Stop Bashing G.M.O. Foods, More Than 100 Nobel Laureates Say

[Spectral]

Yea i wasn't serious with that. Thought it was obvious with the "!". Why not just label GMO food. We'd want to see what's in it anyway.

It creates an undue regulatory burden with no clear public policy interest. Regulation requires costly legislation, compliance, and enforcement - it's not as simple as someone just saying, "hey guys, please put labels on things" and we all move on with our lives. As such, we should have a clear public health interest in creating regulation rather than just a lark from people than have a gut feeling about something. The folks that have a gut feeling can seek things that do have the label they'd like.

[Bumkin]

Sure they can grow gmo food and feed it to the third worlders that are starving, ill personally stick to natural food that is full of nutrients and wont give me cancer

[Mayhem]

By doing everything they can to stop golden rice research and production, up to and including destruction of research crops. I don't know how many children in India are blind from Vitamin A deficiency due to anti-GMO cranks, but it's not zero.

I´m sorry, but how is the EU responsible for filipino activists?

[Sargerasraider]

Yea i wasn't serious with that. Thought it was obvious with the "!". Why not just label GMO food. We'd want to see what's in it anyway.

As I noted, we shouldn't be legislating for pseudoscientific fears and conspiracy theories. There are all kinds of inane things that people could come up with and try to legislate a label for. In these kinds of cases, a voluntary system is better.

[Damajin]

He was saying that it is authoritarian which it expressly is.

Not at all, no more authoritarian than locking your front door at night to prevent someone or something from coming in. It's a continuous, selective choice that needs to be affirmed and reaffirmed when appropriate, and that's it. It'd be authoritarian if the US multinationals had some intrinsic rights to European food supply and markets, but they don't.

[Mayhem]

As I noted, we shouldn't be legislating for pseudoscientific fears and conspiracy theories. There are all kinds of inane things that people could come up with and try to legislate a label for. In these kinds of cases, a voluntary system is better.

I see you ignored my explaination and rather stick with the pseudoscientific fear. Ok then.

[Vynny]

Its not like GMOS are needed in europe... we produce too much the normal way why waste even more?

You could clear up more land for all those refugees coming in if you used GMO's since they grow bigger, faster, and are less likely to succumb to infection or pests.

[Sargerasraider]

Not at all, no more authoritarian than locking your front door at night to prevent someone or something from coming in. It's a continuous, selective choice that needs to be affirmed and reaffirmed when appropriate, and that's it. It'd be authoritarian if the US multinationals had some intrinsic rights to European food supply and markets, but they don't.

A government using its sovereign authority to restrict a product from coming to market is expressly authoritarian. Without the government intervention, that product would be there. Governmental intervention keeps that from being so. If people did not want the product, then they will not buy it, and the US corporations would stop selling it there. I don't think you understand what authoritarian means...

[Dread Pirate Phayde]

Vermont passed a mandatory labeling law that companies were originally suing over, but now they are talking about just pulling their products altogether, local grocery chain said they'd lose about 3000 items from their shelves. It's going to be interesting to see how this plays out because losing soda and chip/snack companies would be a huge blow to local convenience stores. I'm not against labeling, mainly because as a consumer, I think we have a right to know what's being put in our foods, and I'd imagine that 90% of the general public wouldn't even notice.

[Krille]

I´m sorry, but how is the EU responsible for filipino activists?

Didn't you hear the latest news? The Philippines are now part of the EU.

[Damajin]

Nationalistic, protectionist sentiment is much more reasonable than anti-GMO sentiment. Why hide behind the GMO stuff then? Just put massive tariffs on food imports and move on instead of coming up with nonsensical complaints about the evils of transgenic organisms.

No one is hiding at all, Europe is quite out in the open as to their stance, which is a solid No. Corporations and a surprising number of shills for them on this forum are against them having the gall to say No to food they don't want or need.

Nationalistic, protectionist sentiment is entirely reasonable when the context is based around the sustenance of life, which is what society is supposed to do: act as a foundation for the creation and sustenance of life.

