GMOs

bwfm, for what its worth, here's my personal opinion on GMO's....

It's just about exactly the same as "eating organic" or "not eating artificial sweeteners".....

These ^ are very vague ideas, with little scientific evidence to show that eating, or not eating these things, will make any difference.

Meanwhile, the people who get all caught up in these things, often eat too many daily cals / carbs, and don't exercise enough > Read: Things of which their is hard-core, indisputable evidence, typically do cause severe health issues, and sometimes eventually, even death.

Or to put it another way, many people get so caught, up splitting hairs over "minor possibilities"{from GMO's and organic foods} that they forget to pay attention to the "major probabilities" of health issues caused by eating too much, and not being active enough.

To me, it's just makes more sense to "start with the big stuff"...... then, once you have all that down, you might consider working on the little minor things (GMO's, organic, etc) to see if that really makes a difference with anything.

For myself, their is no need for this. I've fixed most of my Fibro / IBS issues, only considering the big stuff. No need, or desire to take it any farther than that.

Peace,

Fish

PS, Can you please pass me that plate of GMO's :) ...oh, and that box of Splenda ;)

I just found this post. I thought it had been deleted. I've been a little down lately and not online much due to personal problems.

Sherrine, I think that's great about your nephew. And Chris, I do think you're on the right track.

My uncle is a wheat farmer, and he says Monsanto is trying to do the same thing with wheat that they are doing with corn. I know we can't keep GMOs out of the market, because it is too pervasive, but I do believe that GMO food should be labeled so that those of us who do not want that food can make an informed choice.

More than half the things on the super market shelf is GMO, there are various degree of GMO. Technically speaking cross pollination plants are a crude way of GMO, does that mean we should stop cross pollination? If that happens, then there will be catastrophic consequences to biodiversity across all living things.

Yes, I do agree that genetically modify a plant's gene in a lab may be crossing the line, but as the population grow in such exponential rate, if there is no such science, how are we going to feed all the people?

Even most of the drugs we take daily are derived from GMO plants/ organisms. E.G. Poppy plants that is used to produce morphine is not from the poppy flower sap like what it used to. Pharma quality morphines are derived from the stems of poppy plants that is GMO that doesn't flower, for very specific reason. This is so people can't grow the plants from seed and have their own backyard supply of heroin and other opiods. It's now more of a moral a question of where should the line be drawn...

Yes, labelling may be good, but at the same time, it gives opportunist to falsely claim their product being GMO free and charge people 3x the money's worth, since food labelling is voluntary, self governed and not controlled by an independent 3rd party body.

At the end of the day, I think everyone needs to make their own decision whether to go organic or not. The most important thing is we don't sheepishly follow the fad.

What you're describing are more of a propaganda than real fact. The manipulation of making plants to be pest resistant doesn't mean that they put pesticide into the plants. That's not genetic modification, that is simply applying pesticide onto a plant which is being used in everyday non organic farming.

Pest resistant plants by GMO means that they manipulate the gene of the plant say for example tomato plants' common pests are aphids, but there are plants that you don't normally find aphids on them. What the scientists then do is look at the genetic sequences and find out which part of the plants give the plants aphid resistant quality and what they then do is manipulate the genetic makeup of the tomato plant to make so it has the genes of the aphids resistant plant. Another common application is draught resistant applications. Eg using genetic quality of cactus in wheat or maize, it has potential to help worlds like Africa or even Australia where lands are arid so the plants are able to survive during long dry spell.

The problem with this kind of manipulation is we don't know what effect does the changes made do to its consumer's (anything that eat part of the plant) gene. There are concerns that because of the introduction of new genes to the plant, its fruits will also contain the manipulated genes. These genes may cause mutation when consumed. Which can have big consequences should it happens to humans, we may see rise in various diseases like cancer. Or what would happen to the bees and butterfly that pollinates those plants, will it alter their genes too and cause massive mutation to a species of animals and effectively wipe out a whole ecosystem.

The consequences can be scary, but the science also has so much potential to help solve problems with food supply. The application is endless, but the thing is we won't know the consequences until may be 30 - 50 years down the line, by then it'd be too late. It's just like when x-ray was first invented, it was used in everything, from shoe shop to "x-ray" soap, etc. At least with x-ray they found the side effect rather quickly and stop it from mass consumption, and keep it for only medical use.

Only time will tell what effect will GMO have on its consumer.

