that everything is a problem so there must be a solution to it.
      The basic idea behind Conservative thinking, is while everything isn't perfect, tinkering with it will cause more problems.
      Right now it is fashionable to assume companies, every company are up to no good. So those companies making GMO food must be hiding a sinister plot that will poison their customer base. We jump back on previous "Safe" advancements in the past that have been proven to be overall more harmful, to use as evidence. While ignoring the evidence of other "Safe" advancements that have been proven overall more helpful.
       

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    172. Re: GMOs feed over a billion people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Most people don't intentionally put those things into their body multiple times a day. And smoking? It is believed to kill almost half a million people a year. There is no reasonable evidence that GMOs have had a negative effect. How many centuries must pass for it to be sufficient?

    173. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by RandomFactor · · Score: 1

      and for some reason, everyone seems to think going backwards in agricultural progress is a good thing...no one seriously says that about computer, medical, or energy technologies

      *cough* Nuclear Energy *cough*

      --
      --- Mercutio was right.
    174. Re: GMOs feed over a billion people by Jherek+Carnelian · · Score: 1

      There is no reasonable evidence that GMOs have had a negative effect.

      See my original post.

    175. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by gregor-e · · Score: 1

      Selective breeding relies on random changes to DNA. Over the past 60 years, we've accelerated the process through mutation breeding. That involves exposing plant tissues or seeds to radiation or mutagenic chemicals. Many of our most popular crop varietals have been generated this way, and are often grown and cheerfully marketed as 'organic'.

      In contrast, genetically engineered plants have been modified at specific points on their DNA, incorporating known sequences of DNA that code for specific desired changes.

      Which seems safer to you? A randomly scrambled DNA that, for all anyone knows, also expresses a slow cumulative poison, or a specifically modified DNA that expresses exactly the intended change with no other alterations?

      The organic food industry, unable to succeed by running the race better, faster or smarter, now seeks to win by tripping the other runners. The whole anti-GMO effort is without scientific merit, and is simply a calculated money-grab by the organic food industry. Unfortunately, this shambling anti-GMO monster created by the organic food industry is now killing people by the hundreds of thousands.

    176. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by darrellm · · Score: 1

      Millions of farmers in India committed suicide over this.

      While I haven't invested any time in Indian agriculture research, I do find it pretty hard to believe that "millions" of farmers in India committed suicide over Monsanto contracts. This would place this as one of the greatest disasters in human history if millions of people committed suicide over a short period of time. Could you provide some documentation for those figures or if this was just an exaggeration put a little more realistic value on the number of suicides?

    177. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by ChromeAeonium · · Score: 1

      It isn't unreasonable to be opposed to monopoly. I doubt you will find many academic scientists who would disagree with that. It doesn't follow that you should oppose GE crops for that reason though. First off, there is not really a monopoly: there's Monsanto, Syngenta, Bayer Cropscience, Pioneer Hi-Bred (DuPont), BASF, Dow Agrosciences, and various smaller companies. And of course, nothing stops farmers from doing the old fashioned saving of heirloom seed. In fact, if you look at the USDA's page on approved GE crops you can see more than just Monsanto, including a small company in Canada trying to get approval for a consumer oriented trait and a university developed crop, the Rainbow papaya developed by the University of Hawai'i (unfortunately, it is the only currently approved university developed crop, because unfortunately most university scientists do not have the funds to get a GE crop through the over strict approval process, which effectively favors large companies).

      Another thing, when you buy organic, who do you think sells those farmers the seed? Monsanto, ect. sell more than just GE seed you know. You may very well be paying extra for more Monsanto seed.

      except that they tend to be proprietary

      For one thing, there's more than just GE crops that are patented. Ever had a pluot? Patented. Ever had a Honeycrisp apple? Formerly patented, until the patent expired. Neither of those are genetically engineered. Farmers who grow those things are willing to pay extra for those plants because then they can get an advantage out of them, no different than any other investment, and the people who develop those plants patent them so that they can make further investments, like the pluerry or SnowSweet apple (which is my number one favorite apple and would recommend anyone with a back yard buy a plant since the apples aren't commercially available, so I'm rather glad the apple breeding program that developed it was able to support itself on the patent royalties from Honeycrisp).

      I don't really see the problem with plant patents. Developer gets exclusive control over the thing they developed for a period of time and hopefully makes enough money to reinvest it, then the patent expires so everyone can use the thing freely, like what happened with the Honeycrisp apple. Isn't that how the system is supposed to work? Unlike the copyright system where things last the life of the universe plus five years, I think this looks pretty good.

    178. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by ChromeAeonium · · Score: 1

      And one more thing I almost forgot: instead of using your money to support farming organically, which is basically what happens when you apply the appeal to nature fallacy to agriculture, instead you should support biodiverse underutilized crop species. That is what really needs financial support. When you find them, buy things like jícama, sunchoke, prickly pear, persimmon, lychee, pepino, kiwano, taro, quinoa, amaranth, ect. Biodiversity is a critical and commonly neglected aspect of agriculture. If you want to support something meaningful, support that.

    179. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by lgw · · Score: 1

      So yes, it is the third world that needs population control

      That's just, like, your opinion man. Seriously, people otfen to make this claim that "foreign cultures are living entirely the wrong way" without even the slightest though about it.

      Of course people from a different culture aren't active optimally according to your values: they have different values. That's what "culture" means! It's not a different kind of food at a restaurant, dammit, it's a different set of values.

      I'm contently amazed by how easily people claim those in a different culture must be stupid or simply children incapable of making adult decisions, because they clearly make the wrong decisions according to the speaker's values. Well, of course, they're (probably) making the right decisions according to their own values. This is a constant refrain on both sides in US politics.

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    180. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by lgw · · Score: 1

      You are so entirely certain that overpopulation is the reason they can't feed themselves that you can't even consider you might be wrong about that? Well, you're wrong about that.

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    181. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by kumanopuusan · · Score: 1

      According to Russell, the principle behind the so-called Malthusian catastrophe was discovered by Condorcet, who didn't consider it an issue, because he assumed that birth control would be mandatory. The answer has been obvious for over 200 years.

      --
      Use of the words "good", "bad" or "evil" is almost invariably the result of oversimplification.
    182. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by kumanopuusan · · Score: 1

      It's called having faith in democracy and the ability of the polity to sort out issues. If that doesn't sound reasonable to you, then why not head off to N. Korea where the leaders think just like you do.

      With clear-minded, rational and thoughtful voters like you, how could democracy ever fail? "Agree with me or go starve" is a little extreme, don't you think? Free exchange of ideas is essential to successful democracy.

      --
      Use of the words "good", "bad" or "evil" is almost invariably the result of oversimplification.
    183. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's amazing to me to listen to people actually argue that factual information needs to be suppressed from consumers.

      Unfortunately, most consumers are just as stupid as you and wouldn't know what to do with a fact if it struck them in the face. Real research has been done on the safety of genetically modified foods, which you have chosen to ignore. Your uneducated opinions are not worth anything at all and are doing real harm.

    184. Re: GMOs feed over a billion people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are correct. I picked a bad cherry I suppose and have now read the article. I am sure there is good research in there, but can now see it may be padded to have overwhelming numbers. I still believe GMOs are safe, but will cede to you this specific argument. I don't have the time nor the expertise to properly analyze these studies. Thank you for the discussion.

    185. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by icebike · · Score: 1

      Selecting something is not modifying it.

      Yes it is.
      Simply because something takes longer, doesn't mean the change doesn't happen, or is not permanent. The organism is modified. Its genes are altered.
      The effect is the same.

      --
      Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
    186. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by WOOFYGOOFY · · Score: 1

      >>It takes "infinite time energy attention [sic] and perfect information" to only buy products that are labeled as non-GMO only?

      Yeah I never said that. Go back and read what I actually said.Oh that's right, you already did and that's what you took away from what I said.

      Well, I'll let the marketplace decide between the two of us.

    187. Re: GMOs feed over a billion people by Jherek+Carnelian · · Score: 1

      I appreciate that, it is pretty rare. I just wanted to say that I don't have any problem with the concept of GMO's - I just think that they've been literally forced down our throats without a level of testing proportional to the level of risk.

      The reason I'm distrustful of the theory of substantial equivalence is because I've seen the same concept fail in software testing on government projects. They use exactly the same name for it too. For reasons of cost, patches to delivered software are not required to go through a full Q&A cycle, only an abbreviated one specific to the patch.

      Most of the time it works out fine. But every once in a while a patch has unintended side-effects that the abbreviated testing does not catch. Maybe that's OK for a non-critical software system, but in a case where human lives are at stake I do not think it is an appropriate way to do business. It isn't like we here in the US are facing a food shortage without GMOs. People won't die of starvation just because a product is delayed for 10-15 years for comprehensive testing.

    188. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Urkki · · Score: 1

      Selecting individuals does not modify individuals. Species gets modified over time as a result, of course. But for most people today "genetic modification" means taking more active role than only selecting, it means producing modified individuals as starting point for selection. Intentionally introducing random mutations and selecting from them is borderline, similar to a non-skilled student hammering at excercise code randomly to get it to compile and not crash for test input is borderline programming.

    189. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      But the MLM guys make a big deal of "peer-reviewed" studies. They've latched on to the phrase and tend to only cite actual studies from actual journals (some of the journals are a little sketchy, but many are legit). It's just that the studies rarely have anything relevant to say about the benefits of whatever the MLMs are pushing.

      Sadly, cognitive dissonance is everywhere. I see it most commonly in the issue of MMJ. "It's harmful!" "Really, where is the science?" "Here it is!" "Great, now where is the science that says it's harmful?" Because you get passed some thing about increase sputum production or something, and the very summary of the study contains FUD unsubstantiated by the study itself.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    190. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by danlip · · Score: 1

      You still haven't suggested an alternative.

    191. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by cayenne8 · · Score: 1
      Personally I don't give a fuck about monsanto.

      I would however, really appreciate it if I could readily know what foods were GMO and which were notâ¦

      I'd rather not eat them, I have my reasons, and many do..but it has fuck all to do with what some company's bottom line is, successful or not.

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    192. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by cayenne8 · · Score: 1

      Because "GMO" is not a scientifically meaningful category of food. It's like labeling food for whether it was at one point stored in containers with the number "13" printed on them, or whether it was ever touched by a Mennonite priest.

      How about this. Label foods GMO, if they have had genes from another species spliced into their genome (like something from a jellyfish into corn).

      That's pretty straightforward, no?

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    193. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by HiThere · · Score: 1

      Organic farmers are allowed to replant the seeds they harvest. They may not choose to, be they are allowed to. To me this makes a big difference.

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
    194. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by stenvar · · Score: 1

      How about this. Label foods GMO, if they have had genes from another species spliced into their genome (like something from a jellyfish into corn). That's pretty straightforward, no?

      No, not really. Genes are transferred between different species naturally all the time, and simply having genes from a different species still tells you nothing about risks.

    195. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by lgw · · Score: 1

      To what? People are a resource, not a cost. What problem are you trying to solve? Do you actually believe there's anywhere on Earth that starvation is the result of overpopulation, not local politics?

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    196. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by HiThere · · Score: 1

      Well, not prickly pear...but that's because I don't like it. The others I do buy. Also other things like rye seed (for cooking), etc.

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
    197. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In Friday's St. Louis Post-Dispatch there was an article titled "USDA opens door to new herbicide-resistant seeds" (http://tinyurl.com/pdq2qwo), which points to one of the major problems with Monsanto's Roundup-ready GMO crops. Though these crops have allowed farmers to kill weeds without killing the corn or soybean plants, many weeds have developed resistance to Roundup (such as amaranth, which is edible but is regarded as a weed). As a result, the use of another herbicide, 2,4-D, is proposed -- to which weeds will eventually become resistant. And so it goes...

    198. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by tibit · · Score: 1

      You have no idea how it works, then.

      Genetic modification (in today's context) is about producing individual specimens with modified or new genes

      Man, the "natural" selection done by farmers over the centuries includes selecting for useful random gene mutations. These days we simply don't wait for chance to do the genetic engineering for us, we do it ourselves - as far as modified genes go. Adding new genes happens in nature as well, only it takes so damn long that humans haven't apparently been long around enough for it to be of much use. So, plant domestication as practiced through millennia is often gene modification done by chance and selected for. A whole damn lot of those has been needed to domesticate many of the plants we take for granted today! That's why almonds don't kill you, that's why grains don't require a cross-pollination, and so on.

