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Organic BS
Townhall.com ^ | May 11, 2022 | John Stossel

Posted on 05/11/2022 3:35:38 AM PDT by Kaslin

Activists have convinced Americans that "organic" food is better -- healthier, better-tasting, life-extending.

As a result, poor parents feel guilty if they can't afford to pay $7 for organic eggs.

This misinformation is spread by people like Alexis Baden-Mayer, political director of the Organic Consumers Association. She says organic food is clearly better: "The nutrition is a huge difference."

But it isn't. Studies find little difference.

If you still want to pay more for what's called "organic," that's your right. But what's outrageous is that this group of scientifically illiterate people convinced the government to force all of us to pay more.

Congress has ruled that GMOs (genetically modified food) must be labeled. Busybodies from both parties supported the idea.

Politicians like Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., said, "It doesn't cost any more. This idea that ... this ... will raise food prices is ridiculous."

It's McGovern who is ridiculous. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says the GMO labelling will cost from $598 million to $3.5 billion.

"But the public wants GMOs labeled," say advocates. "Surveys show that."

Of course they do.

Ask people if DNA in food should be labelled, and most say yes. Yet DNA is in everything.

Polling is a stupid way to make policy.

The idea of modifying a plant's DNA may sound creepy, but people have cross-bred plants and animals for years.

"The corn we have today, there's nothing natural about that," I say to Baden-Mayer in my new video. "What native people ate, we'd find inedible."

Baden-Mayer laughs at that.

"You're saying indigenous corn is somehow inferior because you've seen it dried and it has tiny little kernels?" she asks.

"Yes," I reply. I've tried to eat it.

"That's another myth of the industry," she responds. "People like you believe that."

I sure do. I also believe it's good that genetic modification lets us alter nature more precisely, gene by gene. That's better and safer than the more haphazard crossbreeding that's been done for years.

This new precision lets scientists make plants that save lives.

In poor parts of the world, half a million people per year go blind due to lack of vitamin A in their diets. Many die.

Scientists have created a new genetically modified rice that contains vitamin A. This "golden rice" could save those people.

"I've heard of golden rice," sneers Baden-Mayer. "That was a project that all of the chemical companies invested in."

I sneer right back.

"Golden rice hasn't succeeded partly because scientifically ignorant fools like you convinced the world that it's harmful!"

"I knew at a certain point you would resort to name-calling," she replies. "But it doesn't change the science on this."

Sadly, in some countries, people listen to advocates like her and believe that Americans want to poison them. One group of GMO fearful protesters invaded a golden rice field in the Philippines, ripping up all the plants.

Thousands will die or go blind, needlessly, because the organic cult spreads misinformation.

At least educated skeptics now understand that they were wrong about GMOs.

The New York Times points out that many "quietly walked back their opposition" to GMOs. "The science is clear," says a former opponent in The Wall Street Journal. "They're perfectly safe."

The Philippines recently approved golden rice.

But the hardcore zealots will never be convinced.

Baden-Mayer claims GMOs cause cancer.

"We're using more GMOs than ever," I point out. "There's less cancer now. Life spans keep increasing."

"Compared to when, 100 years ago?" she scoffs.

Absolutely, yes. We live about 25 years longer than Americans did 100 years ago. Even compared to 10 or 20 years ago, we live longer.

The National Academy of Sciences calls GMOs safe. So do the World Health Organization, the American Medical Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Food and Drug Administration and the USDA.

But no amount of science will convince people like Baden-Mayer. "The GMO issue just has not been investigated enough," she says.

Organic promoters are wrong on the costs and wrong on the science.

Sadly, they've won the battle of public opinion.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: gmo; organicfood
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1 posted on 05/11/2022 3:35:38 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

I am guessing that Alexis Baden-Mayer stood in line for a jab.


2 posted on 05/11/2022 3:42:02 AM PDT by Neverlift (When someone says "you just can't make this stuff up" odds are good, somebody did.)
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To: Kaslin
It's not just GMOs ... decades ago Jack Lemmon was killed for trying to warn us of how dangerous nuclear power is. Thankfully, Wilford Brimley survived, although he contracted die-a-beedis from radiation exposure. Had these heroes been listened to then maybe China wouldn't have become the threat it is today!
3 posted on 05/11/2022 3:48:08 AM PDT by 70times7 (Serving Free Republics' warped and obscure humor needs since 1999!)
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To: Neverlift
I am guessing that Alexis Baden-Mayer stood in line for a jab.

