http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_te...was_wrong.html
Interesting, very very interesting.
I dunno what to think anymore!

Wow! Interesting indeed...

Interesting read. I believe some of the modifications done to food have been for the greater good, some however are a little scary.

He is out of his mind if he thinks the GMO debate is over! It has just begun, and my state is the next one fighting to force them to label the stuff!

"Lynas concludes that people who want to stick with organic are entitled to—but they should not stand in the way of others who would use science to find more efficient ways to feed billions."

I would point out that all we are ASKING is that we be entitled to eat without consuming this pesticide-loaded garbage... by requiring labeling!! My little brother has a terminal illness thanks to Monsanto spraying Agent Orange all over him in Vietnam; now they want to do in the rest of us. It won't happen without a battle!!

Yes, the mega companies spent millions to defeat it in California... and they are of course most likely to try to do the same here. If enough states start getting this on the ballot (and we already have more than enough signatures here to get it there) and the companies have to spend enough mega bucks to fight it, perhaps they will get the message and find it costs them more to fight it than simply label their garbage and tell us what it is.

Trust me, the battle is GROWING... it is NOT over!!! Sheesh... so WE are standing in the way of those who are so much smarter than we are and can produce this garbage food... do some googling and find out just WHAT is actually in the processed food in our grocery stores. I have... and it is appalling.

The US is one of the few developed countries who have not banned or restricted GMO use. Of course it would not be that our govenment is "in bed with" the major food processors, now, would, it? Naaaah of COURSE not.

http://www.ehow.com/info_8527757_cou...gmo-foods.html

If they think the battle is over, they are in for a big surprise LOL. That is what we were told about cigarettes, too, a few years ago when we had to sit in offices full of it in order to have jobs. The GMO battle is just getting started.

Blanketly saying GMOs are evil or GMOs are great is vastly over-simplifying the issue. And yes, GMO =/= pesticide. There's a naturally occurring biological control that a lot of people freak out over. Sorry that I can't remember what it is, but it isn't the same as a pesticide by any stretch of the imagination. Also, GMO can mean something like drought tolerance or something similar. As we destroy the soil fertility, we may need GMOs to be able to grow things in less nutrient rich soils.

I don't understand the jump to pesticides. But what do I know? I'm only a soil and environmental science major that works in a plant pathology lab.

Monsanto is not to be trusted....pesticides or GMOs....well....pick your poison... If GMOs are so good, why are they hiding it by not putting it on the labels ?

Thanks for posting the link. I've long wondered where I want to stand on the GMO debate. Like many of our controversies, it is very hard to get clear, unbiased information. This is a very interesting perspective and one I will read very closely.

As the article states, it is VERY difficult to own up that you were wrong when you've been so actively promoting another viewpoint, and I always read these turnarounds with great interest, trying to learn what evidence convinced them. I get the sense that a lot of the initial fears of GMO foods were based on fears and not knowing what GMO actually means. Sounds like Lynas has been looking at different information to change his thinking.

You can think GMOs aren't the devil and still not like Monsato.

Agreed, there's a lot of conflicting information out there, and "bad science" on both sides. Personally, I want to know when I'm eating them. The herbicide thing IS coming home to roost - all you need to do is google "superweeds" and find out that these herbicide-resistant plants are driving some very nasty weeds that could take farming right back to the hoe and the plow. Nikel, I think you may be referring to Bt, and that's something worth a review as well, because some of these so-called foods continue to generate this toxin while the body is in the process of digesting the plant.

I want 'em labeled. I will choose to avoid them until I am comfortable that enough is known about long-term effects.

Yes, Bt. Here's why I think the freak outs about it are over the top. It naturally occurs in the soil. Even if we don't add it to crops, it's still gonna be in some crops.

I'd also argue that hoe and plow isn't a bad thing. I'm Team No-Till though and want to see sustainable agricultural practices replace current practices.

GMOs are not just modifying crops... Monsanto is breeding pesticides into the crops so they can then spray them with MORE Monsanto and it will kill the weeds but not the crops.

I have LIVED in a country where people are starving and been a part of a relief team delivering supplies, so am very likely to be far more aware of and educated on that than most of the people reading this. They are NOT separate issues from Agent Orange... the SAME company is now contaminating our food with their pesticides.

Also, please note... while I personally think GMOs should not even be legal, the big battle going on now is over LABELING them. They don't want us to KNOW what we are eating.

We WILL fight it!!

Manufactured pesticides do not "naturally" occur in soil. Granted it is still going to be in some crops because when they spray it all over one area, some of it i bound to contaminate other areas.

But we will do the best we can.

Okay everyone, deep breath. Calm down.

I don't believe anyone has called anyone names. Nikel1979 said "the freak-outs are over the top" which is not the same as calling someone names.

Actually it is quite the opposite. GMOs were allowed to develop in this country very quietly without most people even realizing it was going on. Many people are now becoming more and more educated about what it actually involves and are working to put a stop to it.

I am amazed at how many people think it is just introducing one crop into another, etc.... which indeed HAS been going on for years. And this is NOT what most of the objections are involving. We don't want pesticides bred into our food crops so they can then be doused with even more pesticides without dying.

To those who are implying I am uneducated on the subject... one, I grew up on a farm and have handled many a hoe and plow myself, including a hand plow behind a team of mules LOL. Two, I grew up extremely poor myself; so poor that my entire family lived on sauerkraut juice for two weeks after having lived on the sauerkraut for quite some time before that. Three, as I mentioned in another post, I have lived in a country where people are starving and helped deliver relief supplies; and four, I work in the biotech industry.

You may not agree with me but I assure you I am quite intelligent, well studied on the subject.

Heather, my apologies, since you say the "freak out" was not name calling. I disagree since it was in direct response to my post but, hey you're da boss.

Misti -- Well, Mark Lynas himself says it was fears that drove his activism. He was very anti-science when it came to GMOs. I haven't finished reading his lecture, but it's here:

http://www.marklynas.org/2013/01/lec...-january-2013/

And again, I think Nikel1979 was not calling you a freak-out personally.