      --
      A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
    199. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by tibit · · Score: 1

      And what's the difference between "intentionally" introducing mutations than just waiting for a random bit-flip? You do realize that a lot of domesticated plants had had functionally significant mutations selected for in order to be useful? Mutations going as far as changing the mode of reproduction of the plant!

      --
      A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
    200. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by tibit · · Score: 1

      You do realize that today's mechatronics technology could completely replace hand weeding? Manipulators and image recognition are where they need to be, only that it's not an avenue that was pursued at a wide scale since it's very new. It has been in the last 5-8 years or so where we have the necessary price points for the necessary technology such as pocket supercomputing on GPUs, cheap motors, drives, cameras, etc.

      In the longer term (say 25 years), a visionary company a-la SpaceX could offer industrial scale farming done with zero pesticides for insects that approach the plants from the outside. As long as you can see them and reach them externally, mechatronics can deal with them. Now this would of course force the bugs underground, but that gives us some time to figure things out.

      --
      A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
    201. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by tibit · · Score: 1

      What has HFCS got to do with it? It'd be the same as if they had used cane or beet sugar. The problem is that a lot of the developed world is getting a taste for sweets. Everyfuckingthing in the U.S. has added sugar, starting with staples such as everyday bread and morning cereals. They even add sugar to processed meats ("honey" baked ham, anyone?). All those would do just fine with zero added sugar, it's just a matter of marketing processes that have altered the populace's tastes. Ultimately yes, the money might be coming from the corn farming lobby, whatever. Let's not blame the plant (corn) or the chemical (HFCS) on it, though, because those are not to blame.

      --
      A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
    202. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Urkki · · Score: 1

      The main difference is going to be rate and magnitude of change, introduced to already very stressed ecosystem.

      Another more human concern is, how much can a species be changed, before you need to start calling it something new? If you bring an allergen nut protein to wheat, how do you label that? This is a problem which is unlikely to arise with traditional technology, but trivial enough to achieve with gene tech, that it might happen accidentally or out of malignant negligence even.

    203. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Urkki · · Score: 1

      And next 50 years are going to introduce more change, than past 5000 years. Turn that time into generations of important species in the ecosystem, which are going to interact with more and more radically engineered species out of corporate labs. You see no difference, no need to be cautious?

    204. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Obfuscant · · Score: 1

      How about this. Label foods GMO, if they have had genes from another species spliced into their genome (like something from a jellyfish into corn). That's pretty straightforward, no?

      No. It displays a lack of knowledge on the subject of genetics and a disingenuous approach to the "problem". First, as someone else has pointed out, genes migrate. One of the main scare accusations regarding GMO is specifically that those genes will migrate into other plants and perhaps create franken-weeds or pollute "pure" crops. You're a buyer from a small food producer. You buy wheat from a farmer whose field was next to a field of GMO wheat. (As if you'll know that information to start with -- you really won't.) Are there icky GMO genes in what you bought? It's straightforward to know, isn't it?

      It's already a fearmongering activity. You want companies to be in the position of either telling the truth and going out of business because anti-GMO zealots will target them for scare campaigns, or lying (because they can't know for sure where every kernel of corn or wheat came from) and hoping that some Monsanto-hater doesn't buy a box of their stuff and do the testing to find GMO genes.

      You'd happily create the same legalistic atmosphere that the peanut people have. When you have to label essentially every package of food as "was processed somewhere in the vicinity of a peanut or someone who had peanuts for lunch", you know you've reached a hysteria level. And it would all mean just as much as the "vegan" and "gluten free" labels do on the package of dried seaweed I saw yesterday. Dried seaweed. Is there a non-vegan or gluten-containing seaweed? No, that's stupid.

      The anti-GMO folks here have already admitted it has nothing to do with health or safety, it's because of Monsanto and their hatred for a company that has IP. That's political, and labeling for political purposes is wrong. At least the peanut folks have a demonstrated danger to at least some tiny percentage of the population to justify the labels, the GMO folks can't do even that.

    205. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm in favor of genetically modifying crops in principle, but I usually support any and all anti-GMO activity because in reality GMO = Monsanto, and Monsanto is evil.

    206. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by tibit · · Score: 1

      Human plant domestication done without modern labs has essentially squeezed into 12,000 years what would happen without humans in many millions of years.

      --
      A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
    207. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by tibit · · Score: 1

      We have no idea what it means that the ecosystem is stressed, and how it affects any effects of rates and magnitudes of change of domesticated plants' genes. The "stressed ecosystem" is an anthropomorphic weasel word. It means something, but that meaning provides no insight into much else.

      To be frank, one of the last nice things I'd like to see domesticated is oak. It took simply too long for the oak to produce fruit once a seed is planted, for farmers throughout the centuries to try and domesticate it. If GM is the answer to domesticating oak, I'm all for it. Domesticated acorns would be a great thing to have, IMHO.

      --
      A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
    208. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by Urkki · · Score: 1

      Stressed ecosystem in my mind is one where specialized species are in decline and going extinct one after another, in a potentially accelerating cycle, leaving only generalist species, low genetic diversity and lower biological output (less total energy utilized from sun, slower recycling of nutrients, etc). I think we can say from fossil record, that recovery of diversity takes some millions of years, which is kinda long from human point of view. And our food plants are largely depending on this ecosystem existing around our fields.
      This gloomy future can perhaps be dodged with the same tech that may bring it forth, but only if we recognize the danger, and if corporations raking in the profits are forced to take responsibility (unlike the bailed out financial institutions responsible for the recent mayhem in their sector).

      As for oaks and acorns... Soon we have gene tech to have domesticated acorns from anything, no need for oaks...

    209. Re:GMOs feed over a billion people by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 1

      There's reasonable evidence that the prevalence of obesity is related to the liberal use of high-fructose corn syrup on prepared foods. And a part of the reason for that use of corn is GM corn.

      The main reason for the high use of corn syrup is sugar tariffs. We charge insane tariffs on imported sugar, so that a few families in Florida can be rich. This drives the price of sugar up to multiples of what it otherwise would be.

  2. Only thing that comes to mind by dale.furno · · Score: 0

    is that when I was a kid, I told my friends that my mom was so skinny she could hula hoop a cheerio.

    Of course this is after telling them how fat their mothers were.

  3. Pointless at this poiht by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 5, Insightful

    > For its part, General Mills says, It's not about safety,' and will continue to use GMOs in other food products.

    Correct. It's not about safety. It's about giving customers what they want, which is the result of scientifically illiterate scare tactics by talking heads making a career of it.

    It's all one stupid cluster fuck anyway. Science keeps developing ways to make food even cheaper, and government keeps deliberately forcing the price up to help farmers.

    --
    (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
    1. Re:Pointless at this poiht by MrBingoBoingo · · Score: 2

      Well, when the major constituent of Cheerios (oats) doesn't have a GM variety, this seems like a cheap way to give the people what they want. Even if the reason the people want it is poor.

    2. Re:Pointless at this poiht by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The alternative is even worse. Force farmers off their land, have it bought up by agribusiness, and you encounter the same thing, except agribusiness would have a stronger grip on the economy than when local farmers had their land.

    3. Re:Pointless at this poiht by andydread · · Score: 4, Insightful

      For me its a result of Monsanto patenting food staples and suing world + dog. I don't agree with a few multinationals owning patents of the world's food staples so I will do everything I can to avoid GMO products for this reason and this reason only. And I will continue to warn everyone I know against purchasing GMO products until they are no longer patented and the companies stop abusing the patents. THe End.

    4. Re:Pointless at this poiht by jedidiah · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Quite right.

      This is about politics rather than science. The corporate shills want to make this strictly about food safety in order to distract from the abuses of companies like Monsanto.

      Any regime that doesn't allow for a farmer to save and replant his own seeds needs to be torn down, burned, and then bombed.

      --
      A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
    5. Re:Pointless at this poiht by AlterEager · · Score: 1

      Correct. It's not about safety. It's about giving customers what they want,

      So far so good...

      which is the result of scientifically illiterate scare tactics by talking heads making a career of it.

      And then you blow it, demonstrating that you don't know how capitalism is supposed to work.

    6. Re:Pointless at this poiht by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 2

      It'a exactly the same thing as providing fluoride-free toothpaste so that Oregonians need not corrupt their vital body fluids with godless Communism.

    7. Re:Pointless at this poiht by morcego · · Score: 4, Interesting

      For me its a result of Monsanto patenting food staples and suing world + dog. I don't agree with a few multinationals owning patents of the world's food staples so I will do everything I can to avoid GMO products for this reason and this reason only. And I will continue to warn everyone I know against purchasing GMO products until they are no longer patented and the companies stop abusing the patents. THe End.

      Ok, this is the first argument I've heard against GMO that I can support. And with that, I just joined the anti-GMO boat...

      --
      morcego
    8. Re:Pointless at this poiht by fermion · · Score: 2
      Is this one of those cases where conservatives love the free market when it does what they want, but hate it when it results in something that might hurt one of them? GMO has great benefit and is likely going to be big part of feeding a growing world. However, Cheerios has nothing to do with feeding a hungry world. The hungry cannot afford Cheerios. General Mills is not going to advertise Cheerios to markets where everyone lives on $1 a day.

      No Cheerios is a premium product marketed to those scientifically illiterate who are willing to pay extra just be part of the cluster fuck that needs a brand to feel complete.Any rational, scientific person is going to buy a bag of fake Cheerios for half the cost. That is what intelligent people do. Look for value.

      Here a scientific fact. The market for breakfast cereals is dying. The breakfast sector is being taken over by other items such as yogurt. Within the framework of the free market then, i.e. one where irrationality rules, not government overloads, how can they increase the market share? Add to this that Cheerios has an advantage in that it is not only a breakfast food, but also a staple for young children, and parent being stupid and irrational tend to want feel they are giving the best to the kids, even it is only a feeling.

      The simple answer is by focusing on their premium nature, and the best way to do this is to use what are perceived to be premium ingredients. This is going to do nothing to move the markets. Poor people will still have plenty of cheap GMO food. But it may help push pretty boxes of junk to the stupid people who will pay excessive funds for it.

      Finally, just to show I can be as offensive as anyone else, anyone who believe the cost of the grain and sugar has anything to do with the cost of a box of cheerios is truly delusional.

      --
      "She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
    9. Re:Pointless at this poiht by kumanopuusan · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Attack the real problem, then! We can feed the planet and get rid of patents on organisms at the same time. You're throwing the baby out with the bathwater!

      --
      Use of the words "good", "bad" or "evil" is almost invariably the result of oversimplification.
    10. Re:Pointless at this poiht by TrollstonButterbeans · · Score: 2

      What you should really be for is sensible patent laws ...

      --
      Priest: "Universe from nothing, no laws of physics, sped up time"+ huge discrepancies. Creationism? No. Big Bang Theory
    11. Re:Pointless at this poiht by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sounds to Me like the real problem is the law the congress put in place and not Monsanto or the GM foods. Maybe We should focus Our efforts there?

    12. Re:Pointless at this poiht by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You do realize that non-GMO crops are patented too, right?

    13. Re:Pointless at this poiht by andydread · · Score: 1

      When you focus all your efforts only on Washington it gets lobbied against by Monsanto. Monsanto owns washington. Just look at the recent patent reform bill that was going to outlaw software-patents for example. MS, Apple, IBM, EMC, and Oracle lobbied hard against getting rid of software patents and so where are we now? Still stuck with software-patents. Likewise with lifeform patents. If I can avoid products where agressive litigious companies patent dominant species and go around suing then I will do just that and encourage everyone to do the same.

    14. Re:Pointless at this poiht by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We throw away half our food here in the West. Feeding the world was never about lack of food.

    15. Re:Pointless at this poiht by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You would have to start at the root of the problem, the US lobby system.
      Those "laws" were bought and paid for.

    16. Re:Pointless at this poiht by kumanopuusan · · Score: 0

      There's a difference between simply producing food and producing food in a way that's affordable for everyone. Unless you're actually committed to sending all that extra food to starving people for free, you anti-GMO nuts are just going to raise the price of food until the developing world starves.

      --
      Use of the words "good", "bad" or "evil" is almost invariably the result of oversimplification.
    17. Re:Pointless at this poiht by ChromeAeonium · · Score: 1

      For me its a result of Monsanto patenting food staples and suing world + dog.

      They don't actually do that though. Yeah, they've sued a few farmers for knowingly and intentionally violating the law, but no one can seem to provide me a single well documented example of them suing someone without a good basis.

      I don't agree with a few multinationals owning patents of the world's food staples so I will do everything I can to avoid GMO products for this reason and this reason only.

