Negative Effects of Gmo Foods
* extremely biased – condescending, talking down to us like we’re a bunch of dummies
* says twice “opponents to GM are too ‘dumb’ to think for themselves and decide whether or not GMs are good or bad” * we, as consumers, want food labeled so we can decide whether we want to eat it or not
* GM foods is not plant breeding, it’s changing the genes – something that nature cannot do on its own – introducing DNA from a different species into the plant
* This is not hybridization – does not happen in nature
* In recent news, 250,000 farmers have committed suicide due to GM crops. They buy their seeds from Monsanto every year (GM seeds are sterile), and go into debt before the crops start. At the end of season, crops aren’t producing and yielding all the promises that Monsanto gives…still in debt at the end of the season – where they have to again buy more. There is a law in India where a man’s debt is cancelled when they die, so Indian farmers are committing suicide so that their families don’t have to suffer
* Europe is discussed – they have rules and regulations where they halt the growing of GM crops, and there is cross-pollination between a GM farm and a non-GM farm, the GM farm is liable for economic damage to neighbouring non-GM farms if they are contaminated with GM material
* I think this is a sensible approach, but unfortunately in North America it is the opposite – non-GM farmers are sued by Monsanto if their field is cross-pollinated with GM material from neighbouring GM farms, because they technically “did not buy the seeds”
* Monsanto sues farmers to force them to grow GM crops, because Monsanto’s aim is to control the food industry
Questions
1. What were your first impressions of this article? 2. Did anyone notice who wrote the article? 3. First of all, what are your stances on GM foods?
- biologists cut the gene out of one species’ DNA, modify it and inject it directly into another species’
* says twice “opponents to GM are too ‘dumb’ to think for themselves and decide whether or not GMs are good or bad” * we, as consumers, want food labeled so we can decide whether we want to eat it or not
* GM foods is not plant breeding, it’s changing the genes – something that nature cannot do on its own – introducing DNA from a different species into the plant
* This is not hybridization – does not happen in nature
* In recent news, 250,000 farmers have committed suicide due to GM crops. They buy their seeds from Monsanto every year (GM seeds are sterile), and go into debt before the crops start. At the end of season, crops aren’t producing and yielding all the promises that Monsanto gives…still in debt at the end of the season – where they have to again buy more. There is a law in India where a man’s debt is cancelled when they die, so Indian farmers are committing suicide so that their families don’t have to suffer
* Europe is discussed – they have rules and regulations where they halt the growing of GM crops, and there is cross-pollination between a GM farm and a non-GM farm, the GM farm is liable for economic damage to neighbouring non-GM farms if they are contaminated with GM material
* I think this is a sensible approach, but unfortunately in North America it is the opposite – non-GM farmers are sued by Monsanto if their field is cross-pollinated with GM material from neighbouring GM farms, because they technically “did not buy the seeds”
* Monsanto sues farmers to force them to grow GM crops, because Monsanto’s aim is to control the food industry
Questions
1. What were your first impressions of this article? 2. Did anyone notice who wrote the article? 3. First of all, what are your stances on GM foods?
- biologists cut the gene out of one species’ DNA, modify it and inject it directly into another species’