GMO

I’m going to get on my soap box here and talk about genetically modified organisms otherwise known as GMOs. I here and see this conversation play out almost daily on Facebook, twitter and in the media.  I have heard the arguments that we don't know the science or that tests have shown that mice get cancerous tumors or that it is creating Frankenstein foods. I also have heard the argument that Europe is against it so we should be too. 

So here it goes....  We have had GMO crops for decades and have been consuming them as well. the crops have gone through extensive testing.  Monsanto isn't the only or the first company to use or create GMO products. There are several companies but you only hear about how horrible Monsanto is. The argument of mice having cancer or stomachs exploding is a big scare tactic because mice don't have the exact enzymes that we have. if these crops were as bad as some say we would have exploding stomachs and extra limbs growing on the side of their bodies. i use the example of a person eats a carrot and lots of carrots but we don't see people in the process of evolving into a carrot. they are consuming genes and your body is breaking down genes and chromosomes of plant but they are not becoming part of our genes and chromosomes. In addition people have been throwing around the legislation that was passed and how it protects Monsanto.  First, EU and other European Countries do allow GMO foods- corn and soybeans to be used as animal feed that is fed to animals who are then introduced into the human food supply. Secondly, the piece of legislation was to protect the farmer not Monsanto. It doesn't have anything to do with “getting sick and taking someone to court”. What it really is about is it allows the farmer to keep growing his crop while the litigation is being decided. For example, if a person or group sued Monsanto or any other seed company after a crop had been planted that farmer is allowed to keep growing it and even harvest it while the court case is being decided. The farmer isn't being paid by Monsanto so if there weren't allowed to continue to grow their crop they would be out an entire harvest which in an industry that works on a very narrow margin of profit (and sometimes there isn't a profit) this would be devastating not only to a family farm (98% of all corporate farms are family owned) but to communities and industries as a whole.

If you want to choose to not eat GMO’s, that's alright but to force a industry to eliminated GMO’s is in my mind a selfish act. GMO’s has done a lot of great work in this world. Read “The Man Who Fed The World”. It’s about Norman Borlaug. He won a Nobel Peace Prize for creating GMO wheat that would grown in arid/desert climates and was drought resistant. This wheat was then grown and harvested in Africa where people where starving. Also, GMO’s have allowed farmers to used less chemicals on their plants to protect them from harmful insects. I get that GMO’s are scary but the fact is that we need GMO’s and other cutting edge technology to keep feeding and clothing this country and the world. The average American farmer now must feed 155 people. In 1960, the American farmer fed just 26 people. By 2050, the world’s population will double and we (the farmers) will need to produce more food than all the years prior combined.

I am not an employee of big corporate farmers or ranchers. I don’t get money from big seed companies. My family ranches- I eat meat, my family’s ranch doesn't feed cattle corn or soybeans; they are grass fed and we do spray for weeds since we got rid of the sheep (they eat weeds cows won’t). We don’t overgraze and we choose not to eat organic but we will eat foods that are all natural and even some of the beef we raise is marketed as all natural. You may totally disagree with me and that’s ok. That’s your choice and why we live in a country with abundant food supplies (thanks to farmers and ranchers) that allows us to have many choices but I in good conscience couldn't let this information go without giving a different opinion. If you are going to be on the anti-GMO or anti-Monsanto bandwagons then at least research both sides.

Below are some neutral (from actual scientists or farmers and ranchers) websites to find out more information about production agriculture and your food supply. The packet attached is a list of facts in regards to the Genetic Roulette movie that attacks GMO’s today. I would encourage you to read it. Also we have actual facts for Food Inc (which is full of miss information as well).

http://www.fooddialogues.com/

www.bestfoodfacts.org

• Resources from various sources on GM/BT safety and potential benefits (NOTE: Not an inclusive list.)

·         European Commission report: A decade of EU-funded GMO research(2001-2010) (2010)

·         European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) report. Safety and nutritional assessment of GMplants and derived food and feed: The role of animal feeding trials (2008)

·         Foodand Agriculture Organization (FAO)/United Nations (UN) Report: The State ofFood and Agriculture 2003-2004: Agricultural Biotechnology Meeting the Needs ofthe Poor? (2004)

·         Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) Expert Report: Biotechnology and Foods (2000)

·         International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA) Report: Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops (2012)

·         National Research Council/U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) report on the Safety of Genetically Engineered Foods: Approaches to Assessing Unintended Health Effects (2004)

·         National Research Council/U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) report on the Impact of Genetically Engineered Crops on Farm Sustainability in the United States (2010)  

·         World Health Organization (WHO). Modern food biotechnology, human health and development: an evidence-based study (2005)

•  Review (Pro-Con) of the issue (what are the activists saying and what are the counter positions)

·         Consider these recent myth busting reports by NPR and The Atlantic and Reason Magazine.

·         Mark Lynas – one of the leading anti-GM activists –spoke at a conference in Europe earlier this year and announced a dramatic change of opinion on GMOs. You can view his speech or read a transcript online at: http://www.marklynas.org/2013/01/lecture-to-oxford-farming-conference-3-january-2013/. This speech has generated a broader discussion around the science.

• GM-BT Position Statements from government (USDA, FDA, EFSA), NGOs, Trade Groups and Other Influencers/Stakeholders (Gates Foundation) (NOTE: Not an inclusive list.)

·         American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Statement by the AAAS Board of Directors on Labeling of Genetically Modified Foods (2012)

·         American Medical Association (AMA) Report on Labeling of Bioengineered Foods (2012)

·         Society of Toxicology (SOT) Position Paper: The Safety of Genetically Modified Foods Produced through Biotechnology (2002)

·         Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) Expert Report: Biotechnology and Foods (2000)

·         Mark Tercek, CEO of the Nature Conservancy, recently wrote a very thoughtful Huffington Post piece on critical thinking about GMOs at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-tercek/mark-lynas-gmo_b_2424493.html.

·         Sam Dryden, Director of the Agricultural Development team at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, also posted a very thoughtful piece on critical thinking about GMOs at: http://www.impatientoptimists.org/Posts/2013/03/A-Farmers-Toolbox.  

·         Anne Glover, the European Union's Chief Science Advisor, discussed the science last year. You can find her comments online at: http://www.euractiv.com/innovation-enterprise/commission-science-supremo-endor-news-514072.