I wasn't replying directly to any of your posts, Bear, but you seem set on picking apart my one little contribution to the discussion for some reason, so suppose I'll reply directly to yours. Maybe you just have a chip on your shoulder, I don't know. I'm amused by it, actually. You're so quick to call my own information "misinformation!" But since neither of us cited any sources, what makes you more right than me? Because you think you are?
Believe it or not, I too am a farmer (I assume you are, forgive me if I'm wrong), and I do know what I'm talking about or I would have kept my opinions to myself (I try to anyway). To the best of my knowledge nothing I said was untrue. GE crops DO use more poisons than other methods, and rates of application have generally increased over the years even as GE crops were introduced--heavy herbicide use is the whole POINT of Roundup Ready soy, for example.
And while organic farming on a commercial scale sometimes does use more fossil fuels than conventional with some approaches, many models of growing also exist that use much, much less. The techniques for better practices exist and are viable. You need to take a fresh look at some of the new ideas at the cutting edge of sustainable agriculture if you don't know what I'm talking about.
I never said that "modern farmers" don't use any of "the methods" I named as alternatives to GE, pesticides, and chemical fertilizer. I also never said anything about "the organic crowd." You seem to assume that I am debating from a certain point of view and lumping me with "the organic crowd," in a pejorative sort of way. You are also implying that organic farming is not "modern farming," which I also take issue with for different reasons. (disclosure: I am in fact a non-certified organic vegetable, fruit, and poultry farmer and grew up on a farm). Actually, I consider organic farming more "modern" (and more scientifically sound) that GE crops or conventional methods.
And you miss the point about safety testing of GE crops: testing should have been done BEFORE these things were EVER put onto the market, NOT during the "DECADES these crops have been in production!" Ummm, I assumed the logic of that argument was self-evident, but I guess not to everyone...
No hard feelings, but please think a bit more before you criticize... Not everyone who disagrees with you is an idiot.
Cheers!
