Fox News Shockingly Reports The Truth On GMOs

[DeSwiss]

- With Wendy's impending alimony settlement in the offing, I think Rupert's trying to get in our good graces by reporting ''real news.''

I know, I know. It's the best I can come up with.....

[dballance]

1. Wow! I bet Carol is looking for a new job.

Some producer is in deep shit for letting that air.

[DeSwiss]

5. I know.....

- If this starts to happen more frequently, there'll probably be lot of this in Tea Households all over the land:

[enki23]

7. Do you actually think the tea party is pro-science?

Are you all actually that deluded?

[DeSwiss]

11. No.

What I think is that most of those in the Tea Party are primarily people afraid of change. Poorly educated people who are prejudiced because that's the way they were raised, and this is way they can still be racists and seem not to be.

I think Tea party members have been manipulated by TPTB. And so have we. They're more susceptible to manipulation than the rest of us. But that too seems to be ending.

I think that a Tea Party member will generally support the corporations and banks and their elected officials who do also, who also happen to be the same ones who ''appear'' to support their prejudices. That's seems to be the current theme of the Republican Party, more or less.

- So any reporter who castigates the companies and agribusinesses who make their GMO-corn-made Cheetos, their GMO-grain-fed Quarter Pounders with Cheese and the GMO-grains used to make their beer, will likely be seen as suspect.

When viewed from outside the virtual money economy, and from the standpoint of the planet’s caloric economy, probably half of American and European jobs are not only unnecessary, but also terribly destructive, either directly or indirectly. Yet what nation or economic state acknowledges the need for a transition away from jobs that aren't necessary. None, because such an economy could not support the war machines or the transactional financial industries that dominate our needs hierarchy for the benefit of the few. Loaning us money we have already earned, stuffing us with corn syrup. And I won’t even go into the strong possibility that everybody does not need to be employed at all times for the world to keep on turning."

~ Joe Bageant, "Algorithms and Red Wine"

[enki23]

2. Er... no. This is Fox News at its effing nutbag, conspiracy theory best.

And make no mistake, this *is* a load of conspiracy theory horseshit. Right up Fox News' alley.

[GoneFishin]

3. Really? So big AG did NOT spend shitloads of money to fight GMO labels so people

won't know that they are eating GMO food?

BULLSHIT.

[BlueToTheBone]

4. I take it you like GMOs? nt

[enki23]

6. That this is the level of your understanding of the issue is, in fact, the problem

And con-artist schmucks and their celebrity dupes take every advantage. The shmuck they had on to talk with the other schmucks actually said that we "inject plants with viruses and bacteria" to "make this food in the lab." I don't even know where to begin with this aggressively ignorant nutbaggery.

As for "GMOs", yes. I like them just fine. I don't need to like Monsanto's business, or stupid free-market modern farming practices to acknowledge that basic fact.

And let it be known: I'm the one on the other side of Fox effing News here. That should give even the most ignorant person pause.

[valerief]

18. Do you have a recipe for Round-Up Spaghetti Sauce? I can't find it anywhere. nt

[enki23]

19. Now that's interesting. There's a point there, but it isn't what you clearly think it is.

I'm not sure why the aggressively ignorant believe that farmers didn't use herbicides before GMO crops, or that they used less of them, or used less harmful ones. None of these things is remotely true.

As for spaghetti sauce, here is a link to a list of recommended herbicides for use on tomatoes.
http://www.uky.edu/Ag/Horticulture/masabni/PPT/herbicidestomato.pdf

And, again, the usual disclaimer: one need not be a fan of Monsanto's business practices, or of modern near-monoculture farming practices to make note of these things. While the aggressively ignorant will continue to pretend otherwise, at least I've documented the fact. Again. And again. And again...

[valerief]

22. No, no, we're talking about GMO tomatoes. Herbicides as part of its DNA. nt

[enki23]

29. No, "we" aren't. There are no commercially available GMO tomatoes right now at all.

The Flavr Savr used to be available, but it has been withdrawn. They had nothing to do with having "Pesticides in its DNA," (which happens to be true of most GMO products, save for those like Bt corn, if you want to call the Bt endotoxin a "pesticide". The hordes of certified organic farmers who spray it all over their crops every year may beg to differ).

