The Opposition to Genetically Modified Food Has Killed Millions

[Josquius]

I guess I don't get the anti-GM food arguments.

"Its unnatural and involves science we don't understand therefore it scares us"



What I find particularly funny about the anti-gm idiots is they moan on and on about how dangerous GM is and the risks of it spreading into the wild....yet they're always the ones who destroy all the fences and protective netting around the GM crops thus allowing them to spread.

[jimmy olsen]

Anti-GMO activists should be purged from the Earth with fire!

Who the fuck else is going to help control the earth's untenable population boom?  The derfetuss crowd?  Fuck you.

Birth rate is dropping everywhere, it won't be a problem beyond the short term.

[dps]

That says nothing about how price speculation affects world hunger.

It does show how immoral selfish scumbags try to make money be speculating on food sold to rich westerners.

However, the GMO free status that european states demand for allowing imports from third world countries have resulted in some former european colonies banning GMOs preventing them from taking part in the modern food trade, while it allows them to continue their colonial era food trade.

Commodities trading doesn't affect the food supply--it's a essentially a bet about the size of the future supply of a particular item.

[The Brain]

Coal kills thousands every year when we could use nuclear instead.

[Martinus]

I guess I don't get the anti-GM food arguments.

"Its unnatural and involves science we don't understand therefore it scares us"



What I find particularly funny about the anti-gm idiots is they moan on and on about how dangerous GM is and the risks of it spreading into the wild....yet they're always the ones who destroy all the fences and protective netting around the GM crops thus allowing them to spread.

Not really. There are several layers to it, ranging from luddite to pretty valid concerns, many of them having more to do with farming than consumption.

And then there is the issue of non-reproducing crops, which could lead to quick Malthusian disasters.

While I do not support an outright ban, this is not a simple matter either and requires quite a comprehensive regulation. And the fact that a number of big GMO producers have acted quite dishonestly in the past does not help trusting them either.

[Martinus]

Commodities trading doesn't affect the food supply.

Of course it does. Assuming the commodity is not quickly perishable (storage-prepared soybeans are a good example), it's a normal practice to try to strangle the supply by buying low and then not selling on before prices go up. 

That's like economy 101.

[Viking]

I guess I don't get the anti-GM food arguments.

Smart Rich Happy people make it so it must be Imperialism.

[Admiral Yi]

Commodities trading doesn't affect the food supply.

Of course it does. Assuming the commodity is not quickly perishable (storage-prepared soybeans are a good example), it's a normal practice to try to strangle the supply by buying low and then not selling on before prices go up. 

That's like economy 101.

It's the part of Economics 101 that deals with monopolies.

[crazy canuck]

I guess I don't get the anti-GM food arguments.

One good argument is the intellectual property rights the GM seed producers have and the extent to which they go to enforce it.  Have a farm close to a GM farm that has had cross contamination because the seed from your neighbours plot got blown onto yours?  Too bad, you now owe the GM seed producer royalities.

Want to keep seed from last years crop to plant next years crop?  Cant do that.  You need to buy the seed every year from the GM seed company. Trying to produce your own GM seed from their product is a violation of their intellectual property rights.

The net result.  More expensive seed = more expensive product.

Now for the real kick in the nuts.  Because of the way in which the US subsidizes its food market (particularly grains) those poor starving folks cant begin to compete in their markets.  The result is hunger where there should be plenty.

And Yi, that is the kind of price manipulation I think Mongers is talking about.  As discussed in the other thread.  US food policy has had dramatic impacts on the world for a very long time. 

[crazy canuck]

Commodities trading doesn't affect the food supply.

Of course it does. Assuming the commodity is not quickly perishable (storage-prepared soybeans are a good example), it's a normal practice to try to strangle the supply by buying low and then not selling on before prices go up. 

That's like economy 101.

It's the part of Economics 101 that deals with monopolies.

Yeah, that is a good reason to stop the massive subsidies given to US food producers.

[Admiral Yi]

And Yi, that is the kind of price manipulation I think Mongers is talking about.

Then he picked a very strange link to try to make his point.

[Admiral Yi]

Yeah, that is a good reason to stop the massive subsidies given to US food producers.

I don't follow.

[MadImmortalMan]

I guess the guys who made the orange carrot had their patent expire a long time ago.

[crazy canuck]

Yeah, that is a good reason to stop the massive subsidies given to US food producers.

I don't follow.

Your answer of how monopolies are broken only holds if the market is not distorted.

[crazy canuck]

I guess the guys who made the orange carrot had their patent expire a long time ago.

To be more correct, there was no patent on food until GM food made its debut.