The dangers of genetically modified foods is that we don't know what they can or will do to humans. Extensive periods of time and testing need to be incurred in research before allowing any 'franken-foods' to hit the market. We very well may feel the effects of gen-mod foods in later generations.
Well, then I guess I will continue to buy imported rice. I don't trust genetically modified food, I just don't. But I guess there is a lot of money to be made here...
Foods that are genetically modified to be pesticide resistant are not that uncommon. Besides, humans have been genetically modifying plants and animals for centuries by hand. What do you think selective breeding is? If you want to know more about genetically modified foods, watch the Canadian documentary "The Corporation". Some scary stuff, but less scary health-wise than economically scary. Should you feed your daughters organic milk to prevent early puberty due to bovine hormones? Definitely. Should you fear the nutritional value of pesticide-resistant rice? Doubtful. But you should hate such food for other reasons.
My friend actually lost his job because of this. He worked at Riceland here in Jonesboro, AR and since that has happened they have laid off many employees. Maybe they will get to come back now.
Without many of the technical and chemical advances that have been made over the decades it would be impossible to feed the entire population of the world. Discarding food because you don't like how it is made is the ultimate bourgeois affectation and the sign of someone who probably doesn’t need the food anyway. Perhaps you should ask poor Africans who don't have anything to eat if they care that they are getting GM foods. see The Green Revolution
In the future only the rich will be able to afford naturally grown food, the poor people will be eating this modified garbage.
Well, if you want to eliminate half of the population of the Earth, you can get right on that and save us all. Otherwise...
lol. i didn't say it won't help, it's just sad that we can't control our population. it doesn't make sense for a dirt poor individual to have a bunch of kids which he/she can't afford to bring up.
It is out . .and contaminating the regular rice Was there really any choice in this???? Seriously. . . We either destroy all the would be contaminated rice and start over. . .or approve this one. We went the Cheaper Route Rocket River
I said I didn't personally prefer it. I understand and acknowledge its positives, but I personally would prefer avoiding genetically modified/engineered food if I have a choice, and I also acknowledge that I may not have that choice anymore a few years down the line. Yes, I do well for myself, thank you for caring.
old debate... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2459903.stm Thursday, 14 November, 2002 Africa does not produce enough food for its population Amid the efforts to cope with a famine threatening 30 million Africans, a row is raging over genetically modified (GM) food aid. Zambia is refusing to accept any assistance that includes it, and its neighbours have agreed to accept GM grain only if it is milled before distribution. These countries are concerned that letting in food aid containing genetically modified material will lead to the planting of seeds and the contamination of domestic crops. Famine victims Many believe famine relief should come before the GM debate None of the countries has developed a clear policy on the long-term effects or value of GM technology. Most of the aid containing GM foods comes from the US. The US Agency for International Development (US Aid) says that non-GM maize (corn) was unavailable and that it is "despicable" if opponents of GM foods are risking lives. Aid agencies and relief charities are split over whether famine-stricken countries should accept GM foods. Disagreements focus on whether emergency needs should take precedence over long-term considerations about the value of GM crops for Africa. Food for the hungry As famine took hold in southern Africa, many countries were opposed to GM food supplies. Zimbabwe and Mozambique resisted them and Mozambicans were concerned about them being transported across their territory in case seeds contaminated its crops. Zambia then joined the countries opposing GM. They were worried that if genetically modified grain was allowed into their countries, seeds might be planted before the governments had carried out any research or formulated policies on the GM issue. Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa President Mwanawasa says GM food is "poison" Most of the countries were won over by deals between donors, aid agencies and recipients under which GM maize was milled before distribution so that seeds could not be planted. This satisfied Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Malawi. Angola, Lesotho and Swaziland have not adopted positions on GM but have not refused aid containing genetically modified food. The head of the World Food Programme (WFP), James Morris, said that the decision by Zimbabwe would enable his agency to do its job and supply food to the hungry. Poison or panacea? Zambia held out against GM foods and has stopped the WFP distributing GM maize in a refugee camp. Before this decision, the government sent a scientific team to the US, South Africa, Britain and Belgium to examine the issue of genetically modified crops. Its report led the government to maintain the ban, with President Levy Mwanawasa calling GM food "poison". There are serious long-term issues here: the position to be adopted by countries towards the growing of GM crops and relations between those countries and the multinational companies which supply GM foods or seeds. The Panos Institute in London, which provides an information service specialising in issues for developing countries, says that most of the countries concerned, including Zambia, have not developed clear policies on GM crops. Panos says that debate on the issue is proving "heated and difficult" with the anti-GM voices tending to drown out the voices in favour. Fingerprinting at an aid centre Aid agencies are in a difficult position There are major disagreements between international organisations over whether GM foods are right for Africa. A UN investigator into food policy, Jean Ziegler, told the London-based Independent newspaper that he was "against the theory of the multinational corporations who say if you are against hunger you must be for genetically modified organisms". "There is plenty of natural, normal, good food in the world to nourish the double of humanity," he says. For and against Charities like Oxfam and Action Aid oppose the introduction of GM crops into Africa saying that food shortages result not from a lack of food but from the inability of poor countries to buy it. Action Aid says that if GM seeds are supplied to Africa, "farmers will be caught in a vicious circle, increasingly dependent on a small number of giant multinationals". But many Western governments, including Britain, believe that the introduction of GM crops would boost yields in Africa. A consortium called the African Biotechnology Stakeholders' Forum has been established by GM proponents to encourage the use of GM crops. Its director, Dr John Wafula, says that as an African, "my crusade is to ensure that my people are not dying of starvation". He says he wants to see food production grow to keep pace with the growing population. African countries clearly still have to look at the GM option as part of broader agricultural strategies and the debate will continue. But in the short term, most countries have accepted that GM food can stave off hunger even if its arrival is greeted with suspicion by their governments. ______ I hold the belief that African agriculture can support itself if there weren't depressed prices coming out of rich countries that subsidizes their own farmers.
