Monsanto=RDA

[Tompa'Ivong]

I was thinking earlier today, and what one Corporation best resembles the RDA.  Avatar had its ways of sending messages, and this is a good reminder of what QGACs could be like and what more comes to mind than Monsanto.   Monsanto feeds misinformation about products, downplays reports of unsafe chemicals/additives/pesticides, whatnot.

Just search youtube 'The World according to Monsanto'

Over the past few years Monsanto has actually been mentioned in the major media, but even at that, they arent mentioned alot.  One of the alarming things that is happening is Monsanto is trying to create a monopoly on the seed stock, the core thing is, If Monsanto controls the food supply, they can control people, and they also have modified seeds to where they will only germinate once, thus making saving seeds worthless, and even more alarming is these GM seeds cross breed with native species.  This has the potential to wipe out harvests, and It has already happened in several countries

Monsanto: End of Life  this video seems to have some good links into the vile stuff they are doing  (actually watch it on youtube)

[Payä Tìrol]

While I agree that a lot of what Monsanto does could be described as little other than evil, I will say that the whole "seeds will not germinate a second time thing" is often the result of crossing two very different strains. The resulting hybrid will often (almost always in some cases, such as modern corn strains) have the desirable characters of both parents, but may also be sterile. If not sterile, the hybrids generally don't perform as well after the first hybrid generation. Companies market the seeds of the F1 hybrid generation, and often warn that they cannot be used further.

Also, GM gets a horrible rap from the media, but not very many people are aware that many crops grown in the US are now transgenic, such as 80% of all corn. If you further extend that argument, humanity has been GMing our crops since the dawn of agriculture by selecting individuals that bore more fruit, etc. I will agree that some recent attempts to create transgenic crops like BT corn that express pesticides are tremendously shortsighted (from an natural selection standpoint) and will eventually do more harm than good, but such things definitely require further study.

[Tompa'Ivong]

well yes, we have been doing that for years, its the human influence on natural selection.  but GM is different by the aspect at what level it is done at, microscopically rather than 'human selection'.  But of course you know this aspect can be turned on monsanto themselves, some rogue person creates a strain of a crop that say, in essence, crossbreeds with the round-up resistant crops, making them to where they aren't resistant to them, this in essence is drastic.  Or of course mother herself finds a weakness to the crops that are modified in that manner and Monsanto loses a good chunk of their crop 

[bommel]

Or maybe we'll all become some strange mutants because the effects of those gm foods aren't clear? I can say that I'm definitely no friend of gm food!

[Payä Tìrol]

That's absolutely why I say that attempts to add TG genes in crops that express pesticides is a horrible idea. Nearly as quickly as chemists can synthesize new varieties of pesticides, their target organisms start developing resistance or immunity to them, and it makes no sense to me why anyone familiar with selection would think that this is a viable long-term solution. It takes much effort to introduce a TG crop strain, and even more effort to get rid of it once it's out in the wild.
I approve of certain other TG modifications, such as Golden Rice (Rice that expresses B-carotene synthesis genes, which your body turns into Vitamin A) which are almost certainly positive modifications, any way you look at it.
If you went back in time several thousands of years to when our ancestors were first domesticating crops, you'd find the vast majority of them almost inedible. It turns out that most plants really don't like to be eaten by herbivores, and there was a constant arms race between plants and their herbivores between making toxins and defenses to these toxins. Humans changed this over millennia by "guaranteeing" the spread of the seeds of certain plants, selecting for the most edible ones. We can identify the differences in the genomes between domesticated crops and their closest wild relatives. We've even added genes by crossing related species, wheat is an excellent example. TG techniques are just stronger versions of these same tools, what really matters is how these tools are used

[bommel]

I've read a newspaper article this days about patenting food. What the f*ck?! They are patenting food!!! How the hell can you patent sth that's given by nature?!

[Payä Tìrol]

Yes, I don't personally agree with that.
If you think that's bad, there's this huge debate in the biomedical/pharmaceutical industry about patenting the discovery of certain human genes and any treatments or applications that may result from it. It's all in the courts and stuff, but I guess it's not interesting enough for the media to care :/

[bommel]

Yes, I don't personally agree with that.
If you think that's bad, there's this huge debate in the biomedical/pharmaceutical industry about patenting the discovery of certain human genes and any treatments or applications that may result from it. It's all in the courts and stuff, but I guess it's not interesting enough for the media to care :/

I'll have a look, thanks!

[Toruk Makto]

Easy on the expletives, ma eylan.