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Mordhaus (Member Profile)

Kurzgesagt: Are GMOs Good or Bad?

Stormsinger says...

Considering that literal dozens of roundup resistant versions of weeds have appeared in the last twenty years, I'm not sure it's appropriate to call the "superbug" concern a long-term one. It's already happened, and continuing to grow.

Kurzgesagt: Are GMOs Good or Bad?

MilkmanDan says...

**EDIT**
I'm finding other sources that say that sterile "terminator seeds" are a patented technique, but that Monsanto has promised not to use it. Straight from the horse's mouth:
http://www.monsanto.com/newsviews/pages/terminator-seeds.aspx

So it appears that my info below is wrong. I will try to talk with my family and get the full story. That being said, I'll leave my original comment and the followup below unaltered.
*********


My firsthand knowledge of this stuff was from more than 10 years ago, and also when I was pretty young (early 20's). So I did some web searching to try to get updated since your question is a very interesting one:

http://web.mit.edu/demoscience/Monsanto/about.html

According to that, Monsanto is the company behind "Roundup Ready", and their corn (and other crops in the line) do use sterile "terminator seeds". It also mentions that farmers "must purchase the most recent strain of seed from Monsanto" each year.

I was never in the decision-making structure of my family farm, but I did remember that we couldn't just buy the Roundup Ready seed *once* and then hold a small amount back as seed for the next year and continue to get the benefits.

I'm not 100% sure exactly how the modification for sterility works -- I don't know if the plant will sprout if you plant the sterile seeds and just fail to produce any ears / fruit, or if it just won't germinate at all. I do remember that we had to be quite careful to fully clean out the corn grown from the GM seeds from our storage bins, and better yet to store our non-GM corn to be used for future seed in entirely different bins. That was done to make sure that we didn't end up planting any of the sterile stuff.

I'm sure that the seed dealers that sell the GM stuff really push farmers to buy and plant it every year, as hinted to in that link. But you certainly don't *have* to. On the other hand, if you go back to non-GM seed for a year or two or more, you can't use a strong herbicide like Roundup if you have an unexpected outbreak of weeds or other pest plants -- the Roundup would kill the non-GM crop along with everything else.

Basically, I don't specifically begrudge companies like Monsanto for their practices concerning these GM crops. The "terminator seeds" are controversial, but don't seem like a big deal to me. If you could buy GM seeds once and then just hold back some of your harvest for next season's seed, they'd only get your money once AND we'd probably lose the original strains. So I see that as kinda win-win, especially if you don't 100% buy into their sales department urging you to use GM seed every single year.

I don't want to sound like a shill for Monsanto -- some of their other practices are pretty shady, particularly political lobbying. But from the perspective of my family farm, the GM corn that we use was/is a real beneficial thing. Significantly less pesticide/herbicide use over time, and it allows for expanded low/no till farming. Before herbicides, tilling was one of the only ways to kill off pest plants. But, it also makes the fields lose some moisture and nutrients. Expanded farming and ubiquitous tilling was largely the cause of the "dust bowl" dirty 30's. Anyway, I'd say that a lot of good has come out of modernized techniques and technology like GM crops.

Hastur said:

I think many people don't realize how GMOs have made farmers' lives so much easier.

I'm surprised to read what you said about your family's GM seeds being modified to be sterile though; the video states that terminator seeds were never commercialized. Since you're talking about corn, maybe it was just hybrid?

Gratefulmom (Member Profile)

The littlest Narc

Mark Levin Provides Proof Obama Admin Wiretapped Trump Tower

bobknight33 says...

Where did I say this is proof? I did not. The title is the title. You are in the weeds, as usual on this . All I said that this was the source story that caused this story to blow up all over the other weekend.


Again there is ZERO, proof yet provided about Trump colluding with Russia. ZERO. But go ahead and feed you dark sole with fake news.

Trump may colluded, Obama may be involved with taps I do not know But I being the better man that you are open minded to FACTS....


Who cares if he knows Putin. If they are friendly as you say then great. Trump can negotiate better then not knowing.

Obama/ Clinton were shit in dealing with Putin. Hopefully Trump will do better.


But Russia is not the problem North Korea is and Obama/ Clinton did zero in 8 years to lesson this issue. WE sure feel safer don't we.

newtboy said:

You claimed he provides proof....he did nothing of the sort, he just misrepresented other opinion articles.

Voted down because it's bullshit lies/propaganda with no evidence, much less proof, already publicly denied by the FBI, who would have been the ones doing the wire taping and are firmly in Trump's camp.
Fair and balanced means no lies allowed....that might preclude you ever posting again....don't push that idea, it doesn't help you.