The Flavr Savr had an antisense gene added (basically, a reversed version of a gene all tomatoes already express) that inhibited the production of a ripening enzyme, causing them to have a longer shelf life. That's it. They were a failure for multiple reasons, not least because people were annoyed at bringing tomatoes home that would continue to remain unripe for the same reasons they remained unripe in the store. There was nothing, otherwise, wrong with them.

But that's all beside the point, isn't it. Because the problem here is that you have no idea whatsoever about what you are talking about. And yet, you are clearly capable of being entirely certain you are right anyway. But you aren't. You aren't even wrong. You're just completely, completely ignorant of the topic except what you've heard from other people who are likewise ignorant about this topic. Together, you all form a self-contained world of "alternative information" about these things. That world bears very little resemblance to what is real.

All of this is freely available information. And it doesn't take any specialist knowledge to understand the basic fact that there are no GMO tomatoes. But the fact that you just assumed there were, and that you knew what the modifications entailed, is symptomatic of your complete lack of desire to interact with actual information about this topic.



And, again, the usual disclaimer: one need not be a fan of Monsanto's business practices, or of modern near-monoculture farming practices to make note of these things. While the aggressively ignorant will continue to pretend otherwise, at least I've documented the fact.

[valerief]

33. Thanks.

[bananas]

34. "That's it.", "There was nothing, otherwise, wrong with them." - Nope! Bzzzt! Wrong!

Aside from tasting like shit, there was a lot of things wrong with them.

You incorrectly said,

The Flavr Savr had an antisense gene added (basically, a reversed version of a gene all tomatoes already express) that inhibited the production of a ripening enzyme, causing them to have a longer shelf life. That's it.

Nope, as the following article points out: "Both tomatoes contained marker genes that gave resistance to the antibiotic kanamycin which is used in medicine."

This article doesn't mention other stuff that gets added as a side-effect of the technology.

http://www.ghorganics.com/failure%20of%20the%20first%20GM%20foods.htm

<snip>

These GMOs were the only GM foods for which the FDA has considered requiring pre-market approval. Both tomatoes contained marker genes that gave resistance to the antibiotic kanamycin which is used in medicine. People were concerned that if the genes passed out of the tomatoes and entered bacteria, the bacteria could develop resistance to the antibiotic, undermining its medical effectiveness. The question was referred by Calgene to the FDA who used Flavr Savr as a GMO test case. They approved Flavr Savr and Zeneca’s similar product in mid-1994. In doing so they decided that GM foods in general should not be regulated differently to non-GM foods and would not require pre-market approval. Unlike food additives, for which pre-market approval is required in the US, they argued that GM foods are the same or substantially equivalent to non-GM foods. However, there was actually no scientific evidence that the tomatoes were safe for human consumption. In fact, the FDA had ignored many of its own scientists who were concerned that research had shown that GM tomatoes had a potential to cause stomach lesions.

Calgene had carried out three 28-day studies. Groups of rats were fed either a GM tomato, a non-GM tomato, or deionized water. Some of the studies revealed statistically significant differences between the effects of the GM and non-GM tomatoes. While one study showed no problems, in the second gross lesions were observed in four out twenty female rats fed one of the two lines of transgenic tomato. In the third study gross and microscopic lesions were found in the rats. These findings, however, was played down and not publicly communicated by the FDA.

While some scientists blamed the study methodology and argued against using animal feeding trials to assess GMOs, many FDA scientists questioned the safety of the tomatoes and the way the FDA management was handling the approval of GMOs. In a memo dated 16 June 1993 to Linda Kahl, Consumer Safety Officer at the FDA, Fred Hines, Staff Pathologist at the FDA wrote: “There is considerable disparity in the reported findings of gastric erosions or necrosis lesions from the three studies provided by Calgene Inc. This disparity has not been adequately addressed or explained by the sponsor or the laboratory where the study was conducted … The criteria for qualifying a lesion as incidental were not provided in the Sponsor’s report.”

In an October 1993 memo, the Director of Special Research Skills at the FDA suggested that the Flavr Savr safety experiments were “hardly strong evidence that gastric erosions are random and highly variable … the sponsor (Calgene) admits that no cause for the lesions is established … the data raise a question of safety”. The Additives Evaluation Branch added in December 1993 that “the responses Calgene provided were insufficient to answer the questions that still remain”.

