GMO Wheat Found In Oregon Field

GMO Wheat Found In Oregon Field

A farmer in Oregon has found some genetically engineered wheat growing on his land. It’s an unwelcome surprise, because this type of wheat has never been approved for commercial planting.

Obama signs ‘Monsanto Protection Act’ written by Monsanto-sponsored senator

On Tuesday, Pres. Obama inked his name to H.R. 933, a continuing resolution spending bill approved in Congress days earlier. Buried 78 pages within the bill exists a provision that grossly protects biotech corporations such as the Missouri-based Monsanto Company from litigation.

With the president’s signature, agriculture giants that deal with genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and genetically engineered (GE) seeds are given the go-ahead to continue to plant and sell man-made crops, even as questions remain largely unanswered about the health risks these types of products pose to consumers.

My friend works for Monsanto. The scientific staff at the company, my friend included, have no idea and refuse to believe how savagely manipulative and underhanded is the company. He spouts the company line relentlessly, as if he is prepared to drink the RoundUp Ready Kool-Aid. A lot of things the company does are good. Most of the things the company does are very, very, bad.

Because many things we do have unintended consequences, I think that it is hubris to forcibly allow deployment of organisms that may obliterate our foodsources and give us cancer of the everything absent an emergency. The organisms that Monsanto wants to disperse are not necessary to the survival of people, they are only necessary to the survival of a corporations profits. Most of what Monsanto does involves squeezing the maximal profit from the RoundUp product family.

Nevertheless, the difference between the Monsanto scientists beliefs about Monsanto’s mission and its actual purpose could only be matched in magnitude if it was revealed that the original mission of Nathan Bedford Forrest was to bring the joy of smores to people of all colors.

People gotta eat…

The limited potential for land expansion for cultivation worried Borlaug, who, in March 2005, stated that, “we will have to double the world food supply by 2050.” With 85% of future growth in food production having to come from lands already in use, he recommends a multidisciplinary research focus to further increase yields, mainly through increased crop immunity to large-scale diseases, such as the rust fungus, which affects all cereals but rice. His dream was to “transfer rice immunity to cereals such as wheat, maize, sorghum and barley, and transfer bread-wheat proteins (gliadin and glutenin) to other cereals, especially rice and maize”.

Borlaug believed that genetic manipulation of organisms (GMO) was the only way to increase food production as the world runs out of unused arable land. GMOs were not inherently dangerous “because we’ve been genetically modifying plants and animals for a long time. Long before we called it science, people were selecting the best breeds.”

According to Borlaug, “Africa, the former Soviet republics, and the cerrado are the last frontiers. After they are in use, the world will have no additional sizable blocks of arable land left to put into production, unless you are willing to level whole forests, which you should not do. So, future food-production increases will have to come from higher yields. And though I have no doubt yields will keep going up, whether they can go up enough to feed the population monster is another matter. Unless progress with agricultural yields remains very strong, the next century will experience sheer human misery that, on a numerical scale, will exceed the worst of everything that has come before”.

I disagree with “we will have to double the world food supply” claims. Main reason - because of underlying assumption that we will continue at the current level of population growth. This is in no way or form desirable or sustainable, even if we manage to solve food problem there are numerous other problems that will have to be addressed.

Risking irreversible damage to our ecosystem in order to maintain existing levels of population growth is taking risks for wrong reasons.

…because of underlying assumption that we will continue at the current level of population growth. This is in no way or form desirable or sustainable…

That underlying assumption is built on established growth data and projected rates. What’s desirable and sustainable sometimes has no bearing on what is actually happening. The world’s population isn’t just going to stop reproducing because it’s a bad idea to have too many people. How do you feel about the government regulating if, when and how many children you are allowed to have? Do you think that kind of policy will even fly in the areas of the world this population growth is occurring and who, in turn, will need feeding?

I know this is controversial, but if there is no extra food then there is no population growth.

Our choices are sustainable and well-known food production that could feed X people, or reckless disregard for ecology to feed 2X people. You have to consider that our attempts to feed 2X people might end up with us having resources only for X/2 due to unintended consequences.

Apparently the world population growth rate is dropping? In some countries we are already seeing negative growth. Hopefully population will naturally curb itself as people see less need to have 10 children with lower child mortality rates.

Unfortunately the countries that are seeing negative population growth are not the countries which have a food shortage problem.

