For anyone who has accidentally fallen to popular media, here is a video outlining the truth about GMOs. I hope you’ll listen.
This isn’t like the ignorance of many idiotic debates; this issue is actually killing people right now. Someone died as you are reading these words because of the anti-GMO campaign. Coming from a nutrition background, I understand that we could damn near literally wipe the earth clean of malnutrition and starvation with GMOs. That is a pretty awesome proposition that would have had the entire world jumping with excitement just a couple decades ago. Now the idea of doing something “artificial”, whatever that means, instills fear and hatred. There is no defined line between natural and unnatural, however. If you define natural as independent of man, dogs and corn are “artificial” while morphine and botox still remain “natural”. In fact, rule out broccoli, cauliflower, kale, cabbage, and brussel sprouts. Those are all artificial too. But marijuana is good to go because it grows in the ground. Curare, norovirus, E. coli, anthrax-all natural as well. Natural does not necessarily mean best or even good. Some of the most natural things are the most deadly while some of the most unnatural things have save billions of lives. Here are a few malnutrition diseases that could be entirely eliminated with GMOs:
Spina bifida and other neural tube defects
Scurvy
Kwashiorkor
Vitamin A deficiency induced blindness
Rickets
I hate looking at those pictures. It disgusts that these diseases are still occurring at all and the reality that they are widespread saddens me beyond belief. We have an economic and moral obligation to help end widespread malnutrition and starvation in the third world. They are the ones who are going to suffer most for our ignorance. If someone want to buy “natural” food, I am all for that freedom. But let’s not hold entire countries in poverty because of a general inability to adequately use Google to discover the truth.
Something Mark Lynas noted is that GMOs have not been shown by any scientifically validated research to cause disease in humans. Refusing GMOs and allowing malnutrition to run rampant, however, is causing measurable and visible disease that doesn’t need a double blind experiment or rats in a lab to see. What he was saying is that there is no debate. From an environmental and medicinal perspective, there is no question about research and implementation of GMOs. From an economic and political perspective, nearly all of the issues with GMOs stem from the propaganda fed to us through ignorant people without credentials or facts. I am all for regulation of GMOs alongside the strict control of pesticides and fertilizers. I am all for labels of GMO foods at the expense of the consumer. If someone wants to pay to label their product as non-GMO because it attracts myopic customers, I am all for that. The free market will allow for that and I imagine we’ll see an explosion of those labels soon just as we did with the organic movement.
But personally, I’m going to devour those GMOs. If I ever make a ridiculous amount of money, maybe I’ll even fund some GMO research to help do a part in saving the planet and ridding the world of starvation. Maybe I’ll even invest in labeling food as a GMO in order to attract the community who shares my hatred for starvation and widespread planet destruction. But at almost two in the morning, my power is limited to helping spread the truth about one of the greatest discoveries in the history of humanity.
Give me a break, sir! There are myriads of ways to get nutrition into these folks–including allowing the WEEDS that they used to EAT to grow on the edge of their diverse gardens, instead of killing them all with Roundup (a proven cancer causer, immune disrupter, etc. Read the Book “Genetic Roulette,” which is now also a documentary (movie) on DVD. Google the recent long-term study (in France, I believe) that showed massive tumors in GMO-fed rats, Roundup-fed rats, but almost NONE in the control group. Either you work for Monsanto, or you are actually ignorant of all the studies out there that prove your opinion to be completely wrong. GMO’s and Roundup, rather than saving the planet, do NOT have higher yields (studies PROVE this), cause massive birth defects, problems conceiving, allergies, and many other horrible health effects. Health studies in other countries are proving this. You have fallen prey to the GMO-producer brainwashing. The proof is out there. GMO’s are also destroying the small farmers, especially the ones in “3rd world countries” who are tricked into using GMO seed, then can’t go back to their own heritage seeds because they will then be contaminated by GE pollen. The FDA’s own scientists did not want GMO’s OK’d from the beginning, but Monsanto men in positions of power in our government made the decision to not regulate them. Obama is their puppet too. I know this post sounds disrespectful, but you have not done your homework, sir, and I hope that everyone who reads this will. Because it’s our children who are being injured right now, and we can’t even avoid GMO’s because the Obama administration won’t allow them to be labeled. Only an outcry from the people of this nation that cannot be ignored will force a change.
