Raise your hand if Monsanto scares you!

[Yellow]

I thought they were kinda beginning to fade away, then two things happened. First I saw this ad in Scientific American:

9 billion people to feed. A changing climate. Now what?

Experts say we'll need to double agricultural output by 2050 to feed a growing world. That's challenge enough. But with a changing climate, the challenge becomes even greater. Providing abundant and accessible food means putting the latest science-based tools in farmers' hands, including advanced hybrid and biotech seeds. Monsanto's advanced seeds not only significantly increase crop yields, they use fewer key resources--like land and fuel--to do it. Thats a win-win for people, and the earth itself. Producing more. Conserving more. Improving farmers' lives. Thats sustainable agriculture. And that's what Monsanto is all about.

The world's farmers will need to double food production by 2050. Biotechnology can help.

Secondly, I recently read that Monsanto has won a court case banning all independent research of their products. They used copyright infringement as their justification. So now they can produce products that cannot be tested by anyone who is not one of their own paid researchers.

Anyone else feeling a bit unsettled?

 

[Invoke Ninja's True Power]

STOP THE STUPID PEOPLE FROM OVERBREEDING!!!!!!!!!!!!! SERIOUSLY!!!!!!!!!!!
All the stupid fucks get to breed and I get stuck wanting to kill everybody because no one wants the quiet, overly-shy, somewhat smart guy even if he is very good looking and can get a B in almost any class with very little effort. I just wish I had money so women would actually be interested in all the nice things I'd be able to buy them. Its obvious they aren't interested in anyone's brain or sexual talent. They just want someone that can provide money for potential kids. Getting way off topic but I just need to rant. Sometimes I don't even know why I allow myself to stay alive. whats the point? I'm just a useless thinker.

 

[Kidege]

It scares me.

Their freaking mutant corn is threatening the original varieties in Oaxaca.

 

[Felan]

Secondly, I recently read that Monsanto has won a court case banning all independent research of their products. They used copyright infringement as their justification. So now they can produce products that cannot be tested by anyone who is not one of their own paid researchers.

Anyone else feeling a bit unsettled?

Would kindly provide a reference to this court case? I'd like to read up on it some.

 

[Claverhouse]

I find the manipulation of seed horrific, partly because it has taken tens of thousand of years to develop, say,in the case of grain from grass and even minor slip-ups can have untold consequences years from now. However it is less the prospect of disaster either from a poor choices by the scientists or bureaucrats responsible that concerns me most, as the concentration of seed-choice down to a few vulnerable varieties and the 'ownership' of seed forbidding farmers to use other choices.

The need to feed the world is benevolent hooey: when mass populations are deemed necessary to starve, as in India periodically, China sometimes, the Soviet Union during the 1920s and most horrifically Germany post WWII, few people in or out of government care in the least. Some even less than others...

"Washington, D.C., June 6th (1946) - The [ for Germany ] Emergency Food Collection Committee headed by Henry A. Wallace, Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, and Herbert Leham, has collected $323,000 in cash . . . it is retaining $300,000 for administrative expenses."

What is certain is that this is just another capitalist ramp, no different to speculators fixing the market from the French Revolution on to the Chicago Exchange in the late 19th/early 20th centuries.

I strongly disapprobate both revenge-dramas and morality plays as childish; but this reminded me I recently watched D. W. Griffith's revolting depiction of part of Frank Norris's 'The Pit', a few weeks back. It's in The Internet Archive, just around 56 MB or so. Like all their stuff it's usually quicker to download and view locally than online.



Claverhouse

 

[Yellow]

It scares me.

Their freaking mutant corn is threatening the original varieties in Oaxaca.

The corn, the potatoes, the wheat, the flaxseed.. they are doing it to any crop they can get their slimy hands on.

Not to mention their lovely habit of taking the farms of people who don't buy their products! (one of their seeds may land on the edge of some poor sap's farm, Monsanto "happens" to catch it and then sue to take the farm... they seem to especially love doing that to Canadians..)