      Which only hurts those of us in academia who cannot develop GE crops due in part to the consumer rejection of them. I swear, this anti-GMO nonsense is the best thing to happen to Monsanto. And of course, guess who sells the non-GE seeds? Yep, same companies. You are attacking a technology thinking you are hurting a company, but you are just hurting agricultural progress.

      And I will continue to warn everyone I know against purchasing GMO products until they are no longer patented and the companies stop abusing the patents.

      And I'm sure you don't eat any crops that have ever been patented, like pluots and HoneyCrsip apples? Otherwise, you are being completely irrational. And I hope you think about why companies like Monsanto and Zaiger Genetics patent plants and provide them a damned good alternative. And I'm sure you've written your local politician demanding better funding for your local university's breeding program, right? They're not exactly rolling in cash (at least not where I am anyway). Otherwise, you're just complaining without even attempting to provide a viable alternative, while enjoying the benefits of the thing you are complaining about, and mostly likely without even knowing that you are already getting those benefits too.

    18. Re:Pointless at this poiht by ChromeAeonium · · Score: 1

      You mean like patents that expire after 20 years?

    19. Re:Pointless at this poiht by morcego · · Score: 1

      What you should really be for is sensible patent laws ...

      Or reading comprehension courses? One would hope you figured we are anti-GMO EXACTLY because of non-sensible patent laws.

      --
      morcego
    20. Re:Pointless at this poiht by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      We can feed the planet

      We can already feed the planet. We choose to spend our money bombing brown people for profit instead. Actually, you have to educate and feed the planet, or else you'll just get a population explosion. We could afford to do that, too. Not interested.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    21. Re:Pointless at this poiht by kumanopuusan · · Score: 1

      We can already feed the planet.

      Increasing crop production and the availability of food is still important to those who don't have enough to eat. You can't claim that they can magically get food somehow because there are unfinished plates in America! If it was that simple, why does anyone still starve? 1 in 8 people are "chronically undernourished." Unless your contention is that people starve simply because they choose not to eat, it's disingenuous to say that we can already feed the planet without adding that we choose not to.

      At risk of belaboring the point, there is enough food not when the richest can afford to eat or throw scraps to the poor, but when the poorest can afford to feed themselves.

      --
      Use of the words "good", "bad" or "evil" is almost invariably the result of oversimplification.
    22. Re:Pointless at this poiht by sabbasolo · · Score: 1

      Now we "know" that evolution is untrue, and that "GMO is bad for you" - from the country which freely advertises and sells supplements and homeopathic remedies OTC It really is pointless to argue

    23. Re:Pointless at this poiht by kumanopuusan · · Score: 1

      Are you also against books, movies and software because of non-sensible copyright laws? You sound confused at best.

      --
      Use of the words "good", "bad" or "evil" is almost invariably the result of oversimplification.
    24. Re:Pointless at this poiht by morcego · · Score: 1

      Are you also against books, movies and software because of non-sensible copyright laws? You sound confused at best.

      Do you have any example regarding GMO that is not involved in non-sensible copyright laws?

      --
      morcego
    25. Re:Pointless at this poiht by kumanopuusan · · Score: 1

      I'll assume you're talking about GMOs as food. Golden rice, which has been mentioned several times in the comments, was developed out of humanitarian concern and, as far as I can tell, is not encumbered by patents. Misguided and ignorant activists are prepared to let malnourished children go blind rather than allow them a staple crop providing vitamin A.

      --
      Use of the words "good", "bad" or "evil" is almost invariably the result of oversimplification.
    26. Re:Pointless at this poiht by TrollstonButterbeans · · Score: 1

      Are you against toilets because the government taxes water?

      --
      Priest: "Universe from nothing, no laws of physics, sped up time"+ huge discrepancies. Creationism? No. Big Bang Theory
    27. Re:Pointless at this poiht by TrollstonButterbeans · · Score: 1

      Awesome ++. I like it!

      --
      Priest: "Universe from nothing, no laws of physics, sped up time"+ huge discrepancies. Creationism? No. Big Bang Theory
    28. Re:Pointless at this poiht by TrollstonButterbeans · · Score: 1

      By the way, your signature rocks! Well stated.

      --
      Priest: "Universe from nothing, no laws of physics, sped up time"+ huge discrepancies. Creationism? No. Big Bang Theory
    29. Re:Pointless at this poiht by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      You are full of it. The prices are set by speculators on Wall Street. We have farmers plowing under their crops to "stabilize" the prices. The market is saturated with surplus. Save your propaganda for the believers. There are plenty of them, just like you. GMOs will do nothing to mitigate the corruption in the supply chain. They are a gimmick to create dependency on those who own the patents. The market uses food as a weapon and blackmail. This is what happens when you let a small handful of people control our natural resources. You sound like one of those Ayn Rand types.

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    30. Re:Pointless at this poiht by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh why didn't I think of that. While I'm at it I think I'll legalize drugs and prostitution, stop wars, and enact sensible campaign finance reform.

      Back in the real world, It's much easier to create a market (even if it's small) for non-GMO foods, thereby ensuring that at least some non-Monsanto crop varieties will continue to exist.

  4. The problem isn't GMO by krelvin · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It is the patents like what Monsanto is doing that are the problem. There is no health issues.

    1. Re:The problem isn't GMO by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 3, Insightful

      There is no health issues.

      You can't say that honestly. Initial indications are of harm from glyphosate residues and retained b.t. toxin, at least in pregnant women in the latter case. The truth is we don't know the effects very well and we do know that irresponsible farmers aren't using roundup-ready processes diligently.

      Unfortunately, reckless use has caused unrelated crops like golden rice to be rejected out of fear, which very definitely causes harm (not to mention boatloads of corn bound for starvation areas rejected in Zimbabwe and Zambia out of similar fear).

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
    2. Re:The problem isn't GMO by AlterEager · · Score: 1

      It is the patents like what Monsanto is doing that are the problem. There is no health issues.

      There is no grammar either.

    3. Re:The problem isn't GMO by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      You can't say that honestly.

      There are literally hundreds of studies out there and most of them are either inconclusive or show no evidence of harm. See here: http://biofortified.org/genera/studies-for-genera/

      Initial indications are of harm from glyphosate residues and retained b.t. toxin, at least in pregnant women in the latter case.

      Citations needed.

      The truth is we don't know the effects very well and we do know that irresponsible farmers aren't using roundup-ready processes diligently.

      Actually, glyphosate is a very well-researched chemical. There are many studies on it that consider it safe for use when used properly.

      With that said, farmers who violate the federal regulations on pesticide application are themselves to blame, not the pesticide producers.

      Also, it needs to be pointed out that BT toxin is available as a spray (as opposed to plants that have been genetically modified to produce it) that is often used by organic farmers (it's approved by the USDA for use on USDA Certified Organic farms) and other farmers who may not be planting GM seed.

      Unfortunately, reckless use has caused unrelated crops like golden rice to be rejected out of fear, which very definitely causes harm (not to mention boatloads of corn bound for starvation areas rejected in Zimbabwe and Zambia out of similar fear).

      The people who are opposing golden rice are mainly misanthropic environmental extremists and other scientifically illiterate activists who come from privileged backgrounds. The blame for the sabotage of golden rice trials is squarely upon their heads, not anyone else, and it's rather shameful that you try to pin the blame on farmers.

    4. Re:The problem isn't GMO by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

      Food disclosure is a great idea. But "GMO Inside" disclosures aren't disclosing anything meaningful. There's nothing inherently harmful about GMOs, and I can guarantee you that. Numbers? I don't need numbers. "GMO" is a meaningless label originally used by seed salesmen and now used by fear mongers. Saying that GMOs are harmful is like saying that "chemicals" are harmful--or "potentially" harmful if you want to hedge and sound balanced.

    5. Re:The problem isn't GMO by Idou · · Score: 1

      >There's nothing inherently harmful about GMOs, and I can guarantee you that.
      Great! Let's just see your numbers and . . .

      > I don't need numbers.
      Oh, I must be new here . . .

      --
      Sdelat' Ameriku velikoy Snova!
    6. Re:The problem isn't GMO by the+eric+conspiracy · · Score: 3, Informative

      Recent EPA regulatory actions have been to allow INCREASES in glyphosate residues in food because of proven long term safety.

      From:

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyphosate

      Epidemiological studies have not found associations between long term low level exposure to glyphosate and any disease.

      The EPA considers glyphosate to be noncarcinogenic and relatively low in dermal and oral acute toxicity. The EPA considered a "worst case" dietary risk model of an individual eating a lifetime of food derived entirely from glyphosate-sprayed fields with residues at their maximum levels. This model indicated that no adverse health effects would be expected under such conditions.

      Primary references available in Wikipedia article.

    7. Re:The problem isn't GMO by Obfuscant · · Score: 1

      There is no grammar either.

      Grammar died from eating GMO Cheerios. It wasn't pretty. The doctor thought it was "old age", but after some helpful discussions with my cousins Vito and Louigi he issued an amended death certificate.

    8. Re:The problem isn't GMO by zlives · · Score: 1

      its a sad day when shills can't even bother to register.

    9. Re:The problem isn't GMO by drinkypoo · · Score: 2

      Not proving the association is not the same thing as proving safety.

      The EPA is a bad joke.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    10. Re:The problem isn't GMO by the+eric+conspiracy · · Score: 1

      You can't prove safety. Logical impossibility to prove the lack of harmful effects.

      If proving safety was the criteria for adopting technologies fire would have been rejected and we would still be living in dark cold caves eating our meat raw.

    11. Re:The problem isn't GMO by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The truth is we don't know the effects very well

      Precisely, We don't know such products are dangerous because no evidence has so far shown such risk conclusively exists. While One may be tempted to say, "But We don't know They are safe either," in order to be intellectually consistent, upon adopting such a perspective, One would need to hide under One's bed every day and never come out because "You don't know a giant space rock isn't going to crash thru the ceiling today."

    12. Re:The problem isn't GMO by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I can guarantee you that non GMO and organic foods are harmful.

      Peanuts can cause deadly allergic reactions.
      Almonds produce a deadly poison called cyanide.
      Wheat, Rye and Barley have a protein called gluten that can cause death.
      I could go on...

      Why aren't these foods band?

    13. Re:The problem isn't GMO by Ambassador+Kosh · · Score: 1

      I would like to see full disclosure of ALL ingredients. The full chemical information for every single one. Just saying that something has GMO in it is darn close to worthless. What if you know that some GMO tomato variant is very good for you but some corn variant is bad. If all you have is GMO yes or no that tells you nothing. If I know the food has XXX GMO tomato varient, yyy natural strain corn, zzz GMO variant potato etc then that is useful.

      --
      Computer modeling for biotech drug manufacturing is HARD! :)
    14. Re:The problem isn't GMO by eye_blinked · · Score: 1

      It's more than that. The bigger problem is natural dispersal spreading the genetically modified varieties and crossing with traditional varieties.

    15. Re:The problem isn't GMO by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      b.t. toxin is a very common pesticide used in organic farming. That's the kicker here. If a plant manufactures its own pesticides, it is inherently "organic".

    16. Re:The problem isn't GMO by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

      Interesting, have you researched this exhaustively or am I to expect the usual /. rigorous standard was used before you posted that?

      Did you do any research before posting a contradiction? If not, then you are no better than him. If so, what link have you found between GMO and health issues?

    17. Re:The problem isn't GMO by dk20 · · Score: 1

      A few things things.

      1) We have been eating those foods for a very long time.
      2) Many common items are poisonous in high quantities. (LD50 amounts are for rats given an oral dose)

      a) Water >90,000 mg/kg
      b) Vitamin C 11,900 mg/kg
      c) Caffeine 192 mg/kg
      etc

      You think we should ban them?

    18. Re:The problem isn't GMO by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We have been eating those foods for a very long time.

      And they have been killing people for a very long time. People have been smoking and putting lead in their paint for a very long time. Time isn't a replacement for scientific testing.

      You think we should ban them?

      I think non GMO food should be held to the same crutanty as GMO foods. If every GMO food needs a label, the. every non GMO or organic food should come with a warning that it may kill you. Further if it has any I'll effect on any tiny fraction of the population, those tradition foods should be band and all crops destroyed just like anti GMO dumbasses like you demand for GMO foods.

    19. Re:The problem isn't GMO by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You can't prove safety in non GMO crops either. They should be band.

    20. Re:The problem isn't GMO by Idou · · Score: 1

      >Why aren't these foods band?

      Never did I mention banding GMOs. I only argued for rigorous disclosure of ALL foods so that individuals could be empowered to make informed decisions for themselves.