In 1994, Dr Joseph Cummins, Emeritus Professor of Genetics at the University of West-Ontario warned that the inclusion in Flavr Savr tomatoes of a genetic sequence from the Cauliflower Mosaic Virus could create virulent new viruses. In October 1991, Dr Edwin Mathews from the Department of Health and Human Services and of the FDA's Toxicology Group wrote to the FDA Biotechnology Working Group saying: “Genetically modified plants could also contain unexpected high concentrations of plant toxicants”.

The FDA was obliged to reveal these internal views in 1998 only after a lawsuit filed by consumer groups, scientists and others (Alliance for Bio-integrity) in which it was accused of ‘failing to fulfil its regulatory duties’. Despite the safety concerns, Flavr Savr was also cleared for sale in the UK but never marketed.

<snip>

[enki23]

35. Oh, for chrissake, that is a normal method for selecting transformed cells.

Kanamycin resistance is, and already was so incredibly common in the bacterial world (including being extremely widespread in human gut flora) that it was considered trivial and unimportant. Which it is. The bacteria in the environment are already in contact with lots of other kanamycin resistant bacteria, and will much more readily pick up the resistance that way than the extremely unlikely transfer from a plant. This is riduculous, bullshit hype designed to prey on the ignorant, like saying the plants are "injected with bacteria and viruses".

The resistance is used to select and clone the transformed cells. It has no effect on the plants, or on the people who consume them. Further, these tomatoes (which, remember, are no longer on the market) were developed quite some time ago, and biotech has advanced considerably in available methods since then.

And..... obviously..... this is all beside the point. The point is that you all have no idea what the hell you are talking about. As is, again, in evidence. The ridiculous wild claims thrown around here about the evils of GMOs are laughable to anyone who has any exposure whatsoever to what all this actually entails. I, in fact, do have that exposure. I have been involved on the farming end of it. I've worked in analytical chemistry supporting plant breeding operations. I have also (though this was with human stem cells) engaged in many of the very same sorts of techniques that were used to produce things like the Flavr Savr tomato.

I suppose that makes me part of the conspiracy. Or maybe it just means I know at least a little bit about all this bullshit.

[DeSwiss]

8. GMOs are cancer creators. If they're so safe, why not label them?

- From my perspective, anyone who eats GMOs now are knowingly killing themselves and/or risking severe disease at minimum. And as such demonstrate they suffer from muddled thinking, or some other form of diminished capacity.

In parting, I'll leave you with these words of wisdom:

''Not to enlighten one who can be enlightened is to waste a man.
To endeavor to enlighten one who cannot be enlightened is to waste words.
A wise man wastes neither men nor words.''

~Confucius

[drynberg]

10. Agreed, in fact farm animals that have a choice between GMOs and non-GMOs always

Choose the non-GMOs...folks this ain't no nutty coincidence, the animals know...come on, we gotta be as smart as a cow, right? Plus we have science. Those scientists that are bought off or threatened with loss of their position, all say that GMOs are very dangerous to organisms that eat them. This ain't no parlour game, this is live and death. Choose wisely and get this crap labeled nationally now.

[DeSwiss]

12. It's already turning on itself.....

Drought and SuperBugs Devastate U.S. Corn Crop

- So now not only is the pesticide in the plants, they're having to put it on the plants. Again. Which was the whole point of GMOs if you'll recall.....

[enki23]

20. That isn't, of course, true. At all.

But then, there are plenty of equally crazy claims out there. For instance, that nearly all human disease is caused by yeast. Or that 9/11 was an inside job. Or that cancer can be cured by only eating raw vegetables. Or that cancer can only be cured by eating the right colored foods. Or that cancer can only be cured by faith healing. Or that cancer can only be cured by happy thoughts. Or that cancer can only be cured by vitamin megadoses. Or, as Carol Alt has hawked in the past, that breast cancer is best treated by taking huge doses of estrogens ("bioidentical hormones," and never mind the fact that estrogens are very, very well known to be tumor promoters for a very large subset of breast cancers) Or that water has a supernatural memory. Or that black cats are bad/good luck. Or that praying can do things on the outside of your head.

