On Friday, February 6, 2015 at 9:23:55 AM UTC-5, Mayayana wrote:
The author seems to be partially misinformed. She starts
by saying the problem is not GMO crops but then goes
on to say the problem is Roundup herbicide. Roundup is
patented by Monsanto, which also has a patent on their
GMO grains designed to tolerate high levels of Roundup.
It's a marketing dream: They sell the poison and they
also sell the patented, GMO seed that can tolerate it.


The author seems well informed to me. The author is
talking about applying roundup to wheat crops
a couple weeks before harvest. It kills the wheat, accelerating
the drying out process so that the small portion that would
normally not be ripe essentially becomes ripe for harvest.
That technique would *not* work on GMO wheat that is roundup
tolerant.




There's a common misconception that GMO is inherently
toxic.

It's commom in the hippie fringe.


GMO only means that a gene has been changed in
a laboratory rather than by cross breeding. The bigger
concern with GMO is the motives, and thereby the results.
Altering genes to produce toxin tolerance is an idiotic use
of GMO.


Only according to you. I see most people up in arms about
GMO simply because they don't want anything where it's been
genetically modified, period. The countries that instituted
bans on GMO haven't said that GMO is OK as long as you don't
use it to make crops herbicide resistant. They banned GMO
period, even if it;s used to make the crop bigger, tastier,
last longer, etc.



(The current ability to patent living organisims is, of course,
another big problem with GMO. Farmers get stuck buying new
seed from Monsanto every year and can be sued for patent
infringement if they manage to get any saved seed to sprout!)


No one is forcing farmers to buy anything. If you want to use
Monsanto products you can use them. If not, you can buy your
seed from anyone else, non-GMO, etc.



Excessive chemicals is also not just a wheat problem or
a GMO problem. The industrialization of farming has been
increasing for a long time. There are always people who think
they can apply the "better mousetrap" approach to crop
yields.

Funny thing too, how it's worked. We;re getting more yield,
better crops, than ever before. It's feeding a hungry world.
Think of the starving children.



I picked apples as an itinerant worker in the late
70s. During the two years I was at one farm they changed
their approach to "weeds". The old approach was to harvest
the grass growing between the trees and sell it as hay to
local farmers. Then the farm was bought by a multi-national
corporation that wanted the operation streamlined. Selling hay
locally requires human relationships. They bought an herbicide
sprayer instead. The second year I worked on that farm there
were only shrivelled shreds where the grass had been, and a
lot of unnecessary herbicide in the soil.


I'd probably prefer roundup over you too.


I buy only organic bread, but I've noticed it's getting harder
to find. Many of the companies that made it have stopped
without explanation. I had once bought a brand named
"when pigs fly" that came, I think, from Saco, ME. Suddenly
they just stopped using organic flour. There are also some
"high end" bakeries where I live, in the Boston area, but they
seem to have no curiosity about organic. Whole Foods recently
stopped selling organic corn tortillas and I had to find another
source. While organic produce is becoming more popular, organic
grains are becoming hard to find. I find it nonsensical that
people and stores focussed on fresh, healthy food wouldn't
eliminate non-organic from grain products, of all things. They're
a daily staple food for most people.


Maybe you should start an online organic foods business.


On the other hand, I'm not much impressed by the story of
the man who got indigestion eating dinner rolls in restaurants.
How did he know it was the rolls? The kind of restaurants that
routinely put out a basket of "dinner rolls" -- typical chain,
"family" restaurants; the same places that offer a strach option
of "rice pilaf" -- do not deal in edible foodstuffs. They
deal in making money by selling a "dining experience". No
wonder he gets indigestion!

That is the problem with the referenced article. It's mostly
anecdotal evidence, little science. For example, people give
up wheat, kind of the "wheat belly" craze thing, and then say
how much better they feel. Bingo, Mr. Wheat Belly is right, it's
the gluten! Well, probably not. Because most of them didn't
just cut out wheat. They also drastically reduced refined carbs,
ie cut out a lot of all flour products, sugar, etc. IMO, the
reported weight loss, feeling better in most of those cases is
the result of the reduction in carbs in the overall diet.

As for the case at hand, I'm all for some sound research on
seeing if there are real effects from roundup applied to wheat.