But I was watching this documentary (maybe you saw it) about people from like Oaxaca U. collecting all kinds of corn varieties and creating a seed bank.

 

[Claverhouse]

...I get stuck wanting to kill everybody because no one wants the quiet, overly-shy, somewhat smart guy even if he is very good looking and can get a B in almost any class with very little effort.

Maybe it's cos you want to kill them all.



Claverhouse

 

[Invoke Ninja's True Power]

Mass farming practices are gonna get us all killed. Removing the genetic diversity is just gonna hurt us in the end. I read this article once that said the bananas people used to eat in the 50s were different than the ones today. They were bigger and tested better supposedly.That species got wiped out by some crop fungus or disease or something, basically they didn't have enough genetic diversity to have any resistant to the disease. Not sure where I read that article but this is basically what is happening. There is always going to be an X factor that nobody has ever considered. Not only that but the main crop anyone seems to be working on is wheat. Fuck wheat. I may not be celiac but think of the people that are. I suspect a mild gluten-intolerance in myself but I'm not sure. either way I have become more aware of these kinds of factors and I wish more people would do the same.

There is no one size fits all when it comes to living, biological things.

 

[Yellow]

Would kindly provide a reference to this court case? I'd like to read up on it some.

I cannot seem to find the case anywhere or anything about it other than in the op/ed section of the August 2009 issue of SA.... and that itself is a bit of a worry.

 

[Kidege]

But I was watching this documentary (maybe you saw it) about people from like Oaxaca U. collecting all kinds of corn varieties and creating a seed bank.

I haven't seen it. Do you have the name?

I know they're messing with every crop. I suppose that what really gets to me in the case of corn is its symbolism:

The three names for corn in nahuatl (centli, tonacayo and tlayolli) are translated as "unity"- this is, principle and totality-, "our flesh" -which means the substance we're made of- and "life and movement". These are the ontological bastions of the Mexican people...

 

[Yellow]

Mass farming practices are gonna get us all killed. Removing the genetic diversity is just gonna hurt us in the end. I read this article once that said the bananas people used to eat in the 50s were different than the ones today. They were bigger and tested better supposedly.That species got wiped out by some crop fungus or disease or something, basically they didn't have enough genetic diversity to have any resistant to the disease. Not sure where I read that article but this is basically what is happening. There is always going to be an X factor that nobody has ever considered. Not only that but the main crop anyone seems to be working on is wheat. Fuck wheat. I may not be celiac but think of the people that are. I suspect a mild gluten-intolerance in myself but I'm not sure. either way I have become more aware of these kinds of factors and I wish more people would do the same.

There is no one size fits all when it comes to living, biological things.

Bananas are another, similar issue to this one. All of the bananas you get in the stores are clones of each other. There is a disease wiping out banana plantations. In a couple of decades, these bananas will be a thing of the past (that is before they get so expensive that they become a luxury). That is why (it think it's Bonita) some stores are carrying those tiny bananas. I think this may even encourage a variety of bananas to be grown and sold... before another type is inevitably over grown and takes over the market.
By the way... I haven't tried the store variety, but the tiny bananas fresh are like the best tasting bananas EVER!

 

[Invoke Ninja's True Power]

Yeah, I blame all our problems on people's clinginess to money/profits. Profits does not equal progress. So much progress has been destroyed all because of money. I'd like to see every single economy in the world fail so everyone would have no choice but to abandon the money/credit system. Of course most people would rather go down with the ship so to speak. Stupid fools and their money.

 

[Yellow]

I haven't seen it. Do you have the name?

I know they're messing with every crop. I suppose that what really gets to me in the case of corn is its symbolism:

I don't have the name, I saw it in my human genetics class like 3 years ago.

 

[Cogwulf]

I don't see any problem with genetic engineering of food as long as it's well managed. And even if the trend is towards reducing the variety of crops being grown, there are still dozens of labs across the world dedicated to cataloguing and storing plant varieties with the one aim of future-proofing genetic diversity of crops.

