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It’s very different selectively breeding variants of plants and animals for desirable traits… vs. pulling the genes out of completely different species and inserting them into other organisms.

It’s also not necessarily the genes in question that concern people. People are concerned with the amount inorganic pesticide or herbicide residue that is left on the food by the time it’s consumed if it can be saturated in chemicals because it’s had resistance genes introduced.

I think peoples problem with the term ‘GMO’ is its all encompassing. That and in the USA they seem so resistant to food labelling…

@ Chris , yes I did read the article and it is a GMO company, they are using ” powerfully technology and artificial intellegence to mime existing food products, ie genitically modifying food . I didn’t comment on my attitude towards GMOs, you just ran away with your imagination on that one. Maybe you should read me comment again before jumping the gun and take my comment for what it is. An observation that this is just another GMO company.

Shane, one of the cofounders is a mathematician and is using her skills to *data* mine and identify beneficial compounds. Nothing to do with GM…

…which incidentally has huge potential benefits and negligible downsides. Arguments about the corporations being evil or overuse of pesticides are lazy arguments and point towards objections (both of which are valid in some but not most cases) against things other than genetic modification.

It is not a GM company. Here is a recent article on GM crops http://t.co/5J9rnmOOB2

Sorry Shane, didn’t jump the gun in any way. Your comment was totally incorrect. Thanks

Chinese scientist have shown that healthy cells use mRNA from plant sources to incorporate into their own DNA, IT WAS ALSO SHOWN THAT GUT BACTERIA WERE FOUND WITH GMO DNA in them.
GMO plants are GMO breed these days for nothing more than to be tolerant to cancer causing weed killer, so you can spray and kill the weeds but the crop won’t die and you get a GMO crop full of carcinogens Martin. Weed killer causes tumours in rats, google that.
A lack of care and knowledge is STUPIDITY… Not caring about ones own health…

Three things Michael Sands:

1) the study you’re citing did indeed find GMO DNA in gut bacteria. Along with DNA from other gods sources that weren’t GM. This is not abnormal.

2) your argument about the effects of pesticides is an argument against pesticides, not GMOs. There are numerous other uses for GMOs other than pesticide resistance. Look up golden rice.

3) the evidence shows that pesticide use hash one down since GMOs were introduced:
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0111629

Bah, food sources, not gods sources!! Autocorrect…

Rory Goodbody…
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn2565-gm-crop-dna-found-in-human-gut-bugs.html#.Uyutv2dOXIU
“For the first time, it has been proved that bacteria in the human gut can take up DNA from genetically modified food.”
Then the NewScientist, Issue No. 2832, 1st October 2011 Page 10 has the following…
“Genetic material in food survives digestion and circulates the body, fragments of plant RNA have been found swimming in the blood stream of people and cows.”
“Zhang found some 30 known plant miRNA’s floating in the blood of people and cows”.
He also states that “cooking does not destroy the plants miRNA’s”.
“All the plants we eat have been modifying our gene expression for as long as we have been eating them”.
Chen-Yu Zhang of Nanjing University in China.
Then another story like NewScientist, Issue No. 2920, 8thJune 2013 Page 6.
“Unauthorised genetically modified wheat has been discovered growing on a farm in Oregon nine years after a research program was abandoned. How it got there is a mystery.”
“Monsanto which says that the farm in question was not part of its original testing program and that all GM material was destroyed in 2004.” Proving that GM crops are themselves unstable and dangerous but all many want to do is hide all the facts.

Then using this knowledge, is GMO safe and the fact is people do not know…

http://www.trueactivist.com/monsanto-invests-billions-in-new-carcinogenic-herbicide-to-replace-roundup/
“In a statement released last month, the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) announced that glyphosate, the main ingredient in Monsanto’s herbicide “RoundUp”, is “probably carcinogenic.”

http://www.globalresearch.ca/gmo-corn-increased-pesticide-use-by-300-us-government-agency-claims-exact-opposite-to-protect-biotech-industry/5462402
“The overall percentage of U.S. crop acreage exposed to chemical insecticides is significantly higher than regulatory authorities are claiming, warns a shocking new report released by the Center for Food Safety (CFS). Data compiled by scientists from Pennsylvania State University (PSU) reveals that nearly half of all planted soybean seed and up to 100 percent of all corn seed is now treated with or exposed to insecticides.

