Mandatory GMO food labeling by states would be banned under proposed bill

[thalassa]

Re: Mandatory GMO food labeling by states would be banned under proposed bill

Perhaps this helps as to where they come from. And also kinda scary.

This is actually artificial selection (plus antibiotic feed--antibiotics are used in food animals to speed up growth), not GMO*. Don't get me wrong, its still not good for the animal, but its not GMO.

*Genetically Modified Organisms is a specific thing where human-created or natural genes (from another organism) are transplanted into the genome of another organism...while some artificial selection that we have developed is extreme, natural selection can also develop some extremes (a narwhal's tusk, the feathers on a bird of paradise, etc).


GMOs aren't necessairly bad, in terms of health--some certainly can be...creating a pland that produces its own pesticides and then eating it is different that putting pesticides on a plant that you can wash off. Where it gets dicey, is in terms of the environemental effects---what happens when a gene that makes a plant resistent to a pesticide (so when you spray your field its not at all affected) gets into the natural analog of that plant? What happens with the *rest of the plant* in the plants that make their own pesticides? Those plants decompose somewhere... The environmental costs of these sorts changes are the problem.

But making rice or wheat more nutritious or tolerant to hotter, drier weather, or rot resistant...those things are likely harmless...and could probably be done with selective breeding given enough time. GMOs here are just a short cut.



Despite the bumper sticker on my car, I'm not anti-GMO. I'm not pro-GMO either. I'm pro-science. And (as the inner conservation biologist I went to school to be and the public health scientist I actually am) I believe very strongly in the Precautionary Principle. People should have the right to make informed choices...they can't do that if labeling is optional.

[B. de Corbin]

Re: Mandatory GMO food labeling by states would be banned under proposed bill

But making rice or wheat more nutritious or tolerant to hotter, drier weather, or rot resistant...those things are likely harmless...and could probably be done with selective breeding given enough time. GMOs here are just a short cut.

Yup - we have some choices -

1. Voluntarily limit our reproduction

2. Force limit our reproduction

3. Muck about with growing food

4. Increase our intake of artificial food

5. Watch people starve

6. Other?

I'm sorry to say this to all the worshipers of all things "natural," but my preferences (which I think are pretty darned sensible for reasons that must be obvious) are a combination of 1& 3, plus whatever of 4 is necessary to prevent 2 & 5.

Unless there's a six... like colonies off-world... sometime soon...

Ya don't get everything. Ya gotta pick yer priorities.

[thalassa]

Re: Mandatory GMO food labeling by states would be banned under proposed bill

Yup - we have some choices -

1. Voluntarily limit our reproduction

2. Force limit our reproduction

3. Muck about with growing food

4. Increase our intake of artificial food

5. Watch people starve

6. Other?

I'm sorry to say this to all the worshipers of all things "natural," but my preferences (which I think are pretty darned sensible for reasons that must be obvious) are a combination of 1& 3, plus whatever of 4 is necessary to prevent 2 & 5.

Unless there's a six... like colonies off-world... sometime soon...

Ya don't get everything. Ya gotta pick yer priorities.

I agree with this.

And, I hate the dichotomy we present between natural=good and artificial (man made)=bad (which used to be quite the opposite). It is what it is. The Guinea worm for all that it is "natural", smallpox, etc are not "good" and cars, books, intravenous medication, etc are not "bad". Its what you do with it. Its how you mitigate the harm that making or using it causes...and there are plenty of "natural" things that cause harm.

The sooner we start teaching our children about choices, and how our choices bounce around through nature and through humanity like a Rube Goldberg machine, and that we are still responsible for those far removed consequences, the better.

[DavidMcCann]

Re: Mandatory GMO food labeling by states would be banned under proposed bill

Recent research in Britain shows that the nutritional value of many crops has fallen over the last 50 years. Even selective breeding has been carried out to increase yield (and hence profit) without any thought for the consumer or the environment. As for GM, that's to enable US companies to patent foods and charge farmers for permission grow them. Don't say it's to feed the hungry: as far as I know, all the GM crops to date have been for the US market - you don't see them producing GM sorghum or yams. As for the hungry, if the people of Africa didn't breed like rabbits (6 children per woman in Zimbabwe) and fight like rats in a sack (South Sudan, Nigeria, etc) they wouldn't be hungry.

If the USians are silly enough to allow their politicians to pass laws for the benefit of business rather than that of the people, that's their problem. Just so long as we don't get a trade agreement with the EU that enables their GM companies to come here, along with the chemical- and hormone- contaminated meat that we also ban!

[monsno_leedra]

Re: Mandatory GMO food labeling by states would be banned under proposed bill

India has been torn up with gmo crops that the farmers can't keep paying for, Have to buy new seed each year near as I recall.

[thalassa]

Re: Mandatory GMO food labeling by states would be banned under proposed bill

India has been torn up with gmo crops that the farmers can't keep paying for, Have to buy new seed each year near as I recall.

Oh, patenting genes is a huge problem. And not just the US court system messed this up (Canada, I'm giving you the stink eye).

