
Organic GMOs Could Be the Future of Food – If We Let Them - dtawfik1
https://medium.com/backchannel/organic-gmos-could-be-the-future-of-food-if-we-let-them-fe304aa89554?curator=MediaREDEF
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rmason
I was working in the fertilizer business when GMO seed was first introduced. I
thought then and still do now that it was an incredible scientific
achievement.

I knew then we would use fewer chemicals and safer chemicals in food
production. It is beyond debate that this is true but the opponents do not
seem to be deterred.

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rndmind
I don't debate that genetic modification and the resulting plants are an
achievement. However, the idea of patenting a genetic sequence is absurd and
unnatural.

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nikolay
Although, in general, I support GMOs, it's too early for us to predict all
things that can go wrong with them. I'm tired of articles generalizing that if
10 GMOs are okay, then all GMOs should be okay, too. Also, it's against the
humane science to feed massive populations without adequate testing. And,
last, but not least - if a farmer wants to use GMOs and his neighbor farmer
does not, how can the former guarantee that he won't infect the crops of the
latter? How can anyone guarantee that GMO crops won't spread beyond the
boundaries of the farm and thus violate the IP of the GMO inventor? Also,
pairing a GMO with targeted pesticide is also highly debatable!

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rmason
In the US all the GMO's go through years of testing by the government. It can
take up to ten years to get approved, to me that is a fair compromise as to
potential future problems. From the earliest testing in the early eighties
we're going on 25+ years of data right now.

Neighbors and GMO's are a trickier problem. For seed fields there's a set
distance to prevent cross pollination. In practice for a row crop farmer if I
have say an organic farmer neighbor I use something different on the 12 rows
next to his fence. There is no law saying that I have to do it but in my
experience there are few problems.

The company I worked for had a custom spraying business and it was law that we
had to give notice to any registered organic farmer if our sprayers were
anywhere near them. If they asked us to change our schedule we'd do it.

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rndmind
We should follow russia's example.