I'm more worried about the impact of poor management of agriculture in third world countries causing problems such as the rapid spread of the UG99 fungus, which as soon as a year from now could cause massive famines in the middle East and South Asia

 

[Invoke Ninja's True Power]

I don't think genetic modification is developed enough to use on the large scale they are proposing is a necessity. I think it is just a way to keep stupid people breeding so there will be no shortage of money slaves to push along whatever agenda is in place.

 

[Felan]

Genetic engineering is an essential and fascinating technology. I embrace it fearfully, but think turning away from it would be a greater misfortune.

There are definitely some serious societal and legal issues with the fledgling industry. Greed is great for riling people up but not terribly productive at affecting change. Worse by taking such an approach you surrender yourself to whatever comes after it.

By this I draw a parallel with behavior training in animals (which includes humans). When you take a negative or punishment course to trying to alter negative behavior, the problem isn't that you are mean or inhuman. The problem is that the target must for themself decide what behavior to replace the discouraged behavior with. When you take a positive or reinforcement approach to altering negative behavior you are guiding the subject's choice in replacement behavior to something more acceptable.

From my perspective societal issues are strikingly similiar. When all you do is decry the easy motivators like 'greed' you are just demanding change for changes-sake. And you end up with a gimped this or an even more corruptible system.

 

[Inappropriate Behavior]

I found this link about banning independent research. There looks to be others too.



Reading up on Monsanto's practices leaves a very disturbing taste in my mouth. Another example of why corporations can't be left unfettered.

Edit: This site says this is the technology agreement farmers must sign to use their seed.

 

[Yellow]

GMOs in general are not really a bad thing. I think it is a real step forward for us as as scientific culture. My biggest concern is with a large, powerful, unsensored, totalitarian company like Monsanto that spends too many resources on bullying individuals, cummunities, companies, and even governments into allowing it to run around unchecked. Knowledge should free and their products should be subject to short and long term research. In addition, they seem to have little or no concern for the long term implications their products have on the original species of their products, the health of the area in which their products are grown. The company motto seems to be "if you won't use our products, we will ruin you. If you try to stop us with your medical and conservational concerns, we will ruin you". Not cool.

 

[Latro]

It scares me.

Their freaking mutant corn is threatening the original varieties in Oaxaca.

Original corn is a bad term. The plant that corn derived from is pretty much just gone. Instead we have a selectively bred plant that produces much, much more corn than the original plant (which was more like a grass than the corn we see today). It produces so much, in fact, that if we weren't around to harvest it, it would actually starve itself to death.

So yeah, "original" is probably not right.

Btw, my source here is the Modern Marvels documentary on Corn on the History Channel.

On-topic: a little scary, yeah...third party research is a big thing to me, and taking it away in the name of copyright seems pretty messed up. Now, a big scare over the dangers of genetically modified food, though? Probably not really anything to be too concerned about, frankly.

 

[Kidege]

If you mean teosinte, I get your point. But when I said "original corn" I was taking into account the fact that actual corn is human made.

(This is why the debate on GM corn is so emotionally loaded over here, btw.)

 

[Invoke Ninja's True Power]

If I remember correctly corn has ALWAYS required human intervention to grow. Its just too bad they won't consider hemp/other quick growing alternatives to make biofuels from instead of corn. Supposedly there is going to be a sugar shortage because of the reduced amounts of corn syrup/high fructose corn syrup on the market because of the amount of corn diverted to biofuels. Normally I wouldn't have a proble with high fructose corn syrup being available but if the lack thereof jacks the price of natural products up than it does affect me. I try to avoid products with high fructose corn syrup as much as possible.

 

[Latro]

If you mean teosinte, I get your point. But when I said "original corn" I was taking into account the fact that actual corn is human made.

(This is why the debate on GM corn is so emotionally loaded over here, btw.)

