My anti/pro GMO non-rant

[RblDiver]

As a general principle, I don't mind GMOs. I feel there's probably a lot more hype than substance. Heck, anything can cause cancer, just ask California, everything causes cancer there!

And after all, to a starving kid in Africa, would they rather have a GMO ear of corn, or be told "You can't have that corn, because if you eat 10 pounds of it a day every day for 30 years you'll get cancer?"

[roberth]

Thank you for this thread.

I don't concern myself with GMO, like BG said, I've been eating it for 50 years and i'm in good health.

[Dave_L]

I only see this as a way to get rid of the farmers and those "not playing ball". GMO's aren't going anywhere. Population is too big. So labeling them isn't really doing anything besides making another obstacle for the locals to jump over. Just like the gun crap. Create a fear, use it to legislate. IF we really cared about GMO's and our health, McDonalds, Burger King etc would be out of business.

I could be way off though.

[Jer]

If it wasn't for GMO/Monsanto our food costs would be such that only the most wealthy could afford to eat three meals a day. I'm not saying I'm all for them but we don't have a better answer currently. I also feel that the GMO talking point has been done to death by those who watch loser TV all day and buy everything fed to them hook, line and sinker w/o even questioning. Until there is independent research done that PROVES unequivocally that that it's bad for us or causes any harm at all... STFU. Not you or anyone in this thread just in general. I'm SO sick of GMO this and GMO that and to me it's just an arbitrary set of letters because I have seen nothing that shows it's actually bad for us. Having a more firm understanding of the human body than most I find it hard to believe that GMO means bad automatically. It sounds bad if taken at face value and if you blindly subscribe to whatever fear mongering the masses are currently pushing but if you really look at it logically and honestly... where's the danger? People don't realize that w/o GMO/Monsanto we would have been bankrupt as a country probably decades ago as food prices would have sky-rocketed to an unimaginable figure based on current population and food demands.

This flip side to this coin is that food labels should be SIMPLE and easy to understand for everyone. Every time we add a new law requiring another label or measurement it makes things just a little bit more complicated. So from that aspect is adding something that we can't even prove affects you one way or the other a good idea? To me... no. Now if it's somehow proven to be bad for you to ANY degree then we have a discussion to have. Until then it's just knee-jerk by the brainwashed masses IMO.

[CO Hugh]

I don't think it causes any harm. Ironic how it is yuppie housewives raising the panic. They are fat and happy and have no idea how agricultural advances feed billions.
I saw someone post that they thought microwaving food changed it chemically, such that it harms people. Oyy!!

[Zundfolge]

[too lazy to use meme generator]
Genetically modify plants and animals for thousands of years with selective breeding and nobody bats an eye.
[photo of Heath Ledger as the Joker]
Genetically modify plants and animals with some beakers and a Bunsen burner and everyone loses their minds.
[/too lazy to use meme generator]

[ZERO THEORY]

sugar (which really is the devil of the food world)

In terms of body composition, there is no difference between simple sugar and other carbohydrate sources. Furthermore, assuming you utilize the carbs or glycogen stores before they are converted to fat, the body response in negligible. Some will site a deviance in cortisol or insulin, but assuming you actually get regular strenuous cardiovascular, respiratory, and musculo-skeletal exercise, sugar poses you no threat and is actually a highly-effective short term fuel source.

[Ronin13]

[too lazy to use meme generator]
Genetically modify plants and animals for thousands of years with selective breeding and nobody bats an eye.
[photo of Heath Ledger as the Joker]
Genetically modify plants and animals with some beakers and a Bunsen burner and everyone loses their minds.
[/too lazy to use meme generator]

That's good!

[68Charger]

My real concern with GMOs is the money behind them. "Corn" as we know it today is heavily modified in various ways to become any number of different end products, from corn syrup to ethanol that goes in your gas. Certain companies/industries can obviously benefit from such "advances," but are they really in the best interest of the people? regular consumption of HFCS (High-fructose corn syrup) is a huge contributing factor for diabetes. Burning ethanol in most car engines has been shown to shorten the life of the engine substantially. Corn itself has limited nutritional value, and is packed with sugar

Technically, Corn has very little sugars- but you're close- they are simple starches... which are easily converted to simple sugars a human body.

