Click Banner For More Info See All Sponsors

So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!

This site is now closed permanently to new posts.
We recommend you use the new Townsy Cafe!

Click anywhere but the link to dismiss overlay!

Results 1 to 1 of 1

  • Share this thread on:
  • Follow: No Email   
  • Thread Tools
  1. TopTop #1
    Barry's Avatar
    Barry
    Founder & Moderator

    GMO's Reconsidered

    Here's an excellent long, well sourced article on Slate.com by William Saletan about GMOs that essentially says that the technology is safe (even if Monsanto uses it for nefarious purposes).

    If you are interested in the GMO issue,
    including whether or not they are safe or should be labeled,
    This Is Required Reading!

    Mark Morford, not exactly a Monsanto shill, starts off his take on the article by saying:

    Plentiful are the takeaways from Will Saletan’s expertly researched, if a bit viciously anti-activist, barn-burner of piece over at Slate on the various absurdities, lies and distortions in the war over GMOs – lies which, according to Saletan, fall far more in the laps of the obsessive anti-GMO activists themselves than they do the government or the usual Big Ag corporate villains. What a thing.

    Mark's full piece is here.

    There's also also a recent article in the New York Times called:
    Fears, Not Facts, Support G.M.O.-Free Food

    The introduction to article is below along with a link to the full article.

    If you want to participate in this thread, you must first read the whole article!

    I'll be very interested to hear what (formerly?) GMO skeptics think of it.

    Get informed!

    GMO skeptics are bordering on becoming GMO deniers, with as much credibility as climate deniers!

    Barry




    Unhealthy Fixation

    The war against genetically modified organisms is full of fearmongering, errors, and fraud. Labeling them will not make you safer.

    By William Saletan

    Is genetically engineered food dangerous? Many people seem to think it is. In the past five years, companies have submitted more than 27,000 products to the Non-GMO Project, which certifies goods that are free of genetically modified organisms. Last year, sales of such products nearly tripled. Whole Foods will soon require labels on all GMOs in its stores. Abbott, the company that makes Similac baby formula, has created a non-GMO version to give parents “peace of mind.” Trader Joe’s has sworn off GMOs. So has Chipotle.

    Some environmentalists and public interest groups want to go further. Hundreds of organizations, including Consumers Union, Friends of the Earth, Physicians for Social Responsibility, the Center for Food Safety, and the Union of Concerned Scientists, are demanding “mandatory labeling of genetically engineered foods.” Since 2013, Vermont, Maine, and Connecticut have passed laws to require GMO labels. Massachusetts could be next.

    The central premise of these laws—and the main source of consumer anxiety, which has sparked corporate interest in GMO-free food—is concern about health. Last year, in a survey by the Pew Research Center, 57 percent of Americans said it’s generally “unsafe to eat genetically modified foods.” Vermont says the primary purpose of its labeling law is to help people “avoid potential health risks of food produced from genetic engineering.” Chipotle notes that 300 scientists have “signed a statement rejecting the claim that there is a scientific consensus on the safety of GMOs for human consumption.” Until more studies are conducted, Chipotle says, “We believe it is prudent to take a cautious approach toward GMOs.”

    The World Health Organization, the American Medical Association, the National Academy of Sciences, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science have all declared that there’s no good evidence GMOs are unsafe. Hundreds of studies back up that conclusion. But many of us don’t trust these assurances. We’re drawn to skeptics who say that there’s more to the story, that some studies have foundrisks associated with GMOs, and that Monsanto is covering it up.

    I’ve spent much of the past year digging into the evidence. Here’s what I’ve learned. First, it’s true that the issue is complicated. But the deeper you dig, the more fraud you find in the case against GMOs. It’s full of errors, fallacies, misconceptions, misrepresentations, and lies. The people who tell you that Monsanto is hiding the truth are themselves hiding evidence that their own allegations about GMOs are false. They’re counting on you to feel overwhelmed by the science and to accept, as a gut presumption, their message of distrust.
    Second, the central argument of the anti-GMO movement—that prudence and caution are reasons to avoid genetically engineered, or GE, food—is a sham. Activists who tell you to play it safe around GMOs take no such care in evaluating the alternatives. They denounce proteins in GE crops as toxic, even as they defend drugs, pesticides, and non-GMO crops that are loaded with the same proteins. They portray genetic engineering as chaotic and unpredictable, even when studies indicate that other crop improvement methods, including those favored by the same activists, are more disruptive to plant genomes.


    Third, there are valid concerns about some aspects of GE agriculture, such as herbicides, monocultures, and patents. But none of these concerns is fundamentally about genetic engineering. Genetic engineering isn’t a thing. It’s a process that can be used in different ways to create different things. To think clearly about GMOs, you have to distinguish among the applications and focus on the substance of each case. If you’re concerned about pesticides and transparency, you need to know about the toxins to which your food has been exposed. A GMO label won’t tell you that. And it can lull you into buying a non-GMO product even when the GE alternative is safer.

    If you’re like me, you don’t really want to wade into this issue. It’s too big, technical, and confusing. But come with me, just this once. I want to take you backstage, behind those blanket assurances about the safety of genetic engineering. I want to take you down into the details of four GMO fights, because that’s where you’ll find truth. You’ll come to the last curtain, the one that hides the reality of the anti-GMO movement. And you’ll see what’s behind it.

    Article Continues here

    | Login or Register (free) to reply publicly or privately   Email

  2. Gratitude expressed by 5 members:

Similar Threads

  1. What's the Connection Between GMO's and Chemtrails?
    By ubaru in forum National & International Politics
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 11-15-2012, 01:57 AM
  2. Replies: 0
    Last Post: 07-25-2012, 07:29 PM
  3. Replies: 0
    Last Post: 04-18-2011, 04:30 PM
  4. Supreme Court reconsiders McCain-Feingold
    By Zeno Swijtink in forum WaccoReader
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 07-08-2009, 09:34 AM
  5. GMO News from "GMO Free Marin"
    By SCRSH in forum WaccoReader
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 02-27-2007, 02:56 PM

Bookmarks