"Google Monsanto"

[NeuroTypical]

I didn't want to derail some other thread, so here's my new thread.  Time for my twice-yearly attempt to help people be less goofy.  Someone made two statements on another thread 

Statement 1: "Faith starts where science ends"

Cool sounding phrase, but to use another cool sounding phrase, the devil is in the details.  The two words mean different things to different people.  What "science" is, and what it is not, is widely misunderstood. Ignorance abounds, misinformation masquerading as science is legion, and "bad science" is absolutely a thing.

Statement 2: "Google Monsanto"  Yeah, if you want support for my claim above, you absolutely should "Google Monsanto".  You'll find yourself knee deep in ignorance, misinformation, and bad science.  Monsanto is a global corporation involved in food production (among other things).  Folks who hate on global corporations will hate on Monsanto.  Folks who are suckered by borderline militant marketing efforts and anti-science environmental hype surrounding the "natural" and "organic" movements, will also hate on Monsanto.  And folks who hate on both, well, MonSATAN holds a special place in their hate, because of all the Chemi-KILLS it sprays on your children.

The truth is, GMO foods are safe and cool, and keep people from starving on a global scale.

Here's some attempts to help people be less silly, via memes:

 

[Overwatch]

“Facing hundreds of millions of dollars in lawsuits, the giant biotechnology company Monsanto last year received a legislative gift from the House of Representatives, a one-paragraph addition to a sweeping chemical safety bill that could help shield it from legal liability for a toxic chemical only it made.

Monsanto insists it did not ask for the addition. House aides deny it is a gift at all. But the provision would benefit the only manufacturer in the United States of now-banned polychlorinated biphenyls, chemicals known as PCBs a mainstay of Monsanto sales for decades. The PCB provision is one of several sticking points that negotiators must finesse before Congress can pass a law to revamp the way thousands of chemicals are regulated in the United States.”

-NY Times

 

“Can PCBs affect my health?

PCBs have been shown to cause a variety of adverse health effects and are associated with acne-like skin conditions in adults and neurobehavioral and immunological changes in children. The EPA has also classified all PCBs as probable human carcinogens.

Workers exposed to high levels of PCBs on the job have documented skin and eye irritation. To protect workers against the health effects of exposure to hazardous substances (including PCBs), the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) sets permissible exposure limits (PELs). PELs are regulatory limits on the amount or concentration of a substance in the air”

 

-Epa.gov

 

noun: carcinogen; plural noun: carcinogens

1.      a substance capable of causing cancer in living tissue.

 

This is what I understand Monsanto is doing. It would be nice if it was true what you are saying. Definitely would make my food bill lower. My wife likes the organic stuff.

[Overwatch]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-29/bayer-wins-u-s-nod-for-monsanto-nearing-end-of-two-year-quest

Edited May 30, 2018 by Overwatch
*

[JamesZA]

Hello all,

Have lurked on these forums for ages. Created an account just to respond here because it's something I feel strongly about.

NeuroTypical's last info-picture from the Genetic Literacy Project is very informative, and his (or her? sorry, it's not quite obvious) assertion that GMOs are "safe and cool, and keep people from starving on a global scale" is true but with some qualifiers. In the spirit of actually educating yourself, please consider the following nuances:

• Everything you eat is genetically modified anyway. Corn, carrots, tomatoes, chickens, basically anything that isn't game meat, has been through thousands of years of husbandry. You don't get that stuff in the wild, because it wouldn't survive in the wild. It's not 'organic' if you want to use it in the truest sense of the word. So the objection to GMOs for health reasons (as pointed out in that last infographic) is completely unfounded and frankly selfish.
• As NeuroTypical mentioned, it keeps the biggest portion of the world's poor alive. Check out the Wikipedia article on Norman Borlaug and the green revolution for more details.

That being said, however, there are some pitfalls.

• Monsanto is normally the biggest bad-guy when it comes to GMO stuff but they're not the only player in the game.
• They do have some questionable business practices, and when you start combining commercial science and research with food production then patents and IP start becoming a problem. I know of a number of farmers who have been burned by legal issues with Monsanto for essentially following traditional farming methods which weren't part of the terms and conditions in the sale of seeds. This is a complex issue and worth looking up if you're interested but not really anything to do with nutrition.
• That being said however, a common genetic modification is to grow pesticide-resistant crops, so that lazy farmers instead of weeding and killing bugs manually, just spray loads of poison on their crops. That poison doesn't always wash away, and crops that have been sprayed with lots of insecticide can in lab-tests be shown to have elevated levels of them still when they reach the consumer. This is a real concern, but it's not so much with the crops themselves as with the poor farming technique.

The amount of misinformation out there does frustrate me, and it's better to approach this topic from an informed, rational perspective.

 

 

[zil]

Welcome, @JamesZA!

[SpiritDragon]

9 hours ago, Overwatch said:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-30/bayer-wins-u-s-approval-for-monsanto-following-two-year-quest

I get a "sorry, can't get to that page" error when clicking this link.

 

[NeuroTypical]

4 hours ago, JamesZA said:

The amount of misinformation out there does frustrate me, and it's better to approach this topic from an informed, rational perspective.

Hi JamesZA and welcome!

You are, of course, correct.  That said, I do indeed believe goofy meme-zingers have their place.  For one thing, it brought you out of the woodwork to make a reasoned and worthy contribution.

[Overwatch]

1 hour ago, SpiritDragon said:

I get a "sorry, can't get to that page" error when clicking this link.

 

Updated

[JamesZA]

On 5/30/2018 at 2:40 PM, NeuroTypical said:

That said, I do indeed believe goofy meme-zingers have their place.  For one thing, it brought you out of the woodwork to make a reasoned and worthy contribution.

Sorry, that wasn't a swipe at your memes, just a general expression of frustration.

 

Like Nephi said of those who don't search out knowledge, etc...

[mordorbund]

Google Monsato!!!?!???!!!?!!?!?

 

Beware GMSEOs!!!!*

 

*Genetically Modified Search Engine Optimizations