      --
      Sdelat' Ameriku velikoy Snova!
    21. Re:The problem isn't GMO by ChromeAeonium · · Score: 1

      Initial indications are of harm from glyphosate residues and retained b.t. toxin, at least in pregnant women in the latter case.

      You are referring to this study. That study doesn't even try to attempt to find out where the Bt they claim to detected came from. It could have been from organic food, which also uses Bt. Of course, since the levels of Bt they found were below the detection limit of the test they used, among other flaws, I'm not convinced they found anything but an artifact. We do know the effects, at least for the commercially approved crops, and at least as well as can be know without proving a negative. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean people won't still spread misinformation and publish the occasional shoddy paper though.

    22. Re:The problem isn't GMO by winwar · · Score: 1

      If someone proposed this labeling scheme, I'd vote for it.

      But it would be useful in many ways, take up a lot of room, and really embarrass too many people so I'm going to say no chance, ever. Heck, I'd like to see it get on the ballot so it could be opposed by both sides.... That would be fun to watch.

    23. Re:The problem isn't GMO by Alomex · · Score: 2

      There is no health issues.

      That is my one beef (no pun intended) with GMOs. We don't know this since the new foods are not submitted to any set of standard safety testing protocols.

      If you think about it GMO food should be treated even more strictly than a new drug because after all you take medicine just for a few days while you ingest GMO foods for the rest of your life.

    24. Re:The problem isn't GMO by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not proving the association is not the same thing as proving safety.

      Could you explain? A reasonably definition of safety is not being associated with any disease; what other definition would you use?

    25. Re:The problem isn't GMO by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're a bad fucking joke. Take your assertions, non-arguments, non-sequiturs and superstition and fuck off back to Africa where you'll be free to practice as a witch doctor without any GMOs to bother you.

  5. Setting a good example for transparency at least by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    At least somebody is taking a stand at clearly labeling foods non-gmo or gmo.

    The debate on whether one is better than the other is for another time, but at least clearly label the option so the consumer can make an informed decision.

  6. Re:Setting a good example for transparency at leas by Qzukk · · Score: 2

    at least clearly label the option so the consumer can make an informed decision.

    But then they'll make the wrong decision!!1!

    --
    If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
  7. The corn starch? Gimme a break! by NReitzel · · Score: 0

    So, General Mills is switching the cornstarch and sugar, so that they don't come from GMO'd crops. Great.

    There is noi DNA, nor protein, nor anything that might be GMOed in either cornstarch or sugar. So much for the big change; it's an absolute unevent.

    Heck, you'd think some other company, like Ralston for example, would switch to non-gluten cereals in their Rice Chex or Corn Chex.

    I'd say that they are idiots, except that clearly they are not. They've changed the labels for the idiots that buy this stuff. Don't actual facts mean -anything- to our brain dead consumer population any more?

    --

    Don't take life too seriously; it isn't permanent.

  8. Why are they doing it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A. For it's part, it's not about safety - so, what is it about? A publicity stunt?

    B. 'We were able to do this with original Cheerios because the main ingredients are oats,' says Mike Siemienas, noting that there are no genetically modified oats
    So, if there were GM oats, then they wouldn't be able to do it at all? Mike Siemienas is an idiot.

    1. Re:Why are they doing it? by laie_techie · · Score: 1

      A. For it's part, it's not about safety - so, what is it about? A publicity stunt?

      It's about giving the consumer what they want. If using non-genetically-modified corn for their cornstarch and corn syrup doesn't cost (much) more and improves the company's image, then go for it.

  9. Once again the gut beats the mind by kruach+aum · · Score: 1

    Sometimes I wish I had intestines for brains, so I wouldn't be annoyed by the stupidity of the rest of the world.

    It would also be cool to have an ass hole on my forehead.

    1. Re:Once again the gut beats the mind by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 3, Funny

      It would also be cool to have an ass hole on my forehead.

      . . . Google can help you out with that . . .

      --
      Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    2. Re:Once again the gut beats the mind by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There is an app for that.

  10. TPP will make it illegal by WOOFYGOOFY · · Score: 5, Informative
    1. Re:TPP will make it illegal by Issarlk · · Score: 1

      Then there will be a boom in consumption of organic products. They can't forbid organic labels, it's too big of an industry already.

    2. Re:TPP will make it illegal by mythosaz · · Score: 2

      The TPP will supercede the laws of you nation's legislature:

      No, it won't.

      I made the mistake of reading a few of those links, and it's all crazy speculation and blatant misinformation to sell ad-space on sites that sell wheat germ and homeopathy in their spare time.

    3. Re:TPP will make it illegal by WOOFYGOOFY · · Score: 4, Informative

      Yeah you're wrong. It will ban GMO labeling , country of origin labeling and many other of the same types of consumer information that, people think is important to them (which I actually don't except that other people do want these things and they have the right to know )

      Letter form Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-3), Ranking Member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, to the United States Trade Representative, Ambassador Ron Kirk:

      from: http://delauro.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=406:-delauro-food-safety-critical-issue-in-upcoming-trade-talks&catid=7:2011-press-releases&Itemid=23

      First, past FTAs incorporate the WTOâ(TM)s sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) and technical barriers to trade rules, which are deeply problematic. These rules set ceilings on signatory countriesâ(TM) domestic food safety standards. As a result, WTO panels have ruled against the U.S. meat country-of-origin labeling requirements and voluntary dolphin-safe tuna labels in challenges brought by other WTO countries. We must learn from the record of WTO implementation and modify the food safety-related rules of U.S. trade pacts to best protect the public health, starting with a TPP FTA.

      The FDA has also engaged in extensive harmonization of food safety standards, as required by the WTO SPS rules and our past FTAs. If a TPP FTA is to include food safety harmonization, then it must ensure existing U.S. standards are not weakened. I believe this should include requiring that harmonization may only be conducted on the basis of raising standards toward the best standards of any signatory country and that, with respect to the United States, such international-standard setting should provide the public an opportunity to comment while maintaining an open and transparent process.

      In addition, the past FTA model includes the establishment of new SPS committees to speed up implementation of mechanisms to facilitate increased trade volumes, including âoeequivalenceâ determinations. The equivalence rule requires the United States to permit imports of meat, poultry and now possibly seafood products that do not necessarily meet U.S. food safety standards. I firmly believe that all food sold to American consumers must be required to meet U.S. safety standards, and that a TPP FTA should not include equivalence rules as the basis for the United States accepting food imports.

      Finally, past FTAs allow for private enforcement of extensive foreign investor rights. Under these rules, foreign food corporations operating within the United States are empowered to demand compensation from the U.S. government in foreign tribunals established under the United Nations and World Bank if U.S. regulatory actions undermine their expected future profits. Even when the United States successfully defends against such attacks, such as in the NAFTA investor-state case brought by the Canadian Cattlemen for Fair Trade over the U.S. ban on imports of live Canadian cattle after the discovery of a case of mad cow disease in Canada, the initial filing of the challenge has a chilling effect on policymaking and the U.S. government must spend millions on a legal defense. Accordingly, I believe a TPP FTA must not include investor-state rules that would allow corporations to weaken U.S. food safety in foreign tribunals thereby unnecessarily placing American consumers at risk.

      The food safety issues raised by the TPP FTA negotiations are expansive and in many instances already controversial. Failure to deal with these issues during the negotiations will only create more opposition to a prospective agreement. I therefore urge you to act in the interest of public health and maintain the United Statesâ(TM) strong lea

    4. Re:TPP will make it illegal by WOOFYGOOFY · · Score: 1

      Just remember this- I'm here all night (another Friday night on /. loser!!) , so the more you talk, the more you give me a chance to rebut and further explore this topic.

      Stop the TPP- contact your congressperson this weekedn!

      https://www.eff.org/issues/tpp

      TPP > PIPA + SOPA

    5. Re:TPP will make it illegal by mythosaz · · Score: 1

      But I understand why you are confused. The TPP is so secret that the only document we have is what was leaked on Wikileaks.

      In other words, it's complete and utter fear-mongering bullshit.

    6. Re:TPP will make it illegal by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Two links to Huff Post in one comment? You have no credibility.

    7. Re:TPP will make it illegal by WOOFYGOOFY · · Score: 1

      According to your logic, we should never complain about legislation we are forbidden to know the content of. Furthermore, again by your argument, the past extensive track record of such legislation can not be used to fill in any blanks that, once again, we're not permitted to know about. Finally, once again by your own argument, should a news organization with an excellent track record of leaking official documents provide us with a leaked version of the pending law, we should in no way assign credibility to such a leak.

      Pretty interesting logic you have there , mythosaz. Not sure how many people are going to credit you much for maintaining it.

    8. Re:TPP will make it illegal by WOOFYGOOFY · · Score: 1

      AC said: Two links to Huff Post in one comment? You have no credibility.

      Yeah, actually, it's not about the links, AC, it's about the content of the pages which those links point to.

      And this one's for you:

      How does the Internet work?

      http://computer.howstuffworks.com/internet/basics/internet.htm

    9. Re:TPP will make it illegal by russotto · · Score: 1

      The TPP will supercede the laws of you nation's legislature

      Only if signed by the President and ratified by 2/3rds of the US Senate. Without that, the legislature can ignore it freely.

    10. Re:TPP will make it illegal by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

      TPP doesn't exist. So it's hard to refute unsubstantiated speculation. TPP won't supercede any law. Perhaps you need to read up on treaties. They, along with the laws of the legislature and the Constitution, are the Law of the Land, but none is presented as "above" any other (probably from a limitation of the founders not predicting that legislators would deliberately pass laws they believed to be unconstitutional, if they had, they'd have modified the definition of "traitor" appropriately).

    11. Re:TPP will make it illegal by WOOFYGOOFY · · Score: 1

      It's not accurate. The Fast Track authority the administration seeks would effectively permit Congress to abrogate it's responsibility in this matter. If granted Fast Track, the procedure becomes as outlined below (see wikipedia page on fast track) . As you can see it's only needs a simple majority and amputates discussion severly along with preventing anyone from filibustering it since if time expires without a vote, it passes automatically.

      This is what Obama wants and his college crony Michael Froman want to do to us. Michael Froman is a piece of work. He had "some trouble" being confirmed as USTR because he at the time he was nominated he was hiding somewhere above 500,000 in a Cayman Islands tax haven . People who know him say that he's extremely cold and sarcastic and just basically your typical inside the beltway psychopath "player".

      http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/05/us/politics/trade-nominee-has-500000-in-cayman-islands.html?_r=0

      According to a 2011 financial document, Mr. Froman held $490,845 in a fund managed by Citigroup and based in Grand Cayman's Ugland House, a modest whitewashed building that has been widely cited as a symbol of tax avoidance since it is home to nearly 19,000 business entities seeking favorable tax treatment.

      In answers to Finance Committee questions, Mr. Froman said on May 17 that he still held those assets but would sell them off within 90 days of confirmation as trade representative.

      Mr. Grassley said the president once called the Ugland House "the biggest tax scam in the world."

      âoeYet he nominated two top advisers in a row who invested in the Ugland House,â Mr. Grassley said. âoeHe also nominated a commerce secretary with significant offshore income.â

      You can rest assured if he can get this through he'll spend the rest of his days be richly rewarded by the corporations whom he's helping to bring establish a draconian IP regime , including things like "patents software as such" and "patenting mathematics as such"

      From the leaked agreement:

      http://www.techblog.co.nz/601-NZsPatentsActunderthreatbyTransPacificPartnership

      [MX propose: (d) and the diagrams, plans, rules and methods for carrying out mental processes, playing games or doing business, and mathematical methods as such; software as such; methods to present information as such; and aesthetic creations and artistic or literary works.]

      So in short, the US appears to be proposing that all of these things should be explicitly patentable - overriding New Zealand's recent Patents Act and similar laws being discussed around the world. Everyone else is saying they could be excluded. ...the US also appears to be pushing for the forced patentability of mathematical methods, methods of presenting information and even literary works...

      In early 2012, the Obama administration indicated that renewal of the authority is a requirement for the conclusion of Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership (TPP) negotiations, which have been undertaken as if the authority were still in effect.[11] In July 2013, Michael Froman, the newly confirmed U.S. Trade Representative, renewed efforts to obtain Congressional reinstatement of "fast track" authority. At nearly the same time, Senator Elizabeth Warren questioned Froman about the prospect of a secretly-negotiated, binding international agreement such as TPP that might turn out to supersede U.S. wage, safety, and environmental laws.[12] Other legislators expressed concerns about foreign currency manipulation, food safety laws, state-owned businesses, market access for small businesses, access to pharmaceutical products, and online commerce.[10

    12. Re:TPP will make it illegal by argStyopa · · Score: 1

      Then you don't really understand the process of ratification necessary for the US to become party to a treaty.

