Almost All Anti-GMO Articles In The US Are 'Clickbait' Promoted By Russian Propaganda

[Techno-Druid]

(Source)

University Crop Bioengineering Center's annual meeting, a team of scholars showed their research validating what the scientific community has long suspected - that some anti-GMO groups are either sending information to Russian propaganda sites to assist in their efforts to undermine American agricultural dominance or they are acting as what Joseph Stalin called "useful idiots" by promoting concern about America's food supply.

GMOs are genetically modified organisms, where a gene has been moved from one species to another to instill a useful trait. GMOs are a more precise successor to the thousands of foods previously produced by genetic modification techniques like mutagenesis, which includes many foods labeled organic, and hybrids and selective breeding before that. Though more precise, they were once controversial because of concerns about unintended effects. Yet history has validated the science. From the Rainbow Papaya that saved the industry in Hawaii in the 1990s to corn that has meant more yield using less water on less land with less environmental strain than ever possible, GMOs have been consumed by hundreds of millions of people and a hundred billion animals with no ill effects. Insulin, the first GMO product approved, has been in use for 36 years.

Yet despite decades of solid science a number of anti-GMO articles have continued to appear that hope to cause concern, alleging that they are a monopolistic effort by businesses effort to control food supply (they are off patent) or are linked to suicides in India (long debunked) or that they cause cancer in rats (retracted).

Since 90 percent of Iowa farmers grow corn and soybeans genetically engineered to tolerate herbicides and pesticides better, meaning fewer chemicals are needed, Iowa State University scholars Dr. Carolyn Lawrence-Dill and Dr. Shawn Dorius sought to find out why anti-GMO claims persist. What they found was shocking, given Russia's prominence in worry about political manipulation of American elections. The results showed that Russia Today, recently rebranded as RT.com and considered a propaganda site, accounted for 34 percent of GMO-related articles. Along with Sputnik, they carried more GMO-related articles than CNN, Fox, Breitbart, MSNBC, and the most anti-GMO site in the US, Huffington Post, combined. The difference was that the Russian sites' coverage was uniformly negative. For example, what do abortions related to worries about the Zika virus have to do with GMOs? Nothing, but Russia Today still linked them, and their only source was other clickbait claims on social media.

As Donnelle Eller writing in Des Moines Register noted, Russian propaganda sites are not alone in promoting concern despite the consensus from the US Food and Drug Administration and every worldwide body affirming their safety. Celebrity physician Dr. Oz, activist organizations such as the Center for Food Safety, and industry trade groups like Organic Consumers Association also routinely promote fear and doubt about the American food supply.

Those groups' fears are simply misplaced or perhaps financially motivated but the reason Russia Today and Sputnik are involved has nothing to do with concern about health. Food is Russia's second-largest export, second to only oil and gas, which the Obama administration's Director of National Intelligence found was promoting concerns about hydraulic fracturing of natural gas ("fracking") using offshore foundations to funnel money to environmental groups.

Russia is able to exert more influence in Europe and elsewhere if their largest competitor in those two areas is penalized. What they can't accomplish in the free market they can accomplish with legislative fiat - if they can get enough of the public mobilized to get politicians to ignore the science and go with emotion. And it works. Nearly half of Americans still believe the science behind genetic engineering remains unsettled despite decades of safety studies showing no concern.

This shows how effective propaganda can be. I've seen many people who think of GMOs as this horrible thing pushed by the government to oppress society or some Alex Jones-level conspiracies.

[Deleted]

Your post is alex jones level type of conspiracy.

Ironic to the message ur trying to promote

I see ur 'murican. So, you don't know how it works in our europe. Unlike in the states our health agencies aren't revolving doors for big business. So, even if there was no Russia in existence, you would have faced the same kind of criticism n scepticism from europe.

Lol everything is a "russian conspiracy"...

the 'murican corrupt system

[Player Twelve]

This shows how effective propaganda can be. I've seen many people who think of GMOs as this horrible thing pushed by the government to oppress society or some Alex Jones-level conspiracies.

Well, can you explain why people oppose it being labeled as GMO then when asked to label it if they want to sell it?

[Deldavala]

There is nothing bad about most GMO's. There is bad business practice from companies like Monsanto though

[ManiaCCC]

Your post is alex jones level type of conspiracy.

Ironic to the message ur trying to promote

While I would agree with you in general, I just checked the source and it is full of other sources and links. Something what Alex Jones never did.

[oplawlz]

Well, can you explain why people oppose it being labeled as GMO then when asked to label it if they want to sell it?

Because it causes ignorant people to avoid purchasing those products, which is detrimental to not only the farmers who use them, but the world as a whole.

[Techno-Druid]

Well, can you explain why people oppose it being labeled as GMO then when asked to label it if they want to sell it?

