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For mass producing food, GMOs can be good. They increase yield. Then again, at the same time, look at all the food we throw away in the western world. Do we act

For mass producing food, GMOs can be good. They increase yield. Then again, at the same time, look at all the food we throw away in the western world. Do we actually need to increase crop yield in the developed world? You may call it a luxury product, but I will personally pick true organic food any day of the week. Pesticides are bad and unhealthy. Organic food is even already somewhat being exposed to pesticides through historical pollution. I only have one life. Given the amount of lobbying multinational companies are able to do and the fact most politicians can be bought for a relative pittance, you have to be a fool to believe you aren't being exposed to harmful pesticides year round. Just look at the whole Monsanto / glyphosate / roundup discussion. If the alternative is losing a billion dollar a year business, how much would a multinational company be willing to pay to politicians and scientists (above or under the table) to make sure a certain substance doesn't get banned? A lot, I would reckon. Tens of millions easily, hundreds if required.

TeMPOraL 10y ago
> Then again, at the same time, look at all the food we throw away in the western world. Do we actually need to increase crop yield in the developed world? This is equivalent to asking if we actually need for food to be cheap / cheaper. I'd say "yes". Unfortunately, food waste is simply a side effect of it being easily and cheaply available. You can't eliminate food waste - you can't create a perfectly efficient system in a real world - but if you want a shot at reducing it, ban catering companies. (More generally, if you want people to stop doing stupid things with product X, the market solution would be to increase the price of product X to such a level that almost no one would dare waste it; in case of necessities like food or water, I'd really prefer the regulatory solution of taxing/fining the stupid thing itself.) > You may call it a luxury product, but I will personally pick true organic food any day of the week. Pesticides are bad and unhealthy. Organic food is even already somewhat being exposed to pesticides through historical pollution. I only have one life. For the very same reason I'll pick industrial, preferably GMO food, any day of the week. As you wrote, pesticides are bad and unhealthy. They're also - from what I hear - happily used by organic farming industry as a replacement for the 'bad', 'unnatural' methods of conventional agriculture. So this way, organic food gets exposed to poisons more. > Just look at the whole Monsanto / glyphosate / roundup discussion. Oh yeah, I remember it turning out to be mostly harmless and a much better alternative to what your typical organic farm would use. Saying "it's bad" is easy, but what's often missing is the "compared to what?" part.
- charlesdm 10y ago
  1. Given I buy a lot of locally sourced stuff, I know for a fact that no pesticides are being used. Yes, it’s more expensive. No, your industrial GMO food won’t be healthier, because they’ll still be using pesticides. But it will be healthier than the alternative (i.e. having to use a ton of pesticides). 2. I’m not against GMO food, but I am against heavy pesticide usage. If certain crops are modified to be resistant against certain insects, for example, and less pesticides have to be used because of that, that’s good. An “organic” GMO vegetable (i.e. increased resistants against common diseases etc, no actual pesticide usage) could be an interesting avenue to explore. We just need to get pesticide usage down. 3. Maybe I have my tinfoil hat on here, but I do not believe for a second that Roundup isn’t massively unhealthy. Most of the positive research was funded, directly or indirectly, by Monsanto. Even the most legitimate scientists can be bought and paid off. Don’t forget that. In addition, do we really have to prove something is actually bad? In this case, I think there really should be conclusive evidence that something ISN’T bad.
  - majkinetor 10y ago
    > Given I buy a lot of locally sourced stuff, I know for a fact that no pesticides are being used. I wonder how do you know ? In huge local food bazzars in our country its not unheard that commissions finds overusage of pesticides and antibiotics because there is no strict control. Food producers are common villagers, not a scientist and they can abuse the tech for various reasons.
    - charlesdm 10y ago
      They're a cooperative mainly consisting of local farmers, and they don't use pesticides. My grandfather used to take care of their accounting (as a side project) and has helped build it up over the last 20+ years.
      - majkinetor 10y ago
        The point is, while you may personally know a single cow or few farmers, majority of the stuff entering your mouth is uncontrolled. THe best way to combat toxins is from the inside, rather then outside IMO - take care of your liver/kidnies/skin with adequate food and supplement choices. Avoid obvious toxins such as cigarete smoke.

TeMPOraL 10y ago

> Then again, at the same time, look at all the food we throw away in the western world. Do we actually need to increase crop yield in the developed world? This is equivalent to asking if we actually need for food to be cheap / cheaper. I'd say "yes". Unfortunately, food waste is simply a side effect of it being easily and cheaply available. You can't eliminate food waste - you can't create a perfectly efficient system in a real world - but if you want a shot at reducing it, ban catering companies. (More generally, if you want people to stop doing stupid things with product X, the market solution would be to increase the price of product X to such a level that almost no one would dare waste it; in case of necessities like food or water, I'd really prefer the regulatory solution of taxing/fining the stupid thing itself.) > You may call it a luxury product, but I will personally pick true organic food any day of the week. Pesticides are bad and unhealthy. Organic food is even already somewhat being exposed to pesticides through historical pollution. I only have one life. For the very same reason I'll pick industrial, preferably GMO food, any day of the week. As you wrote, pesticides are bad and unhealthy. They're also - from what I hear - happily used by organic farming industry as a replacement for the 'bad', 'unnatural' methods of conventional agriculture. So this way, organic food gets exposed to poisons more. > Just look at the whole Monsanto / glyphosate / roundup discussion. Oh yeah, I remember it turning out to be mostly harmless and a much better alternative to what your typical organic farm would use. Saying "it's bad" is easy, but what's often missing is the "compared to what?" part.

charlesdm 10y ago
1. Given I buy a lot of locally sourced stuff, I know for a fact that no pesticides are being used. Yes, it’s more expensive. No, your industrial GMO food won’t be healthier, because they’ll still be using pesticides. But it will be healthier than the alternative (i.e. having to use a ton of pesticides). 2. I’m not against GMO food, but I am against heavy pesticide usage. If certain crops are modified to be resistant against certain insects, for example, and less pesticides have to be used because of that, that’s good. An “organic” GMO vegetable (i.e. increased resistants against common diseases etc, no actual pesticide usage) could be an interesting avenue to explore. We just need to get pesticide usage down. 3. Maybe I have my tinfoil hat on here, but I do not believe for a second that Roundup isn’t massively unhealthy. Most of the positive research was funded, directly or indirectly, by Monsanto. Even the most legitimate scientists can be bought and paid off. Don’t forget that. In addition, do we really have to prove something is actually bad? In this case, I think there really should be conclusive evidence that something ISN’T bad.
- majkinetor 10y ago
  > Given I buy a lot of locally sourced stuff, I know for a fact that no pesticides are being used. I wonder how do you know ? In huge local food bazzars in our country its not unheard that commissions finds overusage of pesticides and antibiotics because there is no strict control. Food producers are common villagers, not a scientist and they can abuse the tech for various reasons.
  - charlesdm 10y ago
    They're a cooperative mainly consisting of local farmers, and they don't use pesticides. My grandfather used to take care of their accounting (as a side project) and has helped build it up over the last 20+ years.
    - majkinetor 10y ago
      The point is, while you may personally know a single cow or few farmers, majority of the stuff entering your mouth is uncontrolled. THe best way to combat toxins is from the inside, rather then outside IMO - take care of your liver/kidnies/skin with adequate food and supplement choices. Avoid obvious toxins such as cigarete smoke.