"Natural" Food, GMO's, "Organic" and Big Mac's

[BringBackFergy]

I didn't see a PPP thread on this topic but it is all over Facebook, message boards, etc.

 

It doesn't appear there is any middle ground on this debate: either you don't mind having fresh vegetables from the grocery store, meats from the supermarket and an occasional box of Triscuits, or you eat Quinoia shakes with fresh goat milk, homegrown brussel sprouts from a raised bed filled with fresh organic manure and unleavened bread.

 

If you challenge someone who claims GMO's are poison, they look at you as if you are the devil. The truth is...many of the vigilant Ban-GMO crowd are really sheep, following in the footsteps of friends and relatives who have likewise fallen into the "natural foods" trap.

 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2016/01/27/most-shoppers-dont-understand-natural-food-labels/79346088/

 

 

 

 

[Maury Ballstein]

So I can continue to eat cheesesteaks and wings then ?

 

Sweet.

[BringBackFergy]

So I can continue to eat cheesesteaks and wings then ?

 

Sweet.

In moderation, sure.

 

I seem to recall a national outcry to stop using salt....not anymore.

I also recall a 20 year debate on butter....not anymore.

 

What most fail to appreciate is the fact that "Genetically Modified" foods involves nothing more than taking one "natural" organism crossing it (or selecting the best natural genetic traits) with another "natural" organism to yield a new product that can withstand drought, shade, intense heat, water absorption, best colors, sizes, resistance to slugs and pests, etc. No chemicals are introduced into the product.

[Doc]

I didn't see a PPP thread on this topic but it is all over Facebook, message boards, etc.

 

It doesn't appear there is any middle ground on this debate: either you don't mind having fresh vegetables from the grocery store, meats from the supermarket and an occasional box of Triscuits, or you eat Quinoia shakes with fresh goat milk, homegrown brussel sprouts from a raised bed filled with fresh organic manure and unleavened bread.

 

If you challenge someone who claims GMO's are poison, they look at you as if you are the devil. The truth is...many of the vigilant Ban-GMO crowd are really sheep, following in the footsteps of friends and relatives who have likewise fallen into the "natural foods" trap.

 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2016/01/27/most-shoppers-dont-understand-natural-food-labels/79346088/

Sheep is right. GMOs are no different from any other food. The concern is glyphosate (Roundup).

[BringBackFergy]

Sheep is right. GMOs are no different from any other food. The concern is glyphosate (Roundup).

Yes. Monsanto creates a variety of seeds that have superior traits. One of those is seed corn that is Roundup tolerant. It is not the seed corn that is poison (and we still don't know if the Roundup is poisonous), but when the farmer sprays his corn rows with Roundup and the plant survives, the question is whether the plant absorbs Roundup and the affect of that chemical in our bodies. The seed itself is a good thing (much like the tomato seeds that tolerate drought in Africa, the cotton seed that can withstand the pests in the south, potato seeds that tolerate cold and fungus).

[Nanker]

Waiter, waiter! What's this frog gene doing in my tomato soup?

[BringBackFergy]

Oh what’s that? That isn’t good enough for you? You wanted a label so what’s wrong with that? Or perhaps now you can drop your “right to know” shtick and admit what this is really about – demonizing a technology regardless of the fact that there are thousands of scientific studies proving that it is safe. The label isn’t about informing the public, it’s about your relentless scaremongering and wanting to forcibly require a label to falsely legitimize your blatant falsehoods and appeal to nature fallacies. It’s about getting people to buy your product, due not to superior quality, but out of fear and ignorance. That’s all it ever was about. Chris Byrne sums the labeling law issue up here: “I have no problem with it voluntarily but am against it as a regulatory mandate…. and I’m against it in general as a lover of science and truth; because anti-GMO hysteria is pandering to the stupid, the ignorant, the anti-science, and to those who would manipulate them for their own personal agenda and benefit.” (Source)

 

http://www.forwardprogressives.com/dear-anti-gmo-activists-keep-your-stupid-labels-off-my-food/

[Azalin]

I know very little about genetically modified foods, at least with regard to modifications made in laboratories, but I do know that we've been doing essentially the same thing for thousands of years via techniques such as cross-pollination. I also know that genetically modifying foods such as grains, soy beans, etc are done to obtain higher crop yields. Genetically engineering plants so that they grow with pesticides built-in admittedly sounds scarey, but people such as myself don't have enough of a familiarity with the science to actually know if there are health-related ramifications from long-term consumption of these foods. People fear what they don't know, and it doesn't take much to inspire them to take up their pitchforks and torches and storm the castle.

[B-Man]

Waiter, waiter! What's this frog gene doing in my tomato soup?

 

"The backstroke" ??

