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Originally Posted by Daradon
While I feel the fear mongering about GMO health risks is uneducated and wrong, I still have problems with how the large conglomerates do business with respect to their patents and the smaller companies they battle. I think patenting food put too much power at the top of the industry and will lead to huge problems down the road. I'm not saying they shouldn't benefit from their hard work, just that the rules benefit them far too much right now. Like the top of the banking industry, things are getting out of control.
Also remember, while I totally agree that the health concerns of GMO foods are hooey, there is a problem with concentrating the genetic sample of common foods down to that small a pool. That is proven by science. Our banana population was nearly wiped out in the 50's cause we bred too much of the same, not enough diversity. It's cause many fruits and vegetables don't breed naturally anymore, we've made new plants through genetoc selection through splicing. I am worried, and others, that GMO might repeat these mistakes. One resistant bug or mold could wipe out the whole species. Granted, they'd probaby be in a better place to fix the problem, but it's still a concern.
Lastly, while I do think GMO foods are important to an ever growing population, I wouldn't put the problem with those who fight the in the same league of importance as the anti climate crowd for a few reasons. The most important being that the corporations are winning the GMO battle. They are still making a ton of money and their produce is everywhere. So no huge problem. By the same token, the corporations are also winning the climate battle right now. And this is catastrophic. So yes, that problem is far more important.
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As well, GMO moves need to be done with economics in mind. If introduction of certain GMO crops causes international markets (particularly the EU and China) to disappear, that's a huge problem. Roundup-ready alfalfa is becoming a huge headache in the US, because China has banned its import in even trace amounts, and the GMO variety seems to get into a lot of other fields via cross-pollination. We can't get too far ahead of our export market consumers when it comes to GMO production.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-hay-...-up-1418598477