Just like GMO foods I've various arguments about HFCS. Some say it's the worst thing ever, others say it's really no worse than many other things.

Personally, I'm pretty sure I've been eating GMO foods for about 50 years and don't see any harm to it. It's not something I'm going to worry about when I go to the grocery store and grab a bag of fruit or vegetables. Probably far worse dietary threats out there that most people don't think twice about such as processed and pre-prepared foods. The amount of sodium that can be consumed in just a day is staggering and likely presents a threat just as bad as HFCS. But it sure tastes good.

And I'm now at the age where I have to really watch my intake of sodium and sugars. A1c was just slightly elevated...not enough to cause concern but enough to start thinking about lowering it. Unfortunately I could eat only bread and pasta and other carbs and be totally happy.

I'll sum up this entire post (which is a good post) by saying that my metabolisim is not the same as yours...
I can pass fats like shit through a goose (and it feels like that, too). but if I eat excess carbs, I better burn them, or I'm going to drive up my LDL and triglyceride levels very quick...

I had to do low cholesterol a few years back. EVERYTHING that was LC was high Sodium and vice versa.

by LC I think you mean Low cholesterol? doesn't matter what my cholesterol intake is, I'll make my own (along with Triglycerides) if I consume too much carbs/.

I don't think it causes any harm. Ironic how it is yuppie housewives raising the panic. They are fat and happy and have no idea how agricultural advances feed billions.
I saw someone post that they thought microwaving food changed it chemically, such that it harms people. Oyy!!

I've run into this before, and it's just DFS... they are confusing microwaves with Ionizing radiation... and they are orders of magnitude different!

In terms of body composition, there is no difference between simple sugar and other carbohydrate sources. Furthermore, assuming you utilize the carbs or glycogen stores before they are converted to fat, the body response in negligible. Some will site a deviance in cortisol or insulin, but assuming you actually get regular strenuous cardiovascular, respiratory, and musculo-skeletal exercise, sugar poses you no threat and is actually a highly-effective short term fuel source.

Quoted for truth- but you're missing the simple explanation- don't eat simple carbs unless you can burn them in the next 2 hours!

If it wasn't for GMO/Monsanto our food costs would be such that only the most wealthy could afford to eat three meals a day. I'm not saying I'm all for them but we don't have a better answer currently. I also feel that the GMO talking point has been done to death by those who watch loser TV all day and buy everything fed to them hook, line and sinker w/o even questioning. Until there is independent research done that PROVES unequivocally that that it's bad for us or causes any harm at all... STFU. Not you or anyone in this thread just in general. I'm SO sick of GMO this and GMO that and to me it's just an arbitrary set of letters because I have seen nothing that shows it's actually bad for us. Having a more firm understanding of the human body than most I find it hard to believe that GMO means bad automatically. It sounds bad if taken at face value and if you blindly subscribe to whatever fear mongering the masses are currently pushing but if you really look at it logically and honestly... where's the danger? People don't realize that w/o GMO/Monsanto we would have been bankrupt as a country probably decades ago as food prices would have sky-rocketed to an unimaginable figure based on current population and food demands.

This flip side to this coin is that food labels should be SIMPLE and easy to understand for everyone. Every time we add a new law requiring another label or measurement it makes things just a little bit more complicated. So from that aspect is adding something that we can't even prove affects you one way or the other a good idea? To me... no. Now if it's somehow proven to be bad for you to ANY degree then we have a discussion to have. Until then it's just knee-jerk by the brainwashed masses IMO.

This would be a perfect argument, except that many GMO organizations use many MILLIONS of dollars to influence law in their favor...
if it was such a great choice in the first place, why would it need such political influence to succeed?

I'm not anti capitalism, but if there is corruption, I'll call it for what it is...

[Gman]

This would be a perfect argument, except that many GMO organizations use many MILLIONS of dollars to influence law in their favor...
if it was such a great choice in the first place, why would it need such political influence to succeed?

I'm not anti capitalism, but if there is corruption, I'll call it for what it is...

You could say the same thing for pretty much any big business. When the government is for sale to the highest bidder, you'll have opportunists trying to gain an advantage.