Karen - I have mixed feelings.

I know all the scare stories about GMO - and I dislike Monsanto for some of its practices just as many others here do.

But I do think "modified" food is part of the future. I think in the future it is possible to change the makeup of some foods to make them last longer on shelves or reach maturity faster or have a natural ability to fight insects or diseases.

We aren't there yet but the anti-GMO movement as it is now is going to lose. Reason is simple - they are saying "no" and nothing but "no". Instead we should be pushing for oversight, more testing, more research and helping move genetically modified foods from "experimental" into the "safe" category.

We want fresh food but we want it available to us all year - not just during the local growing season. That is why growers began adding treatments to make foods last longer so they'd still appear fresh even after long distance shipping. We (consumers) didn't like the idea of additives to prevent spoilage or preserve color. We don't want apples with spots or wormholes - we don't want soft spots - we want perfect looking food in our groceries.

But - also - we don't want food that is sprayed to kill fruit flies or prevent tiny worms. If it can be perfected - and if it is over time proven to be safe - GMO offers a solution. The question that needs answered is whether it also creates new problems...jury is out on tht one.

Meanwhile, if you don't want to support the GMO industry - don't buy food out of season - buy fresh produce locally from the growers - shop in only certified organic and natural food stores.

I'm ashamed of my country for approving them for sale

Kay, there's a whole list of reasons why they should be currently banned. That list covers reasons on how they are grown right up to how they are hidden in the foods we eat.
For the most part the "movement" wants them labeled. The "movement also wants more testing done on how they actually effect humans and our environment. We're sick of the corporate controled "science" they give us as proof they are safe.
There are many types of genetic engineering they've gotten right, but when it comes to the plant mutations they create they got it 100% wrong.
As for banning them, as long as they continue to use the agriculture practices to grow them that they do then yes they should be banned.

It's like canned goods only with less sodium.

Haven't farmers been genetically modifying crops and livestock since farming first began?

And yes, I realise that that is a different level to what Monsanto is doing.

Thom - Monsanto and ilk says that the glysophate is deactivated and passes through in digestion but that's been found to be a flat out lie. It's in the bloodstream of people tested - and crosses the blood/brain barrier. Independent studies in other countries have shown that it causes extreme tumors. A lot of farmers are reverting back from GMO food for their animals because their animals are getting so desperately ill from them.

Fields sprayed with these toxins are barren of all life other than the frankencrop. That means the sprays are killing the very bacteria that makes soil.

63 countries have banned them. It's not likely that the US will become smart enough to understand that money or not - we have to stop this and we don't have long to do so. That's not freaking - fear mongering. Sometimes corporations do things that we damned well need to be completely scared shytless about. GMO is one of those things.

I

Kay - the Genetic Literacy Project is the fox guarding the chickens - so is the other link.

There's enough research done out there that if you would look at independents rather than the very people that are pushing them on us, you would understand what the risk is. If we sit around being "reasonable" by the time the independent voice gets enough media, we won't have any pollinators or arable soil left to support the masses.

GMO Facts | The Non-GMO Project

Most of the food I buy is certified Non-GMO by this organization, which does research on foods. You'd be surprised that some companies (cereal companies are bad about this one) actually lie right on their labels about the nature of their food.

http://earthopensource.org/earth-ope...s-2nd-edition/

There are excellent documentaries available that have a lot of independent research results on this mess. I'd think people need to start getting busy and researching something that isn't mainstream propaganda that supports corporations before they start spraying that new extremely toxic crap the USDA just authorized. If you are on the fence now - you won't be for long. Trust me on that one.

WHO SAYS this is progress? Apparently, the worlds BEST herbicide was created LONG AGO! This is before roundup, etc... It was used in WWII to get rid of some nasty vermin, like maleria and typhus! HECK, the inventor got a NOBEL PRIZE for inventing it! It was SO great that now, that so many decided to stop using it, various pests, like bed bugs, are back. And they are FAR harder to control with the current INFERIOR TECHNOLOGY! That is RIGHT folks, sometimes "progress" goes BACKWARDS!

So WHY did they stop using this stuff, created in 1874 BTW, It was an INTERNATIONAL CONSPIRACY! YEP! The swiss gave this great stuff to the world! A lot of vermin were wiped out, or nearly so, and it was SIMPLE! Apparently, at one point, ANYONE could buy this stuff, and get rid of their problems. But THEN............. THEN............. People started noticing something! Some wildlife were having problems! Even BIRD eggs started seeming more like SNAKE eggs. So the world decided to STOP, and things started coming back.

OK, OK, I know this all sounds like I am making it up. When I was a kid, this story was pretty common knowledge. The chemical? dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane Of course that was too hard to say, so most just call it DDT! DDT - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Here is a SMALL taste of what caused people to STOP this! American Eagle Foundation | Threats to Survival

It took them DECADES, and perhaps even over 100 years to realize all this. HECK, in the 40s they had a great chemical that was used to dry clean clothes, remove stains, and put out fires. Apparently its equal has YET to be found. Look in some old three stooges movies, the keystone cops, or the our gang series, and it will make a cameo! Do we have them now? NOPE! It was found that it was carcinogenic, etc....

So YEP folks! A newer product does NOT make it better!

Steve

BTW! Time for ANOTHER bit of history on GMOs! Once upon a time, there was a place! The place? Let's call it the third planet from its star. A little planet called EARTH! The time? The 1980s! A little company off in a remote foreign land. What to call it? Well, let's call it JAPAN! Anyway, there was a tried and true technique used for DECADES to create an AMINO acid called TRYPTOPHAN! But this japanese company thought they could do BETTER! DA DADA DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! Along comes our hero GMO man, to save the day! They created a special bacteria that could create this tryptophan SO much easier and faster! ALAS, in a distant far off land, called the united states of america, there was a rash of deaths, and weird ailments! They tracked it to about 2 dozen brands of tryptophan. ALL were from materials processed by that japanese company!

Institute for Responsible Technology - A Deadly Epidemic and the Attempt to Hide its Link to Genetic Engineering

The result? A MYTH was spread about tryptophan and they BANNED it in the USA for about a decade! INTERESTINGLY, they did NOT ban the natural form. REMEMBER, the MYTH said it was TRYPTOPHAN! That meant, for example, that all meat, ESPECIALLY TURKEY, was DEADLY! And EGGS were deadly, etc.... But I guess they hoped nobody would notice!

BTW they chemically analyzed the japanese tryptophan and determined it was CLOSE, but it was NOT tryptophan!

Steve

Don’t believe the hype – 10 persistent cancer myths debunked

Interesting article by Cancer Research UK, a non-profit organisation (I thought that may be relevant here ). Some of you should really read this!