My Monsanto, GM / GMO thread has taken an unexpected turn and a life of it’s own. It seems that it has generated many ‘Emotional based’ as well as well researched, proven/provable, scientific documented comments.
Before commenting Please engage brain before operating mouth or keyboard.
Just for the record book I trust government agencies and bureaucrats less than I trust big business like Monsanto, Dupont and others.
I am pro-business, free enterprise, anti-big intrusive, power hungry government kind of person. I neither like nor hate Monsanto, Dupont or other food crop seed producing companies.
I have no problem with Monsanto/Dupont and others patenting, trademarking or copyrighting their research, development and products.
Agricultural business has the same rights and even responsibilities to protect their companies cost of development of new products and to make a profit from selling these products. Whether that product is herbicides, pesticides or seed. Share holders have the right to expect to gain a profit from their investments in these companies.
Note You never hear any thinking person making the claim that Kellogg, General Mills, Apple, Microsoft, Intel or other companies should not be allowed to patent their foods, research or technologies or that they do no have a right to make a profit selling their products. Agra-business planting, growing, harvesting food products is no different.
Research and development of a new or improved food crop seed is not fast nor cheap. It can easily take 10 years of research, development and may cost a $100 million dollars or more from concept to USDA, FDA and EPA approval to market a new, modified or improved food. Be that a cereal grain, vegetable, or fish(GM salmon).
FYI As a young boy in the late 1940’s I was hearing the very same mostly ’emotional based’ comments about how hybrid seeds development was destroying our food crop seed supply. How hybrid seed developing seed companies now owned and controlled our food supplies.
It was not a true fact then nor is it a true fact today.
No one is holding farmers, ranchers or home gardeners at gun point forcing them to buy or plant GM food crop seed.
Like or hate GM foods, they are here today and GM foods are here to stay.
If you eat you are consuming at best some GM foods. If the food(s) you eat contain any form or by product of Canola (rape seed), corn, corn starch, corn oil, corn based syrup/sweeteners, corn meal or soybean meal, oils, tofu, sauce. Poultry and livestock (beef or pork) are being fed feeds containing GM grains and hay. You are eating GM foods.
I look forward to your comment(s). However this is MY blog and I reserve the right to edit or in some cases delete comment(s). Making physical threats, comments full of profanity will surely be sent to my junk file, (wordpress comments filter) sometimes without me ever seeing or reading them.
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I’m committed to stay informed about GMO so why is it such a big to label them. I do not support any of it and have not eaten a morsel of it since I discovered this insanity. I love farmers markets and stay away from grocery stores as much as possible. In addition to your list of GMO products, One more food item that I do not eat unless I ask the farmer about it is potatoes.
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Re thefolia – Thanks for dropping by for a visit and for your comment(s). Labeling at first glance seems like an easy, way without adding a lot of cost to food products.
However… what do you do about the food processors that receive the raw products used to make things like potato/corn chips. Flour/meal, canned or frozen fruit, vegetables and such in bulk.
Much of the time the raw produce they use arrive in bulk by the tons via semi-truck, train and barges containing grain or fresh produce from many different growers, used to make the end product(s) sold by that food processor.
Food for thought
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Don’t support any of it, without demand there won’t be a reason for its supply.
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I respect the ‘it’s my blog’ thing…I have a similar viewpoint for my blogs, but I guess people get engaged and passionate, which, when we are talking about food is a good thing, right? Anyway, thought you might be interested, if you have not already, in tracking down a documentary called Food Inc…here is a trailer…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqQVll-MP3I
It really is quite eye opening.
PS Keep up the good work—your blog is very informative and entertaining and I value your experience and insights. Being able to exchange ideas is a very, very good thing 😀
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Re sourcesuburban 🙂 Good(insert bloggers time here) where ever you are. Thank you for your kind comment(s).
At this time and place in my life I think I’d rather be entertaining than informative!
I tend to let my age get in the way of all my planned projects. I have 3 laying hens laying more eggs than I can eat now, but, out of spring time habit I got 6 more chicks 2 or maybe it was 3 weeks ago setting in a brooder cage on my front porch.
Cows pig, horse and donkey all think I look like a feed bucket.
Garden still needs plowing one more time before planting.
Yet here I am setting at this computer on my backside!!!
Happy productive summer gardening
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It has been very entertaining and enlightening to hear your opinions in the future please provide facts with links which validate your opinion.
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Re puppiesinparadise thanks for your comment(s)
Please keep all things in proper prospective when you are visiting my blog.
That’s just what this is it’s a Blog.
I Am Not writing a scientific peer reviewed research document. I am not applying for a government or university research grant.
FYI, if you will look back at earlier blog post, you will see that many times I do provide a clickable link to my source document(s).
Some of my posted opinions are just that, my opinions. By the way I feel no need to validate my opinions. Why would I need to validate an opinion?