Touche; I suppose what is called "corn" has nothing to do with any truly natural plant anymore. By the way, I find it interesting that Spanish has so many different, but specific, seemingly common words for varieties of corn. I suppose this is an indicator of the kind of emotional involvement with corn that you just mentioned.

If I remember correctly corn has ALWAYS required human intervention to grow. Its just too bad they won't consider hemp/other quick growing alternatives to make biofuels from instead of corn. Supposedly there is going to be a sugar shortage because of the reduced amounts of corn syrup/high fructose corn syrup on the market because of the amount of corn diverted to biofuels. Normally I wouldn't have a proble with high fructose corn syrup being available but if the lack thereof jacks the price of natural products up than it does affect me. I try to avoid products with high fructose corn syrup as much as possible.

The ancestor of corn grew as is. It was just nothing even remotely like current corn.

 

[Felan]

I found this link about banning independent research. There looks to be others too.



Reading up on Monsanto's practices leaves a very disturbing taste in my mouth. Another example of why corporations can't be left unfettered.

Edit: This site says this is the technology agreement farmers must sign to use their seed.

Thanks for the link

 

[nickgray]

Depends... the so-called "organic" food is spread by the very same pesticides, and in order to make it less vulnerable to pests you simply take the seeds of a small part of a crop that wasn't eaten by the insects and plant it, repeat that over and over and you got the same genetic manipulation thingy, only somewhat slower. The main concern for me is: insects are hungry guys. Very hungry. What in the world was done to the plants if the insects don't want to eat them? I'm no biologist, but this is clearly a troubling question.

As for the Monsanto and similar bastards - I hope they die a slow and painful death, choking on that green paper they seem to desire so much. Nothing more needs to be said on that matter.

 

[Ermine]

@ the OP

The prospect of such hybrid crops is scary. Potentially beneficial, but the consequences are enormous if someone makes a small mistake. Very possible since any human is prone to mistakes. Also, I'm very surprised that these people don't learn from the mistakes of the past. Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the Irish potato famine caused by a lack of crop diversity?

And there's no way it's all about feeding the world. We definitely have the capacity to feed everyone with our current technologies and methods. This is why I find ethanol and other bio fuels so maddening and wrong. It's an enormous waste to turn huge amounts of food into a fuel that isn't more efficient than fossil fuels when that food is much better used feeding people. If you were to get into all the energy exchanges that go into eating, I'm sure it's more efficient than turning the corn into ethanol and putting it in the gas tank.

 

[Kidege]

wasn't the Irish potato famine caused by a lack of crop diversity?

I think the huge soy crops are being blamed for the death of bees in South America... IIRC it's GM soy.

 

[Invoke Ninja's True Power]

LETS GO MAKE WAR FOR PEACE!!!! AND HOPEFULLY STOP THE STUPID FROM OVER-BREEDING TOO!!!!!

 

[bdubs]

Mass farming practices are gonna get us all killed. Removing the genetic diversity is just gonna hurt us in the end. I read this article once that said the bananas people used to eat in the 50s were different than the ones today. They were bigger and tested better supposedly.That species got wiped out by some crop fungus or disease or something, basically they didn't have enough genetic diversity to have any resistant to the disease. Not sure where I read that article but this is basically what is happening.
There is no one size fits all when it comes to living, biological things.

Don't know if this is the article but here ya go!

 

[Invoke Ninja's True Power]

that's probably it

 

[merzbau]

Depends... the so-called "organic" food is spread by the very same pesticides, and in order to make it less vulnerable to pests you simply take the seeds of a small part of a crop that wasn't eaten by the insects and plant it, repeat that over and over and you got the same genetic manipulation thingy, only somewhat slower.

this is a common misconception that monsanto plays on, that genetic manipulation via selective breeding and grafting has been going on for thousands of years and they are merely accelerating the process, which is a lie, as these traditional methods rely on the plants' natural methods of reproduction.
in fact, genetic manipulation breaks the bondaries of natural biology by making it possible to mate a fish with a tomato or a lizard or a walnut. the results are impossible to abtain by natural processes.