There's plenty of evidence that Trump colluded with Russia, mostly coming directly from Trump, but all admitted after the fact when the evidence became public (but lied about until that evidence was released, repeatedly). The continuing lies and distractions, like this one, are pretty good evidence too, and are proof that they are hiding something. Proof can only come from the FBI, and Trump is quickly making enemies of the director that helped hand him the presidency, so it may surface soon.

Edit: my mistake. The proof was when Trump publicly asked Putin to hack Clinton, and a week later she was hacked by Russians. Even if they hadn't done as he requested, the request itself is attempted collusion, irrefutable and undeniable.

No, releasing proof that the president colluded with a foreign power would absolutely not be subversive....neither was Manning or Snowden IMO. Whistleblowers are supposed to be exempt by law.

I agree, let's see it. That's up to Trump and his administration. They have the proof, pissed off congressmen and women don't.

False stories like this, now admitted lie, made up by a rabblerouser with zero evidence, just his own misinterpretation of other people's work, and spread knowingly by liars like you. When the left is presented with proof their suspicions are wrong, they tend to move on...but not the liars on the right.....birthers is all I need say, but it's FAR from the only example I can produce. Truth doesn't have a side, no matter how hard you wish it did, but lies and fantasy are the currency of this administration.

This is what's meant by "fake news". Totally made up bullshit designed to distract. Trump's ties to Russia are documented and admitted (sometimes...Trump can't keep his story straight). In 2014 he was bragging about his ongoing great personal friendship with Putin and their numerous recent personal meetings....now he claims to barely know Putin and that they haven't spoken for over 10 years....which is it?

Parents & Kids Smoke Weed Together for the First Time

Ex-cops smoke weed

Parents & Kids Smoke Weed Together for the First Time

Parents & Kids Smoke Weed Together for the First Time

Mother And Son Smoke Weed Together For The First Time

Parents & Kids Smoke Weed Together for the First Time

RT -- Chris Hedges on Media, Russia and Intelligence

bcglorf says...

@radx and @enoch

radx said:
Painting Truthout, Truthdig, Counterpunch, Alternet, BlackAgendaReport, NakedCapitalism and others as stooges of the Kremlin is such an obvious attempt to discredit dissenting voices that it's, quite frankly, rather offensive.

enoch said:
i have considered his works and found them informative and reflective of our current situation.

just as i have found:howard zinn,noam chomsky,amy goodman,jeremy scahill,laura poitrus,glenn greenwald,paul jay,richard d wolffe.

All of the outlets and authors listed above have been very thorough or exhaustive in documenting the evils of America or Capitalism(as represented by America). The length, depth and detail they have all given and time spent documenting any and every instance is almost breath taking. For a long time, I sort of sat closer to you both by looking at the merits of each instance and case weeding through which stories were accurate, which ones were complete, which ones were misleading or fair. Lots and lots of the coverage from those groups and individuals were very accurate.

Here's the counter balance though, how much time, detail and effort have all of those groups combined given to any positive outcomes of America or Capitalism(as represented by America). How much time, detail and effort have all of those groups combined given to the evils of any alternatives or opposing forces that would or did fill the voids were America isn't involved? It's crickets all around.

Chomsky's work alone could fill a library with the thorough documenting of America's evil corporate execution of class war on the workers of the world. How many books and documentaries can we count form the entire group that attempt anything similar for China, Russia, Middle Eastern nations, heck, the rest of the world combined?

I don't draw attention to this to point out that anything they have all observed is even wrong or incorrect. I draw attention to the glaring omission of similar documentation of alternatives. As it stands, a country like Russia couldn't dream of a better and more effective propaganda coup than the work of these groups and individuals. That doesn't in anyway say any of them are in allegiance with Russia, or even like anything about Russia. It still stands that even if Russia set out to discredit and smear America and leave itself looking clean, it couldn't pay people to do a better job of it. That's something worth considering and the deep, deep absence of balance and perspective that the listed sources represent is DAMAGING when taken in isolation.

Perhaps more pointedly, is the problem with Breitbart merely with it's fact checking department? They are, in as close as investigated them both, about on a Howard Zinn level for accuracy/honesty. None the less, it's the facts they willingly and knowingly leave out that makes them so damaging. The fact they fall right wing instead of left wing doesn't make their damage so much more appalling to me.

If your New Year's resolution is to quit smoking...

00Scud00 says...

The smokers seemed more amused than anything else really. Maybe they could make a better one that detects what brand you're smoking and makes pithy comments. Or one that detects weed and starts to get stoned.

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