Between your post and my warped and depraved brain, I have turned your comment backwards and inside out for a phrase that may describe such people:

"Liberal college profs ran a train on her brain"

(ie, @#%*ed in the head)

4 posted on 05/11/2022 3:57:51 AM PDT by 70times7 (Serving Free Republics' warped and obscure humor needs since 1999!)
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To: Kaslin
“Organic” is a scam designed to relieve those in Cambridge,Berkeley,the Upper West Side of Manhattan,McLean,Virginia (and elsewhere) of their not-so-hard-earned trust fund checks.
5 posted on 05/11/2022 4:15:16 AM PDT by Gay State Conservative (Covid Is All About Mail In Ballots)
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To: Kaslin

“The National Academy of Sciences calls GMOs safe. So do the World Health Organization, the American Medical Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Food and Drug Administration and the USDA.”
———————————————————————————————————————————-

I don’t take issue with most of the article and certainly not the premise but the groups listed above don’t instill any confidence.

Non-gmo is mostly hipster marketing.


6 posted on 05/11/2022 4:19:55 AM PDT by Romans Nine
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To: Kaslin

I do a lot of reading about nutrition, organics, gmo’s, addivitives, etc.. What I’ve decided is that cooking from scratch with the best ingedients I can get has kept us from most of the ills that befall people our age.

Soy is one of the Top 3 No No’s. It’s in everything and it’s awful. I know farmers make a good living from it, I wish they could find another money crop. **Disclosure - DH will only eat Hellman’s Mayo and it is made of soy oil. No other kind will do. Other than this, soy is verboten.

As far as eggs go, it’s the GMO soy and corn in chicken feed that makes eggs unhealthy. Hens fed soley or primarily on this cheap chow produce eggs with a terrible balance of Omega 3’s and 6’s. This in turn can produce inflamation in the body of the egg eater. Inflamation is where most of our ills come from.

... “when a chicken eats a lot of soy or corn, the fatty acid breakdown of which is heavily weighted toward omega-6, they produce eggs that are also higher in omega-6 fats at the expense of monounsaturated fat. This is not a good thing. We are inundated with linoleic acid nowadays. We’re positively (but not literally) swimming in it (albeit laboriously, since it is a thick viscous oil). Plus, research shows that eating eggs from chickens fed a diet high in omega-6 can make your blood lipids more prone to oxidative damage, the progenitor of atherosclerosis and probably heart disease” ...

Now, you can agree or not. I haven’t made up my mind about Golden Rice. Vitamin A is easily obtained from other sources without Monsanto. These countries in question have lots of other health and hygiene problems.

The fact that Monsanto is an evil company doesn’t help. Round Up and GMO plants that get saturated with it are terrible.
Monsanto holding a seed monoploly and suing farmers whose crops have been contaminated with GMO seed is beyond evil.

Stossel picked a silly argument here. There’s a lot more to these things than what he picks on.


7 posted on 05/11/2022 4:21:31 AM PDT by CaptainPhilFan ( )
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To: Gay State Conservative

““Organic” is a scam designed to relieve those in Cambridge,Berkeley,the Upper West Side of Manhattan,McLean,Virginia (and elsewhere) of their not-so-hard-earned trust fund checks.”

Organic means there are no chemicals that assist the plant in its growth. Because of the additional care required and the yield not as great, more money is charged for the produce. I just wash off the fruit and that pretty much covers it.

It’s sort of like buying “free-range” chicken and beef where the cows are not given hormones and only eat grass.


8 posted on 05/11/2022 4:28:45 AM PDT by EQAndyBuzz ("Todays conspiracy theory is tomorrows spoiler alert." )
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To: CaptainPhilFan
best tasting and healthiest mayo in the world (best price by far is at costco):


9 posted on 05/11/2022 4:30:34 AM PDT by catnipman (In a post-covid world, ALL "science" is now political science: stolen elections have consequences)
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To: Kaslin

I agree Organic is a scam, but heirloom fruits and vegetables are significantly more nutritious.

Nearly all modern fruits and vegetables were bred for size, bug resistance, and appearance at the cost of nutrition.


10 posted on 05/11/2022 4:31:11 AM PDT by TexasFreeper2009
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To: Neverlift

“I am guessing that Alexis Baden-Mayer stood in line for a jab.”