These figures are astronomically higher than the ones that were publicly released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which together with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been lying to the public about this pertinent issue for years. The two agencies contend that since the introduction of neonicotinoid pesticides, which are commonly used as a coating on many crop seeds, insecticide use is down. However, nothing could be further from the truth.

Also referred to as “neonics,” neonicotinoids are a class of insecticides that recent science has exposed as a major culprit in colony collapse disorder (CCD) among bees.”

Rory I said that maize and other crops are GMO changed in order to survive the effects of glyphosates, so glyphosate can be in the plants at harvest but due to them being GMO the glyphosate only kills the weeds and not them…
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/scientists-sound-alarm-over-supercharged-gm-organisms-which-could-spread-in-the-wild-and-cause-environmental-disasters-10434010.html
So GMO use is not known?
http://www.globalresearch.ca/former-pro-gmo-scientist-speaks-out-on-the-real-dangers-of-genetically-engineered-food/5424010
“The Bt corn and soya plants that are now everywhere in our environment are registered as insecticides. But are these insecticidal plants regulated and have their proteins been tested for safety? Not by the federal departments in charge of food safety, not in Canada and not in the U.S.
There are no long-term feeding studies performed in these countries to demonstrate the claims that engineered corn and soya are safe. All we have are scientific studies out of Europe and Russia, showing that rats fed engineered food die prematurely.”
“Genetic engineering is 40 years old. It is based on the naive understanding of the genome based on the One Gene – one protein hypothesis of 70 years ago, that each gene codes for a single protein. The Human Genome project completed in 2002 showed that this hypothesis is wrong.”
“A Chinese study published last year shows that an ampicillin resistance transgene was transferred from local engineered crops to soil bacteria, that eventually found their way into the rivers. The transgenes are also transferred to humans. Volunteers who ate engineered soybeans had undigested DNA in their intestine and their bacterial flora was expressing the soybean transgenes in the form of antibiotic resistance. This is genetic pollution to the extreme, particularly when antibiotic resistance is fast becoming a serious global health risk. “

So pesticide use has gone up 300% with GM crops as I showed earlier to you…
“In 2009 the American Academy of Environmental Medicine called for a moratorium of GM foods, safety testing and labeling. Their review of the available literature at the time noted that animals show serious health risks associated with GM food consumption including infertility, immune dysregulation, accelerated aging, dysregulation of genes associated with cholesterol synthesis, insulin regulation, cell signaling, and protein formation, and changes in the liver, kidney, spleen and gastrointestinal system. Monsanto writes “There is no need to test the safety of GM foods”. So long as the engineered protein is safe, foods from GM crops are substantially equivalent and they cannot pose any health risks.” The US Food and Drug Administration waived all levels of safety testing in 1996 before approving the commercialization of these crops. Nothing more than voluntary research is necessary, and the FDA does not even want to see the results. And there is certainly no need to publish any of it.”
“Thierry Vrain is a former research scientist for Agriculture Canada. He now promotes awareness of the dangers of genetically modified foods.”
“The only study I am aware of from Canada is from the Sherbrooke Hospital in 2011, when doctors found that 93% of pregnant women and 82% of the fetuses tested had the protein pesticide in their blood.”
“RoundUp crops pass their genes on to RoundUp Resistant weeds. Apparently over 50% of fields in the USA are now infested and the growers have to go back to use other toxic herbicides such as 2-4 D. Many areas of Ontario and Alberta are also infested. The transgenes are also transferred to soil bacteria.”
“The Bt corn and soya plants that are now everywhere in our environment are registered as insecticides. But are these insecticidal plants regulated and have their proteins been tested for safety? Not by the federal departments in charge of food safety, not in Canada and not in the U.S.”
http://www.globalresearch.ca/former-pro-gmo-scientist-speaks-out-on-the-real-dangers-of-genetically-engineered-food/5424010