[Spectral]

I´m sorry, but how is the EU responsible for filipino activists?

The anti-golden rice crankery is promoted by Greenpeace. Like I said, I don't know how many blind kids the kooks with Greenpeace are responsible for, but it's not zero.

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No one is hiding at all, Europe is quite out in the open as to their stance, which is a solid No. Corporations and a surprising number of shills for them on this forum are against them having the gall to say No to food they don't want or need.

Nationalistic, protectionist sentiment is entirely reasonable when the context is based around the sustenance of life, which is what society is supposed to do: act as a foundation for the creation and sustenance of life.

I wasn't being sarcastic - I'm fine with nationalism and protectionism. It's anti-science cranks that irritate me. I suppose carping about GMOs is a way for governments to impose trade restrictions without admitting that they're just protectionism.

[Vynny]

Looks at American people. Most are fat. Don't want to be fat. Don't want your food. We're not starving.

Not most, only 35.7% of adults in the USA are classified as obese. Also, funny fact. 64% of adults in the UK are classified as obese, so how do you account for that with their anti-GMO policies?

[Damajin]

A government using its sovereign authority to restrict a product from coming to market is expressly authoritarian. Without the government intervention, that product would be there. Governmental intervention keeps that from being so. If people did not want the product, then they will not buy it, and the US corporations would stop selling it there. I don't think you understand what authoritarian means...

The people don't want the products there, which is why the blanket ban is in place. They don't want to lower their food standards, and US multinationals don't want to raise their production to meet them. Sounds like the US multinationals want to force Europe to act a certain way whether or not it wants to, which is the hallmark of authoritarianism.

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The anti-golden rice crankery is promoted by Greenpeace. Like I said, I don't know how many blind kids the kooks with Greenpeace are responsible for, but it's not zero.

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I wasn't being sarcastic - I'm fine with nationalism and protectionism. It's anti-science cranks that irritate me. I suppose carping about GMOs is a way for governments to impose trade restrictions without admitting that they're just protectionism.

Ok fair enough, though it seems we'll disagree on GMOs I can live with that.

[Krille]

Not most, only 35.7% of adults in the USA are classified as obese. Also, funny fact. 64% of adults in the UK are classified as obese, so how do you account for that with their anti-GMO policies?

Yea and your classification is off the charts. The fat in my country would be slim in yours. It's on a whole different level. Also, you don't have to be obese to be fat.

[Zoldor]

Yes i agree. Bayern is Swedish for Bavaria so fairly obvious to me. It might be a bit of both but i do think that the negotiation papers were released months ago. And that's when it stalled as well. Was a big headliner on our national newspapers.

Would have been the largest acquisition of a US corporation by a Foreign Corp. Larger than the buyout of AB a couple years ago. Impressive amount of cash.

[Mehrunes]

You see.. This guy, he believes in the free market. We've got a regulated market in Europe, and rightfully so. If that's authoritarian then so be it.

Sounds like filthy communism to me! *Rabble rabble rabble*

[Sargerasraider]

The people don't want the products there, which is why the blanket ban is in place. They don't want to lower their food standards, and US multinationals don't want to raise their production to meet them. Sounds like the US multinationals want to force Europe to act a certain way whether or not it wants to, which is the hallmark of authoritarianism.

Just because it is democratically put in place does not mean that it is not authoritarian. Again, I don't think you understand what "authoritarian" means.

[Krille]

Would have been the largest acquisition of a US corporation by a Foreign Corp. Larger than the buyout of AB a couple years ago. Impressive amount of cash.

Well i'm not a german so it doesn't really bother me.

[Shakou]

It's a false equivalence, because Organic is an optional label. There's nothing stopping companies from labeling GMO food if they want, but people are asking for it to be a REQUIRED label, which in and of itself comes with the implication that if it has to be labeled, then it's because it's bad.

FALSE. Organic produce has to be tested, proven and labeled USDA organic in order to be sold it is NOT optional.