4 ms·

Good. Anti-GM crusades are a load of anti-science nonsense, and if you're serious about replacing a percentage of America's meat intake (as Impossible seems to

by untog 7y ago

Good. Anti-GM crusades are a load of anti-science nonsense, and if you're serious about replacing a percentage of America's meat intake (as Impossible seems to be) then it only makes sense to make the most of GM crops to get you there.

hedora 7y ago
They’re doing this so they can irresponsibly dump roundup on the soy plants without killing them. Roundup is a non-specific herbicide, so this will damage the environment near the farms. Also, Roundup is almost certainly a carcinogen, and impossible burgers already have higher levels than competitors. I definitely won’t be buying any more of their product. Edit: Fun reading: https://www.regulations.gov/contentStreamer?documentId=EPA-HQ-OPP-2009-0361-0068&contentType=pdf https://www.regulations.gov/contentStreamer?documentId=EPA-H... The US is updating exposure guidelines for 2019. For soy, they recommend treating 20ppm as acceptable, even though they recommend keeping dietary exposure below 1mg/kg. So... it will be legal for the GM soy that impossible will be using to have 20x more glyphosphate than is considered safe. Assuming their product is mostly soy... well, you can do the math. On the bright side, they’re proposing tighter regulations regarding application and drift into adjacent farms.
- samcat116 7y ago
  Do you have any evidence they plan on doing this?
  - hedora 7y ago
    As far as I know, this is the only reason to use GM (aka “roundup ready”) soy. The genetic modification only affects herbicide resistance. If they’re using some other (uncommon/obscure) GM soy, they should have said so in the press release!
  - btown 7y ago
    From the article: "94% of the soy grown in the US is genetically engineered to resist herbicide toxicity. This helps control weeds without more toxic weed control agents or over-reliance on tillage, which drives soil carbon loss." And while GM soy itself is harmless (per the links in the article), the Roundup herbicide it enables is far less conclusive as to its health effects: see https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/monsanto-parent-company-bayer-faces-thousands-roundup-cancer-cases-after-n1007246 https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/monsanto-parent-company... and https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/how-toxic-is-the-worlds-most-popular-herbicide-roundup-30308 https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/how-toxic-is-the-... It's very difficult to fully avoid produce treated by these products, and I doubt that Impossible Burger does anything to concentrate herbicide residue any more than any other processed foods. (EDIT: other links in these comments throw this into question.) And I respect that they've made a pragmatic compromise: their use of GM produce could truly move the needle on livestock consumption, whereas rejecting it could prevent market adoption of their entire category. They're making the best of a horrid situation; if you want to blame someone, blame Monsanto, not them.
- StrangeDoctor 7y ago
  A lot of GMO soy actually lets them use less additional roundup that would contribute to runoff. Edit: I was talking about run off specifically, not about the end product.
  - rorykoehler 7y ago
    >The levels of glyphosate detected in the Impossible burger by Health Research Institute Laboratories were 11 X higher than the Beyond Meat Burger.
  - hedora 7y ago
    > A lot of GMO soy actually lets them use less additional roundup that would contribute to runoff. How so? (I’m genuinely curious)
- bb88 7y ago
  > Also, Roundup is almost certainly a carcinogen That point is highly contested. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/mar/09/spray-pray-is-roundup-carcinogenic-monsanto-farmers-suing https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/mar/09/spray-pr...
- aidenn0 7y ago
  Feed stocks for cows are also grown this way and cows eat a lot of food. As an aside, elsewhere someone linked an article showing that the glyphosate in an impossible burger was on the order of 11ppb or 100x lower than is considered safe.

by untog 7y ago

hedora 7y ago

They’re doing this so they can irresponsibly dump roundup on the soy plants without killing them. Roundup is a non-specific herbicide, so this will damage the environment near the farms. Also, Roundup is almost certainly a carcinogen, and impossible burgers already have higher levels than competitors. I definitely won’t be buying any more of their product. Edit: Fun reading: https://www.regulations.gov/contentStreamer?documentId=EPA-HQ-OPP-2009-0361-0068&contentType=pdf https://www.regulations.gov/contentStreamer?documentId=EPA-H... The US is updating exposure guidelines for 2019. For soy, they recommend treating 20ppm as acceptable, even though they recommend keeping dietary exposure below 1mg/kg. So... it will be legal for the GM soy that impossible will be using to have 20x more glyphosphate than is considered safe. Assuming their product is mostly soy... well, you can do the math. On the bright side, they’re proposing tighter regulations regarding application and drift into adjacent farms.

samcat116 7y ago
Do you have any evidence they plan on doing this?
- hedora 7y ago
  As far as I know, this is the only reason to use GM (aka “roundup ready”) soy. The genetic modification only affects herbicide resistance. If they’re using some other (uncommon/obscure) GM soy, they should have said so in the press release!
- btown 7y ago
  From the article: "94% of the soy grown in the US is genetically engineered to resist herbicide toxicity. This helps control weeds without more toxic weed control agents or over-reliance on tillage, which drives soil carbon loss." And while GM soy itself is harmless (per the links in the article), the Roundup herbicide it enables is far less conclusive as to its health effects: see https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/monsanto-parent-company-bayer-faces-thousands-roundup-cancer-cases-after-n1007246 https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/monsanto-parent-company... and https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/how-toxic-is-the-worlds-most-popular-herbicide-roundup-30308 https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/how-toxic-is-the-... It's very difficult to fully avoid produce treated by these products, and I doubt that Impossible Burger does anything to concentrate herbicide residue any more than any other processed foods. (EDIT: other links in these comments throw this into question.) And I respect that they've made a pragmatic compromise: their use of GM produce could truly move the needle on livestock consumption, whereas rejecting it could prevent market adoption of their entire category. They're making the best of a horrid situation; if you want to blame someone, blame Monsanto, not them.
StrangeDoctor 7y ago
A lot of GMO soy actually lets them use less additional roundup that would contribute to runoff. Edit: I was talking about run off specifically, not about the end product.
- rorykoehler 7y ago
  >The levels of glyphosate detected in the Impossible burger by Health Research Institute Laboratories were 11 X higher than the Beyond Meat Burger.
- hedora 7y ago
  > A lot of GMO soy actually lets them use less additional roundup that would contribute to runoff. How so? (I’m genuinely curious)
bb88 7y ago
> Also, Roundup is almost certainly a carcinogen That point is highly contested. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/mar/09/spray-pray-is-roundup-carcinogenic-monsanto-farmers-suing https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/mar/09/spray-pr...
aidenn0 7y ago
Feed stocks for cows are also grown this way and cows eat a lot of food. As an aside, elsewhere someone linked an article showing that the glyphosate in an impossible burger was on the order of 11ppb or 100x lower than is considered safe.