Monsanto + GM Crops = 125,000 suicides

[seventhson]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worl...ied-crops.html

[Stanley Design]

Sounds to me like desperate farmers are throwing themselves into immense amounts of debt and betting everything on one shot. Which, most likely, is said to be a sure thing by the people selling the seeds but it's not the seeds fault that it fails or that the farmers can't pay their debts.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with GM crops. This represents most of my view about it. Specifically 2:15 - 4:00. Norman Borlaugh and his development of GM crops have directly saved 1 Billion lives apparently.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIvNopv9Pa8

I like to shop local and organic, but I'm not starving to death and have a choice.

[Simo98]

Surely the problem is that they are gulliable/greedy enough to go into debt on what is essentially a big gamble

Im not sure what the genitically modified seeds has to do with it, it happens with everything. I mean, you don't go burrowing a load of money to buy shares in a new and unknown company that assures you will be raking in millions by the end of the year, do you now. Common sense/education is what is missing in this story.

[TonyFranklinFan]

GM foods give kids autism, look it up and follow the trails. Monsanto is evil..leave the food REAL.

[Simo98]

Originally Posted by TonyFranklinFan

GM foods give kids autism, look it up and follow the trails. Monsanto is evil..leave the food REAL.

Food additives give you asthma too, among other things, but have you ever tried to avoid them

[sloasdaylight]

Originally Posted by Stanley Design

Sounds to me like desperate farmers are throwing themselves into immense amounts of debt and betting everything on one shot. Which, most likely, is said to be a sure thing by the people selling the seeds but it's not the seeds fault that it fails or that the farmers can't pay their debts.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with GM crops. This represents most of my view about it. Specifically 2:15 - 4:00. Norman Borlaugh and his development of GM crops have directly saved 1 Billion lives apparently.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIvNopv9Pa8

I like to shop local and organic, but I'm not starving to death and have a choice.

I love Penn and Teller.

[FromBeyond]

Originally Posted by sloasdaylight

I love Penn and Teller.

+1.

[bongomania]

Penn & Teller are themselves BS. Their show has exactly as much research and merit as a Rush Limbaugh broadcast. Don't get me wrong, I don't buy into the extremist hippie side of the discussion either; but simply reacting against hippies and using the word BS a lot doesn't make Penn & Teller right. It only makes them loudmouthed (well, Penn is loudmouthed) reactionaries. Which is exactly their complaint about Greenpeace et.al.

Regarding the saving of a billion lives, I have two objections:
1) The world is overpopulated.
2) Just because there's something good about GM crops (assuming you think preventing starvation is good), it does not follow that "there is absolutely nothing wrong with GM crops." Oil is good because it powers all the tractors for growing the crops and all the trucks for delivering the crops, but it's pretty obvious these days that you can't say "there's absolutely nothing wrong with oil."

Again, please do challenge assumptions and doubt the reactionary extremists--but do not fall into the trap of becoming a reactionary extremist yourself.

[Simo98]

My two favourite parts of the video were 1:30 (she really seems to know what she is talking about...)

And the part where they say "They take the DNA from a fish and put it into a potato". Im led to believe that is something to do with using the genes from fish blood to make the potatos from resistant, but to be honest... What is the problem with putting fish in potatos anyway?!?! If that is all they can come up with I can't say im all that against GM crops.

Oh noes, now you can get your fish and chips in the one vegetable, how terrible.

[mindbass]

Originally Posted by Simo98

My two favourite parts of the video were 1:30 (she really seems to know what she is talking about...)

And the part where they say "They take the DNA from a fish and put it into a potato". Im led to believe that is something to do with using the genes from fish blood to make the potatos from resistant, but to be honest... What is the problem with putting fish in potatos anyway?!?! If that is all they can come up with I can't say im all that against GM crops.

