Monsanto GM Crops may cause Health Problems

[RenaissanceLady]

Admittedly, the study is done by researchers who have more than a little bias against GMOs and Monsanto. It's also not a long-term study and there should be questions about how they went about publishing this, as well as precisely how they got their data. Having said this, I still think its absurd that organic foods must meet stringent criteria to be put on shelves while also being labeled as such but GM foods require no such testing or labeling - just as long as the big corporations that make these foods keep bribing officials (excuse me, I meant to say "LOBBYING" officials) to keep GM labels off their products while insisting that no further testing is needed.

What's the worst that can happen? Well, according to this study:

Gilles-Eric Seralini of the University of Caen and colleagues said rats fed on a diet containing NK603 - a seed variety made tolerant to dousings of Roundup - or given water containing Roundup at levels permitted in the United States died earlier than those on a standard diet.

The animals on the GM diet suffered mammary tumours, as well as severe liver and kidney damage.

The researchers said 50 percent of males and 70 percent of females died prematurely, compared with only 30 percent and 20 percent in the control group.

Monsanto Corn Study In France Finds Tumors And Organ Damage In Rats

This is hardly the first claim that Monsanto's GM foods are harmful to humans. Snopes.com listed as "undetermined" any claims that these products are dangerous, citing studies that show the dangers while also showing that certain groups (such as Monsanto) refute those studies. Specifically, the studies cited which report the dangers include this one in the International Journal of Biological Sciences and another one in Elsevier.com about Reproductive Toxicology.

 

[Randall]

I don't have a problem with GMO research. What I have a problem with is the way it's being rammed down our throats through the use of the legal system, like when some GMO seeds blow off a truck and contaminate a non GMO field, instead of the farmer getting compensation for the contamination, he's the one sued for violating the GMO's patent without permission. And there are more and more stories about how independent farmers have become victims of this and other kinds of pressure. I also agree with the irony about the labeling, but at least the organic labeling is voluntary ( so far as I know ), and is useful to identify those products. Are all GMO foods potentially dangerous? I don't know. Probably not. But there are definitely some real concerns about fairness and choice.

 

[RenaissanceLady]

Crops are "modified" all the time, in no small part due to cross-pollination. Plant some mild peppers next to some hot peppers and you can determine very quickly the effects of randy bees on the food supply. During my time in New Mexico, I was amazed at how their famous Hatch Chilies could vary enormously in their heat, even when the chilies came from the same field by the same farmer. Inevitably, this would be due to how some chilies would be planted near other spicier chilies and peppers. (Mmmm, Hatch Chilies...)

But I digress. GM crops in and of themselves aren't what make them potentially dangerous. The Texas 1040 onion is a GM crop that was bred to be a sweeter onion. When I was in Texas, it was the onion I preferred for most of my cooking. What disturbs me is when crops are genetically modified to cause harm to other organisms and then sold to uninformed consumers because a Mega Corporation that makes its fortunes from these products decided these were safe. In the case of Monsanto corn, we should already have concern that it was designed to rupture the stomachs of insects. Even if this was somehow perfectly safe for humans (which I doubt), what effect is this going to have on our already diminishing population of honey bees? For that matter, can the honey bees then cross-pollinate this mutation with other, healthy crops? If honey bees die out, most life as we know will die out as well. We cannot feed the planet's entire population by manually pollinating all plants. Every organism is dependent upon other organisms for its survival. All of this is even assuming that these crops are otherwise safe for humans. If these are not.... Well, then we have a host of other problems.

I admit I feel that Monsanto is fundamentally evil. From pesticides that work their way into our water supply and oceans, to farmers being bribed or otherwise threatened into using their products, to GMOs which may not be as safe as Monsanto claims and finally to its refusal to label their crops as such in order to be sold to ignorant consumers, I worry about how this corporation can actually destroy the planet. Greed and willful ignorance are a deadly combination. In the case of the Bt protein (also known as the Bt toxin), this otherwise naturally occurring poison is being genetically introduced to certain crops with the hopes that its toxic properties will somehow not be toxic by the time these crops reach our dinner table - and to hell with any studies that show this isn't the case. This should be cause for alarm. What are the long-term effects of introducing a toxin into foods that would otherwise never have this toxin and how will this genetically affect not only future generations of these crops but also any organism that feeds upon it?

 

[exo_doc]

Crops are "modified" all the time, in no small part due to cross-pollination. Plant some mild peppers next to some hot peppers and you can determine very quickly the effects of randy bees on the food supply. During my time in New Mexico, I was amazed at how their famous Hatch Chilies could vary enormously in their heat, even when the chilies came from the same field by the same farmer. Inevitably, this would be due to how some chilies would be planted near other spicier chilies and peppers. (Mmmm, Hatch Chilies...)

But I digress. GM crops in and of themselves aren't what make them potentially dangerous. The Texas 1040 onion is a GM crop that was bred to be a sweeter onion. When I was in Texas, it was the onion I preferred for most of my cooking. What disturbs me is when crops are genetically modified to cause harm to other organisms and then sold to uninformed consumers because a Mega Corporation that makes its fortunes from these products decided these were safe. In the case of Monsanto corn, we should already have concern that it was designed to rupture the stomachs of insects. Even if this was somehow perfectly safe for humans (which I doubt), what effect is this going to have on our already diminishing population of honey bees? For that matter, can the honey bees then cross-pollinate this mutation with other, healthy crops? If honey bees die out, most life as we know will die out as well. We cannot feed the planet's entire population by manually pollinating all plants. Every organism is dependent upon other organisms for its survival. All of this is even assuming that these crops are otherwise safe for humans. If these are not.... Well, then we have a host of other problems.

I admit I feel that Monsanto is fundamentally evil. From pesticides that work their way into our water supply and oceans, to farmers being bribed or otherwise threatened into using their products, to GMOs which may not be as safe as Monsanto claims and finally to its refusal to label their crops as such in order to be sold to ignorant consumers, I worry about how this corporation can actually destroy the planet. Greed and willful ignorance are a deadly combination. In the case of the Bt protein (also known as the Bt toxin), this otherwise naturally occurring poison is being genetically introduced to certain crops with the hopes that its toxic properties will somehow not be toxic by the time these crops reach our dinner table - and to hell with any studies that show this isn't the case. This should be cause for alarm. What are the long-term effects of introducing a toxin into foods that would otherwise never have this toxin and how will this genetically affect not only future generations of these crops but also any organism that feeds upon it?

Years ago I planted cayenne peppers near bananna peppers, and boy those were the hottest lip scalding bananna peppers I ever had! Now I plant them in totally seperate areas. I love to garden, and keep plants growing all year long. I only use heritage seeds, there are several dealers that sell them, and they are a million times better than anything in the grocery store.

And Monsanto IS evil. They are selling poison for profit, and they do not give a $&*# about the problems GMO causes.
They better hope I never become Emperor of the planet, the CEO's lives would be....well let's just say unpleasant.

 

[GeoShift]

The very people engineering the GMOs have all organic food in there lunch room. Royalty and any high level people have there own organic farms and won't touch the GMOs. Why would they want to so vehemently avoid this new finagled food? Also why would Monsanto be so persistent in NOT wanting there produce to be labeled GMO for what they are?