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The guy in the video is Dr. Thierry Vrain.He retired and now owns an organic farm,so he has a vested interest in opposing GMO's.
"Anti-GMO industry launches demonization tour"
In response to the impending approval of the genetically modified Arctic Apple, an anti-GMO group-sponsored speaking tour began its 32-city “myth-information campaign” in British Columbia, writes Robert Wager of Vancouver Island University, who has been involved with genetically modified crops for over a decade, with an emphasis in public education. Wager attended the first event in Courtenay, British Columbia, “to see what evidence the speakers would present to convince the audience of the alleged harm from [GM] crops.” The main speaker, a former promoter of GMOs now turned anti-GMO, Dr. Thierry Vrain, cited several papers—which have all been discredited—showing that GMOs cause “all manners of ills.” Dr. Vrain specifically cites two papers that were rejected by the scientific community—one suggesting that GM potatoes caused immune system suppression in rats, and one recently retracted paper suggesting that GM corn caused tumor growth in rats.
Dr. Vrain also claims a report—not a study—shows correlations between the rise of GM crop cultivation and “a dozen diseases.” The same correlation could equally apply to the rise in organic food consumption, Wager points out, but “every real scientist knows that correlation does not equal causation.”
quote:
Originally posted by rainyjim
So what...
The law was passed by the county council whats with your vendetta against Ruderman?
Is he in direct competition with your businesses product? Do you stand to benefit by discrediting him and his views?
You may have farmed here for sometime, but get with the picture - people want organic food and not GMO - if you have a problem with that maybe its time YOU move somewhere else.
Our state senator has more important things to do than reply to your pointless questions and attacks...if you want to help the aina and keiki like you so love to tout then why don't you do something productive - other than trying to discredit your businesses competition under the guise of for the aina and keiki. (That you spray poison on).
Spot on RainyJim
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Originally posted by Permie
quote:
Originally posted by Richard Ha
Permie. Keep in mind that we are located in the humid sub tropics. And, there is no winter to kill off the bugs and reset the clock. Insects,weeds and diseases love it here.
Here in Southwest Florida where I currently live, the situation is the same. I practice Permaculture and have a 2.5 acre Food Forest with over 400 food producing trees and countless support species.
Want to know how many pesticides I sprayed last year?
Zero.
It CAN be done, we just have to change our methodologies. It sounds like the voters have cast a vote for change in Hawaii (which is part of the reason I am moving there).
Richard, I don't know who you are, but based upon your posts, I can reasonably conclude that you are an accomplished farmer who is politically active, a community leader, and a sincere person. If I was in your position with your background, I'm sure I would be very frustrated as well. You've had great success providing food in a way you feel is just and suddenly a law is passed that you don't agree with that brings that future into question. Actually, I think I would be more than frustrated!
Hawaii is leading a change whether some want it or not. There is a huge movement afoot and it is attracting more and more people like me. People who are against pesticides and against most (or all) GMO. This movement is only going to get stronger. However, movements like this shouldn't leave people like you in a worse-off position. If these ideologies are correct in their practice and are going to lead to better health and food security, then they should also work with current farmers, even those who disagree with the movement. Because, especially in a place like Hawaii, we're all in this together.
My question to you Richard is, would you be open to permaculturists helping you make a transition if you are unable to defeat this new law? I have no problem with you fighting the law, that's democracy. But would you be interested in starting a test plot while you fight the law just in case you aren't able to succeed in reversing the decision? Because maybe, just maybe, you can adopt these new ways and your goals continue to be met or possibly exceeded. And then everyone wins, which should always be our goal.
The goal of a permaculture design team would simply be to maximize your design to minimize your inputs and labors. With some of those inputs being pesticides and herbicides.
This is a great posting, I have been growing pesticide and herbicide free for twenty years. It is absolutely possible and is actually easier if you don't grow one big monoculture that uses up the soil nutrients and atracts huge quantities of pests. Sounds like Richard Ha and some others posting here just need a little help, maybe some education about beneficials living in the soil or something more like an internship for them on one of the many organic farms that we have here. Man and his science doesn't know a thing about nature, when he thinks he does stuff like crappy GMO food is created. The box that stuff is packaged in is better for you.
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Originally posted by Rob Tucker
Permie, I have seen some great gardening and I am confident that what you have done on 2.5 acres is impressive. Are there any examples of the agriculture you advocate being practiced on the scale of say 1,000 acres?
The reason I ask is that the country's and world's population is large. Feeding this growing planet requires more than gardening and my own experience on a 300 acre farm is that it takes massive amounts of back breaking labor, labor no one wants to do anymore, to practice organic level farming on a large scale.
