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STOP TTIP

What does concern me is the possibility that the EU will lose the ability to restrict the expansion of genetically modified foodstuffs, almost all soya is now produced this way.
The introduction of human growth hormones into the food chain is even scarier.
Where the US goes the EU will enivitably follow under this arrangement.

The problem is already there. Our Governments have been slow to react to whats happening in the food chain.mainly because they did away with agencies that might alert them. Virtually everything we eat and drink is now contaminated.70/80% of our meat contains growth hormones. Our wheat is grown with inbuilt insecticides and tougher to resist collapse during wind and rain storms.this hasn't been done to give us better quality grain,but to reduce risk to farmers.The fact we can't digest it is of little interest.We used to use 7,000 chemicals in the production of our food,now it's closer to 77,000.and we wonder why virtually everyone we know is getting cancer.companies like Monsanto should have been stopped,but there 's noone out there to do it.They actually tried to 'own' human DNA,Almost won their case.as it is they are cornering the market on seeds so that eventually you will not be allowed to grow anything without their say so. and it will be GMC It's a frightening world out there

Are these changes necessary to feed an ever expanding world population ?

imo no Fred .The world wastes food at a horrendous rate.We have enough,we just don't dispatch it to the areas that need it.We don't respect it in the west enough to care whats in it,where it comes from,who is producing it,what their doing to it.

GM food is safe. Food has been genetically modified for centuries. There is no evidence whatsoever that GM food is in any way bad for you, neither is there any logical reason to believe that it should be bad for you if you understand the science and don't get your information from the Daily Mail.

In fact, GM can create crops that are disease resistant and need fewer chemicals - insecticides, fertilizers and growth hormones - things which can pose risks to human health.

The GM-danger thing is a whole bunch of nonsense spun up not by scientists or doctors, but by people who oppose anything they don't understand (e.g. the same people who are anti-vaccine) or worse, see it as humans moving into yet another area they want to keep the preserve of 'god'.

Are you a spokesman for the agro chemical industry.
The over use of antibiotics has resulted in them becoming ineffective, who to say that in decades we will no find that so called safe GM foods have disastrous side effects .
Variety is the spice of life.

The 'science' on GM crops is indeed indicating that their use can reduce the use of conventional sprays and create a greater resistance to disease.Thats on paper,and lets face it the information comes from companies like Monsanto with a huge vested interest in the world buying their modified seeds,soya etc.The fact that useful insects like bee's will die if they go near these crops seems to have whizzed over their heads.Or that the seeds from these crops will be uncontrollable.It's speculation at the moment as to what their eventual effect will be over time and thats what bothers me.The human race has a horrible history of meddling.You only have to mention rabbits in Australia, domestic cats turned feral in areas with ground nesting birds.Grey squirrels introduced to the UK.American crayfish,black bees from Africa-I could go on but you get my drift I am sure I would prefer that people put their minds to the other end of the problem and simple stop food wastage.When you read that the average Londoner throws out a bin bag full of uneaten food a month because it was passed the totally ludicrous 'sell by' date. Ah well a losing battle I think when companies stand to make billions

p.s I think there is a difference between 'cross breeding' done 'for centuries' and GM Crops in the sense we know them i.e. with inbuilt insecticides and DNA from other plants.They were only introduced in the 1990's

Our local bee population here in the Algarve has been devastated since the extensive use of chemical sprays in local vinyards became common.
We used to have bushes in flower covered in bees now very few.
The locals who kept a few bee hives have given up.
Hey but thats progress.

It's a lose,lose situation with todays' thinking then. Spray! or put the same chemicals inside the seed crop.We used to trust nature and accept that we lost crops occasionally to weather ,disease,pests.Nature has been known to provide her own answers .When we become greedy though and turn fields into production zones she strikes back with hurricane sized winds that have nothing to stop them flattening the corn. What do we do? We create a thicker stemmed corn that won't fall over. None of what is happening in the food chain is about us or our health and wellbeing. Or even about feeding us It's about money. There's a very simple fact. everyone should know .Without bee's we will die.

When was that?

Sadly that's all that counts now days.
Common sense no longer exists !

You may want to read this
https://www.facebook.com/stopmonsantoportugal


And this
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/food_was...ref_map=%5B%5D

No. I am a person who has a specialty in another branch of science/engineering. However, the scientific method remains the same. I would rather form opinions based on peer reviewed research, than the baby shaking hysteria of tabloid newspapers. The scientific consensus is that GM food is safe. Until someone produces some evidence to the contrary, rather than some 'woo' that it's not natural etc etc, there is no reason to believe otherwise. And it is not for want of trying. There has been a HUGE amount of research into the effects of consuming GM food, nothing at all has indicated any kind of danger.

My neighbour has an apple tree. Like many apple trees, it has a root from a different tree, and the top was spliced and grafted onto it when it was a sapling. Is this safe? This is not natural, so where is the hysteria about this kind of thing?

People are fearful because of things they cannot understand. I recall some American guy on a forum celebrating that his favourite fast food chain in the US was no longer using GM food, so he could safely take his grandchildren there. Now, there is plenty of scientific evidence that sugary drinks, trans fats, red meat and fat is bad for you. But he'll happily fill his grandchildren up with this cr4p, because it's not GM and so 'safe'.

This kind of sums up the rather distorted priorities people have with regard to food safety.

So, what more evidence would you like to see that GM food is safe? How many studies - peer-reviewed studies conducted under scientific conditions - must be conducted until you accept they are safe? Or are you simply saying that no amount of evidence will be enough?

What about microwave ovens - are these safe? Is the food cooked in them safe? This is new technology, it hasn't been around for centuries, who knows what effect microwaving food might have on people? What about induction hobs? Why is there no Daily Mail campaign to outlaw these new fangled 'magic' ovens?