Mon$anto vs. Mother Earth

mics_54

Farmers aren't forced to use Monsanto seeds.
Using GM seeds doesn't ruin the soil and make it only suitable for GM seeds.
Using GM seeds increases production..decreases fertilizer...increases resistance to insects and disease...
GM seeds makes food cheaper.

olishea

mics54 there are two sides to every argument, can you not see the negatives to GM crops? Or have you just skimmed over them?

We need to rethink structuring of food production, not the structure of a plant's genetics.

@mics_54 said:

Farmers aren't forced to use Monsanto seeds.
1)Using GM seeds doesn't ruin the soil and make it only suitable for GM seeds.
2)Using GM seeds increases production..decreases fertilizer...increases resistance to insects and disease...
3)GM seeds makes food cheaper.

But you can not control their cross pollination with other non GM-crops (or indeed the mutated outcome).
Disease mutates constantly into various new diseases. Your resilient GM crop could be useless tomorrow. There are also NATURAL ways to make plants more resistant to disease through intelligent and responsible breeding.
Really? Last time I checked food is getting more expensive! Never seen food ever become cheaper, ever!!! No issues before GM either.

Let's not forget many GM produced crops are only researched and produced within a couple of months, nature has spent millions of years getting the genetics right. Little bit arrogant for any "scientist" to even think they know what they are doing and especially in the long term!! Because we just don't know.

mics_54

does nobody here see or read what I post???????

olishea

no, quote your statements again so we can see them a third time.

solo

@mics_54 said:

does nobody here see or read what I post???????

If you mean this: http://skeptico.blogs.com/skeptico/genetic_engineering/

I did and I posted a reply but later retracted it as it was really nasty.

So, let me challenge you to read the replies, one will destroy everything he said and send him into hiding.

Oh, by the by I never prefaced before but if you go to my Google profile (the one they used to introduce me to Base camp) I have a MSC , masters degree in food science (majored in organic sugars, worked confectionery for over a decade in Johannesburg for international companies), which does not make me a master but I do understand these issues (I assumed you knew this).

Feel free to disregard my opinion based on who I am and what I believe, but all I ask is to have an open mind to search the facts and truths, do not believe a source that has an agenda.

mics_54

what, no cheering for Boston?

EscapeArtist

@mics_54 said:

Farmers aren't forced to use Monsanto seeds.
Using GM seeds doesn't ruin the soil and make it only suitable for GM seeds.
Using GM seeds increases production..decreases fertilizer...increases resistance to insects and disease...
GM seeds makes food cheaper.

If you actually did some research you'd know that:

Monsanto makes roundup. The repeated use of roundup makes the soil toxic to "normal" seeds.
Monsanto makes seeds resistant to their own herbicide. Those seeds are patented, you can only get them from Monsanto.

Therefore you are correct that GM seeds do not ruin the soil.
Using GM seeds does do the things you say. But let's conveniently ignore cross-pollination and the fact that once nature adapts (and nature ALWAYS adapts)the bugs will ignore the modifications and weeds will overcome the herbicides, you will conveniently be forced to buy the next-gen Monstanto product. Or starve. Ignore the super-bugs and -weeds that start invading non-GMO fields too. Guess they can buy Monsanto's products too. Or starve.