Claiming that a position is in some way invalid because some of the people associated with it are ill informed will not pass muster in a high school logic class… even if we assume your totally made-up percentage is correct.
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Profiteering is making a profit via unethical means.
Now that Peston has ventured into invective instead of arguing his case, it sounds more an more like a Monsanto lobbyist. Prove me wrong Preston and keep your insults to yourself.
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It seems that ant-GMO positions are not about the science of GMO at all (which has been the basis of all mass-produced food over centuries, now it is simply accelerated) but about the companies that use it. There may be a debate to be had about “profits vs. profiteering” (I personally dont see the difference) but it is a different debate. No point in hijacking the issue of GMO food to make points that belong in that debate: this obfuscates rather than informs, and this is what “GMO activists” do.
I take the point about labelling and informed individual choice, but again I dont see the excitement. Is any farmer/distributor/retailer barred from labelling their products as “non-GMO”? I dont think so. They are free to do so, and those who–for whatever reason–prefer to buy these products are free to do so.
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Startling claims require proof, do your own homework.
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Equally, claiming that the science of GMO is dangerous simply because the companies that use it are, in one’s own opinion, unethical would not pass muster in any high school logic class.
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And, no, crop plants did not evolve along with us, they were developed
in the last 7,000 years and mostly much more recently, just like your
Pomeranian dog.
Are you suggesting that humans haven’t evolved in the last 10,000 years? We have, and we continue.
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Because we’re horribly, horribly trained as human beings. We’re fully capable of using logic and reason, but somehow our politicians and media have turned those into bad words. People spend years being taught that they’re SUPPOSED to care about everything, even to the point of begrudging the happiness of others, which is insane!
Don’t blame them, they respond to their environment. I’ve been trying to untrain many of those habits myself, especially over the last year, it’s like a freakin’ rabbit hole!
We need a big 'ol reset button.
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We’ll talk about raw milk another time.
They do? I could see how many people today may have bigger hands, feet and noses (e.g. higher protein diet leading to more HGH) but I don’t see how all humans (or even most humans) could have ‘evolved’ such a change in 7,000 years. You don’t happen to have a cite do you?
There is no end to possible labeling demands.
This food:
was handled by infidels
is non-Kosher
processed in a facility that employs smokers
processed in a facility that allows employees to purchase Russian vodka
was not harvested by the light of the full Moon
passed through the hands of non-union workers
is non-GMO by standards we to which we adhere but are rejected by some activists
is processed in a facility that also processes cilantro
label tries to please activists riding this moment’s hobby horse
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I completely agree!
I myself have no objection to the science or even the practice, although I do want a fair marketplace (i.e. labeling) for philosophical, economic, and scientific reasons.
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I’d support labeling of molecular GMO organisms if the same requirements of discussing origin were applied to other forms of genetic modification as well. Why should things like “heirloom” tomatoes be given a pass? These weren’t created by nature – people bred them into existence. If people really cared about the ancestry of their food, they’d demand a lineage akin to that for a thoroughbred horse for every plant and animal they eat, no matter how “organic”, “holistic”, “karmic”, or whatever. But clearly, they don’t – the labeling scam is just an attempt to make GMOs look unhealthy without actually providing any evidence supporting this.
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Food taboos are huge cultural issue and probably millions of people died from malnutrition because they refused to eat food within reach.
For example, eggs have a lot of taboos around them.
And remember the Bible says don’t eat blood and don’t eat fat, because those are sacrificial items that belong to Jehovah, and you don’t want to get on his bad side!
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Spinkter (above) gave a pretty good link.
I found out about the hands a dozen or more years ago when I was in the basement of the British Museum handling priceless ancient artifacts. One of the staff mentioned it in passing as an explanation for why things made for 6-foot-plus pre-Roman Celtic warriors have grips too small for my hands.
(Yes I am totally bragging, it was an awesome experience that I still can’t believe I managed to pull off.)
Noses and feet, my kids’ pediatrician told me they are getting bigger every generation. I’ve read the same claim several places since… the clothing and footwear companies are apparently aware of it.
Judging by Greek and Roman statues, cocks have gotten quite a bit larger also.
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Only if you agree that GMOs are unhealthy. Otherwise it’s just good science, good politics, good economics and a recognition of the social contract.
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Seriously, I think Darwin predicted that would happen, didn’t he? I certainly remember him writing somewhere that the primary extant cause of human evolution is sexual selection.
But we’re way off topic again [grin]
What they are really arguing for with GMO is removing the individual’s right to determine their own diet
What do you mean by this? I’ve never heard anyone argue that people should be force fed GMO food. If people really want to stay away from it that badly then they can start their own gardens and maybe push for GMO labeling.
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Do you oppose all product labeling, or just food content labeling? Or just certain subsets of food labeling?
I personally like the modern labels. I like the way the ingredients are ordered, and the sodium and MSG (and kosher and oregon tilth labels too). I want products for food or topical use to be mandated to include on their labels whether the organism was created with relatively new techniques such as laboratory gene insertion.
But then, I’m American, so I like a well-regulated marketplace. I am opposed to control economies based on government coercion and/or corporate disinformation for philosophical reasons, and I am opposed to obscuring who has and who hasn’t eaten GMOs for scientific reasons.