Oh noes, now you can get your fish and chips in the one vegetable, how terrible.

putting fish and chips into one veggie is not the problem as such (even though i think it's rather disgusting) the problem is that monsanto goes around patenting any sequence of dna they can find and then make people pay to use them even though they didn't invent said sequence of dna. this goes so far that monsanto controls the whole chain of supply from the seed to the finished product/animal and you have no way to avoid dealing with monsanto. basically they are creating a monopoly and you have to use whatever they provide you and pay whatever they charge. this practice destroys rural societies in impoverished regions of the world and makes them even more dependant on aid because they now have to pay for what they used to have for free.

[Simo98]

Originally Posted by mindbass

putting fish and chips into one veggie is not the problem as such (even though i think it's rather disgusting) the problem is that monsanto goes around patenting any sequence of dna they can find and then make people pay to use them even though they didn't invent said sequence of dna. this goes so far that monsanto controls the whole chain of supply from the seed to the finished product/animal and you have no way to avoid dealing with monsanto. basically they are creating a monopoly and you have to use whatever they provide you and pay whatever they charge. this practice destroys rural societies in impoverished regions of the world and makes them even more dependant on aid because they now have to pay for what they used to have for free.

Unfortunatly, thats business for you.

Just saw something on the news yesterday about outlawing patents on genetic material. While its all well and good and now people will be able to get themselves checked for chances of developing heriditary conditions at a cheap price, but the big companys won't be able to make a profit.

There has to be a balance, if the big companies don't see any money in it, they are not going to invest the money in the research, and if they don't invest the money in the research, more people go hungry, or die or whatever genetic condition that could have been cured (at a price).

I agree that a person should go hungry because they can't afford to eat, but by the same token you can't expect someone to spend years of their life researching how to feed you, without paying them anything.

[drteeth]

Originally Posted by TonyFranklinFan

GM foods give kids autism, look it up and follow the trails. Monsanto is evil..leave the food REAL.

Absolute statements like this can never be backed up by science.

[varunkapahi]

yep thats really the story here!
the farmers are forced to buy gm crops on credits/loans and then the crops fail which leads them to suicide as they are not able to pay back the heavy loaned amount

[mindbass]

Originally Posted by Simo98

Unfortunatly, thats business for you.

Just saw something on the news yesterday about outlawing patents on genetic material. While its all well and good and now people will be able to get themselves checked for chances of developing heriditary conditions at a cheap price, but the big companys won't be able to make a profit.

There has to be a balance, if the big companies don't see any money in it, they are not going to invest the money in the research, and if they don't invest the money in the research, more people go hungry, or die or whatever genetic condition that could have been cured (at a price).

I agree that a person should go hungry because they can't afford to eat, but by the same token you can't expect someone to spend years of their life researching how to feed you, without paying them anything.

what monsanto does is not proven to have any benefit whatsoever. you might argue that it makes the production of food cheaper in industrialised nations, but there is a real doubt about that. Gm food is not inherently better or safer or tastier than non gm food. for non industrialised nations, gm food is bad because the production chain becomes more expensive because they do not have the means that industrialised countries have. monsanto patented a dna sequence found in a type of rice which is traditionally grown in thailand. thai farmers now have to pay monsanto to use this type of rice even though monsanto has done nothing to alter it. it is the same rice that they planted for free for centuries. how does making food more expensive benefit anyone?

[Febs]

Originally Posted by TonyFranklinFan

GM foods give kids autism, look it up and follow the trails.

Can you provide a link to any credible source for this assertion?

[bmc]

Originally Posted by TonyFranklinFan

GM foods give kids autism, look it up and follow the trails. Monsanto is evil..leave the food REAL.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffre..._b_268580.html

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Originally Posted by TonyFranklinFan

GM foods give kids autism, look it up and follow the trails. Monsanto is evil..leave the food REAL.

I'm guessing you are also one of the people who thinks vaccinations give people autism?

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Originally Posted by bmc

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffre..._b_268580.html

Again, some evidence would be nice. As opposed to simple media postings.

[drteeth]

Originally Posted by bmc

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffre..._b_268580.html

That is credible nor evidence.

[bassrique]

The GM genocide

The Daily Mail may be entertaining from time to time [and sometimes not] the use of the word "genocide" in this context is further conformation the paper sucks.