People claim all sorts of bullshit that just isn't true. Like that animals magically choose non-GMO crops over otherwise-identical GMO crops under adequately designed, blinded, and controlled studies "every time." That would be a miracle, for certain.


And, again, the usual disclaimer: one need not be a fan of Monsanto's business practices, or of modern near-monoculture farming practices to make note of these things. While the aggressively ignorant will continue to pretend otherwise, at least I've documented the fact. Again. And again. And again.

[Vashta Nerada]

9. This is conspiracy theory BS.

The whole point of this was for Carol Alt to hawk her own stupid book, and many of you fell for it.

[JohnyCanuck]

13. 297 scientists and experts agree GMOs not proven safe

Press Release from European Network of Scientists for Social and Environmental Responsibilty (ENSSER),10 Dec 2013 :

297 scientists and experts agree GMOs not proven safe

The number of scientists and experts who have signed a joint statement{1} saying that GM foods have not been proven safe and that existing research raises concerns has climbed to 297 since the statement was released on 21 October.

Dr Angelika Hilbeck, chair of the European Network of Scientists for Social and Environmental Responsibility (ENSSER), which published the statement, said, “We’re surprised and pleased by the strong support for the statement. It seems to have tapped into a deep concern in the global scientific community that the name of science is being misused to make misleading claims about the safety of GM technology.”

The statement indirectly challenges claims by EU chief science adviser Anne Glover that there is no evidence that GM foods are any riskier than non-GM foods.{2}

Dr Rosa Binimelis Adell, board member of ENSSER, said, “It seems that Anne Glover chooses to listen to one side of the scientific community only – the circle of GMO producers and their allied scientists – and ignores the other. Thus she is giving biased advice to the EU Commission. For a science adviser, this is irresponsible and unethical.”

New signatories to the statement include Dr Sheldon Krimsky, professor of urban and environmental policy and planning at Tufts University and adjunct professor in the department of public health and family medicine at the Tufts School of Medicine. Dr Krimsky said:

“As a GMO crop skeptic, I have a more nuanced view of adverse consequences than uncritical proponents. Adverse consequences of GMO crops are not restricted to keeling over dead after eating genetically adulterated unlabelled food (GAUF). My concerns include subtle changes in nutritional quality or mycotoxins, increasing food allergens, unsustainable farming practices, dependency on chemical inputs, lack of transparency in evaluating food quality and safety, and the transformation of farming practices into a modern form of serfdom, where the seed is intellectual property leased by the farmer.

“To demonstrate the safety of GMO products, one must begin by assuming that they can be harmful, and carry out sensitive tests that are capable of detecting harm. As with other technologies like aeronautics and nuclear power, those who manufacture the products must not be the definitive source of safety data. Because rigorous safety testing has not happened with GMO crops, I remain skeptical.”

Another signatory, Dr Margarida Silva, biologist and professor at the Portuguese Catholic University, said, “Even if researchers did largely agree on GMO safety, that doesn't make them correct. To paraphrase Albert Einstein, it only takes one study to prove a whole theory wrong – no matter how many scientists believed in it.

“In addition, research has been mostly financed by the very companies that depend on positive outcomes for their business, and we now know that where money flows, influence grows. The few independent academics left must work double shift to address the vast array of unanswered questions and red flags that keep piling up.”

A third signatory, Dr Raul Montenegro, biologist at the University of Cordoba, Argentina, said:

"Usually, analysis of GMO safety fails to consider four main issues. One: GMO plants, seeds and byproducts contain not only residues of commercial chemical pesticides, but also insecticidal proteins produced by the plant, like the Bt toxin Cry1Ab. Two: each commercial pesticide contains a cocktail of chemicals that undergo chemical changes within pesticide containers, when mixed with other pesticides, and when released in the environment. Three: In GMO agriculture each crop cycle begins with a higher background level of commercial pesticides and insecticidal proteins accumulated in agricultural soil, people’s homes and gardens, and exposed people. Four: GMO agriculture adds unwanted biodiversity (GMO genes) in countries having less and less natural biodiversity as a consequence of deforestation, pesticides, GMO insecticidal proteins and uncontrolled flux of engineered genomes.