Thank you for your thoughts. I have faced many of the same rebukes that you provide here. First I want to address your statement about labeling of GMOs. When you go into the grocery store, true you do not see foods that say “contains GMO”. But you also don’t see foods that are labelled “contains preservatives”, “contains non-organic crops”, or “contains hormone fed cow milk”, or any other warnings. Instead, you see advertisements like “Organic” or “No artificial preservatives!” or “contains no BST”. That is because there is a market for people who want to spend more to have their food labelled because of pseudoscience. I am a fan of a free market with very little government involvement with maximum transparency. It seems you agree with me on this because of your frustration with the president and the FDA. Less government is better. The more the government gets involved, the more things get screwed up or get hidden from our view, I completely agree. So why should I have to pay to have MY food labelled when YOU are the one who cares? I have a perfect solution that satisfies everyone: YOUR food gets labelled (voluntarily of course, without government intervention which could screw the whole thing up and form some new conspiracy theory) at a cost to YOU. My food stays with GMOs and everyone who doesn’t believe what you believe continues to buy it. That is freedom and what a perfect solution. You incur the cost of your preference while I enjoy the perks of modern technology.
Now I will address the study that was done in France. I have read it and I hope you have too. The researcher, while claiming no conflict of interest, had been targeting GMOs for many years before that journal article was published. That is an enormous bias that immediately negates his research. Additionally, the researcher chose rats that are prone to tumors which when looking for tumors, is a favorable place to look. Another note that not many people take time to look for is the fact that no where in the article is cancer mentioned. I know you refrained from using that term when describing this study, but tumors are not innately harmful to the organism. Also, the researcher chose to use confidence intervals in his statistical analysis which initially was of interest to me because p-values are the benchmark of statistical significance. In fact, the researcher was unable to find statistical significance with that research and therefore chose confidence intervals to provide his research with some semblance of impact. His sample size was incredibly small and nowhere near large enough to provide for solid data and results. In reality, his research was tainted with a host of issues that have been addressed by reviewers around the globe and his research has been refuted by nearly every intellectual academy and supported by none. The journal that published the research also has expressed remorse at publishing the shady research. There is no one who supports this research other than the popular media. Also, you are entirely wrong about almost no tumors in the control group. So I think we can successfully knock that one off.
Next up, I didn’t express any support for the business practices of Monsanto nor support of pesticides or roundup ready. Alright, so that settles that.
Next, I wish you wouldn’t believe what is said in documentaries. Please establish a shield for bullshit and be more skeptical. Documentaries are often just propaganda using quackery and lies. I apologize but this is the truth. Blogs often do the same which is why I hope you study genetics and where the real priorities should sit before picking sides.
This is the first I have heard someone claiming evidence based research for “massive birth defects, problems conceiving, allergies, and many other horrible health effects.” I would truly love to see this research so I can look into it further. This is the first I have heard of these things being tied to genetic modification and I am interested. Not trying to work you but could you please send me the links to some of that research?
Also, the farmers in the third world countries DO NOT refuse to go back to their old seeds because of cross pollination. That is a load of baloney. They don’t go back because they can’t compete with the farmers who are using GMO seeds. This is because it is cheaper to buy GMO seeds from Monsanto and have such high yields with cheap pesticides than it is to grow normal seeds with enormous expenses on pesticides for low yields. That is the market at work. Monsanto can’t charge more than that and they don’t. Every farmer’s prices dropped with GMO seeds. Some, however, want even cheaper crops so they want GMO crop without the cost of R&D from Monsanto.
And as far as your conspiracy theory about the FDA and the government, once again, I would love to see evidence which I am almost certain you have none. You can choose to believe whatever you want but I choose not to believe in things that pop up on the internet and in popular media without any justification. The FDA is monitored by government organizations as well as NGOs but most importantly us. You can choose to believe that immunizations are killing our children or that contrails are poisoning us but have no evidence so please don’t raid my blog with that silliness.
In conclusion, the GMO argument has been debased to a religious one. If you are a god-fearing person who thinks we were all created in his image, then I imagine you don’t want us toying with his inventions. But if you don’t believe that mumbo jumbo, then genetic engineering becomes a simple idea, one that has the potential (if used correctly) to save billions or if you have a biocentric world view (I share that!) then GMOs have the potential to save the planet. A basic understanding of genetics can help sift through the bitter hatred for GMOs to see that it is a simple mechanism that really has nearly no potential to cause the effects that you and everyone else has proposed. I could, theoretically, remove a gene and replace with an identical one. If you aren’t against that, then you aren’t against GMOs. You are against Monsanto. You are against excessive use of pesticides which will only result in selection of pesticide resistant crops. And those frustrations are frustrations that you and I both share.