      A treaty cannot supercede national laws, no matter how many chicken littles scream that it will. Not in the US at least.

      --
      -Styopa
    13. Re:TPP will make it illegal by WOOFYGOOFY · · Score: 1

      >>TPP doesn't exist

        Why start with a with an easily verifiable untruth?

      >>TPP wont' supercede any law-

      In fact, the TPP will MAKE LAW of the most draconian type. Those laws will supercede existing laws on the same subject matter or create new laws making new actions criminal. That is a true fact. The latest law passed by Congress or agreed by treaty is The Law now and the older laws are voided. This is how the law works.

      Old laws are modified, new laws are created. If I modify patents in some way via treaty and Congress Fast Tracks it, then buster, that law has been modified and the treaty law is the law. If I criminalize something via treaty and Congress Fast Tracks it then buster, that action is now a criminal offense.

      If Congress permits TPP through , then it will be the Law of the Land. Later, only a 2/3 majority vote by Congress will change anything. The laws created by TPP in order to be overturned by SCOTUS would have to be found specifically unconstitutional and not just "a very very very bad idea".

      Anyone who told you that the TPP does not exist or that treaty agreements do not result in the creation of laws lied to you. If before a treaty was passed the law read X was legal and the treaty reads X is illegal then guess what- the law was just changed by Congress to make X illegal and THAT is now the law oft he land.

      Only in the very very very narrow case of the law actually being unconstitutional and having been found so by SCOTUS- will the treaty law not usurp the existing law.

    14. Re:TPP will make it illegal by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

      Why start with a with an easily verifiable untruth?

      Great, then show me a copy of it in its current form. My understanding is that there are discussions that might, one day, turn into TPP, but that at this moment, TPP doesn't exist. If it's to provably false. Do so, and link us a copy of the current TPP.

      Only in the very very very narrow case of the law actually being unconstitutional and having been found so by SCOTUS- will the treaty law not usurp the existing law.

      As treaties are rarely written like law, they are never treated as such. They are an agreement to a framework for laws, and alone, are unenforceable. Much like the Constitution is unenforceable as a law (except for a few specific clauses that are directly mimicked in law to remove this issue, like for treason), but is instead a framework the laws are written around.

      Once the treaty is approved, the laws will be written to that effect, but a treaty is the Law of the Land, but not law.

  11. Re:The corn starch? Gimme a break! by laie_techie · · Score: 1

    So, General Mills is switching the cornstarch and sugar, so that they don't come from GMO'd crops. Great.

    There is noi DNA, nor protein, nor anything that might be GMOed in either cornstarch or sugar. So much for the big change; it's an absolute unevent.

    Corn starch comes from corn. There is GM corn available (most notably Monsanto's RoundUp resistant stuff). Does Cheerios use corn syrup for its sweeteners?

  12. Glad to hear it - Cheerios now on my shopping list by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 2

    The consumer is always right, no matter what those who think they are our Lords and Masters say.

    --
    -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
  13. Here it comes... by ApplePy · · Score: 0, Troll

    Cue the Monsanto shills in 3...2...

    --
    That I'm right, and you don't like it, doesn't mean I'm a troll.
    1. Re:Here it comes... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      How big do you have to be before you get to have shills?

      I mean Whole Foods profit rose 20% in Q2 of 2013, and Hain Celestial, the owner of Earth's Best Organic, boasted a 21% increase in net sales in Q1 of 2013. I have no idea what Michael Pollan made in 2013, but I doubt it would be a tenth as much if he wasn't a big name in the (insert preferred adjective)-foods circle, selling books to concerned eaters, and getting appearance fees from talking on shows and at events.

      Does Monsanto have some patent on having shills, or are we willfully overlooking the fact that there's plenty of people who would rake in the cash by overblowing concern with respect to "natural" and "organic" foods?

    2. Re:Here it comes... by msobkow · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Cue the organic food fanatics for the same countdown.

      Both sides of the argument are full of hyperbole and bullshit. As per usual, the truth lies between.

      --
      I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
    3. Re:Here it comes... by neminem · · Score: 1

      Monsanto is terrible, and the world would be a much better place if every single Monsanto office burned to the ground (preferably while, by some miracle, every everyone else was on vacation, but all the CEOs were in the office). That doesn't change the fact that there is not *inherently* wrong with GMO foodstuffs. There's no direct relation between those two. That'd be like saying "Toyota tried to cover up some issue with one of their cars so they wouldn't get sued! Therefore, ban all cars forever!" There can certainly be issues with some GMO products, and disregarding that, Monsanto deserves to die in a fire for all kinds of other things they've done. But there's nothing *inherently* worse about GMO products than products modified through regular, boring, done-that-way-for-thousands-of-years artificial selection.

    4. Re:Here it comes... by the+eric+conspiracy · · Score: 0

      So anyone who contradicts your evidence-free position is a Momsanto shill?

      Talk about ad-hominem.

    5. Re:Here it comes... by ApplePy · · Score: 0

      They come out of the woodwork any time the letters "G" "M" and "O" appear together in a story.

      Ad hominem might apply if I directly accused someone of being a shill, which I may yet do, but have not so far.

      Meanwhile, put your outrage on hold until I give you something to be outraged about. Judging by your prior commentary, it won't take long.

      --
      That I'm right, and you don't like it, doesn't mean I'm a troll.
    6. Re:Here it comes... by ApplePy · · Score: 2

      But there's nothing *inherently* worse about GMO products than products modified through regular, boring, done-that-way-for-thousands-of-years artificial selection.

      In a strictly moral or practical sense, I agree. My issue is that regular, boring seed selection has a millenia-long safety record; GM does not. We have not had enough time to ascertain any long-term effects, if there are any. We are rushing headlong into a new technology that a not insignificant amount of research shows might not be wise to rush into.

      Basically, I urge caution, research, safety. And that's where most of us "anti-GMO nutjobs" actually stand.

      --
      That I'm right, and you don't like it, doesn't mean I'm a troll.
    7. Re:Here it comes... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Cue the anti-science "environmentalists" in, oh shit, they're already here.

    8. Re:Here it comes... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Some of us are (1) scientifically literate and (2) sick and tired of the ignorant bullshit that comes out of the mouths of anti-GMO activists.

      I don't get paid by Monsanto; I work in IT as a code monkey for a living. I took a few biology classes and while I'm hardly an expert on the topic, I know enough about the material to understand that most of the claims being passed around by activists are utter garbage.

      Maybe you're getting paid by Big Organic to trash Monsanto and accuse everyone else of being a shill. See how easy it is to make unsubstantiated claims on the internet?

    9. Re:Here it comes... by AK+Marc · · Score: 4, Insightful

      We've found a number of "impossible" things to be possible, such as gene leakage cross-species (spliced genes ending up in unrelated but nearby plants, with unknown, untested results). How do you assure us of 100% safety for eternity when genes mutate and organisms evolve? Those types of unknowns are why slower is better. We aren't smart enough to know all the unintended consequences.

    10. Re:Here it comes... by ChromeAeonium · · Score: 1

      They come out of the woodwork any time the letters "G" "M" and "O" appear together in a story.

      Maybe there's actually people in plant biology here who get ticked at all the misinformation people are spreading about the field? Maybe for some people here this stuff is more than some story to yammer about on the internet.

    11. Re:Here it comes... by ChromeAeonium · · Score: 1

      That I'm right, and you don't like it, doesn't mean I'm a shill.

  14. Re:The corn starch? Gimme a break! by Great+Big+Bird · · Score: 1

    They might. I went into a large grocery store in a near by city a few weeks ago and saw gluten free bread (expected), but also yeast free bread — and it was not flat bread. I am expecting them to come up with a bread free bread soon.

  15. Re:The corn starch? Gimme a break! by sjames · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Most consumers don't have a scientific background. What they do have is a memory of how many 'harmless' things turned out to be anything but. For example, the trans fats in margarine. For another, cigarettes. So when consumers see a bunch of agribusinesses fighting tooth and nail to not label GMO foods, it naturally makes them wonder what they're trying to hide.

    They may be wrong, but they're not idiots. They've just been lied to far too many times.

  16. Re:Hmmm holy oats. by sir-gold · · Score: 1

    Start a Kickstarter fund, with the Top Backer prize being a free trip back to 1601 to rescue the time traveler

  17. Re:The corn starch? Gimme a break! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    add to this lots of drugs prescribed to kids over the decades that were supposed to be safe, but turned out to be the opposite

    the latest being all the ADHD drugs

  18. Almost entirely marketing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Cherios are mostly oats, which are not GMO. I was wondering about that a while ago and found out that oats aren't GMO because apparently it's difficult to modify them.

    According to other sources I read, switching to non-GMO for other ingredients is not terribly difficult.

    That said, it's good to see one corporation slugging it out with others over this. Once the dominoes tumble, it might be difficult for foods containing GMOs to find space on the shelf simply because consumers will expect it to say "non GMO".

    It would have been better not to have experimented on people and the environment in the first place. Slowing the experiment down and ultimately stopping it is the next best thing. Until they can model entire ecosystems reliably, it isn't science. There are no falsifiable results--just global guinea pigging. So far we've been lucky, unless you're a Mexican corn farmer where GMOs have already polinated on the wind, reduced biodiversity and in some cases ruined your livelihood.

  19. Re:The corn starch? Gimme a break! by Tanktalus · · Score: 2

    All corn is GM corn. The stuff we call "corn" did not evolve naturally, but by extreme pressure by human farmers. The stuff we eat cannot grow without human intervention and is anything but natural. Just because we didn't modify its genetics through a test tube doesn't make it non-modified genetically.

  20. Re:The corn starch? Gimme a break! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    C'mon, we all know that Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider and became Spiderman. Radioactivity is scary stuff and Peter Parker is just one guy. Most of us eat GMO foods though. Mutants - all of us. I think I feel myself turning into Modified Maize Man (M^3) now. Weeds and Insects everywhere fear me.

    Joking aside, I really hope that the food industry comes up with a plan for self-promotion of non-gmo foods, like General Mills is doing here. There was a push in California to force GMO labeling, I think that is the wrong approach. We already have certified organic (as dubious as that can be), its voluntary. Voluntary labeling is the way to go. Have to agree though, this is a marketing move - nothing to do with health or quality.

  21. Feeling groovy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ancient (obviously) ad for Cheerios. Not sure if Paul Simon got any royalties from it.

  22. Re:The corn starch? Gimme a break! by andydread · · Score: 2

    My problem with GMOs is the patents and the patent abuse. SOrry will not support GMO until the companies such as Monsanto stop abusing patents. Also i have a problem with the superweeds that are now cropping up as a result of drenching crops with roundup. Also when patented seed contaminates non GMO crops the non-GMO farmer has to pay Monsanto for a license or get sued out of business. Its the practices of the companies that turn me against it and until they stop i will avoid and tell everyone to avoid these patent encumbered crops. NO one company should be allowed to own all corn or all soybean because their patented crap has displaced natural crops.

  23. Green movement hypocracy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is NOT a post supporting Monstroso (Deliberate mispelling) because I know their business practices are godawful and that company needs to die in a fire. However this who anti GMO movement is exactly what is wrong with the Green movement. They scream and yell about the science of climate change (rightly too, so also lets get that out of the way) then go on a completely bullshit scare campaign against fucking GMO's when the science is pretty clear THEY ARE NOT HARMFUL and have considerable benefits. And also fucking farmers have been genetically modding crops since the dawn of time with good old fashioned selection - the crops we have are quite a deal removed from the natural varietys to the point some are now different species and can not interbreed with the naturally occuring ancestors. Sure, not in a lab but that's how they get the best yields.

    The Green movement has to fucking get it into their fuckign heads they can not cry SCIENCE in one moment and then ignore science in the next. That's how you get the Green movement as part of the anti vaxxer bullshit (and they quite clearly are) and also doing things like stopping flouide in water supplies - another anti-science knee jerk going against every single known benefit of water treatment.

    So to the Greens - stop it. Stop being a bunch of goddamn hypocritical shit. Stop crying SCIENCE and then when the science goes against you, put your fingers in ears and cry LALALALALA CANT HEAR YOU. Fuck you, science says climate change is real, well science also says GMO's arent this monster you make them out to be.

  24. Re:The corn starch? Gimme a break! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    All corn is GM corn.

    Yes, and all dogs are GM dogs.

    Wait, that's not right is it? Because "GM" has a meaning; it means that we've directly modified various genetic sequences. For example, making something resistant to a herbicide and making it sterile. We make it sterile so that it doesn't breed with other plants and pass on that resistance (and as a side effect, means the farmer has to buy a bunch of new sterile seed every single year! Yay shareholders!).