“Countries as Argentina and Brazil are paradises for GMO agriculture because their governments have not established monitoring systems for disease and deaths from all causes, along with monitoring of the accumulation of residues of pesticides and GMO insecticidal proteins in exposed people and the environment, and variation of natural biodiversity indexes. If these monitoring systems were in place, it would be possible to measure the effects of GMO agriculture. As things stand, the governments of these countries deny that there is a problem even in the face of numerous reports from the people who are affected and the doctors who must treat them.”

ENDS

Notes

{1} http://www.ensser.org/increasing-public-information/no-scientific-consensus-on-gmo-safety/

{2} http://www.euractiv.com/science-policymaking/eu-chief-scientist-unethical-use-interview-530692

View list of 297 signatories to the petition here: http://www.ensser.org/fileadmin/user_upload/signatories_as_of_131210_lv.pdf

More Press Releases here: http://www.ensser.org/media/

[DeSwiss]

14. Here's the crazy part.

All those who sneer and complain about there not being any evidence of GMOs causing cancer and organ failures, etc., and how we're all just fear-mongering -- never seem to realize that GMOs weren't developed to save mankind. GMO's were develop to line certain men's pockets. They were created to try to corner the market on plastic poisonous food. To introduce patented food exclusivity.

By charging everyone who eats, a starvation licensing fee.

They're worse that these weasel-ass lawyers who go around suing soccer moms because their kid's downloaded some Nickelback tracks for god's sake!

- When having to file bankruptcy because your kid downloaded Nickelback track is its own built-in punishment.

[JohnyCanuck]

15. GMOs weren't developed to save mankind

All those who sneer and complain about there not being any evidence of GMOs causing cancer and organ failures, etc., and how we're all just fear-mongering -- never seem to realize that GMOs weren't developed to save mankind. GMO's were develop to line certain men's pockets. They were created to try to corner the market on plastic poisonous food. To introduce patented food exclusivity.

You mean they ain't desperately pushing their terminator seeds on Brazilian peasant farmers just because the fuckers have the love of Jesus overflowing in their hearts? LOL

[JohnyCanuck]

26. The Seeds Of Suicide: How Monsanto Destroys Farming

By Vandana Shiva

SNIP

Control over seed is the first link in the food chain because seed is the source of life. When a corporation controls seed, it controls life, especially the life of farmers.

Monsanto’s concentrated control over the seed sector in India as well as across the world is very worrying. This is what connects farmers’ suicides in India to Monsanto vs Percy Schmeiser in Canada, to Monsanto vs Bowman in the US, and to farmers in Brazil suing Monsanto for $2.2 billion for unfair collection of royalty.

Through patents on seed, Monsanto has become the “Life Lord” of our planet, collecting rents for life’s renewal from farmers, the original breeders.

SNIP

The entry of Monsanto in the Indian seed sector was made possible with a 1988 Seed Policy imposed by the World Bank, requiring the Government of India to deregulate the seed sector. Five things changed with Monsanto’s entry: First, Indian companies were locked into joint-ventures and licensing arrangements, and concentration over the seed sector increased. Second, seed which had been the farmers’ common resource became the “intellectual property” of Monsanto, for which it started collecting royalties, thus raising the costs of seed. Third, open pollinated cotton seeds were displaced by hybrids, including GMO hybrids. A renewable resource became a non-renewable, patented commodity. Fourth, cotton which had earlier been grown as a mixture with food crops now had to be grown as a monoculture, with higher vulnerability to pests, disease, drought and crop failure. Fifth, Monsanto started to subvert India’s regulatory processes and, in fact, started to use public resources to push its non-renewable hybrids and GMOs through so-called public-private partnerships (PPP).

In 1995, Monsanto introduced its Bt technology in India through a joint-venture with the Indian company Mahyco. In 1997-98, Monsanto started open field trials of its GMO Bt cotton illegally and announced that it would be selling the seeds commercially the following year. India has rules for regulating GMOs since 1989, under the Environment Protection Act. It is mandatory to get approval from the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee under the ministry of environment for GMO trials. The Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology sued Monsanto in the Supreme Court of India and Monsanto could not start the commercial sales of its Bt cotton seeds until 2002. And, after the damning report of India’s parliamentary committee on Bt crops in August 2012, the panel of technical experts appointed by the Supreme Court recommended a 10-year moratorium on field trials of all GM food and termination of all ongoing trials of transgenic crops.

