GMOs: Yes or No?

Genetically Modified Organisms are prevalent in agriculture today. The majority of corn and soy products are GMO. The American FDA sees no need in labeling products containing GMO, I guess because no one is getting hurt by ingesting them.
I had a biotechnology professor who was very pro GMO. She claimed that the whole organic food movement is lead by white people who have never known hunger and know nothing about ecology.

I certainly can’t afford to only buy organic, but the term “Frankenfood” sounds scary.

I also don’t taste any difference.

What do you guys think about GMO?

A lot of people have a strong opinion either way on GMO. As far as I can remember, no one has produced any evidence GMOs are bad for you. I generally avoid GMO based solely on how/where my food is sourced, but I don’t sweat it if my bag of goldfish has it…

Have fun:

I didn’t know that by keeping my garden organic it was actually me expressing my white privilege.

As far as organic vs gmo; let the consumer choose what he wants and don’t cry about it.

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One of my best friends is an entomologist & develops genetically modified crops for A&M University across a spectrum of plant species, though his specialty is corn. Across the globe, GMOs are crucial for crop integrity & satiating hungry populaces.

He asked me why in the world would he ever suggest his loved ones consume a product that he in any way felt was unsafe?

Of course, specific allergens need to be accounted for, but in places where agricultural production of often homogeneous crops is the linchpin of society, restricting the use of GMOs seems to be nothing more than haphazardly hopping onto a baseless bandwagon.

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I care exactly zero.

Most people don’t have problems because of GMO. They have problems because they fucking drink soda pop and eat candy and don’t move around. They don’t eat real food. GMO doesn’t matter–if you’re eating spinach that’s non-organic, you’re still miles ahead of the dumbass eating “non GMO, organic” sugar filled breakfast cereal. Don’t over think things.

GMOs also allowed us to reduce world hunger by producing more food. Not starving (as much) in other countries = good.

“Frankenstein food” is exactly that-- a scare tactic. Emotionally driven scare tactic.

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A significant majority of the food we eat is genetically modified; it’s just that up until very recently, genetic modification was accomplished via selective breeding rather than more direct means of gene manipulation.

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There have been people who oppose the use of pesticides on the tobacco they consume.

Not to conflate two things in agriculture, but organic is used to say no pesticides; what do you guys think about DDT?
It was banned in 1968, but many ecologists say it is not a dangerous pesticide.

Organic does NOT mean “no pesticides”.

As far as pesticides in general, the dose is important. There’s all kinds of shot we consume regularly that can kill you in high doses. Glyphosate has been shown to be perfectly safe in the doses consumed by eating food. Nobody’s ever gotten sick or died from it.

A friend of mine recently posted his outrage that California wines were not all organic and treated with pesticides. I replied to him by saying that people sure are picky about what goes into their carcinogenic drugs.

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Some of the stuff they develop is amazing. With pesticides/chemicals being mentioned a lot of the modifications (from my limited knowledge) is towards making the crops insect and disease tolerant, reducing the need for chemicals.

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Organic means more expensive

Have you ever tried to grow organic? You lose a lot of crops to, you guessed it, pests. They might exist, but we haven’t found an effective organic solution.

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Armageddon is upon us!!!

JFC … Look, I agree with ol’e Billy No-Nuts that there’s nothing wrong with GMOs … but I HATE it when any publication ushers out some asshat with about as much knowledge as I do in the field of GMOs and agriculture (he might have a bit more but i doubt he’s an expert) as if I should listen to him or the anonymous “scientists who say he’s right” … fuckin scientism and appeal to (perceived in the case of Billy No-Nuts) authority (or expertise in this case). Irresponsible reporting even I do agree with it…I find BI does this type of click bait shit a lot

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They’ve gone a bit downhill in recent years.

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I still read their app while on the crapper at work, they have some good articles in there and they tend to push articles that I find relevant and interesting to my phone … but when I scroll through the app, I skip about 85% of their stuff, even if it’s somehting I find interesting … their headlines are soooo bad. I’ll usually jump over to Reuters or AP or WSJ and read about w/e over there…

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Bill Gates is an expert on health. Just look at him.

I try to only eat Ben&Jerries Ice Cream because it’s GMO Free. Sometimes I slip up and eat Bryers though.

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I don’t trust anyone with a flowbie haircut

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I’m more against the corporate side of GMO’s. Even though farming in general has been industrialised, there still are a few small scale farmers, and they are forced to buy fresh seed each season, because they are not allowed to store excess seed from the past season like you could pre GMO.
The companies like Monsanto own the intellectual property of the GM food> You pay for seed and can grow it, but you don’t own the seed?
I have a fondness for all the varieties of crops, and I fear there will be a reduction in variety available.
Like a lot of stuff these days the push for this kind of invention comes from the companies rather than from the consumers, and is wrapped up in the benevolent cloak of feeding the starving Africans masses. I don’t like having a product forced on me by stealth.
I hope they turn out to be safe and beneficial in the long run, but as of yet they are a big experiment and the results currently aren’t enough to convince me that there is a advantage for the average person.

How are you tying GMO’s to variety? My experience is that GMO’s have the potential to increase variety, as they are able to make crops grow in different regions or stay fresh longer during transport.

You could say that for pretty much any invention

What results would? There have been many success stories regarding GMO’s, they are well beyond just a big experiment to see what happens.

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