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The issue in the US is that GMO === Monsanto. And Monsanto is very clearly a company that does not care about the long term implications of its science (you th

The issue in the US is that GMO === Monsanto. And Monsanto is very clearly a company that does not care about the long term implications of its science (you think they'd sit on data like Exxon did with climate change data? I do, 100%). I fear Monsanto, so in the US I fear GMO. Remove hard core capitalism from our food supply science and I'll be less scared of it.

socialist_coder 11y ago
Completely agree. I wish it was easier to support GMOs in the US, but because of Monsanto, everyone just equates GMOs with Monsanto's business practices. And now it seems like the whole idea of GMOs is ruined in the US because of it.
dragonwriter 11y ago
Fearing GMOs because you don't like Monsanto'spractices is like fearing computers in the 1990s because you don't like Microsoft's practices. Not to mention, Monsanto is the biggest GMO -- or, really, seed, regardless of GMO status -- company everywhere, they aren't restricted to the US. And there are plenty of non-Monsanto US companies doing GM and non-GM crop work, including companies working on the same kind of environmental tolerance traits that the Argentine firm, Bioceres, was discussed in the article as working on (one of those US companies, Arcadia Biosciences, actually has a joint venture, Verdeca, with Bioceres.)
- bigethan 11y ago
  > Fearing GMOs because you don't like Monsanto's practices is like fearing computers in the 1990s because you don't like Microsoft's practices. I disagree. I can live without a computer. I can't live without food. I'm aware that there are other companies doing GMO work in the US, and that Monsanto is a global cancer. But the US is their place of greatest power and influence. How many members of the EPA & FDA are former employees of Arcadia and Bioceres, and how much lobbyist money have they put into those pockets? You think Monsanto will let anyone try to succeed in "their" space without a brutal fight?
  - andrenth 11y ago
    > How many members of the EPA & FDA are former employees of Arcadia and Bioceres, and how much lobbyist money have they put into those pockets? So the problem isn't "hardcore capitalism", it's a state so big that lobbying it is more effective/easier than competing in the market.
  - Kalium 11y ago
    > How many members of the EPA & FDA are former employees of Arcadia and Bioceres This line of thinking is so odd to me. Shouldn't we want people in regulatory bodies to have an insider's understanding of an industry?

socialist_coder 11y ago

Completely agree. I wish it was easier to support GMOs in the US, but because of Monsanto, everyone just equates GMOs with Monsanto's business practices. And now it seems like the whole idea of GMOs is ruined in the US because of it.

dragonwriter 11y ago

Fearing GMOs because you don't like Monsanto'spractices is like fearing computers in the 1990s because you don't like Microsoft's practices. Not to mention, Monsanto is the biggest GMO -- or, really, seed, regardless of GMO status -- company everywhere, they aren't restricted to the US. And there are plenty of non-Monsanto US companies doing GM and non-GM crop work, including companies working on the same kind of environmental tolerance traits that the Argentine firm, Bioceres, was discussed in the article as working on (one of those US companies, Arcadia Biosciences, actually has a joint venture, Verdeca, with Bioceres.)

bigethan 11y ago
> Fearing GMOs because you don't like Monsanto's practices is like fearing computers in the 1990s because you don't like Microsoft's practices. I disagree. I can live without a computer. I can't live without food. I'm aware that there are other companies doing GMO work in the US, and that Monsanto is a global cancer. But the US is their place of greatest power and influence. How many members of the EPA & FDA are former employees of Arcadia and Bioceres, and how much lobbyist money have they put into those pockets? You think Monsanto will let anyone try to succeed in "their" space without a brutal fight?
- andrenth 11y ago
  > How many members of the EPA & FDA are former employees of Arcadia and Bioceres, and how much lobbyist money have they put into those pockets? So the problem isn't "hardcore capitalism", it's a state so big that lobbying it is more effective/easier than competing in the market.
- Kalium 11y ago
  > How many members of the EPA & FDA are former employees of Arcadia and Bioceres This line of thinking is so odd to me. Shouldn't we want people in regulatory bodies to have an insider's understanding of an industry?