    Oh whoops, seems that plants sometime spontaneously mutate and regain their ability to breed. Oh deary me, looks like sometimes they're not always sterile. Whoops. Well, no harm done, we'll just sue other farmers and hope no one notices. Sure hope that herbicide resistance doesn't create some sort of species of invasive super weed. That'd sure suck, wouldn't it?

  25. Huh. No wonder by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Cheerios would give me the foamies. Now I know why, just like star corn.

  26. Free Market Works by pubwvj · · Score: 2

    Bravo General Mills and thank you for making my favorite breakfast cereal without GMOs. The market place works. Consumer demand is a far better way to set things than regulations. All we're asking for as consumers is to know what's there so we can make decisions. It worked. Bravo to the free market and capitalism.

  27. Question. Is ANYONE eating plants that aren't GMO? by Chas · · Score: 0

    Seriously. The whole science of agriculture has rather drastically modified various food plants over the last few hundred years. Most of the stuff you eat, even if it hasn't been gene-spliced in a lab, is SIGNIFICANTLY different from the same plants your ancestors were eating 2-300 years ago.

    What most of these no-GMO guys are flipping over is that it's now done by scientists in a controlled lab environment in weeks/months/years, rather than by some agricultural experimenter over the course of his entire life.

    What the rest of them are up in arms about is the fact that these companies have patented these plants and effectively seek to hold the entirety of agribusiness hostage. Which, actually is a fair assessment, as physical control over plant reproductive cycles isn't exactly as easy to control in the real world as it is in a lab.

    --


    Chas - The one, the only.
    THANK GOD!!!
  28. the ultimate sign of affluence. by Connie_Lingus · · Score: 4, Insightful

    for almost all of human history, we all lived on the edge of starvation...one bad crop or inablilty to hunt due to injury or migration, and we were starved...to death.

    read malthus.

    now, we have so much food we attack those who supply it for us....the irony is unreal.

    i don't know if GMO food is "dangerous" or not....i don't think anyone here really does....but i do know one thing.

    only a population with WAY more food then it could possibly dream of needing could ever have this debate.

    --
    never bring a twinkie to a food fight.
    1. Re:the ultimate sign of affluence. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We attack.. nature?

    2. Re:the ultimate sign of affluence. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ignorant rant. Childish username. Idiot confirmed.

    3. Re:the ultimate sign of affluence. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      GMO food isn't dangerous. But I like my food like my software; not written by corporations who use patents, licensing and lawsuits to build monocultures.

    4. Re:the ultimate sign of affluence. by Terminus32 · · Score: 1

      'i don't know if GMO food is "dangerous" or not....i don't think anyone here really does....but i do know one thing. only a population with WAY more food then it could possibly dream of needing could ever have this debate.' Look at the effects of GMOs on lab rats! I rest my case... GMOs are pure evil, designed to kills us as part of a eugenics agenda. Oh, and for profit and power too. Control the world's food supply and you control the world. I can't believe so many people on here are dumb enough to think Monsanto are doing this to grow more crops to feed starving people! (Just like Bono reckoned) I bet these people also believe Bill Gates' vaccines are for the good of the children... :rolleyes:

      --
      http://nathanlindsell.blogspot.com/
    5. Re:the ultimate sign of affluence. by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      I bet these people also believe Bill Gates' vaccines are for the good of the children...

      2007: http://www.latimes.com/news/la-na-gatesx07jan07,0,2533850.story

      2013: http://grist.org/climate-energy/the-gates-foundations-hypocritical-investments/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=update&utm_campaign=socialflow

      Wake up. You're part of the problem.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    6. Re:the ultimate sign of affluence. by argStyopa · · Score: 1

      I thought the ultimate sign of affluence was that the primary medical concern if your poor is obesity and obesity-related conditions?

      (Ok yes I meant this as amusing, but I actually agree with your cogent comment.)

      --
      -Styopa
  29. Cretinocracy by furbyhater · · Score: 0

    So they were obligated to switch from oats to corn starch and sugar in order to free themselves of GMOs?
    No non-GMO oats possible!! 1!11 WTF?
    This WTF piece of news really lacks respect to its readers!

    orly?

    /drnk

    1. Re:Cretinocracy by furbyhater · · Score: 0

      Sorry, was too drnk, misunderstood the RTFA, please ignore.

  30. Good On You, GM! by organgtool · · Score: 2

    Since this is mostly blowback from the assholes at Monsanto, I fully support removing the GMO ingredients. However, when it comes to Cinnamon Toast Crunch, GM really needs to stop using that whole wheat shit or at least take the word "Crunch" out of the title.

  31. Re:The corn starch? Gimme a break! by Obfuscant · · Score: 1

    So when consumers see a bunch of agribusinesses fighting tooth and nail to not label GMO foods, it naturally makes them wonder what they're trying to hide.

    And when labelling something with a phrase that people are being misled into believing means "poison inside", any sane business will fight against having to bear that label. There is nothing to hide, it's protection from rampant hysteria. It's happened before. Irradiated foods were going to make people glow in the dark and fearmongers wanted them all labelled so people could be scared away from them, too.

    They may be wrong, but they're not idiots.

    citation required.

    They've just been lied to far too many times.

    That's certainly true.

  32. GMO is worse than heavy processing? by zerobeat · · Score: 2, Interesting

    So, GMO is scary, but the fact that Cheerios barely resemble the produce they are derived from, no problem. All that processing couldn't possibly "change" the food in a bad way. The consumer is an idiot.

    --
    What other people think of me is none of my business
    1. Re:GMO is worse than heavy processing? by TrollstonButterbeans · · Score: 3, Funny

      Cheerios have to be genetically modified!

      I have seen Cheerios commercials where the Cheerios talk --- and I was like "Talking Cheerios? WTF --- that can't be natural?" --- so all this talk about Cheerios being natural but yet some of them talk. I know the truth.

      And Cheerios are made by a the GM company --- and we all know GM stands for "genetically modified".

      I smell a conspiracy and I am sharing the evidence. What did they do to those Cheerios to cause them to be able to speak? The answer is obvious.

      --
      Priest: "Universe from nothing, no laws of physics, sped up time"+ huge discrepancies. Creationism? No. Big Bang Theory
    2. Re:GMO is worse than heavy processing? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What's wrong with heavy processing? Are you against eating split-pea soup because it doesn't resemble actual peas? Are you against eating applesauce because it doesn't resemble apples? How about mashed potatoes? They look nothing like raw potatoes.

      If you're going to limit what to you to only foods that resemble the source foods, you're going to have a very small diet!

      dom

    3. Re:GMO is worse than heavy processing? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I presume you don't eat anything with sugar, corn syrup, artificial sweeteners, preservatives, MSG or MSG precursors in them, or any fried or grilled foods, because otherwise you're being utterly disingenuous. Processed oats like in Cheerios are pretty damn far down the list of "unhealthy" foods.
       
      Regardless, your point is already pretty well undermined by the basic logic that having one bad thing about a food product doesn't mean adding another "scary" thing to it makes it no worse.

    4. Re:GMO is worse than heavy processing? by Dahamma · · Score: 1

      Seriously? "Resembling the produce they are derived from" is probably the dumbest comment I have seen on this thread, sorry.

      All it takes to make something not resemble the produce it was "derived from" is to grind it up (which is in fact, also - GASP! - processing!) But in fact, for most grains, grinding/milling actually INCREASES the bioavailability of the nutrients they contain. Many grains like wheat or (non-sweet) corn are barely digestible to humans without "processing" them first.

    5. Re:GMO is worse than heavy processing? by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Seriously? "Resembling the produce they are derived from" is probably the dumbest comment I have seen on this thread, sorry.

      +1. Actually, it's the dumbest comment I've seen today. Or yesterday, or several days previous.

      All it takes to make something not resemble the produce it was "derived from" is to grind it up (which is in fact, also - GASP! - processing!) But in fact, for most grains, grinding/milling actually INCREASES the bioavailability of the nutrients they contain.

      And more to the point, when's the last time you ate a fucking wheat berry? Most people never will do, all the wheat they will ever see in their life has been ground up and put into a sack.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    6. Re:GMO is worse than heavy processing? by Dahamma · · Score: 1

      And more to the point, when's the last time you ate a fucking wheat berry? Most people never will do, all the wheat they will ever see in their life has been ground up and put into a sack.

      Which is a good thing, because if you ate a bunch of wheat berries or dried corn kernels they will look almost the same coming out as they did going in :)

    7. Re:GMO is worse than heavy processing? by tibit · · Score: 1

      Not if you, you know, chew them. Swallowing them whole is pretty useless.

      --
      A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
    8. Re:GMO is worse than heavy processing? by Dahamma · · Score: 1

      If you tried to chew dry wheat berries or corn kernels, bits of your teeth would probably join them coming out :)

      Soaking and cooking them before eating would help, of course, but that would be - OH NO - more processing!

    9. Re:GMO is worse than heavy processing? by tibit · · Score: 1

      It's possible. You have to be slow and deliberate. My teeth didn't complain too much.

      --
      A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
  33. Re:The corn starch? Gimme a break! by mythosaz · · Score: 1

    Take your pick. Low harvest yields or risk herbageddon.

  34. And oh yeah by WOOFYGOOFY · · Score: 2

    If you want thew ability to distinguish GMO from non-GMO in your grocery store then you better act fast because Obama is about to try to ram through the Trans Pacific Partnership which will permit the WTO to ban GMO labeling the way it bans meat country-of -origin labeling and dolphin-safe labels:

    Letter excerpt from

    Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-3), Ranking Member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, to United States Trade Representative, Ambassador Ron Kirk,

    full letter:

    http://delauro.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=406:-delauro-food-safety-critical-issue-in-upcoming-trade-talks&catid=7:2011-press-releases&Itemid=23

    First, past FTAs incorporate the WTO's sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) and technical barriers to trade rules, which are deeply problematic. These rules set ceilings on signatory countries' domestic food safety standards. As a result, WTO panels have ruled against the U.S. meat country-of-origin labeling requirements and voluntary dolphin-safe tuna labels in challenges brought by other WTO countries. We must learn from the record of WTO implementation and modify the food safety-related rules of U.S. trade pacts to best protect the public health, starting with a TPP FTA.

    Contact your Congressperson right NOW! :

    http://www.exposethetpp.org/

    1. Re:And oh yeah by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      If you want thew ability to distinguish GMO from non-GMO in your grocery store then

      ...buy organic. Because organic food is already non-GMO. Yes, even USDA organic, which is pretty much completely bullshit, and allows all kinds of stuff which is not even remotely "organic" as the term was originally conceived, let alone how more credible organic certifications measure.

      The USDA is well outside its mandate, and it's evil as well.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. Re:And oh yeah by tibit · · Score: 1

      If the definition of GMO includes modifications of individual genes for a desired outcome, then most of the domesticated plants we have are in fact GMO. You don't need a modern lab to do GMO, you can use processes that occur naturally. They are no less effective, they just take more time. Pretty much everything that we eat that is of plant origin comes from domesticated varieties of the plants, and those often are significantly genetically modified. Don't eat wild almonds, and good luck farming your natural, pre-domestication wheat grass.

      --
      A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
    3. Re:And oh yeah by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      If the definition of GMO includes modifications of individual genes for a desired outcome, then most of the domesticated plants we have are in fact GMO.

      Logic, you fail it.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  35. quadrotritiCherrios by turkeydance · · Score: 2

    Tribbles Unite! take Oats and Wheat!

  36. Re:Question. Is ANYONE eating plants that aren't G by the+eric+conspiracy · · Score: 1

    Seriously. The whole science of agriculture has rather drastically modified various food plants over the last 5000 years. All of the stuff you eat, even if it hasn't been gene-spliced in a lab, is SIGNIFICANTLY different from the same plants your ancestors were eating before the development of agriculture and civilization.

    FTFY.

  37. Re:Question. Is ANYONE eating plants that aren't G by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Agreed.
    Though you missed the "No issue with genetically engineered crops in general, but roundup sounds like a great way to breed superweeds" camp.

  38. Re:Question. Is ANYONE eating plants that aren't G by drinkypoo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Every time this subject comes up, someone comes to raise the objection you're raising.

    Those people are trolls.

    So are you.

    Breeding is not the same as GMO, and no amount of claiming that it is will make it so. It simply isn't. You can get results with GM that you cannot get by breeding, which proves the difference. And before GMO, nobody was splicing animal genes into plants, period. It may have happened in nature, but nobody then went on to plant a whole field of that organism.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  39. Re:The corn starch? Gimme a break! by hurfy · · Score: 1

    Have you looked at a box of Rice Chex or Corn Chex lately?

