FDA Clarification That High Fructose Corn Syrup Can Be Labeled Natural

[NowhereMan]

For all those opposed to GM crops, you once more have vocal Royal Approval.

One of the biggest issues I had with GM crops is that, IIRC, many of the varieties that are sold are deliberately sterile. This provides a great source of income to the corps that produce them and ensures that farmers can't just take their product and never pay them again. However it also means that poor farmers who suffer a bad crop might not be able to afford any new seeds for next year and if your seeds cross-pollinate then whoever's they mix with are now going to be buying their seeds from the same people or at least buy a whole new batch from someone else.

The last trials they conducted in the UK, again IIRC, also showed cross-pollination happening over much greater distances than the corps behind the strains said would happen. Effectively if you wanted to use GM crops somewhere like the UK (where farms are all fairly close together) it'd be damn near impossible without cross pollinating all of your neighbours. I guess it'd be possible in the US, provided you surrounded your GM crops with several miles of non arable land or something.

There does seem to be a place for GM crops, some of the stuff being done with them could have great benefits in terms of yield and the nutrients that foods are able to supply, the problem is that there's a danger if we go in for them properly that we're not going to be left with any non-GM crops. Factor in that all GM products are patented and you're left with a large number of farmers being forced to rely on big Agri-business. The EU already produces a lot more food than it consumes, if there's a concern about food production here there are much more straightforward means of increasing it than GM (some steps the EU have already started taking). In the US, replacing lots of the corn for ethanol with food products would probably have a much larger effect than making everything GM.

[Yegolev]

Seems like it's simply a case of too much corporation and not enough science.  Write this down, because I don't say this often: this situation calls for more government regulation so as to prevent jackoffery like sterile seeds ruining other crops and the aforementioned lawsuit situation.  I'd prefer my food come from a farmer than a conglomerate.

[lamaros]

I've been told there has been some shenanigans going on recently with the US trying to force GM into some trade deals (looks to be about labeling agreements) with the EU and basically pissing the fuck out of everyone else off and causing them to pull out, over and over again. But I haven't read the details myself as yet. (link, biased site admittedly: http://www.naturalnews.com/023838.html)

GM as it currently stands is pretty fucking useless. It may have/has health and economic issues and the only country pushing it is the US, with everyone else saying "please fuck off".

The issue has been getting some press of late in Australia because some dumb fucking state governments dropped the moratorium on GM crops without any real discussion or research (the govt scientist in favour of it is deep in the pocket of the GM companies, the premier in Victoria passed it w/o letting anyone in his own party who had issues with it even discuss it, despite polls indicating that most consumers don't want it, despite there being fuck all legislation regarding labelling of GM--so people who dont want it don't even get to decide!--etc, etc etc etc).

I'm honestly open minded, and I think that there might be positives to gene technology, but as things currently stand it is negative across the board. It's hard to make a good argument for it at the moment. It is an explotive, unregulated, and possibly unhealthy (want to do some research on the health issues? hello unemployment), and has environmental and economic implications across the board (cross pollination issues with seeds, farmed GE salmon escaping into the wild, costs of seed and pesticides for farmers, non ownership of seeds, on and on and etc etc etc).

The GM companies are all big explotive multinationals in the same category of cigarette and petroleum companies. That's all you really need to know to get an idea of how fucked things currently are on that score.

[eldaec]

GM as it currently stands is pretty fucking useless.

Depends if you are a diabetic I guess.

But though most GM crop benefits are still dubious and the risks associated are highly dubious, it'll keep getting press because people just love starving each other to death by focussing on anything that provides an excuse for agricultural protectionism.

[NowhereMan]

In fairness the corporations pushing it are also largely douches. One of the reasons for avoiding any legal requirement for labelling foods as GM (mentioned in Lamaros' article) is simply that a lot of people aren't especially keen on it and there's doubts as to whether it would actually sell that well. Frankly if you're response to people not wanting to buy your product is hiding the product rather than producing convincing research to allay their fears you're not going to be persuading many people that you have full faith in your product.

[Yegolev]

Very Soylent Green, if you ask me.