4 ms·
Disclaimer: each GMO product should be looked at individually, just like each chemical product. When people say all GMOs are good or bad, it's as silly as sayin
by consumer451 2y ago
Disclaimer: each GMO product should be looked at individually, just like each chemical product. When people say all GMOs are good or bad, it's as silly as saying that all chemicals are good or bad.
That aside,
> GMOs can reduce need for pesticide and insecticide use
A funny thing happened on the way to quarterly report. I believe that the most popular GMO product line is Roundup Ready [0], and it does the exact opposite. It allows the creator's cash cow product to be applied more liberally.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roundup_Ready https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roundup_Ready
- themaninthedark 2y agoWhat it does is allows for a mass spraying of Roundup rather than targeted sprayings. If you had to do several targeted sprayings over a growing season vs 1 mass spraying at a critical point, you could end up spraying more. I would think the main selling point is ease of use but economics is going to play into it. If you have Farmer A who has to buy the seeds and spray + is using more spray vs Farmer B who is using their own seeds and less spray, who is going to make more money?
- consumer451 2y agoFrom the wiki: > While the use of Roundup Ready crops has increased the usage of herbicides measured in pounds applied per acre ...
- themaninthedark 2y agoI would like to see safer herbicides, I doubt we will ever get away from them. And the rest of the Wiki: >While the use of Roundup Ready crops has increased the usage of herbicides measured in pounds applied per acre,[9] it has also changed the herbicide use profile away from atrazine, metribuzin, and alachlor[citation needed] which are more likely to be present in run off water.[citation needed] So Roundup usage has increased but other herbicide usage decreased: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atrazine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atrazine Banned in EU, may cause cancer, causes Birth Defects https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metribuzin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metribuzin No info on Wiki about toxicity, only groundwater contamination https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alachlor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alachlor Banned in EU, no current products in US. Multiple Organ damage + Cancer So should we go back to using more of stuff that we know is very bad or use the less bad stuff until we get even better less bad? No herbicide is risking crop failure and starvation.
- lesuorac 2y agoSure, but they should be looked at by the producer first before widespread selling. Either that or just have some blanket warning on them that the product wasn't tested for safety.
- TimTheTinker 2y agoGreat callout. Roundup Ready is my primary GMO concern for US-grown food -- so much so that "GMO bad" and "roundup ready" are synonymous for me.