    This is actually playing catch-up on the marketing....

  40. Re:The corn starch? Gimme a break! by hurfy · · Score: 1

    ...and my 1st thought was: do you have to use 'I Can't Believe it's not Butter' on it? Yummy

  41. Just a PR show by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is just a PR show, by General Mills. Cheerios will not be certified GMO free, and the label even warns that there may be some contamination from other products being processed. So at the end of the day, the board of General Mills can all slap themselves on the back and tell themselves good job, without actually doing anything.

  42. Re:The corn starch? Gimme a break! by msobkow · · Score: 1

    Selective breeding is not genetic modification.

    I am so god damned tired of fucktards like you screaming about the sky falling.

    --
    I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
  43. So what are we talking about? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hybrid Foods?

    Genetically Engineered Foods?

    Cross pollinated foods?

    Processed foods?

    Anyone eat corn? How about maze?

  44. Re:GMOs have boosted production a lot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    so in spite of corn yield going from 60 bushels per acre to 150 or so (from 1960 to 2010), a yield increase of somewhere around 150% (2 and a half times in the last fifty year), you are saying that this had nothing to do with the GMO seed sold by Monsato. In your dreams. Farmers make money by growing more corn. If the Monsato seed did not work, farmers would not be buying it and using it.

    This does not mean that GMOs do not have problems, but since your main statement was that GMO do not boost production is false, it kinda calls in doubt your other statement about pest plants picking up the mutation from the corn plants.

    refer to the http://www.agry.purdue.edu/ext/corn/news/timeless/YieldTrends.html for some charts showing the yield gain.

  45. Re:Question. Is ANYONE eating plants that aren't G by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    But people are raising cattle with snake genes in them. All domestic cattle, in fact. So yes, people have been doing it for thousands of years.

    http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/01/01/how-a-quarter-of-the-cow-genome-came-from-snakes/

    What makes a gene from a plant and a gene from an animal different? Not much, both are able to process it. In fact, a huge number of genes are conserved in both species, or both end up dead.

  46. Re:TPP will make GMO-Free by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yet General Mills is Selling GMO-Free Food

  47. This is just a marketing stunt by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 1

    According to General Millsâ(TM) vice president of global communications, this is just a marketing stunt - Cheerios are made from oats, and there is no GMO oats.

    All they're doing is changing the source of sugar that they use in making cheerios to non-GMO. Which means the sucrose, glucose, and fructose (which are specific chemicals) will come from non-GMO sources, even though the sucrose, glucose and fructose will be exactly the same as they've always been, As he says, they're doing it because: âoeItâ(TM)s simple. We did it because we think consumers may embrace it.â

    --

    "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
  48. Re:Question. Is ANYONE eating plants that aren't G by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    He did point out though that humans have been involved in all sorts of agricultural practices that resulted in cultivars with combined traits that would not occur naturally on their own and did make a distinction between that and gene-splicing.

    His only crime is to call the two things GMO which doesn't jibe with most people's understanding of the phrase. That doesn't make him a troll though, he's just trying to stretch the definition improperly (IMO) to boost his argument.

    A lot of people's objection to GMO is that it is not "natural" but nearly everything we have eaten has been tinkered either through modern biotech or through classical agricultural practices; in either case - not natural in an absolute sense.

  49. comment to undo mod by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    nt

  50. Re:GMOs have boosted production a lot by dk20 · · Score: 1

    How does the enormous US "corn subsidies" factor into this?
    Farmers grow corn (far more then needed) to maximize the amount of subsidies they receive

  51. Re:The corn starch? Gimme a break! by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

    So gene splicing is the same as natural selection (or unnatural selection)?

  52. And I'm to go Cheerios free by Noxal · · Score: 0

    Pandering to massively paranoid, anti-scientific, ignorant fucks means they won't be getting my business. Same with organic. Such labeling is a deterrent to me buying products more than anything else.

  53. Yawn, who cares. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    As long as the cost dose not go up, or changes the taste, it don't matter at all. Not sure what Green America group is, but it sounds like a group I should hate.

  54. Re:GMOs have boosted production a lot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How does the enormous US "corn subsidies" factor into this?

    Farmers grow corn (far more then needed) to maximize the amount of subsidies they receive

    Explain how giving subsides can increase the yield per acre of land.

    Once you got that down, you would have solved the world's food problem, just pour money into the land then we can have all the food we need from the same amount of arable land!

    Do you also think that giving subsidies can increase the watt per sq. meter yield from solar panels too?

  55. The anti-GMO crowd are lunatic fringe by Hey_Jude_Jesus · · Score: 0

    Man has been manipulating plants and animals for centuries. There is nothing harmful in the alteration of the genes of plants to help increase food production.

    1. Re:The anti-GMO crowd are lunatic fringe by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think you're supposed to repeat that while counting off prayer beads, otherwise god isn't listening.

  56. Re:The corn starch? Gimme a break! by reboot246 · · Score: 1

    All dogs are GM dogs? General Motors makes dogs?

  57. Great by easyTree · · Score: 1

    Great - how about going gluten free?

    Same question to the manufacturers of every one of the other 99% of foods which are both widely-available and reasonably priced.

  58. Jumping genes between species? Very interesting by PeterM+from+Berkeley · · Score: 1

    Hello,

        Please moderate up the parent post. The link is to a story which discusses how genes have moved between species via vectors such as ticks and viruses.

    --PM

  59. FUD... by bayankaran · · Score: 5, Informative

    Quite contrarily, GMO seeds have been repeatedly used for market domination through legislative bullying, most infamously ending in the suicide of farmers in india due to non-affordable seed prices after Monsanto cleared the market from other companies by undercutting and legal bullying before rising the cost.

    I have been following farmer suicides in India for a long time. The reasons are complex. They include crop failure at an inopportune time, non-seasonal and extended droughts, and inability to pay debts from unscrupulous moneylenders and so on. Monsanto or its pricey or unaffordable seeds directly causing a farmer to suicide - you might be able to find one or two examples, but that's not the norm.
    Monsanto is famous (or infamous) in India for their GMO Bt Cotton https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bt_cotton. But Bt Cotton is only cultivated in the state of Maharashtra...suicides happen in many other states too. And given the options for cotton seeds, BT Cotton may not be that bad an idea.
    I agree Monsanto is borderline evil and creepy. There are valid reasons to argue genetically modified crops are a bad idea (or a good idea), but you should not add Indian farmer suicides to make a point. That's FUD.

    --
    Tat Tvam Asi
    1. Re:FUD... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The single biggest problem facing Indian farmers is that a few politically connected families control the grain markets. Farmers must sell their crops to these grain buyers at the price set by the monopoly. Forget Monsanto, droughts, etc.; they can't sell their crops at a profit, ever, even in a good year.

  60. Re:The corn starch? Gimme a break! by ChromeAeonium · · Score: 2

    They may be wrong, but they're not idiots.

    Same could be said of the top dogs in the anti-GMO movement, to some degree. You could write a book on the things most people don't know about plants and agriculture. But only one issue gets singled out, genetic engineering. That makes it look undesirable. It is a weasley thing to do, to single out one thing and, in the name of 'consumer freedom' give absolutely no background information or necessary context, but that's the frustrating situation.

  61. Re:Jumping genes between species? Very interesting by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

    You think that's impressive, it's been shown in the lab that a retrovirus can potentially move material across kingdoms. But in practice, most such organisms won't survive to pass on their genes, and even if they do, it again won't be to an entire field.

    I'm not saying all GMOs are evil or anything. The situation is however more complex than some people would like to make it out to be. Whether it's tampering with strawberries reducing rainfall or glyphosphate resistance promoting overuse, there are secondary effects which themselves are good reasons not to support GMOs as they are used in the market today.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  62. Re:Question. Is ANYONE eating plants that aren't G by ChromeAeonium · · Score: 1

    Stating a fact does not make that fact meaningful. No one cooked with microwaves until recently; that doesn't mean that microwave cooked food and oven cooked food are substantially different.

  63. Re:Jumping genes between species? Very interesting by PeterM+from+Berkeley · · Score: 1

    Yes, by pointing out that link I didn't mean to support one side or the other, I thought it was interesting in its own right.

    I think GMOs probably ought to be the product of government nonprofit research which becomes public domain, that would remove some of the more significant objections and reduce the pressure to market something that is actually risky.

    --PeterM

  64. Re:GMOs have boosted production a lot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Explain how giving subsides can increase the yield per acre of land.

    In the magical world of progressivism, subsidies and government spending do anything from cure cancer to magically creating economic growth. Increasing agricultural productivity is obviously trivial in comparison to these kinds of people.

  65. Sense of scale by Firethorn · · Score: 3, Interesting

    You have to keep sense of scale in mind here. Consider that in the year 1000 there was an estimated 310M humans on the whole planet. The USA alone exceeds that today. It only hit 3B in the '60s, and is up to 7B today.

    As such, in order to gain credit for 1B people, GMO only needs to be about a 14% productivity boost over all the other methods you mention in order to be able to be credited with 'saving' 1B from starvation. If you consider that starvation need not be fatal, the necessary boost to simply keep people from 'experiencing starvation'*, due to uneven productivity and such is much less.

    *Say, a period of 30 days or more without sufficient nutrution = 'experiencing starvation'.

    --
    I don't read AC A human right
    1. Re: Sense of scale by tolkienfan · · Score: 1

      A 14% productivity boost does not necessarily (or even likely) equate to a 14% reduction in starvation.

    2. Re: Sense of scale by Firethorn · · Score: 1

      My central point was more that 1B people isn't actually that much if you consider the world population over 40 years, for an event that might be as short as a month.

      I didn't even argue that it was a 14% boost, simply that 'around a 14%' boost would be sufficient to argue saving 1B 'from starvation'(assuming we didn't simply spend more effort growing things other ways). Also, there's a reason I put quotes around 'saving' as it'd only be 'saving' via a non-standard definition. That's why I also mentioned avoiding periods of starvation as a possiblity - we've evolved to better survive periods of starvation, it's quite possible to be 'starving' and survive it without significant long-term harm. Unpleasant, certainly, but possible. Then you can 'water it down' a touch more and be generous with the rounding - get a number from your calculations of somewhere 800M+ and round to 1B.

      Personally I think that politics have more to do with starvation today than farming technology. For that matter we tend to reproduce to fit our food supply like most other animals.

      --
      I don't read AC A human right
  66. What would help consumers... by Dahamma · · Score: 1

    ...is if they'd remove that free jagged metal O in every box!

  67. I've had Cheerios every day for at least a decade by Rix · · Score: 1

    But I'll be choosing something else now. Fuck the bioconservatives.

  68. UK Box of Cheerios tells another story. by danknight48 · · Score: 1

    'We were able to do this with original Cheerios because the main ingredients are oats,"

    Taken from a UK packet 800g, today:
    - Cereal Grains = 77.5%
    - Oats = 38.0%
    - Wheat = 18.6%
    - Barley = 12.8%
    - Rice = 5.5%
    - Maize = 2.6%

    And yes, the above is over 100%. Work that one out.
    If they cant even get the ingredients list right on a packet, theres no hope. For all we know, we could be eating dog shit.

    1. Re:UK Box of Cheerios tells another story. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oats 38.0% + Wheat 18.6% + Barley 12.8% + Rice 5.5% + Maize 2.6% = Cereal Grains 77.5%
      Here I thought us Yanks were supposed to be worse at arithmetic than the Brits.

    2. Re:UK Box of Cheerios tells another story. by danknight48 · · Score: 1

      Oats 38.0% + Wheat 18.6% + Barley 12.8% + Rice 5.5% + Maize 2.6% = Cereal Grains 77.5%
      Here I thought us Yanks were supposed to be worse at arithmetic than the Brits.

      Nope, i just think the Yanks are more used to misleading ingredients listings.

      Is this the norm in the USA?:
      - 99% water
      - 50% milk
      - 1% sugar

      We brits, tend to like things that reach 100%.

  69. I suspect this is a trade war issue by Karmashock · · Score: 1

    various nations are using the GMO issue to justify blocking US agricultural exports.

    That's mostly what it is about... trade wars... diplomatic power games... and the drums of war. This sort of thing tends to lead to it.

    In any case, abandoning GMO is not the solution. The technology is too powerful to abandon.

    Rather, we need to play the power game back at them. This is now officially a pissing contest. If the feds want to be anything but a useless waste of money they might want to actually win one of these fights. They've done little lately but embarrass themselves.

