More on GMO's

[steve1]

Back to that first posting, about the need for more animal manures:
Have you ever given thought as to where E. coli comes from? The intestines of animals, particularly grain fed cows I believe. So why does it wind up on all sorts of produce and vegetables? Because it is not composted properly before being applied.
So people (farmers) can't even deal with composting and applying cow dung as a fertilizer properly and you think the Hawaiian civilization that has persisted for thousands of years will come to a screeching halt if farmers can't use unproven technology developed in the past few decades?
By the way, that wonderful Bovine Growth Enhancer rBGH is a genetically modified hormone developed and sold by our friends at Monsanto. The goal is to get your cows to produce more milk but in doing so the cows frequently have more and longer bouts of mastitis in their teats. Then the teats are injected with antibiotics to temporarily cure the mastitis and a large portion of the antibiotic makes its way into the manure. The manure is frequently exposed to antibiotics buy in varying concentrations depending on where it is in the pile (or slurry) and some of the bacteria becomes resistant to those antibiotics. Then we have super bacteria like E. coli 157 which cause human death and hospitalizations. So is it really worth it? And can people be trusted to do the right thing, opr is cutting corners more the norm?

[Radiopeg]

I'm reading Seeds of Deception by Jeffery Smith. It makes me want to call a halt to GMO products until they are really proven safe.

There has been a lot of stuff on the internet claiming more pesticide shows up in consumers because of over use of Round-up on Round-up Ready crops. I think we have been hoodwinked by the industry with the money. Monsanto does not care about our health.

Peace and long life

[rainyjim]

Is that the guy that can fly?

[kalakoa]

Antibiotic resistance is now spreading across species.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/articl...r-wildlife

Somehow we're supposed to believe that GMOs are "safe" because the scientists who make them are very very smart, and nothing will go wrong once they're loose in the ecosystem, because nature doesn't adapt. Right.

[Rob Tucker]

I am curious. What does antibiotic resistance have to do with GMOs?

[kalakoa]

Not "directly related" other than as a demonstration of nature's ingenuity and the "unintended consequences" of man's meddling -- antibiotics used to be considered "perfectly safe"; it's taken decades for the side effects to become apparent.

[peteadams]

Well, consider the alternative, no antibiotics, no vaccines. We humans learn to adapt to nature, including creating GMO's and lots of other things. Not being equipped with crystal balls conversant with the future, any human action will always have unintended consequences. Nature, of course, has no intentions.

[peteadams]

We don't believe GMOs are safe because "scientists are smart." Rather we have massive amounts of evidence derived from credible, well-reviewed studies that GMOs are safe.

http://www.realclearscience.com/blog/201...afety.html

The Scientific American article cited indicts how corporations produce food in pursuit of profits. It has nothing to do with the value or safety of antibiotics, much less the food safety of GMOs. If you want to reform corporate behavior, then pursue reforming corporate behavior rather than taking ignorant potshots at scientists.

[Rob Tucker]

quote:

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Originally posted by kalakoa

Not "directly related" other than as a demonstration of nature's ingenuity and the "unintended consequences" of man's meddling -- antibiotics used to be considered "perfectly safe"; it's taken decades for the side effects to become apparent.

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From what do you determine that antibiotics are not safe? That is completely separate from some viruses becoming resistant to some antibiotics, largely due to over use.

[kalakoa]

The bigger point is simple: nature will adapt, because that's what nature does.

Monsanto creates "Roundup-ready" GMO strains. Farmers apply Roundup. Weeds have already evolved to be Roundup-resistant; now farmers have to use stronger pesticides to control those weeds.

Maybe GMO is perfectly safe, maybe it isn't, maybe it's only the "side effects" of pesticide overuse. I'm pretty sure the scientists don't understand nature as well as they think they do, and because the labs are "proprietary", the public has no visibility into what's going on.

It took decades for the side effects of antibiotics to become apparent; lab-spliced GMOs have only been "in the wild" for about 20 years, so it will be a while before we really know anything.