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comment by onlythelonly
onlythelonly  ·  3722 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: The Debate About GMO Safety Is Over, Thanks To A New Trillion-Meal Study

I was just thinking about that. You think climate change deniers are crazy but we all omit facts and evidence to fit our narrative.

I mean I'm not conducting any of these studies (let alone reading more than the occasion abstract) so I just have to trust. I figured GMOs would be along the lines of airplane radiation as far as long-term effects (if any). But i know good friends will dismiss this article as monsanto propaganda (It was my first reaction)





thundara  ·  3721 days ago  ·  link  ·  

If you're curious, nature biotech had a good piece last year on different countries' regulations on GMO crops. US regulations are surprisingly lax, but the companies that developed them have a decent amount of comparative and acute toxicity data. Long-term safety is another question:

    Of the over 100 peer-reviewed feeding studies done to assess such risks (Supplementary Table 1), the majority are short-term studies on a small number of traits, which would not reveal any chronic effects from long-term consumption of transgenic foods. And, absent food labeling or otherwise tracking transgenic foods, the impact of transgenic foods on those consuming it cannot be known.

Based on the nature of the genes inserted (An enzyme for breaking down glyphosate in the case of RoundUp Ready and a pore-forming toxin that is degraded in the acidic stomach in the case of Bt), cronic toxicity would be unexpected. But the human body is complex and weird, so it's possible that there's an effect that scientists wouldn't predict... That's ground for a bit of debate, but also what OP's link is trying to dispel as extremely unlikely, given their decades of use.

That all said, human toxicity is a different question from agricultural sustainability and economic impact, which are by far the more important questions at this point.

onlythelonly  ·  3721 days ago  ·  link  ·  

"That all said, human toxicity is a different question from agricultural sustainability and economic impact, which are by far the more important questions at this point."

Exactly, what's gonna kill us first. The long term effects are what I'm curious about. But I guess we're adaptable and living in concrete jungles staring at various computer screens is going to have an unnatural long-term effect. Living in space would have long term effects. We're space monkeys.

thundara  ·  3721 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    But I guess we're adaptable and living in concrete jungles staring at various computer screens is going to have an unnatural long-term effect.

See, but depression, myopia, carpal tunnel syndrome, and lower back pain are already well-known chronic conditions that result from that lifestyle. They get picked up on very quickly because they are such huge liabilities to companies with office workers. But how widespread are companies that only sell organic produce in their cafeterias? Any sane manager would sooner cut out the red meat and E. coli-laced lettuce.

user-inactivated  ·  3720 days ago  ·  link  ·  

There are other reasons to be wary of Monsanto, such as their patent scandals a while back.

Although I'm not opposed to GMO's, some people are opposed to them not because of their health risks, but because of the economic and political effects of their distribution.