    --
    I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
  70. There is no overpopulation by INowRegretThesePosts · · Score: 1

    I see this assertion time after time -- that we must feed 8, 10, 15 billions of people -- without asking the question, "Does the planet need that many people?"

    There are many problems with your reasoning.
    First, fertility rates are plummeting. Much of the world (including the USA) is already below replacement rate, leading to problems such as population aging and cultural weakening. Some countries still have large fertility rates, but even there it is falling fast. As a result, world population is projected by the UN to peak at 9B or maybe 10B, then start falling.

    Second, much of the world is obese, and 1/3 of the food is not even eaten - it is thrown away at any of the several stages of production. Food production per capita is growing. Starvation is not caused by lack of food, it is caused by civil wars, terrorism, or corrupt, authoritarian and incompetent governments.

    Third, inflation-adjusted price of many commodities have been stable for a century.

    Fourth, there is no clear correlation between population density and income per capita.

    Fifth: while we compete for primary resources (but see the third point above), when the population grows we share the benefits of more scientists, engineers, musicians, writers, philosophers, etc.

    See
    http://overpopulationisamyth.com/

    1. Re:There is no overpopulation by ApplePy · · Score: 1

      1/3 of the food is not even eaten - it is thrown away at any of the several stages of production.

      Which begs the obvious question: Why do we need GMO to feed the world?

      Third, inflation-adjusted price of many commodities have been stable for a century.

      Which commodities would those be? And how do you define "stable"? Maybe I've missed something, but I can't think of anything that has been stable for 100 years. Throwing "inflation-adjusted" in there helps, but inflation itself is an instability in the system.

      Fourth, there is no clear correlation between population density and income per capita.

      How is income relevant?

      when the population grows we share the benefits of more scientists, engineers, musicians, writers, philosophers, etc.

      We're already developing technology and printing words and making music much faster than humanity can keep up with it. How many more do you reckon we need?

      We already invent pointless jobs for people, mostly in the public sector, because there isn't enough real honest work for everyone to do. That's in the first world, where we can afford more cruft. What happens in India and China, though, as mechanization replaces smallhold farming? What are a half-billion extra people, in each of them, going to do?

      --
      That I'm right, and you don't like it, doesn't mean I'm a troll.
    2. Re:There is no overpopulation by INowRegretThesePosts · · Score: 1

      Which begs the obvious question: Why do we need GMO to feed the world?

      My post was about overpopulation, not GMO.

      Which commodities would those be?

      In my economics class, the professor showed a graph with the inflation-adjusted price of copper. It was stable for a century.
      For electricity, a quick Google search shows the price has _fallen_ in the last 20 years.
      http://inflationdata.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Inflation-Adjusted-Electricity.jpg
      For food, see figure 4 in
      http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R40545.pdf

      > And how do you define "stable"?
      I meant "stable" as "not oscillating too wildly and not showing a clear positive correlation with time". If it rises significantly in the long term, it is not stable.

      but inflation itself is an instability in the system.

      Inflation is not caused by "overpopulation", it is caused by the government printing too much money.

      Fourth, there is no clear correlation between population density and income per capita.

      How is income relevant?

      if "overpopulation" caused poverty, we would expect to see a negative correlation between population density and income per capita.

      World income per capita has grown even with the financial crisis:
      https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/xx.html
      Unfortunately, in a quick Google, I did not find a historical graph.

      We already invent pointless jobs for people, mostly in the public sector, because there isn't enough real honest work for everyone to do. That's in the first world, where we can afford more cruft. What happens in India and China, though, as mechanization replaces smallhold farming? What are a half-billion extra people, in each of them, going to do?

      Human wants are insatiable. As simple things like food are mechanized, people will want more services such as (just one tiny example) live music.

    3. Re:There is no overpopulation by INowRegretThesePosts · · Score: 1

      if "overpopulation" caused poverty, we would expect to see a negative correlation between population density and income per capita.

      I meant this correlation with space, not time.
      Comparing low-density countries with high-density countries, there is no correlation between income per capita and population density.

      The correlation with time is actually positive, as population density and income per capita are growing together.

  71. Re:Question. Is ANYONE eating plants that aren't G by drinkypoo · · Score: 2

    No one cooked with microwaves until recently; that doesn't mean that microwave cooked food and oven cooked food are substantially different.

    You're engaging in prevarication by using as an example a situation which is not remotely congruent. That's a cheap tactic for cheap people. We know that microwave ovens lack the energy to twiddle DNA, which is ironically precisely what we're doing when we create GM organisms, which makes your example especially stupid. For stupid people.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  72. Re:Question. Is ANYONE eating plants that aren't G by ChromeAeonium · · Score: 1

    Prove that microwave heated food isn't dangerous. Microwaves are totally different than simple heated air that people have been using for centuries, which heats food more slowly. Totally different results too; your pizza will be all mushy and not crisp when it is made in a microwave. You couldn't do that with an oven. And you have no idea what alterations you are making to the food. It isn't like anyone has ever studied it, and if they have, Big Microwave has silenced them.

    But you are right, the point I made was rather stupid. Saying that all differences are meaningful is often an oversimplification of an issue.

  73. Re:Question. Is ANYONE eating plants that aren't G by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

    Prove that microwave heated food isn't dangerous.

    We have no reason to suspect that microwave-heated food is dangerous. There are reasons to suspect GM plants. QED, your argument is crap.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  74. To the Monsanto Shill Trollmod by drinkypoo · · Score: 0

    I believe everything I wrote above, every fucking word and piece of punctuation. Monsanto is evil and must be destroyed for the good of everyone.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    1. Re:To the Monsanto Shill Trollmod by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What's the difference between a troll and an idiot that sounds like a troll? How can a mod tell the difference?

      You can blow up Monsanto for all anyone cares, but take your anti-scientific bullshit and shove it up your ass. There are more people dying of hunger than there are anti-GMO morons such as yourself. From a utilitarian perspective, the lot of you could die (of measles, no doubt, since vaccinations are bad mojo, too) and the world would be a better place, since net happiness would increase.

    2. Re:To the Monsanto Shill Trollmod by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      You can blow up Monsanto for all anyone cares,

      if only that were true.

      There are more people dying of hunger than there are anti-GMO morons such as yourself.

      Zero of them are dying from hunger because of a lack of GMOs, just like the Green Revolution didn't save any net lives; it saved some people, and the practices have starved others.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  75. Re:The corn starch? Gimme a break! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    All corn is GM corn. The stuff we call "corn" did not evolve naturally, but by extreme pressure by human farmers. The stuff we eat cannot grow without human intervention and is anything but natural. Just because we didn't modify its genetics through a test tube doesn't make it non-modified genetically.

    no, no it IS NOT. There's a difference between selective *breeding* and injecting fish dna into corn.

    Prove me wrong. Breed a fish with a piece of corn *without* a test tube. I'll wait right here....

  76. Not Really by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The way I read the news post, kc star, was that a special run is made. On the same line that makes the gmo version. So really? like peanut free versions made on the peanut line, may contain the stuff you do not want...

  77. Woo... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    GM responsed to the media's manipulation of the population with FUD over GMOs....

  78. Anti-GAP not anti-GMO, but pro-GMO labeling. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    While I agree with the Anti-GMO crowd on Monsanto with its IP and other business practices, I am not anti-GMO. I am however anti-GAP (Genetically Added Pesticide). I am also for GMO labeling as it has a slightly higher risk of horizontal gene transfer which is of concern if you have cancer or direct cancer risk factors.

  79. Re:Question. Is ANYONE eating plants that aren't G by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You can get results with GM that you cannot get by breeding, which proves the difference.

    What's an example? I'm genuinely curious. I would think that given enough time, you could breed just about anything. Somehow humans came from bacteria without any GM, after all!

  80. Green America is targeting Cheerios? by TheloniousToady · · Score: 1

    Looks like they're a fine shot, too. Each one has a hole right through the center.

  81. Re:The corn starch? Gimme a break! by Dr.Dubious+DDQ · · Score: 1

    Glad I'm not the only one to spot that. This is like advertising "NON-GMO" salt.

    It reminds me of all of those candies out there with big "FAT FREE!" labels on them...

  82. RoundUp = POISON by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I can't believe the ignorance from the pro-GMO crowd on here. Regardless of any other benefits/harms of the current crop of genetically engineered foods the large companies are doing it to sell more glyphosate based products like RoundUp.

    Every time you eat RoundUp Ready food (corn, soy, canola, etc) that has been sprayed with glyphosate you are killing the bacteria in your gut. This is the cause of the epidemic of autoimmune and inflammation disorders increasing so drastically over the last 20+ years.

    Research showing this clear causal connection has been around for years now.

    http://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/15/4/1416

    Genetic engineering of foods is a classic double edged sword that science gives humans. We have wielded most of them very poorly.

  83. Topic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Thanks for topic, vpscloudbrasil.com.br

  84. Re:The corn starch? Gimme a break! by sjames · · Score: 1

    Just like they fought against listing transfats.

  85. Re:The corn starch? Gimme a break! by Great+Big+Bird · · Score: 1

    Probably GMO free lard.

  86. GMOs are terrible! by ChrisHarris9596 · · Score: 1

    GMOs are how we will destroy our world. They are uncontrollable and when GMO foods start cross pollinating with our regular food strains we are all gonna be fucked. It is so messed up that they can make the foods we eat into pesticides, yes that's correct the GMO potatoes you got cheaply from the grocery store are registered biologically as a pesticide not a food. Further more genetic diversity and sustainable land use is the only way we will survive into the future. GMOs lead to monoculture crops which leads to massive agricultural and financial disaster when that crop fails or is attacked by disease or pest.

  87. Re:Question. Is ANYONE eating plants that aren't G by tibit · · Score: 1

    Selecting for random mutations is one aspect of genetically modifying organisms, just that you mutate the genes using a naturally occurring process, without needing a modern biotech lab. That's how almonds came to be edible, that's how wheat doesn't need to pollinate with other strains, etc.

    --
    A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
  88. Re:The corn starch? Gimme a break! by Obfuscant · · Score: 1

    Yes, just like the "deadly poison" boogeyman "transfats" that people have been taught to fear and avoid at all costs. And that some manufacturers trumpet proudly from the front of every package, even for things that wouldn't have trans fats anyway. I'm surprised that the dried seaweed didn't also have "0 trans fats" printed in large letters on the front of the package to go with it's "vegan" and "gluten free" buzzwords. (And yes, it had the "may have been processed on equipment that previously processed nuts" statement to protect themselves legally from the peanut allergy people.)

  89. Re:The corn starch? Gimme a break! by sjames · · Score: 1

    Your ignorance is showing. The evidence against transfats is rather damning. To the point that the FDA has taken the unusual step of revoking GRAS status.

    Of course, by the time it did that, most trans-fats were already replaced due to market forces and required labeling.

    Meanwhile, none of the howling about how irreplaceable transfats are and/or how expensive the replacements would be has panned out.

  90. Hmmm by Krigl · · Score: 1

    Should we start campaigning for Cheerios boycott?

    --
    Troll 2.0 Fear my asocial networking!
  91. Re:The corn starch? Gimme a break! by Obfuscant · · Score: 1

    Your ignorance is showing. The evidence against transfats is rather damning.

    It is simply amazing that all those people who died a horrible, instant death from eating food that had transfats in them didn't make any of the news programs. There is a significant difference between long term potential harm (at some point in the distant future, you may suffer some harm from eating this, or you may not -- it is a crapshoot, and all the other environmental factors in your life probably play a larger part in deciding who wins and loses) and "deadly poison".

    Perhaps in your ignorance you didn't realize that EVERYTHING you eat can cause you harm in the long term, if you eat too much of it. You will almost certainly wind up dead if all you eat is 83 pounds a day of that "gluten free, vegan" (and also 0% trans fats) dried seaweed I've used as an example of ridiculous packaging notices.

    Should everything get a label because for some people at some point a decade down the road some scientist may point a finger at it as a distant cause of your heart attack?

    Meanwhile, none of the howling about how irreplaceable transfats are

    You must be replying to someone else, since you're the first person I've seen howling about trans fats in this thread.

  92. Re:The corn starch? Gimme a break! by sjames · · Score: 1

    So you figure anything that doesn't kill you instantly must be just fine?

    The industry did the howling about transfats when they fought listing them on the label.

    So to recap your position, slow poisons are just fine in food as long as the fatality rate is under 100% and consumers have no right to know what they're eating.

    And yes, information on each and every aspect of any good should be open to the consumer. The buyer has every right to know what they're buying.