When I read her name...why did I think “Baader-Meinhof Gang”?


11 posted on 05/11/2022 4:31:56 AM PDT by moovova
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To: catnipman

Thanks! It’s certainly worth a try. Other mayos (olive and avocado included) have not passed the Lord and Master Taste Test, but I’m always up for trying something new.

Hubs has acquiesced to many of my kitchen rules (because I’m a pretty good cook I guess) but draws the line at Hellman’s :D


12 posted on 05/11/2022 4:36:24 AM PDT by CaptainPhilFan ( )
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To: EQAndyBuzz

It is my understanding that organic does not means pesticide free.

Nicotine from tobacco is an organic pesticide.


13 posted on 05/11/2022 4:56:43 AM PDT by Brian Griffin
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To: catnipman

Most of the pesticides used in the 50’s 60’s and 70’s were banned so we decided to import from countries that the chemical industry here in the US supplies with these same pesticides. Great idea and healthy too!


14 posted on 05/11/2022 4:57:29 AM PDT by ronnie raygun
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To: EQAndyBuzz

Cows normally have eaten grass for far longer than I have lived.

Even bulls normally eat grass before getting fattened up with corn.


15 posted on 05/11/2022 4:59:48 AM PDT by Brian Griffin
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To: Kaslin

My asparagus has never been damaged by insects.


16 posted on 05/11/2022 5:01:35 AM PDT by Brian Griffin
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To: Kaslin

“The National Academy of Sciences calls GMOs safe. So do the World Health Organization, the American Medical Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Food and Drug Administration and the USDA.”

_____________________________________________

They all said the same thing about the Clot Shots too, except the USDA of course.

World Health Organization
COVID-19 advice for the public: Getting vaccinated
(Excerpt:If you are pregnant, want to get pregnant in the future or are currently breastfeeding, getting vaccinated is important to protect you and your current or future family._______We now know that 90% of pregnant women in Phizer trial miscarried).
https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/covid-19-vaccines/advice

American Association for the Advancement of Science
Anthony Fauci to Receive 2021 AAAS Abelson Prize
https://www.aaas.org/news/anthony-fauci-receive-2021-aaas-abelson-prize

American Association for the Advancement of Science
Looking Back (and Forward) on COVID-19 with Anthony Fauci
https://www.aaas.org/news/looking-back-and-forward-covid-19-anthony-fauci

The American Medical Association “leads the fight against COVID.” How’d that work out, LOL!
https://www.ama-assn.org/delivering-care/public-health/covid-19-vaccines

Environmental Protection Agency
“Can I get COVID-19 from wastewater or sewage?”
Answer: The World Health Organization (WHO) has indicated that “there is no evidence to date that COVID-19 virus has been transmitted via sewerage systems, with or without wastewater treatment.”
We now know that’s a lie. I guess we outsource our EPA to the WHO now.
https://www.epa.gov/coronavirus/can-i-get-covid-19-wastewater-or-sewage

Food and Drug Administration
COVID Vaccines for Kids Under 6 Won’t Have to Meet 50% Efficacy Standard, FDA Official Says
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s top vaccine official told a congressional committee on Friday that COVID-19 vaccines for kids under 6 will not have to meet the agency’s 50% efficacy threshold required to obtain Emergency Use Authorization.
https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/covid-vaccines-kids-efficacy-standard-fda/

FDA Rubber-Stamps Remdesivir for Infants Without Evidence of Safety, Efficacy
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved the use of the antiviral therapy, remdesivir, to treat COVID-19 in infants 4 weeks and older, despite having no evidence the treatment is effective or even safe for young children.
https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/fda-remdesivir-infants-safety-efficacy/


17 posted on 05/11/2022 5:02:00 AM PDT by jacknhoo ( Luke 12:51; Think ye, that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, no; but separation.)
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To: TexasFreeper2009

The inventor of the near plastic tomato should be inducted into the invention hall of shame.


18 posted on 05/11/2022 5:06:26 AM PDT by Brian Griffin
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To: TexasFreeper2009

“bug resistance”

Not even a hungry bug wants to eat it


19 posted on 05/11/2022 5:08:46 AM PDT by Brian Griffin
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To: Kaslin

My aunt Esther had an apple tree, a pear tree and a quince tree.

The apples were inedible due to bugs, but the pears and quinces were edible without pesticide application.


20 posted on 05/11/2022 5:12:08 AM PDT by Brian Griffin
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