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BringBackFergy]

I know very little about genetically modified foods, at least with regard to modifications made in laboratories, but I do know that we've been doing essentially the same thing for thousands of years via techniques such as cross-pollination. I also know that genetically modifying foods such as grains, soy beans, etc are done to obtain higher crop yields. Genetically engineering plants so that they grow with pesticides built-in admittedly sounds scarey, but people such as myself don't have enough of a familiarity with the science to actually know if there are health-related ramifications from long-term consumption of these foods. People fear what they don't know, and it doesn't take much to inspire them to take up their pitchforks and torches and storm the castle.

Well said....and you're point about genetically modifying crops and seed for thousands of years is dead on.

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

It's Luddite theology

[DC Tom]

I know very little about genetically modified foods, at least with regard to modifications made in laboratories, but I do know that we've been doing essentially the same thing for thousands of years via techniques such as cross-pollination. I also know that genetically modifying foods such as grains, soy beans, etc are done to obtain higher crop yields. Genetically engineering plants so that they grow with pesticides built-in admittedly sounds scarey, but people such as myself don't have enough of a familiarity with the science to actually know if there are health-related ramifications from long-term consumption of these foods. People fear what they don't know, and it doesn't take much to inspire them to take up their pitchforks and torches and storm the castle.

 

And thousands of years ago, before we started manipulating crops, they harvested emmer wheat. And there's people today who think that anything but emmer wheat grown organically is a genetically-modified, chemically-polluted abomination that'll shorten your life span.

 

Of course, the available evidence says those people are idiots, since thousands of years ago people eating emmer wheat only lived to be forty.

[Deranged Rhino]

 

And thousands of years ago, before we started manipulating crops, they harvested emmer wheat. And there's people today who think that anything but emmer wheat grown organically is a genetically-modified, chemically-polluted abomination that'll shorten your life span.

 

Of course, the available evidence says those people are idiots, since thousands of years ago people eating emmer wheat only lived to be forty.

 

Out in Cali, or at least SoCal, we hear all the time how wheat is the perfect biological weapon and the source of many health ailments across the country.

 

... I'm not sure who takes that seriously, but it's a consistent meme.

[BringBackFergy]

 

And thousands of years ago, before we started manipulating crops, they harvested emmer wheat. And there's people today who think that anything but emmer wheat grown organically is a genetically-modified, chemically-polluted abomination that'll shorten your life span.

 

Of course, the available evidence says those people are idiots, since thousands of years ago people eating emmer wheat only lived to be forty.

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

My favorite bit of eco-religionism is that somehow if you eat a GMO, you'll take on the genetic properties of that food.

 

Really? These are the same people who are anti-AI, anti-nano, and anti-technology in general

Edited January 27, 2016 by joesixpack

[BringBackFergy]

My favorite bit of eco-religionism is that somehow if you eat a GMO, you'll take on the genetic properties of that food.

 

Really? These are the same people who are anti-AI, anti-nano, and anti-technology in general

I always pictured you as barley or hops anyway.

[DC Tom]

My favorite bit of eco-religionism is that somehow if you eat a GMO, you'll take on the genetic properties of that food.

 

Really? These are the same people who are anti-AI, anti-nano, and anti-technology in general

 

"But 50% of our DNA is corn DNA!" Actually, since all life on this planet evolved under the same conditions in the same genetic environment, everything shares about 50% of its DNA with everything else on the planet. If we didn't, we couldn't eat corn or anything else.

 

My favorite bit is "organic" and "natural" labeling. My sister-in-law only eats food labelled natural or organic, because she doesn't trust the labeling on manufactured food, because even though the FDA regulates labeling, they're in the pocket of "Big Food." Yeah...you know who regulates the use of "natural" and "organic?" NOBODY. I could slap "All-natural, 100% organic" on a quart of motor oil or gallon of bleach, for all that labeling means.

[drinkTHEkoolaid]

I know very little about genetically modified foods, at least with regard to modifications made in laboratories, but I do know that we've been doing essentially the same thing for thousands of years via techniques such as cross-pollination. I also know that genetically modifying foods such as grains, soy beans, etc are done to obtain higher crop yields. Genetically engineering plants so that they grow with pesticides built-in admittedly sounds scarey, but people such as myself don't have enough of a familiarity with the science to actually know if there are health-related ramifications from long-term consumption of these foods. People fear what they don't know, and it doesn't take much to inspire them to take up their pitchforks and torches and storm the castle.

This is about where I am on the issue. In trying to learn more and understand the issue better.

[Chef Jim]

 

Out in Cali, or at least SoCal, we hear all the time how wheat is the perfect biological weapon and the source of many health ailments across the country.

 

... I'm not sure who takes that seriously, but it's a consistent meme.

 

By wheat you mean marijuana right??

[Deranged Rhino]

 

By wheat you mean marijuana right??

 

There are those out there who would probably agree with that.