Some information comes from on-line research, That Google thing. Some comes from being in the agricultural industry for more than 50 years, that experience thing. Hence some information / opinions may very well be dated material.
But the bottom line is this is my little blog and is intended to be nothing more than than a blog.
I Hope, from time to time you find some of my blog materials a useful source of information.
If I wrote something you want more information on, specify exactly what information your looking for and I will gladly do what I can to ‘Help You’ locate a resource for that information.
Happy productive gardening.
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I apologize if I upset you. I have been a member of a debating forum for many years and in a debating forum they are not interested in opinions only fact. I applied that mind set to your post and I should not have done that. Your post was your opinion not a debate. I will keep that in mind in the future and respect your opinion as you have respect mine.
Honey
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Re puppiesinparadise Big Smile, thanks for your comment(s)
Not to worry, I was not nor am I now mad, insulted or upset with you or your comment(s)
I just hope everyone can understand that I blog for the fun of it.
I should have known better than to broach Dupont, Monsanto, GE,GM research, plants and seed. That is really a hot button issue for many people.
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I am glad that you took no defense. I went back and read your blog and the comments you are receiving. You are right, it is a hot subject that people are very passionate about.
EU has forbidden GMO. Large corporations have found loopholes to bring these products into the EU none the less. These foods are not marked with labels for the consumers to make a choice of what they buy. That is infuriating since many consumers try to make concious descicions to avoid these products. I see shoppers from all ages trying to read the small print to avoid making these purchases. I see this every time I buy groceries.
These companies just keep finding loop wholes and new methods to hide their products from the consumer. I think it takes a lot of commitment from consumers to stay informed and to protect their right to make the choice to abstain from eating these products.
Honey
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Re puppiesinparadise Big Grin …. that label thing sounds like a great idea until you find out all the information ‘special’ interest groups want to see on labeling. Nutritional information, country of origin, farm grown/wild caught, place born/place processed, free range, grass/grain fed, GE/GM product, organic, all natural, safe handling and cooking instructions.
Where do we draw the line saying enough is enough? ….hehehe before long we will need to glue a small pamphlet on food packaging to contain all the labeling info consumers say they want to know about supermarket sold foods….
The sad truth is a very small percentage of consumers ever really look at or read a label. The only thing they ever look for or see is the package cost.
Happy productive label free summer gardening.
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I know that might sound ridiculous to label all that, but I would want to know that. Here in Sweden the grocery store don’t usually price mark food. We use a wand to price check the code bar if the shelf doesn’t give you the price. The bar code could give you all this information. Otherwise symbols could be used to give you this information on the package. Alot of food packages give web pages on the packaging to find recipes for their products. I have gone on line to get recipes and information on the product that I am buying. This is a way for the consumer to let the companies know we are mindful of what we are eating.
I boycott companies because of their wages and treatment of their employees Here is an´example I have been boycotting blueberries in Sweden because of how the migrant worker have been mistreated and exploited. I pick my own berries in the woods. I will continue to do so until the unions, immigration burea and companies change their practices. Personally I think criminal charges should be filed against these individuals.
Have a nice day!
Honey
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Wow, Sweden I didn’t know that.
Lucky you, I think it’s 500 miles (800km) to my nearest wild/native blueberry patch.
I like the bar code reader idea, but I’m not sure how effective that would work in the U.S.A or cost effective it would be to implement.
Fresh meats and fish are mostly the only things that have prices printed on the labels. Other products are normally priced on the display shelf(s).
The spider web of ownership can and is often so confusing that it is very difficult to determine just who owns what!
Grin …. a maker of ice cream may at the top of that web of affiliated companies actually be a investment company based out of BumDung Egypt.
Hope your planting season soon arrives
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Thanks
Honey
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“Please engage brain before operating mouth or keyboard.” I do like that line! Foods are genetically changed so they can survive drought and pests better, which in turn provides better food security for everyone. I think that’s a wonderful thing that our smart brains have allowed us to do. I don’t agree that patenting seeds is the same as patenting a computer. The purpose of the patent is the same but humans don’t need computers the way they need food and I think we need to be careful about the potential for a small group of people to control food distribution.
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Re sedrate organizes Helloooooooo Thanks for your comment(s).
I think there is a huge misunderstand by farmers and non-farmers of just how many varieties of seed are under patent protection. Any seed marked GE( genetically engineered), GM, GMO is very likely under patent protection. Based on what type patent was applied for a patent last 14 to 20 years and then expire.
Considering the many thousands of plant seed developers growers and sellers, the only patent seed I know of are those marketed as [Roundup ready] or [Glyphosate or Herbicide] tolerant and a hand full of newer hybrid crop seeds.
Many thousands of varieties of food crop seed world wide are not patent protected.
Even if your seed comes in a small package, look on that package for it’s source, grower and distributors. To get first hand knowledge of who and where your seed comes from. If every pound of patented seed was suddenly with held from the worlds market place, few would even notice it’s absents.
Happy gardening
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