I honestly see both sides of the coin here... and not to throw another monkey wrench into an already interesting discussion...BUT, I am going to...lol
GMO's or not, there is sooo much stuff in our food, that kids are hitting puberty at 10 now. Sorry, that is a bit ridiculous! God knows (if you are a woman, you'll agreee I am sure), that having your period from age 10 WOULD SUCK!!! Sorry, having it from 12 was bad enough, but these poor girls who are getting breasts, and their period, and all this stuff in 5th grade??? It is hard on them! They are not emotionally ready to deal with all these changes. It really stinks that there are so many outside forces causing all these physical changes, but they don't cause them to mature any faster.. and that isn't fair to these kids :( And yes, I DO blame all the crap in food for it.
We do eat much healthier now than we did.. Not that we ever ate much fast food anyway, but we eat it maybe once every 2 months now. and I involve our daughter in meal plans, and prep of dinner and stuff.. She is one of the few kids I know who when given the choice of snacks, will take celery/peanut butter or fruit over candy and chips any day! Very thankful that all of our kids are like that :) and actually so are most of our grandkids.

Fibro$ufferer said...
More than half the things on the super market shelf is GMO, there are various degree of GMO. Technically speaking cross pollination plants are a crude way of GMO, does that mean we should stop cross pollination? If that happens, then there will be catastrophic consequences to biodiversity across all living things.

I think you meant selective breeding (like human-made hybrid plants). Cross-pollination is just normal natural pollination, like the kind done by bees or the wind. GMO crops are contaminating non-GMO crops by cross-pollination though. There would certainly NOT be catastrophic consequences to biodiversity across all living things if humans stopped selective breeding. However I don't think that it's equivalent to what we normally refer to as genetic modification, which is the direct manipulation of an organism's genome using biotechnology.

Fibro$ufferer said...
Poppy plants that is used to produce morphine is not from the poppy flower sap like what it used to. Pharma quality morphines are derived from the stems of poppy plants that is GMO that doesn't flower, for very specific reason. This is so people can't grow the plants from seed and have their own backyard supply of heroin and other opiods.

I really don't think that's true. Source?

Fibro$ufferer said...
Yes, labelling may be good, but at the same time, it gives opportunist to falsely claim their product being GMO free and charge people 3x the money's worth, since food labelling is voluntary, self governed and not controlled by an independent 3rd party body.

The obvious solution to that would be to make it GMO labeling mandatory and regulated. Except the GMO companies spend literally hundreds of millions of dollars to prevent that from happening. The only real solution currently if one wants to avoid GMOs is to buy products that are certified organic because their labeling is regulated and 100% organic foods are not allowed to contain GMOs (However, it's possible that contamination of the crops like I mentioned above might still cause organic crops to unknowingly contain some percentage of GMO).

I have no idea whether GMOs contribute to autism or leaky gut. The truth is that GMOs really haven't been properly studied and unbiased research is highly suppressed. Many countries outside of North America have banned GMO crops. They should be illegal or controlled until proven safe in my opinion. I try to avoid them on ethical, political, moral and cautious grounds, but it's nearly impossible. I agree that we need to work on the "big things" when it comes to diet first though :)

Fibro$ufferer said...
I used to live in Tasmania, we have one of the largest legal poppy plantation in the world. Those poppy are special poppy, according to my lecturer then, he did claim that they extract morphine from the straw. Anyway, here's a link from wikipedia... I would say, it's a good place to start but not the most reliable source. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poppy_straw
another link www.launc.tased.edu.au/online/sciences/agsci/alkalo/popindus.htm

You were confused by the term "straw". That does not mean GMO poppies created to only produce stems and no flowers. They're normal poppies, "straw" just means the seeds are harvested for eating (used in baking etc) and then the poppy plants are mown down. As opposed to the traditional method of making cuts in the pods while they are still alive and harvesting the sap that comes out. I guess you didn't read the links you posted ;)

Post Edited (Pelagicdancer) : 6/4/2013 1:22:04 PM (GMT-6)

I think it's good to go organic simply to avoid the harmful pesticides - I know my skin has improved dramatically since I started using organic skincare. It used to be bumpy, red and itchy, occasionally cracking open and bleeding, but now it's smooth and clear! I have also switched to organic food and stopped eating unhealthy foods - my digestive system is thanking me. But I don't know if it's the healthy diet or the organic food or both that is making the most difference...