But it had changed Indian agriculture already.

http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/Article_65553.shtml

[DeSwiss]

27. This is why this whole corrupt system MUST GO!

These bastards haven't created any goddamned thing that warrants exclusivity. I have no respect nor awe for the so-called scientific community. In many ways they alone are the bane of our existence. Everything they've ''created'' was actually already made by Mother Nature FIRST. All these chumps did was to move some shit around from one of Her creations into another of Her creations. Mother Nature creates -- and they take credit for it. What a bunch of fucking losers.

Everyone always pumps out their chests when they talk about the so-called ''miracles of science.'' Ha! These Mofos have yet to ''create'' anything. They're using shit that was already here or elsewhere found in Nature. Mother Nature has always showed us the way. Fed us. Healed us. Saved us. This is our repayment: pollution, poison and EARLY DEATH.

They looked off Mother Nature's paper and got a 100 on the test and now they're so proud of themselves. Fucking morons. No one ever talks about the defeats, the disasters. The DEATHS they create. Those are conveniently swept under the rug and no one's allowed to talk about it in public.


- Fuck 'em. This shit's go to go.

[freedom fighter jh]

16. Where to get non-GMOs

Max says it at the end: Foods are not allowed to be labeled "organic" if they contain GMOs. So you can avoid GMOs if you buy organic. Warning: "Made with organic . . . " just means that *some* of that ingredient is organic. So "made with" is no real reassurance.

At Trader Joe's, they told me that everything labeled with the Trader Joe's brand, organic or not, is non-GMO.

Just came from a thread about helping the poor. I make a point of giving non-GMO foods to the local homeless shelter. Can't stand the thought that if I give money to the organization that runs the shelter, they may spend it on GMO food for poor people.

[DeSwiss]

23. Excellent point.

- Thanks for making it.

[Berlum]

17. GMO Mutant, Inc. is definitely dangerous, and suspiciously promoted by occult means

[DeSwiss]

25. Agreed!

- There will be justice for all the criminals. Make no mistake about it.

[center][/center]

[Archae]

24. That Faux "news" segment is pure horseshit.

First, it's Faux "news."
That should speak volumes.

Second, it's Carol Alt, who has pushed woo in the past.

Third, this guest has all the right scary buzzwords to say.
"Injecting bacteria and viruses in plants."
People (including other countries' governments) hear those buzzwords and get all hysterical.

Should we go back to the "good old days?"
When entire crops were lost to pests, causing famines?

Use old favorites that Faux "news" says aren't so bad, like DDT?

Fertilize the old-fashioned way, with e-coli infested manure?

Pay 2, 3, even 4 times more for "organic" food?

[Berlum]

28. GMO crud & its occult promulgation is both woo and poo

[JohnyCanuck]

30. Farmer feeds GMO corn to his pigs: they all become sterile.

Jerry Rosman, a pig farmer in Iowa, was cultivating GMO corn,(Roundup Ready and BT) and fed this corn to his pigs. Result: his sows became infertile, and then after one year he went bankrupt.

[Berlum]

31. The thing is, lots of Industrial Livestock is fed GMO waste crud from ethanol plants

Dregs de la Mutant Crap. And of course that's what you are OCCULTLY served up when you eat Industrial Ag Foodlike Meat and Meat Byproduct Substances.

[enki23]

32. Virtually all the corn fed to all the pigs across the nation is GMO corn

When we still had our small-scale farrow-to-finish operation, while I was a pre-teen, we once had nearly the entire cohort of pregnant sows spontaneously abort. Probably they did this because they had heard that one day their future generations would eat some GM corn.

Or maybe...
http://extension.missouri.edu/p/G2315
But no... I'm sure it was the GMOs. In spite of the fact that nearly all the hogs across the nation eat GMO corn.

Also, every year teenagers die in car wrecks after eating pizza. This is why we need to ban pizza. I've heard it causes uncontrollable urges to text while driving.