Posted on 05/29/2013 7:53:21 AM PDT by opentalk
Food companies big and small are struggling to replace genetically modified ingredients with conventional ones.
Pressure is growing to label products made from genetically modified organisms, or G.M.O. In Connecticut, Vermont and Maine, at least one chamber of the state legislature has approved bills that would require the labeling of foods that contain genetically modified ingredients, and similar legislation is pending in more than two dozen other states. This weekend, rallies were held around the globe against producers of genetically altered ingredients, and consumers are threatening to boycott products that are not labeled.
And so, for many businesses, the pressing concern is just what it will take to gain certification as non-G.M.O.
In this country, roughly 90 percent or more of four major crops corn, soybeans, canola and sugar beets are grown from genetically engineered seeds, creating a challenge for companies seeking to swap to ingredients sourced from conventional varieties. A portion of the conventional varieties of those crops is exported, and much of the rest of those crops is already spoken for by organic and other companies here.
Errol Schweizer, national grocery buyer at Whole Foods, said he was already seeing shortages in organic and conventional seeds, as well as in commodity ingredients sourced from conventional crops. Suppliers are going overseas to get what they need,
(Excerpt) Read more at mobile.nytimes.com ...
The blowback against GMO foods appears to have even breached the Liberal-Conservative line. I know some people on the far right who spend time scouring lefty food co-ops for non-GMO edibles.
May never be a better time to sell your Monsanto stock.
If I weren’t too lazy, I’d seek out genetically modified food products. Given the way things are going, having me or some of the Offspring end up as X-Men could be a survival advantage.
Politicizing food is like pissing in the ocean. It accomplishes nothing of merit
Worrying over GMO foods is like the hysteria over global warming. Much ado about nothing. In the 70s people were all worked up about gnentically engineered organisms becoming the andromeda strain. Its been 50 years, these organisms are routinely used in all types of industry without problems.
“consumers are threatening to boycott products that are not labeled.”
So if you label, there is a defined group that will not purchase your product. If you do not label, a smaller group will boycott you.
If you buy food components to use in a food product, the layering can get three or four deep and it will be very difficult to know what you have. You buy a flour mix that has two types of wheat, some soy protein, some corn gluten, then you add to that “fruit mix” that comes in a drum and has six components.
What about it affecting analytical math skills?
The left doesnt want you to tamper with vegatables but you can tamper with human life.
What happened to progress and science?
And obesity, increase in autism, more mental health issues.
“What about it affecting analytical math skills?”
I had that problem before GMOs were developed.
I shop at Whole Foods for certain things- I don’t want to eat genetically modified crap. I’ve read pro and con and find the cons outweigh the pros.
I think we can say with a high degree of certainty the GMO grain is not causing any identifiable health issues.
Consider all of the chickens that have been fed exclusively GMO grain for their entire lives.
Add to that all of the dogs and cats that eat pet food which has as its primary ingredient GMO Yellow Corn.
Add to that dairy and beef cows that are fed GMO corn their entire lives.
We have at our disposal generations of animals that have eaten primarily if not exclusively GMO food. If we were going to see some dreadful effects from GMO food I think we would have see it in these animals by now.
Sorry all I see is cheaper and more plentiful food.
The pro-GMO people always point to Golden Rice, and they can make a compelling case. What bothers me though is this effort to head off truth in labeling laws. If they are so confident they should allow all foods to be labeled accurately and then let the consumer decide.
When I was a kid as well as an adult, I found that there was a direct correlation between eating too much and not exercising to burn up the excess calories that turned into fat. I found that sweating with work or exercise solved the problem of obesity. Ergo, the success of the extreme makeover tv program.
About autism, I don't recall as I was growing up that there was so much autism, claimed or actual, if any. I have posed the question of what about the drug history of the parents. Could that have affected the progeny? I have not gotten a definitive answer.
Finally, when I was growing up there were parents who parented. A lot of the mental health issues were solved with discipline and guidance. Now one sees little girls carrying a baby while they are just babies themselves. The result of a sperm donor who can't get his pants up to his waist and has no brain cells. The truth be told is this; babies can't raise babies, especially if they haven't been raised themselves.
The result of generational well-fare society.
I am 70 years old and have seen the deterioration of American society for that long.
Perhaps the liberal nutballs could just stop eating anything they don't raise themselves? That would solve a lot of problems.
“And obesity, increase in autism, more mental health issues.”
It is simply beyond me that these connections cannot make it through peoples’ heads.
“Worrying over GMO foods is like the hysteria over global warming.”
... except there is a growing body of research, posted on many of the GMO threads here, that health issues are associated with GMO food consumption. Until that is resolved, I’d like packaging to disclose what is inside...
“Sorry all I see is cheaper and more plentiful food.”
Oh no. That’s a link between GMO foods and obesity.
New Study Links Genetically Engineered Corn to Infertility
In a new Austrian study ....it has been discovered that GM corn has a damaging effect upon the reproductive system (1). The work was done at the request of the Austrian Health Ministry,and the results were presented yesterday by Professor Jurgen Zentek and his team to an expert conference organized by the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety. The work was done at the University of Vienna,using a GM maize hybrid line called NK603 xMON810..
difference was statistically significant. Mice fed with GM-free corn reproduced more rapidly. In a series of carefully-controlled trials,it was also discovered that there was a statistically significant decrease in litter weight in the third and fourth litters of mice in the GM-fed group as compared to the control group.
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