I posted on GM and Monsanto on the havoc it creats on the ecosystem and our Health.
I found a report on GMO.
I have also found an article, which tries to debunk the Report(I am confused by the article as to whether it is for or against GMO!)
Following are the Excerpts.
I am of the opinion that GM products are an aberration of Science.because it is untested and has no concern for anyone except for profits.
Story:
However, a large and growing body of scientific and other authoritative evidence shows that these claims are not true. On the contrary, evidence presented in this report indicates that GM crops:
- Are laboratory-made, using technology that is totally different from natural breeding methods, and pose different risks from non-GM crops
- Can be toxic, allergenic or less nutritious than their natural counterparts
- Are not adequately regulated to ensure safety
- Do not increase yield potential
- Do not reduce pesticide use but increase it
- Create serious problems for farmers, including herbicide-tolerant “superweeds”, compromised soil quality, and increased disease susceptibility in crops
- Have mixed economic effects
- Harm soil quality, disrupt ecosystems, and reduce biodiversity
- Do not offer effective solutions to climate change
- Are as energy-hungry as any other chemically-farmed crops
- Cannot solve the problem of world hunger but distract from its real causes – poverty, lack of access to food and, increasingly, lack of access to land to grow it on.
Based on the evidence presented in this report, there is no need to take risks with GM crops when effective, readily available, and sustainable solutions to the problems that GM technology is claimed to address already exist. Conventional plant breeding, in some cases helped by safe modern technologies like gene mapping and marker assisted selection, continues to outperform GM in producing high-yield, drought-tolerant, and pest- and disease-resistant crops that can meet our present and future food needs.
Download a PDF of the full GMO Myths and Truths report
The other Story:
For example, the indefatigable blogger known as Orac (he is a medical doctor and cancer researcher) regularly debunks proponents of alternative medicine and leaders of the anti-vaccine movement. Numerous science writers have been similarly dogged, such as Emily Willingham and Seth Mnookin, author of the acclaimed book, The Panic Virus.
In contrast, the highly charged issue of genetically modified foods doesn’t receive the same level of attention from the science blogosphere and mainstream media. This puzzles me. (A notable exception did occur recently when anti-GMO campaigners threatened to destroy field research in the UK. Many science journalists and bloggers–mostly in the UK–leapt into the fray and defended the besieged plant scientists.) Last week, for instance, Iwondered why a recent study that demonstrated environmental benefits of GMOs didn’t get more press.
In fact, some of the supposedly pro-science media (at least when it comes to climate change) on the progressive political spectrum , such as the environmental website Grist, have often published dubious coverage of GMOs. I was, however, pleasantly surprised to see this well-reported piecejust appear at the Mother Jones site. So did a number of commenters, one who wrote:..
Thanks for an article that talks about science and not the gm scaremongering that we see most of the time on MJ (my only pet peeve about Mother Jones).
That scaremongering–which is a staple at Grist–evidently flows from A) numerous misconceptions about biotechnology in general; B) anti-corporatist sentiments; and C) a litany of unfounded health and environmental concerns.
It so happens that the worst offenders of GMO alarmism and misinformation are environmental groups, such as Greenpeace and the Union of Concerned Scientists. No, wait, I take that back. The absolute worst purveyors of falsehoods about GMOs are the same folks who preach against vaccines and tout all manner of unproven alternative health remedies. People like self-appointed health guru Joseph Mercola whose popular website is a “horrible chimera of tabloid journalism” and “uncommonly efficient at spreading misinformation,” according to the the Science-Based Medicine blog.
What underlies the propaganda that Mercola (and those like him) disseminate about autism, vaccines, cancer, GMOs, etc., is a “natural health” philosophy. A similar in-harmony-with-nature mindset explains much of the environmentalist squeamishness towards genetically modified foods. Greenpeace, for instance, warns that GMOs
can spread through nature and interbreed with natural organisms, thereby contaminating non ‘GE’ environments and future generations in an unforeseeable and uncontrollable way.
In truth, the uncontrollable spread of disinformation about GMOs is what’s really contaminating the environment. The latest, most egregious example is a report with an Orwellian title, “GMO Myths and Truths” that purports to be science-based. It was done by a UK-based nonprofit group called Earth Open Source, which
challenges the use of pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, and genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in agriculture on the grounds of the scientifically proven hazards that they pose to health and the environment and on the grounds of the negative social and economic impacts of these technologies.”
Sources:
http://earthopensource.org/index.php/reports/58-gmo-myths-and-truths
Genetically Modified Foods has been suspected of being hazardous to health.
There has been wide spread agitation on the introduction of BT Brinjal in India.
There seems to be undue haste in promoting BT Brinjals in India,whenMonsanto has already ruined our Agriculturists.
The side effects of BT on soil and the health of humans are yet to be fully studied.
Why hurry?
Karnataka is Righthttp://ramanisblog.in/2012/09/21/gm-corn-causes-tumour-and-reduces-life-span/