Rory GMO’s causes a lot of problems…
http://naturalsociety.com/bill-gates-dodges-questions-owns-500000-shares-of-monsanto/
by Anthony Gucciardi February 12th, 2013 Updated 07/03/2013 at 3:21 am
“It should come as no surprise, then, that Gates owns 500,000 shares worth 23 million US dollars (or more) of Monsanto stock. The very same company that has been caught running slave rings in Argentina in which workers were forced to work 14+ hours a day while withholding payment, has used their massive finances to fund organizations that literally fake FDA quotes to support GMOs, and of course peddling through GMOs that have been linked to numerous health concerns.” “This is not even taking into account the farmer suicides that occur around every 30 minutes due to Monsanto’s failing GMO crop yield bankrupting small-time farmers in India’s notorious ‘suicide belt‘.”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1082559/The-GM-genocide-Thousands-Indian-farmers-committing-suicide-using-genetically-modified-crops.html
“When Prince Charles claimed thousands of Indian farmers were killing themselves after using GM crops, he was branded a scaremonger. In fact, as this chilling dispatch reveals, it’s even WORSE than he feared.”
“Distressed: Prince Charles has set up charity Bhumi Vardaan Foundation to address the plight of suicide farmers
Beguiled by the promise of future riches, he borrowed money in order to buy the GM seeds. But when the harvests failed, he was left with spiralling debts – and no income.
So Shankara became one of an estimated 125,000 farmers to take their own life as a result of the ruthless drive to use India as a testing ground for genetically modified crops.
The crisis, branded the ‘GM Genocide’ by campaigners, was highlighted recently when Prince Charles claimed that the issue of GM had become a ‘global moral question’ – and the time had come to end its unstoppable march.
Speaking by video link to a conference in the Indian capital, Delhi, he infuriated bio-tech leaders and some politicians by condemning ‘the truly appalling and tragic rate of small farmer suicides in India, stemming… from the failure of many GM crop varieties’.
Ranged against the Prince are powerful GM lobbyists and prominent politicians, who claim that genetically modified crops have transformed Indian agriculture, providing greater yields than ever before.
The rest of the world, they insist, should embrace ‘the future’ and follow suit.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/02/09/75-year-old-soybean-farmer-sees-monsanto-lawsuit-reach-u-s-supreme-court/#.URib3RSeUng.facebook
“Who controls the rights to the seeds planted in the ground? A 75-year-old farmer takes the agricultural giant to court to find out.”
“On the one side is Bowman, a single 75-year-old Indiana soybean farmer who is still tending the same acres of land as his father before him in rural south-western Indiana. On the other is a gigantic multibillion dollar agricultural business famed for its zealous protection of its commercial rights.” “After all, just three firms now control more than 50% of the global seed market.”
http://www.anh-europe.org/news/gm-cocoa-to-flood-70-of-the-global-supply
“With cocoa demand being high, one of the world’s largest chocolate producers, Mars, became the primary backer for scientists to produce a genetically modified (GMO) cocoa tree hybrid. In 2010 scientists based at the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) of the US Department of Agriculture and Science and researchers working at IBM’s Thomas J Watson Research Centre achieved the initial unlocking of the chocolate genome and, with the aim of improving yields, the plan has been to flood West Africa and therefore 70% of the global cocoa supply. Concern over the loss from pest and plant disease led to the research and scientists are determined to finalise gene sequencing of the cocoa genome.”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12541465
“GM crops continue spread, passing ‘billion hectares” and after all the scandals I mentioned earlier GM is dangerous but excuses like the following http://anh-europe.org/news/more-gm-for-africa-courtesy-of-the-gates-foundation
“Gates Foundation to put £6.3 million ($9.8 million) into the UK’s John Innes Centre. The Gates investment will be used to test the feasibility of engineering crops to use bacteria, which have evolved over millennia in leguminous crops like peas and beans, to create their own fertilizer from the nitrogen in the air around them.” Sounds good but what could go wrong… “After 5 years of research between 2003 and 2008, a United Nations project involving 400 scientists from 60 countries firmly concluded that GM technology had no place in the alleviation of poverty. Among the most serious GM-related problems cited in the report was the issue of seed ownership. GM technology, which generally produces infertile crops that have to be purchased from the producer, prevents farmers from generating their own seeds. With GM, the seed is effectively owned by the patent holder. The notion is repugnant to many, as clearly depicted in films like The World According to Monsanto and Food Inc.”

