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[livewire]

The Real Reason to Worry About GMOs

In a recent column, the New York Times' Mark Bittman makes an important point about the controversy around genetically modified foods. "To date there's little credible evidence that any food grown with genetic engineering techniques is dangerous to human health," he writes. Yet the way the technology has been used—mainly, to engineer crops that can withstand herbicides—is deeply problematic, he argues.

Here's why I think Bittman's point is crucial. The below chart, from the pro-biotech International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications, gives a snapshot of what types of GMO crops farmers were planting as of 2012. In more recent reports, the ISAAA doesn't break out its data in the same way, but it's a fair assumption that things are roughly similar three years later, given that no GMO blockbusters have entered the market since.



If you add up all the herbicide-tolerant crops on the list, you find that about 69 percent of global GM acres are planted with crops engineered to withstand herbicides. But that's an undercount, because the GM products listed as "stacked traits" are engineered to repel insects (the Bt trait) and to withstand herbicides. Adding those acres in, the grand total comes to something like 84 percent of global biotech acres devoted to crops that can flourish when doused with weed killers—chemicals that are sold by the very same companies that sell the GMO seeds.

As Bittman points out, almost all of the herbicide-tolerant crops on the market to date have been engineered to resist a single herbicide, glyphosate. And weeds have evolved to resist that herbicide, forcing farmers to apply heavier doses and or added older, more toxic chemicals to the mix.

Rather than reconsider the wisdom of committing tens of millions of acres to crops developed to resist a single herbicide, the industry plans to double down: Monsanto and rival Dow will both be marketing crops next year engineered to withstand both glyphosate and more-toxic herbicides—even though scientists like Penn State University's David Mortensen are convinced that the new products are "likely to increase the severity of resistant weeds" and "facilitate a significant increase in herbicide use."

Meanwhile, unhappily, the World Health Organization has recently decreed glyphosate, sold by Monsanto under the Roundup brand name, a "probable carcinogen"—a designation Monsanto is vigorously trying to get rescinded.

So, given that 20 years after GM crops first appeared on farm fields, something like four-fifths of global biotech acres are still devoted to herbicide-tolerant crops, Bittman's unease about how the technology has been deployed seems warranted. It's true that genetically altered apples and potatoes that don't brown as rapidly when they're sliced will soon hit the market. They may prove to be a benign development. But it's doubtful that they'll spread over enough acres to rival herbicide-tolerant crops anytime soon. And humanity has thrived for millennia despite the scourge of fast-browning apples and potatoes. The same isn't true for ever-increasing deluges of toxic herbicides.
http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2015/03/bittman-right-its-not-gmos-its-how-theyre-used

And what happens if Roundup Ready seed is banned?

The article above ADMITS that without Roundup, farmers will revert back to MORE HARMFUL herbicides. So why the push to eliminate glyphosate?

[SidecarFlip]

Live:

It's cut and paste.  Nothing more.  Fry don't know the difference between alfalfa and soybeans and the closest he's probably ever got to 'farming' is growing a couple 'mater' plants from Meijers in his tiny plot behind his abode.

Not even worth commenting about.

IOW, he don't know shitte other than what he reads and can copy from somewhere....

[Frenchfry]

And what happens if Roundup Ready seed is banned?

The article above ADMITS that without Roundup, farmers will revert back to MORE HARMFUL herbicides. So why the push to eliminate glyphosate?

It didn't say that at all.

Here try this sentence:

And weeds have evolved to resist that herbicide, forcing farmers to apply heavier doses and or added older, more toxic chemicals to the mix.

[Frenchfry]

Live:

It's cut and paste.  Nothing more.  Fry don't know the difference between alfalfa and soybeans and the closest he's probably ever got to 'farming' is growing a couple 'mater' plants from Meijers in his tiny plot behind his abode.

Not even worth commenting about.

IOW, he don't know shitte other than what he reads and can copy from somewhere....

I know that you covet his wife.

And now LW and CL know it too.

It's sad that just because you're married to someone that's employed in government...that you can crap on whomever you please with impunity.

[livewire]

It didn't say that at all.

Here try this sentence:

And weeds have evolved to resist that herbicide, forcing farmers to apply heavier doses and or added older, more toxic chemicals to the mix.

I'm glad you quoted the part of your article that says the older herbicides are more toxic than glyphosate.

You just made my point.

[Frenchfry]

I'm glad you quoted the part of your article that says the older herbicides are more toxic than glyphosate.

You just made my point.

It seems your record of not understanding what you've read remains the same.

[livewire]

It seems your record of not understanding what you've read remains the same.

Are you always such a fvcking moron?  Or just most of the time?

Here, I'll highlight YOUR quote for you.  Read it slowly.

It didn't say that at all.

Here try this sentence:

And weeds have evolved to resist that herbicide, forcing farmers to apply heavier doses and or added older, more toxic chemicals to the mix.

[Monroe Native]

Isn't it amazing how you read what you want to read into an article - when it doesn't say what you think it does - all based on preconceived notions?

[Frenchfry]

Are you always such a fvcking moron?  Or just most of the time?

Here, I'll highlight YOUR quote for you.  Read it slowly.

LOL...maybe you ought to confer with someone that can help you understand what you've read.

I'm beginning to wonder if your exposure to chemicals may have played a role in your condition.

[livewire]

LOL...maybe you ought to confer with someone that can help you understand what you've read.

I'm beginning to wonder if your exposure to chemicals may have played a role in your condition.

So you ARE a fvcking moron most of the time.  Got it.

[Frenchfry]

So you ARE a fvcking moron most of the time.  Got it.

Perhaps...but at least I'm able to remain civil rather than act like a raving lunatic.

[Frenchfry]

So you ARE a fvcking moron most of the time.  Got it.

[SidecarFlip]

So you ARE a fvcking moron most of the time.  Got it.

MOST OF THE TIME??

Only when he's asleep he isn't a focking moron.

No point in debating him on GMO's.  He knows nothing about farming other than what he reads or copies to this forum.....

His food comes from the grocery store.....lol

[lilly]

I'm glad you quoted the part of your article that says the older herbicides are more toxic than glyphosate.

You just made my point.

Actually you just made his point.

They are increasing the amount of glyphosate AND adding other toxins because the weeds are becoming more resistant to glyphosate.

[livewire]

Actually you just made his point.

They are increasing the amount of glyphosate AND adding other toxins because the weeds are becoming more resistant to glyphosate.

Sorry, but you're wrong.

My premise is that GMO's are NOT harmful.

Frenchfry's premise is that GMO's ARE harmful.

The statement you quoted merely says that farmers are occasionally increasing the amount of glyphosate, or using other chemicals to do the job, as some weeds become more resistant to glyphosate.  This is true.  But this is NOT proof that GMO's are harmful.  It simply means that the GMO's may need to be modified to use different chemicals (Liberty Link soybeans, for example). 

The fact that farmers HAVE GMO's in their list of options means they aren't FORCED to use the older, more harmful chemicals.  Glyphosate is very safe, by comparison to many other herbicides.


So, how many years have you been farming?  I'm just curious where you got this vast knowledge base regarding herbicide use.