Then I have to consider the effects of climate change and mankind's ability to adapt or die when our agricultural zones are facing challenges never before encountered.
The reason Rome fell is because of large scale farming. Small organic farms are where it is at, not huge conglomerates spewing out a product that is only visually appealing. We could start you off with, "One Straw Revolution", you could read some of Sepp Holtzer's books too. My farming methods are not back breaking, they are pure enjoyment. I would be glad to show you how it is done...from interplanting, soil management, crop rotation, to composting. Convincing someone on a forum in a paragraph isn't possible.
quote:
Originally posted by Rob Tucker
Thousand acre mono crop farms are about feeding a population of seven billion people. Small farming is wonderful... it just won't feed too many people.
So your argument is: feed the masses garbage grown in poison? That sounds wonderful.
Posts: 2,244
Threads: 396
Joined: Nov 2011
quote:
Originally posted by Sun
quote:
Originally posted by Obie
We have all hijacked this topic,which is
"Sen Ruderman, where is the proof"
Still waiting !!!!
I think you and Monsanto have it backwards...where is the proof that GMO's are safe? If you want to be their lab rat go right ahead.
I think you and your snide remarks to Mr. Tucker, Mr. Ha and Obie (among others here) shows the type of support Ruderman has: When scientific facts don't work in your favor, be rude as hell!
JMO.
Posts: 526
Threads: 11
Joined: Oct 2006
Funny the guy who says he "skip[s] your posts as I read down now because they are all opinion and have no merit or factual base" posts only ad hominem insults full of opinions about his great wisdom. Sun seems to be well qualified for troll status.
quote:
Originally posted by opihikao
quote:
Originally posted by Sun
quote:
Originally posted by Obie
We have all hijacked this topic,which is
"Sen Ruderman, where is the proof"
Still waiting !!!!
I think you and Monsanto have it backwards...where is the proof that GMO's are safe? If you want to be their lab rat go right ahead.
I think you and your snide remarks to Mr. Tucker, Mr. Ha and Obie (among others here) shows the type of support Ruderman has: When scientific facts don't work in your favor, be rude as hell!
JMO.
Can you give me a video reference?
Posts: 27
Threads: 2
Joined: Dec 2010
So here's a question. Will there be any acceptable "mix" of GE and non-ge crops that would satisfy anyone? NPR just did a story where oversea markets (Japan) were accepting shipments of grain labeled "non-gmo" that contains no more then 0.9% gmo.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/02...-gmo-world
quote:
Originally posted by peteadams
Wao nahele kane contributed:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14552382
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23146697
Pubmed is an NIH service that provides abstracts of professional journals. These are not studies produced or endorsed by the U.S. government.
The study in the first link showed a Bt gene present in analysis of pig gut contents fed Bt corn. I'm sure you also noted with enthusiasm and great excitement that "Fragments of corn zein (242 bp), invertase (226 bp) and of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/ oxygenase genes (1,028 bp) were detected in the gastrointestinal contents of both Bt11 and nongenetically modified corn-fed pigs." (?) Your point? Bt exists in the environment? Since the organic food industry enthusiastically splashes Bt toxins on food for pest control there have been many studies that show Bt has no particular human toxicity. The authors also note their study "precluded conclusions about any potential absorption of the protein." They also did not note any tumors in the pigs.
The second link was not a study, but Seralini's defense of what many scientists considered an indefensible study, a study which was finally retracted by its journal publisher. Your point? Interesting here is that Seralini states that he needs Monsanto's own experimental results to fully explore the topic.
Finally, this pointing to this study or that experiment is often highly misleading. Much like citing anecdotes from your family (as Rand Paul did recently, stating that there was no Republican war on women because female members of his family were doing just fine!), science does not make conclusions based on a few isolated studies or personal anecdotes. As we have pointed out repeatedly, there is a large body of evidence from many disciplines, including independent, non-corporate funded academic studies if you are suspicious of corporations, that point entirely to the concept that because a food is a GMO does not mean it is in any way toxic. That Brenda Ford and Jeffery Smith have different opinions and beliefs does not change this outcome.
You can place all of your confidence in a few scientists, that is your right I guess.
"Man who occupies but one small corner of the universe can never hope to fully understand the world in which he lives, he persists nonetheless in the illusion that he has the cosmos in the palm of his hand. Man is not in a position to know nature."-Masanobu Fukuoka "The Natural Way of Farming".
Man verses nature is the scientific method. Man working in harmony with nature (permaculture)is true understanding.
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