 

[Invoke Ninja's True Power]

DNA can be altered using bacteria and/or viruses, at least in animals. I wonder, Do things evolve mostly from disease?

 

[Artifice Orisit]

STOP THE STUPID PEOPLE FROM OVERBREEDING!!!!!!!!!!!!! SERIOUSLY!!!!!!!!!!!

Hell no, stupid people will be the new cattle

 

[Yellow]

this is a common misconception that monsanto plays on, that genetic manipulation via selective breeding and grafting has been going on for thousands of years and they are merely accelerating the process, which is a lie, as these traditional methods rely on the plants' natural methods of reproduction.
in fact, genetic manipulation breaks the bondaries of natural biology by making it possible to mate a fish with a tomato or a lizard or a walnut. the results are impossible to abtain by natural processes.

Its kinda uncanny you made the fish/tomato connection (maybe it was on purpose) but some company has made tomatoes and a couple of other things to have genes from a really hardy cold-temp fish (halibut maybe? I don't remember) so that it can grow in colder climates.

DNA can be altered using bacteria and/or viruses, at least in animals. I wonder, Do things evolve mostly from disease?

Well, you mustn't think of bacteria as diseases when thinking of DNA splicing. They are simply convenient little carriers because they pick up genes easily and they duplicate so quickly. E. coli is the most popular. You can order it right out of a catalog.. if you have the catalog. It is used a lot for perfectly innocent things like DNA amplification and whatnot as well.

 

[merzbau]

Its kinda uncanny you made the fish/tomato connection (maybe it was on purpose) but some company has made tomatoes and a couple of other things to have genes from a really hardy cold-temp fish (halibut maybe? I don't remember) so that it can grow in colder climates.

yep, i made the analogy because of the splicing of fish genes into tomatoes to make them frost resistant.
apart from the appauling subversion of natural biology, novel genetic creations also carry the dangers of hidden allergies, and animal viruses crossing species.

a few years ago, the state i live in was discussing a moratorium on GMOs. an anti-GM group brought percy schmeiser over from canada to talk to local farmers, and monsanto had planted members in the audience to heckle him during the talk. the moratorium passed, and monsanto threw a tantrum, declaring they were leaving for more progressive countries that would let them do what they want.
monsanto also set up fake letter-writing campaigns and lobby groups with names like "Food Science Avisory Group" that sent pro-GMO pieces to newspapers for inclusion into articles on GM, so monsanto's propaganda would appear as if it was written by an unbiased public health institution. one of these groups was actually headed by an ex-member of monsanto's marketing division.

by far the most insidious example of monsanto's tampering with natural life is the terminator seed, which earned it such bad press it hardly gets mentioned these days.

 

[Invoke Ninja's True Power]

I wonder if GM wheat is part of the reason there's more cases of Celiac being diagnosed, or is it because we as a society are finally in a comfortable enough start to be able to analyze food/diet? It would be interesting to know whether certain foods contain or don't contain GM ingredients. I've been trying to analyze my diet for a couple years now and find out what my allergy food triggers are. I suspect I have gluten problems but its only if I consume it more than once in awhile, almost like some toxin accumulates in my body from it. I was tested for Celiac once and it came up negative but I am thinking about getting a 2nd opinion, also I'm not sure if a mild allergy to it will even show up. I also consider my body could just be showing a strange reaction to stress/anxiety. Tried to get actually allergy tested once but all the doctor did was prescribe an antibiotic and the testing wasn't covered under insurance so screw that. That just pissed me off

 

[nickgray]

this is a common misconception that monsanto plays on, that genetic manipulation via selective breeding and grafting has been going on for thousands of years and they are merely accelerating the process, which is a lie, as these traditional methods rely on the plants' natural methods of reproduction.
in fact, genetic manipulation breaks the bondaries of natural biology by making it possible to mate a fish with a tomato or a lizard or a walnut. the results are impossible to abtain by natural processes.