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/sep/28/study-gm-maize-cancer
“Professor Gilles-Eric Séralini, professor of molecular biology at Caen university in France, knows how to inflame the GM industry and its friends. For seven years he and his team have questioned the safety standards applied to varieties of GM maize and tried to re-analyse industry-funded studies presented to governments.
The GM industry has traditionally reacted furiously and personally. Séralini has been widely insulted and smeared and last year, in some desperation, he sued Marc Fellous, president of the French Association of Plant Biotechnology, for defamation, and won (although he was only awarded a nominal €1 in damages).
Study linking GM maize to cancer must be taken seriously by regulators.”
http://www.independentsciencenews.org/commentaries/regulators-discover-a-hidden-viral-gene-in-commercial-gmo-crops/ by Jonathan Latham and Allison Wilson
“How should a regulatory agency announce they have discovered something potentially very important about the safety of products they have been approving for over twenty years?
In the course of analysis to identify potential allergens in GMO crops, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has belatedly discovered that the most common genetic regulatory sequence in commercial GMOs also encodes a significant fragment of a viral gene (Podevin and du Jardin 2012). This finding has serious ramifications for crop biotechnology and its regulation, but possibly even greater ones for consumers and farmers. This is because there are clear indications that this viral gene (called Gene VI) might not be safe for human consumption. It also may disturb the normal functioning of crops, including their natural pest resistance.”

Sorry for the overload of information but I am like that when I talk / write about something I think is dangerous Rory…
http://rt.com/usa/monsanto-bill-blunt-agriculture-006/
“Obama signs ‘Monsanto Protection Act’ written by Monsanto-sponsored senator
On Tuesday, Pres. Obama inked his name to H.R. 933, a continuing resolution spending bill approved in Congress days earlier. Buried 78 pages within the bill exists a provision that grossly protects biotech corporations such as the Missouri-based Monsanto Company from litigation.
With the president’s signature, agriculture giants that deal with genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and genetically engineered (GE) seeds are given the go-ahead to continue to plant and sell man-made crops, even as questions remain largely unanswered about the health risks these types of products pose to consumers.
In light of approval from the House and Senate, more than 250,000 people signed a petition asking the president to veto the spending bill over the biotech rider tacked on, an item that has since been widely referred to as the “Monsanto Protection Act.”” What chance have we to resist GM crops especially when TAFTA is at the door of Ireland. Yet after all this stories like the following turn up frequently… http://www.collective-evolution.com/2013/05/08/hidden-viral-gene-discovered-in-gmo-crops/
“Another reason for you to avoid health depleting genetically modified organisms is here. A recent discovery of a hidden viral gene deep within genetically modified crops has us asking more questions. Despite numerous studies, experts and scientists speaking out about the dangers of GMOs to human health, the United States government, and other major manipulating organizations like the council on foreign relations continue to support and promote GMOs.
European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) researchers have discovered a previously unknown viral gene that is known as “Gene VI.” (1) It’s found in most prominent GMO crops, and can disrupt the biological functions within living organisms. What do you expect? Genetically Modified Organisms contain a number of cell altering chemicals, that’s what chemicals do. Don’t forget about the chemicals used to spray the crops as well. Certain corn crops were found to contain the gene that creates physical mutation within the body. Roundup-Ready soybeans were also found to contain the gene. Don’t forget about NK603, which was recently linked to the development of mass tumors in rats.
This Gene helps to assemble virus particles that inhibit the natural defense of the cellular system and produces proteins that are harmful. The most common genetic regulatory sequence in commercial GMOs also encodes a significant fragment of this viral gene. The presence of this “hidden” gene is likely to result in unintended phenotypic changes (DNA mutations.) Of the 86 different transgenic events (unique insertions of foreign DNA) commercialized and mass marketed today, 54 in the United States contain some of the harmful Gene V1 within them.”