GMO discussion with teacher

[hemet dennis]

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HA HA good dodge of the question

and i do believe that some times the left is right and sometimes the right is right. i would never say my side is always right

 

[RHRanch]

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You do know that Malaria was nearly eliminated in Africa, until the greenies got all concerned about thin shelled raptor eggs, and banned DDT?

Uh, do you think we should just let all the raptors die off then? Do you know what happens to an ecosystem that loses its apex predators?

 

[HollyBird24]

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You do know that Malaria was nearly eliminated in Africa, until the greenies got all concerned about thin shelled raptor eggs, and banned DDT?

Uh, do you think we should just let all the raptors die off then? Do you know what happens to an ecosystem that loses its apex predators?

 

[sheila3935]

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So what you are saying is the farmer pays extra to buy GMO seeds then has to spend more on weed killer and then gets a smaller crop that is worth less. So you are saying the farmers are stupid ?

No what I am saying is that when farmers get into this they have no idea that they will each year have to spend more and more on herbicides. Round up isnt even controlling the weeds anymore. Then they have to go stronger with 2D4 which has the same ingredients as Agent Orange which Monsanto made during the Vietnam War. Round Up causes birth defects. Most farmers go into this with the idea that they will not have to spray as much and will have larger yeilds, but that isnt always the case and once you grow Round Up ready seeds you cant save your seeds and you have to continue. Farmers are not stupid they just get stuck in this and its a hard road out. If you have volunteer corn that is GMO. Monsanto can sue you for growing their corn without buying the seeds. It was suppose to make farmers more money per acre but the cost of the herbicides take away that profit. I do agree something needs to be done to feed the world but I wouldnt want to feed people GMO products that I wont eat myself just because they are poor.

 

[hemet dennis]

Quote:
So what you are saying is the farmer pays extra to buy GMO seeds then has to spend more on weed killer and then gets a smaller crop that is worth less. So you are saying the farmers are stupid ?

No what I am saying is that when farmers get into this they have no idea that they will each year have to spend more and more on herbicides. Round up isnt even controlling the weeds anymore. Then they have to go stronger with 2D4 which has the same ingredients as Agent Orange which Monsanto made during the Vietnam War. Round Up causes birth defects. Most farmers go into this with the idea that they will not have to spray as much and will have larger yeilds, but that isnt always the case and once you grow Round Up ready seeds you cant save your seeds and you have to continue. Farmers are not stupid they just get stuck in this and its a hard road out. If you have volunteer corn that is GMO. Monsanto can sue you for growing their corn without buying the seeds. It was suppose to make farmers more money per acre but the cost of the herbicides take away that profit. I do agree something needs to be done to feed the world but I wouldnt want to feed people GMO products that I wont eat myself just because they are poor.

don't believe that they will sue a farmer for some volunteers but if 90% of a farmers field is their GMO seeds then the farmer was stealing
and any farmer can buy any other seeds

 

[sheila3935]

mom'sfolly :

I'm going to be kind, because I think most of this discussion is coming from young adults.

This has been discussed many times on BYC, and almost always gets shut down.

Very little of the corn grown in this country is NOT GMO, now. And yes, many of the major seed/chemical companies are only offering GMO corn.

Corn is a wonderful example of an wind pollenated crop. This means that Farmer Joe's organic farm can be contaminated by Monsanto's GMO corn from down the street. Farmer Joe can no longer can no longer market his crop as organic, and to add further insult to injury, Monsanto gets to sue him for using their intellectual property. The courts have sided with Monsanto on this, with very little understanding of the biology behind corn pollenation. GMO crops are reducing genetic diversity, not expanding it.

Most of the GMO products on the market were not developed for increased production or nutrition. They were developed for resistance to herbicides. This allows farmers to chemically weed plants that previously would have been killed by the herbicides. There is mounting evidence that production is actually going down with GMO crops.

The chemical lobby has also effectively crippled any potential labeling laws in this country. You cannot choose to avoid GMO plants because they are not labeled. All the lovely high fructose corn syrup in just about everything is from genetically modified corn, and almost all the soy grown in this country is the same. So if it is not in the processed food you eat, then it is in the meat from the cows fed the GMO product. No choice, no labeling but of course, no conspiracy.

Quite frankly, there has been no long term studies on the implications of GMO crops, because they simply haven't been around long enough for long term studies.

If you really want to know more about both sides of this issue, search the previous discussion on this site, and then take it to the wider world of the web. There is a lot of information out there, and you can make up your own mind.

I would not be convinced that a biology teacher would actually know that much about what is being done with GMO crops, unless it is an interest of the teacher. The mechanics of GMO the teacher should understand, but that isn't the whole story. The whole story involves politics, corporate control of agriculture, the history of the green revolution, agricultural economics, agricultural practices, and a host of other issues.

Very well said.​

 

[Royd]

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You do know that Malaria was nearly eliminated in Africa, until the greenies got all concerned about thin shelled raptor eggs, and banned DDT?

Uh, do you think we should just let all the raptors die off then? Do you know what happens to an ecosystem that loses its apex predators?

The point here is the arrogance of those who decide what's best. Why should DDT be banned worldwide, when it was greatly improving life on a whole contienent, just because it was, supposedly, depletely the raptor population?

The small farmer is the raptor in the GMO debate. Who is going to stand as an advocate for him, to prevent his annilihation?

 

[sheila3935]

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No what I am saying is that when farmers get into this they have no idea that they will each year have to spend more and more on herbicides. Round up isnt even controlling the weeds anymore. Then they have to go stronger with 2D4 which has the same ingredients as Agent Orange which Monsanto made during the Vietnam War. Round Up causes birth defects. Most farmers go into this with the idea that they will not have to spray as much and will have larger yeilds, but that isnt always the case and once you grow Round Up ready seeds you cant save your seeds and you have to continue. Farmers are not stupid they just get stuck in this and its a hard road out. If you have volunteer corn that is GMO. Monsanto can sue you for growing their corn without buying the seeds. It was suppose to make farmers more money per acre but the cost of the herbicides take away that profit. I do agree something needs to be done to feed the world but I wouldnt want to feed people GMO products that I wont eat myself just because they are poor.

don't believe that they will sue a farmer for some volunteers but if 90% of a farmers field is their GMO seeds then the farmer was stealing
and any farmer can buy any other seeds

Research Percy Schmeiser from Canada and see what Monsanto can do.

 

[Fierlin1182]

I don't eat much GMO food, but I personally don't see anything wrong with it. Those new strains of wheat and rice are providing a lot of extra crop where it's really needed, in poorer communities.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I once heard seedless grapes are GMO.

 

[Fierlin1182]

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We had to write a chemistry assignment about this issue a few weeks ago. I didn't get full marks. Apparently didn't expand enough on the negative impacts of DDT.

To be honest, I couldn't find all that many...