I don't see an issue on why they shouldn't be labeled as GMO, same as with "clean meat" or "cultured meat" in the future.

[AwkwardSquirtle]

Aren't almost all articles full stop clickbait?

[Player Twelve]

Because it causes ignorant people to avoid purchasing those products, which is detrimental to not only the farmers who use them, but the world as a whole.

Know what causes me to be skeptic of GMO? The refusal to label it as such. Why should I trust them if they can't even be truthful to me about what I'm buying?

[Grapemask]

Know what causes me to be skeptic of GMO? The refusal to label it as such. Why should I trust them if they can't even be truthful to me about what I'm buying?

Technically, every single piece of food you ingest is based on a GMO. The techniques we use today to do it are only a little bit more advanced than what civilization did to every edible thing on Earth for thousands of years. Example: if you knew what corn looked like before people got a hold of it a few thousand years back, you'd vomit.

[Player Twelve]

Technically, every single piece of food you ingest is based on a GMO. The techniques we use today to do it are only a little bit more advanced than what civilization did to every edible thing on Earth for thousands of years. Example: if you knew what corn looked like before people got a hold of it a few thousand years back, you'd vomit.

This anti-reality bullshit again.

No, it's not based on GMO.

[oplawlz]

Know what causes me to be skeptic of GMO? The refusal to label it as such. Why should I trust them if they can't even be truthful to me about what I'm buying?

Yeah you're not fooling anybody. You're a "skeptic" because you're willfully ignorant of the science. People like you are exactly the reason there should be no label.

[Player Twelve]

Yeah you're not fooling anybody. You're a "skeptic" because you're willfully ignorant of the science. People like you are exactly the reason there should be no label.

Why do you want to hide it if it's not an issue? Why? If there's nothing wrong with it, why hide it? There's no reason to hide it if it's perfectly safe.

[Elegiac]

Know what causes me to be skeptic of GMO? The refusal to label it as such. Why should I trust them if they can't even be truthful to me about what I'm buying?

I feel exactly the same way as their refusal to label products with their precise periodic base element content. I need to know if my food contains any tungsten.

[Uncle]

Yeah you're not fooling anybody. You're a "skeptic" because you're willfully ignorant of the science. People like you are exactly the reason there should be no label.

So you are advocating hiding source of the food people eat because "they are ignorant"? Very interesting...

[Independent voter]

Goddammit Russia!

[ManiaCCC]

Why do you want to hide it if it's not an issue? Why? If there's nothing wrong with it, why hide it? There's no reason to hide it if it's perfectly safe.

I have direct question for you. Do you believe GMO food is harmful for people?

[Player Twelve]

I have direct question for you. Do you believe GMO food is harmful for people?

I don't know? That's why I want it to be labeled and the refusal to label it just makes me more suspicious and more determined on it having to be labeled.

[shimerra]

This anti-reality bullshit again.

No, it's not based on GMO.

Yes it is. The only significant difference between GMO's and what humans have been doing for thousands of years is the time it takes to do it. From a genetic stand point and what ends up in your body there's literally zero difference and the science has shown that. In the case of salmon all they did is input the same muscle growth and development we've selected over thousands of years with cattle.


You don't get to piss and whine about anyone's bullshit when your half ass excuse is the labeling. I mean let's use the anti-vaxx argument. It's equally as stupid and uninformed as the anti GMO argument. One of their favorite rants is against mercury in vaccines despite most vaccines not using any anymore because of their baseless pissing and whining. The specific type of mercury they used was an extremely small amount as a preservative and if you literally got every vaccine you could in a day with mercury you still get a higher dose eating a can of tuna. Uninformed public outrage by faux-scientists and idiots probably trying to drum up sales for their "natural" or "organic" bullshit like it's better on top of a few well meaning idiots forced an industry to change practices despite literally no evidence suggesting it was necessary. And that's even ignoring the larger issue of people stopping vaccinating their kids harmin their well being and the well being of others. Vaccines, perhaps the single most important medical innovation outside of learning to wash your hands/clean yourself, got taken down by a wave of stupidity not based in science. And because of that stupidity we've seen a resurgence of diseases the western world had essentially wiped out.

Same reason for why it's stupid to label GMO's. 1) They're safe so no point to 2) Idiots have started a fear campaign against them despite point 1. And funny enough it's these same assholes that have made it so the Monsantos and Conagra's of the world are the only one who can push them through FDA testing because their paranoia has made it so strict and costly. Labeling GMO's is the food equivalent to Trump's border wall. A completely idiotic non-solution that pisses away money for no good reason other than to provide a mental baby blanket for idiots. Might as well require anyone who makes a vessel that can contain water on it put a label that warns of drowning risks it's that stupid.

[Player Twelve]

Yes it is.

Nope, I can't insert insecticide in my apples by selective breeding.