GMO policy needs a separate topic. This is tax incentives for organic food.

I am up for tax incentives (remove GST) on fruit and vegetables. If organic is the way to go then so be it.

I am also supportive of tax incentives for humane (e.g. free-range meat and eggs).

Machteld

1. DNA codes for proteins – known proteins. Proteins can be tested and the metabolites can be tested. Scientific consensus is already that GMOs are safe, the problems arise because a lot of people don’t understand how GMOs work and because of the anecdotes (politer than saying flat out lies) of harm.

2. You’re right. You can’t. And GMOs have already been in many ecosystems for so long without harm that this is actually a point in favour of GMOs.

3. I trust that these companies are very interested in making money. I trust that they are smart enough to realise that killing people is killing consumers and is negative publicity.

There is a lot of emotion associated with this topic and it does elicit strong opinions. Given we (TOP) are going for evidence-based interventions I would encourage people to take a look a really good summary by COSMOS magazine (not Cosmo! by the way) – an Australian general science mag – who produced a really balanced issue (#41) on this in 2011.

My issue with GMO is this:
1. How do you monitor/allow for LONG term research before release/ human consumption? I assume you don’t disagree that long term research is needed to call GMO’s safe?
2. If anything goes wrong (Accidental contamination etc), there is no turning back the clock. You can’t contain ‘seeds’.
3. With all the money involved in big multinationals like Big Pharma, Bayer, Monsanto etc. Do you really trust that that research is going to happen in an ‘honest’ way? Only look into the funding of a lot of the research and you have your answer.
All three of these issues basically boil down to the problem that is there is just way too much money involved in these things to be trusted, I think.

My own background is biochem/genetics. Uni was a long time ago, but I’ve tried to keep up. A lot of the anti propaganda is anecdotal or deeply flawed (see Seeds of Death for a prime example). GMO is a way forward, though as with all science carefully monitored.

thanks Jonathan for sharing. We may have to agree to disagree agreeably. I don’t buy William Saletan’s arguments, but in the end, it’s all about who we believe/what source we believe. In principle, when we start interfering with nature at DNA level, we are opening a can of worms that we don’t know and I believe, based on what we know now, that there is not enough evidence that GMO is safe. I would also argue that it is not required to solve world hunger.

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2015/07/are_gmos_safe_yes_the_case_against_them_is_full_of_fraud_lies_and_errors.html if you’re prepared to read with an open mind.

Hi Hadley
would you mind sharing with us where you got evidence about GMO being good and Round up proven to be not bad? Why is it then that Round up has been banned from Europe decades ago?

GMO is good, it will prevent world hunger, as long as it is used correctly. Round up has been proven to not be bad for you in the small quantities that you will have on your food, Copper Sulfate on the other hand as used by organic farmers….

totally agreed!

Promoting Organic is only a part of a bigger picture, eradicating GMO, Monsanto’s Roundup and prohibiting many other harmful pesticides and herbicides to secure a future for generations not born yet.

I agree. Somehow we need to promote unprocessed, locally grown, affordable, organic food over processed, empty calories that lead to many health issues.
I say, promote community gardens, farmers markets, support people growing their own fruit and veggies.
For those who have doubts, have a look at this: http://www.technologywater.com/post/69995394390/un-report-says-small-scale-organic-farming-only

Organic food is unsustainable, it takes more land to create the same amount of food, we need to instead think about eating more efficiently grown food, ie insects.

Suggestions: promote organic food and sustainable food