GMOs: Do you feel they are safe?

[AugustgGreig]

As the world becomes ever more overpopulated, we are going to have to come up with more and more creative solutions to feed everyone. Recently, GMOs, or genetically modified organisms, have become a way to increase the abundance of food. But there is little research on how safe they are, and no real long term research is available, as they have not been around that long.

How do you feel about them? Do you think that anything that can help feed people is good, or do you feel they should do more testing before there presence becomes as ubiquitous as HFCS?

[bala]

It wouldn't be a wise thing to to trust a company with a bad track record as Monsanto’s?Earlier in the past things like DDT were okay. Are genetically modified foods to be on next on the list of regrets 20 years from now ??...it is a no brainer, that GMOs should be avoided.

[BigBang]

The FDA should be doing its job of keeping people safe from these harmful chemicals. But it seems like its not up to its task according to this article.
http://www.bloombergview.com/article...hicken-anyway-
So this is the practice in the first world. How worse can it get here in the third world where I'm from?

[Onegreenguy]

NO! NO! NO! They first of many studies are coming online in the EU and the results aren't good! Plus they are contiminating other farmers non GMO crops. There's no oversight, no labeling, and not nearly enough regulation or protections in place....a disaster waiting to happen!

[Shawn]

If there was more labeling, oversight and regulation – would you welcome the use of mass-GMO production?

[ruthbel]

They are not safe because of the affect they have on areas where genetically modified crops are cultivated. GMO crops can spread into natural areas and contaminate them.

Most GMO crops are modified to be resistent to pests. When pests lose their food supply and cannot breed, then birds, animals and beneficial insects that feed on those insects also lose their food source.

In other words, GMO crops upset the whole balance of nature and cause an imbalance in the environment.

[Onegreenguy]

If there was more labeling, oversight and regulation – would you welcome the use of mass-GMO production?

At this point in time I'd have to say no because I don't trust the overseers and the regulators to do their jobs. There's too much of a revolving door between executive corporate jobs and government cabinet level positions. They just go back and forth and only the corporate interests get served. The same thing happens in the finance and banking industries and with the govt regulators who are supposed to keep them in check....that sure blew up in everyone's face in 2008 didn't it? There are several hundred chemicals the FDA allows into our foods that don't have to be put on the labels and the FDA has never tested them...a law got passed that allows the FDA to rubber stamp these chemicals on the word of food corporations that it's safe. Meanwhile breast cancer for instance has gone from 1 in 200 back in the 40's to 1 in 6 today. The "modern" Western world is rife with diseases and afflictions that barely even existed 60 or more years ago. So while the FDA is stonewalling and playing games with GMO's they are waging wars and sending in SWAT teams on small farms all over America for selling raw milk....the same raw milk mankind has consumed for thousands of years!!!!! Google it and watch some of the videos of them raiding farms and tipping over shelfs of food and cheese made from raw milk and destroying it ...even though it's legal in many states.

[amethyst]

No, I definitely don't feel that GMO's are safe. Altering the nature of plants and interfering with the natural world can never have any good consequences, no matter what alleged experts find in their researches. I think GMO's are criminal and have been invented to control the population. No, I am not into conspiracy theories. I am quite convinced through my own experience and observation that people get ill from consuming denaturalised or altered food substances. And that corporations, such as pharmaceutical companies, benefit from it.

[Jerry D Young]

In no way, shape, form, or fashion are GMO foods, or anything else, safe.

Just my opinion.

[Shawn]

At this point in time I'd have to say no because I don't trust the overseers and the regulators to do their jobs. There's too much of a revolving door between executive corporate jobs and government cabinet level positions. They just go back and forth and only the corporate interests get served. The same thing happens in the finance and banking industries and with the govt regulators who are supposed to keep them in check....that sure blew up in everyone's face in 2008 didn't it? There are several hundred chemicals the FDA allows into our foods that don't have to be put on the labels and the FDA has never tested them...a law got passed that allows the FDA to rubber stamp these chemicals on the word of food corporations that it's safe. Meanwhile breast cancer for instance has gone from 1 in 200 back in the 40's to 1 in 6 today. The "modern" Western world is rife with diseases and afflictions that barely even existed 60 or more years ago. So while the FDA is stonewalling and playing games with GMO's they are waging wars and sending in SWAT teams on small farms all over America for selling raw milk....the same raw milk mankind has consumed for thousands of years!!!!! Google it and watch some of the videos of them raiding farms and tipping over shelfs of food and cheese made from raw milk and destroying it ...even though it's legal in many states.

These SWAT team raids on small farms. Is there any oversight or inspections on their raw milk and other products? I mean if we cannot trust GMO providers, how can we trust small farms doing the same thing without regulation and oversight?

[ASurvivor]

As of this writing, I have no real concerns as to the safety of GMOs. The American Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Academies of Sciences, the American Medical Association, World Health Organization, European Commission, American Council on Science and Health, American Dietetic Association, American Society for Cell Biology, American Society for Microbiology, the American Society for Plant Sciences, the International Seed Foundation, Society of Toxicology, and other scientific bodies have all stated they are safe for human consumption. Not to mention the 2000 or so peer-reviewed studies on the topic. But, hey, maybe they all got it wrong.

[fareakyman]

My family doesn't like GMOs, but I have mixed feelings about them. They supposedly aren't harmful, are OK for human consumption. (Even though some tests show that they might be the cause for tumors in rats??).
Having said that, I don't support GMOs. I don't like the fact that scientists alter the genome of the plants. It might cause some consequences that we know nothing about. I've also heard most of GMO species are invasive, spreading around much faster than non-GMO species. To top it all off, I hate the companies that produce GMOs and the way they operate.

[Onegreenguy]

These SWAT team raids on small farms. Is there any oversight or inspections on their raw milk and other products? I mean if we cannot trust GMO providers, how can we trust small farms doing the same thing without regulation and oversight?

Small farms have plenty oversight and regulation of their standards and practices etc. Small farms are in no way doing the same thing as GMO providers....they don't genetically modify food they just grow it naturally. Small farms have been around for ages, while GMO providers have barely been around 15...we don't even know what we don't know about GMO's yet. No one will inspect or oversee raw milk because the Federal Govt outlawed raw milk even though we've consumed it for thousands of years... Ironically 60% of people who are allergic to milk are NOT allergic to raw milk...they are allergic to what's being done and put into the milk. Raw milk for those of you who don't know is milk straight from the cow...no pasteurization, homoginzation, or chemicals added to it...in fact those processes destroy essential amino acids the body needs.

[wvboarder]

I'm on the side of GMO's. I don't like the crazily modified cells but some of the traits are put there for a reason. many world crops would not be able to be grown like they are without being a GMO product. I think they are about as safe as WiFi. It's still relatively new but the long term effects of either will probably be nominal regardless of what tests say.

[Tumbleweed]

I am definitely in the non-GMO camp ! they have spliced genes from BUGS into the food genes, and other crazy stuff, if you read about what the GMO process actually does. People are getting sick from eating GMO foods, and most countries besides the US have already banned them. We happen to have a lot of rich people , and lobbyists from Monsanto that push it in America. People are trying to at least require that it is on the labels when something is made from GMO foods; but even that is being blocked by the government thus far. Most of the large food corporations use GMO foods in their products, and they do not want this put on the label. So.... if GMO was so good for us, why would the companies want to hide the fact that their food was from genetically modified plants ? ?