Yeah, you have a point, but were there studies being done that show genetic manipulation is indeed a bad thing and the "traditional" way of genetic manipulation, that is, by natural processes, is the best way? You don't find Californium on Earth, yet we can make it in the labs. Is that a bad thing too? Just because it's "unnatural" doesn't mean pretty much anything.

 

[merzbau]

i would have thought it fairly obvious that natural food is healthier than synthetic food.. our bodies are not built to process synthetic foods, they have developed over millions of years of evolution to process and subsist on foods from the natural world.

i suppose you could then argue that GM foods are biologically identical to natural foods, even though this is debatable, but the technology is still manipulating the natural course of how things grow, reproduce and die - and how plants interact with their surroundings and work in tandem with other plants and animals, in a way that has never been seen before. transgenic foods could prove disastrous not just for human health, but for the environment, and the food chain. and once you let them out, cross pollination and resistance to herbicides will ensure that they'll outbreed other non transgenic crops. we will never be rid of them.

there's a good summary of health risks here:
http://www.seedsofdeception.com/Public/GeneticRoulette/HealthRisksofGMFoodsSummaryDebate/index.cfm

 

[Yellow]

yep, i made the analogy because of the splicing of fish genes into tomatoes to make them frost resistant.
apart from the appauling subversion of natural biology, novel genetic creations also carry the dangers of hidden allergies, and animal viruses crossing species.

a few years ago, the state i live in was discussing a moratorium on GMOs. an anti-GM group brought percy schmeiser over from canada to talk to local farmers, and monsanto had planted members in the audience to heckle him during the talk. the moratorium passed, and monsanto threw a tantrum, declaring they were leaving for more progressive countries that would let them do what they want.
monsanto also set up fake letter-writing campaigns and lobby groups with names like "Food Science Avisory Group" that sent pro-GMO pieces to newspapers for inclusion into articles on GM, so monsanto's propaganda would appear as if it was written by an unbiased public health institution. one of these groups was actually headed by an ex-member of monsanto's marketing division.

by far the most insidious example of monsanto's tampering with natural life is the terminator seed, which earned it such bad press it hardly gets mentioned these days.

If you have heard of the Tillamook dairy (their cheese is sold as far east as Colorado).. They are a large company but it is really a large group of independent dairy farmers working together in a rather democratinc fashion to run the company. When they were deciding whether or not to go organic (well at least stop using rBST), Monsanto put up a huge fuss and was doing all they could to bribe and bully the individual farmers into voting to continue use. Luckily, there is so much money in horomone-free dairy, they did end up with a majority against rBST.

I didn't think the terminator seed was being phased out. My brother-in-law grows corn and, I beleive, the kind he buys is a terminator seed. I'll ask next time I talk to him. I know he wants to go organic but it is simply impossible for him and all the other farmers he knows. It is unbelievably expensive, and a lot of independent farmers are hanging on by the skin of their teeth right now to make ends meet.

I wonder if GM wheat is part of the reason there's more cases of Celiac being diagnosed, or is it because we as a society are finally in a comfortable enough start to be able to analyze food/diet? It would be interesting to know whether certain foods contain or don't contain GM ingredients. I've been trying to analyze my diet for a couple years now and find out what my allergy food triggers are. I suspect I have gluten problems but its only if I consume it more than once in awhile, almost like some toxin accumulates in my body from it. I was tested for Celiac once and it came up negative but I am thinking about getting a 2nd opinion, also I'm not sure if a mild allergy to it will even show up. I also consider my body could just be showing a strange reaction to stress/anxiety. Tried to get actually allergy tested once but all the doctor did was prescribe an antibiotic and the testing wasn't covered under insurance so screw that. That just pissed me off

I have heard speculation that GM wheat is increasing the number of Celiac patients. However, Celiac Sprue is an autoimmune disease rather than an allergy. While it can kill children, adults are often just uncomfortable and slightly malnurished, and it is possible that the increased rate of diagnoses is due to an increased awareness of the disease. I know my brother is allergic to traditional wheat (he can have red wheat) and my mother has celiac. If you think you're allergic to wheat or gluetin, just cut gluetin out of your diet for a few weeks. If you are feeling better, then there you go!.. Remember: most oats also have gluetin, but rice does not.