I heard about the wheat on NPR yesterday but was distressed that the report didn’t address where the GMO wheat came from at all.

In any case, anti-GMO people are no better than anti-vaccine luddites.

I guess you are kind of person that doesn’t object to adding antibiotics to animal feed, you know just because, more is always better. Meanwhile antibiotics are loosing effectiveness.

You don’t have to be opposed to genetic engineering to realize that uncontrollable release of genetically modified organisms is a Bad Thing. We are lucky this time it was just wheat and it wasn’t toxic.

even as questions remain largely unanswered about the health risks these types of products pose to consumers.

What questions are those? Because I’m not seeing any actual concrete questions other than, “but what if it does bad things?”

You wouldn’t mind then taking these untested medications? Oh, you would?

Food is tested. Medications are tested.

Dude, untested medications are just random chemicals. We’re not talking about random chemicals in a pill.

We’re talking about wheat. It’s a plant. And, just like all other wheat, it’s tested for toxic substances when it’s made into food.

The anti-GMO crowd has this weird idea that even if it’s just regular wheat, with no toxic chemicals in it, that somehow it’s gonna be bad for you because… uh… GENETICS. Like it’s gonna turn you into the hulk or something.

You eat all kinds of different breeds of basically every kind of plant you eat… you have really no idea which specific breed of wheat your bread came from, or what kind of corn went into your doritos. But suddenly you care about the nuances of the specific breed of plant because… why?

BECAUSE REASONS.

No, we are talking about untested organism based on wheat that could be toxic to humans or ecosystem, that could be destructive to environment by being invasive or just end up giving cancer to anyone who eats it…

uh… GENETICS is very good reason to be cautious. We don’t have anywhere near as clear understanding of genetics compared to chemistry, yet we still regularly mess up with chemical medicine side effects. We are not talking about crop selection here, we are talking about spicing genes from other species and hoping it all works out well. Sometimes it does…

Uncontrolled release of untested GMO wheat is very much like chemical spill, only harder to contain.

No, we are talking about untested organism based on wheat that could be toxic to humans or ecosystem, that could be destructive to environment by being invasive or just end up giving cancer to anyone who eats it…

Dude, humanity has been breeding “untested organisms” for the history of agriculture. Every day new mutations take place in nature.

Why do you think that GMO stuff would give you cancer? The only reason why that would happen is if it somehow contained some kind of carcinogenic substance. But if that were the case, then you’d DETECT THE SUBSTANCE IN THE FOOD.

Your fears that somehow, just because something was created through genetic modification, that it will somehow automatically cause more harm to you than any of the other things you ingest on a daily basis, is utterly baseless from a scientific perspective.

uh… GENETICS is very good reason to be cautious.

No dude, it’s really not.

We don’t have anywhere near as clear understanding of genetics compared to chemistry

And here’s the key:
The genetics don’t matter. All that matters is the chemistry. The genetic pathway which produces the chemicals in the food doesn’t matter, all that matters is the chemicals that are in the food. And if that material is safe (through the same testing that other food goes through) then it’s fine.

Seriously, you have no real reason to be afraid, but you are, because it’s some kind of new thing that you don’t really understand. It’s purely the newness of it which frightens you, despite you not having any actual evidence that it will harm you, or even a coherent hypothesis regarding how exactly that harm could take place. Merely, “It’s new, and it could harm us (because you can’t prove it can’t!), so we shouldn’t do it!”

You have no idea what genetically engineered crops are, or how they are developed/designed. Selective breeding has nothing in common with GMO, not the same process.

The genetics don’t matter. All that matters is the chemistry.

This is the key to understanding your willful ignorance. You are wrong.

Here are couple things for you to google: hormone mimicry, enzymes, genetic contamination.

Not the same process, just the same result.

Sinji, you really have no idea what you’re talking about here, do you?

Like, literally no idea what is going on regarding the crops you are afraid of. Do you think that maybe they contain tiny demons who are going to steal your soul? They are gonna crawl into your DNA’s!

Here are couple things for you to google: hormone mimicry, enzymes, genetic contamination.

LOL
Oh man, them thar be some scary soundin’ words!

Homone mimicry! Like all of the natural Xenoestrogens found in tons of plants! ENZYMES! And a term specifically made to scare people! WOOOOOOO!