[monsno_leedra]

Re: Mandatory GMO food labeling by states would be banned under proposed bill

Oh, patenting genes is a huge problem. And not just the US court system messed this up (Canada, I'm giving you the stink eye).

I've seen it in some of our farmers fields where they can't save seeds or seed crops from year to year and its costing them quite a bit. One of the big issue's I saw and heard of from India, parts of Africa and even some areas of Southern Europe and the Black Sea region. Have to keep buying seeds and the seeds getting more and more expensive each year though the yields are actually less and less compared to cost.

[Juniper]

I don't understand why anyone wouldn't want to know that their food had been tampered with. Personally speaking, I have been buying only organic and non-gmo foods for the last 7 to 8 weeks and it's been a HUGE improvement for me, health wise.

[anunitu]

Re: Mandatory GMO food labeling by states would be banned under proposed bill

The knowing is important...even if you happen to like the GMO stuff..

[MaskedOne]

Re: Mandatory GMO food labeling by states would be banned under proposed bill

Oh, patenting genes is a huge problem. And not just the US court system messed this up (Canada, I'm giving you the stink eye).

Blegh, Patent system, Blegh

Kill the damn thing with FIRE!!!

A better one can be built over it's ashes.

The current copyright system needs to burn with it so that literature actually enters public domain again. Yes copyright has uses, no it should not be indefinite.

[B. de Corbin]

Re: Mandatory GMO food labeling by states would be banned under proposed bill

Blegh, Patent system, Blegh

Kill the damn thing with FIRE!!!

A better one can be built over it's ashes.

The current copyright system needs to burn with it so that literature actually enters public domain again. Yes copyright has uses, no it should not be indefinite.

It isn't. 70 years after the death of the author is the limit in the US, unless published prior to 1978 (in which case it is, I think, 98 years).

When I bought my first copy of The Lord of the Rings it had a very prominent notice on the back cover indicating that it was an official publication, approved by the author, because prior to that a copy had been published illegally (I think by Ace, now defunct) which paid no royalties to Tolkien.

People deserve to receive fair compensation for their work.

[MaskedOne]

Re: Mandatory GMO food labeling by states would be banned under proposed bill

If copyright length is not extended again between now and 2020, I'll retract my claim on indefinite copyright. Given that a number of major IPs start becoming public domain in 2019, I'm not gonna bet my money or the money of anyone I care about on the odds of reaching 2020 without new copyright legislation.

I don't have an issue with a copyright system existing. In principle, it has a value. I have an issue with the one we have.

[B. de Corbin]

Re: Mandatory GMO food labeling by states would be banned under proposed bill

Ah.

Fair enough.

[Jembru]

Re: Mandatory GMO food labeling by states would be banned under proposed bill

Yup - we have some choices -

1. Voluntarily limit our reproduction

2. Force limit our reproduction

3. Muck about with growing food

4. Increase our intake of artificial food

5. Watch people starve

6. Other?

I'm sorry to say this to all the worshipers of all things "natural," but my preferences (which I think are pretty darned sensible for reasons that must be obvious) are a combination of 1& 3, plus whatever of 4 is necessary to prevent 2 & 5.

Unless there's a six... like colonies off-world... sometime soon...

Ya don't get everything. Ya gotta pick yer priorities.

I totally agree. Sure, GM isn't ideal, but neither is famine. As Thal has said already, we could, in theory, achieve these resistant strains of crops through artificual selection, but it would be a slow and costly process, and the end result would be exactly the same. Why not fast track to the life-saving plants right now? I don't understand the anti-gm groups. Why aren't they complaining about cauliflower, carrots, beef cattle, Labrador dogs, or any of the other things we've meddled with to select desirable traits?

GM isn't the only answer though. Let's start by reducing food waste. Did you see Last Week Tonight's report on it? Up to 40% of food produced in the US ends up in landfill. That is shameful. The fact consumers are so picky about the shape and colour of food is ignorant (and again, GM could reduce waste here, by producing plants with more desirable fruit). The 'use by dates' on food aren't based on anything scientific but simply a 'best guess' by the producer, who has an interest on keeping it short to encourage people to buy more. An absolute slap in the face to the families relying on food banks.

We also honestly need to stop being so squeamish about eating insects. They hold the answer to the problem of feeding the planet, yet we won't even entertain them as a food source. According to the BBC, the same amount of food can produce twelve times the amount of protein as beef can. That's staggering. Take that soya!! They're also highly nutritious, and a natural part of the human diet.

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20141014-time-to-put-bugs-on-the-menu

I was thinking of that giant rodent thing from south America...

The Capybara.


I read that they do roast them,and it is a staple.

This was on QI under the question, 'does the pope eat beaver'. Apparently the Catholic church considers both the capybara and the beaver as a type of fish, so they can be eaten on a Friday. So yes... The pope CAN eat beaver! ^^

[B. de Corbin]

Re: Mandatory GMO food labeling by states would be banned under proposed bill

I agree. Reducing waste food is desirable.

Tell us how to do it?

(I empty my refrigerator weekly, and use as much as possible - bones always end up as soup, for example. But what about the producers of food, like grocery stores? What are they to do with unused food? Inquiring minds want to know... No "we should" is meaningful without a "by")