Yeah, you have a point, but were there studies being done that show genetic manipulation is indeed a bad thing and the "traditional" way of genetic manipulation, that is, by natural processes, is the best way? You don't find Californium on Earth, yet we can make it in the labs. Is that a bad thing too? Just because it's "unnatural" doesn't mean pretty much anything.

There have been studies done, some say yay, some say nay. I think it depends upon the manipulation. I don't think that crops that grow with pesticides already in their cells can possibly be as healthy as those without. Likewise, eating meat that was raised on those plants cannot be as healthy as meat that is untainted. However, I wouldn't be afraid to eat golden rice, where it is just enhanced to be more nutritious. I think that people have the right to know which foods contain GMOs and which do not (labels would be nice). Let people make their own decisions as to what they want to put in their bodies.... but since no one can seem to pass that law, we are stuck having to assume that anything not labeled 'organic' contains GMOs.

 

[Agent Intellect]

While I couldn't agree more about Monsanto and any corporations running things like this, I think that genetically modified food has sort of a stigma to it that piques peoples aversions - this is seen in a lot of technology, particularly new technology.

The same sorts of arguments could be made for medicine. Because we take so many antibiotics when we get sick, it forces diseases to mutate and evolve at a staggering rate. We're essentially succeeding in creating newer, more virulent diseases, yet few people have any objection to large businesses creating treatments for our illnesses. Private companies are patenting our genome (over 20% of our genome is privately owned) and the genomes of diseases like hepatitis, to do 'research' on them - and receive royalties if anyone else wants to do anything with the gene or disease that's owned (that's where some of our health costs go, the hospitals have to pay someone to treat you).

The point is, with any sort of advancements, there is going to be good and bad consequences, all we can do is hope that the good outweighs the bad. The biggest problem arises when things like this enter the business world. People want to rush products to the market and try to make as much money as they can, and they become frighteningly short sighted and greedy. Biotechnology of all kinds could potentially make peoples lives much better on a global scale, but then again, so could nuclear technology.

 

[merzbau]

I didn't think the terminator seed was being phased out. My brother-in-law grows corn and, I beleive, the kind he buys is a terminator seed. I'll ask next time I talk to him. I know he wants to go organic but it is simply impossible for him and all the other farmers he knows. It is unbelievably expensive, and a lot of independent farmers are hanging on by the skin of their teeth right now to make ends meet.

i think a UN regulatory body placed a ban on field testing and commercial sale of terminator tech in 2000.
organic farming may give smaller yields, but there are lower costs for fertiliser, better use of resources and planting space, and no need for pesticides or herbicides. soil organisms like fungus and worms are able to multiply more effectively and aid nutrient absorption. sympathetic planting and other biodynamic methods can also increase yields and help with pest control.
the main problems are education and certification, which take time and money, which most farmers (the ones that aren't locked into glyphosate contracts) don't have.

The biggest problem arises when things like this enter the business world. People want to rush products to the market and try to make as much money as they can, and they become frighteningly short sighted and greedy.

Exactly. commercial interests have taken control, and pushed biotechnology onto the public too soon. but what is more shocking is the way the biotech industry has strategically usurped our means of food production for their own interests, and they've done so by circumventing our scientific institutions and interfering with our governments.

 

[Yellow]

I found the ad in the OP in an issue of the magazine put out by the Audobon Society! I mean, how stupid are they? Wouldn't it be a huge conflict of interests? ...just thought it was worth sharing.

 

[del]

While I'm not against GM foods in principle, what Monsanto does is completely off the wall unethical and dangerous.

I also like how they sue adjacent farmers for copyright infringement after insects cross-pollinate with their GM crops -- and win.

Biotechnology is definitely an area where intellectual property needs to be seriously evaluated...