Anti-GMO scientist Gilles-Eric Seralini, and Jeffrey Smith withdraw from food biotech debate. - Polidicks

[img]http://b-i.forbesimg.com/jonentine/files/2013/05/Screen-Shot-2013-05-29-at-1.21.48-PM.png[/img] Depressing that they use children for this, and the claim that pesticides cause autism. [quote]As the Genetic Literacy Project reports, over the weekend, the cartoonish ‘March Against Monsanto’ played out in many cities across the United States and the world, invariably to small crowds—although the organizers and anti-biotech NGOs did their best to claim inflated numbers in an attempt to garner headlines. One of the biggest disappointments for organizers was in Denver, where an estimated two hundred people (organizers had predicted 5,000) turned out to hear anti biotech author and activist Jeffrey Smith rail against Monsanto. Jeffrey Smith earlier last week withdrew from the planned “Great Biotechnology” debate scheduled for June 4 at the CATO Institute in Washington, DC. The event was shaping up to be a genuine first—a civil discussion between pro-science advocates sympathetic to the role of biotechnology in food and farming and opponents who believe transgenic foods are harmful to humans and animals. Smith, if you’re not familiar with him, founded an organization known as the Institute for Responsible Technology. He’s written two anti-biotech self-published books and produced a documentary narrated by the wife of Dr. Mehmet Oz, whose show he has appeared on numerous times to rail against Monsanto and crop biotechnology. Oz often characterizes Smith as a “scientist.” However his employment history reflects no formal training in any aspect of science, let alone biotechnology. Keith Kloor, who writes a respected blog for Discover, refers to him as a prototypical purveyor of pseudo-science. “He is the equivalent of an anti-vaccine leader, someone who is quite successful in spreading fear and false information,” Kloor writes.[/quote] [url]http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonentine/2013/05/29/anti-gmo-scientist-gilles-eric-seralini-activist-jeffrey-smith-withdraw-from-food-biotech-debate/[/url]

Addition by subtraction

"Anti-GMO scientist" I can't stop laughing

How do pesticides cause autism when it's a genetic disorder? Genetic food = Human genetics obviously

[QUOTE=Sobotnik;40847407][img]http://b-i.forbesimg.com/jonentine/files/2013/05/Screen-Shot-2013-05-29-at-1.21.48-PM.png[/img] Depressing that they use children for this, and the claim that pesticides cause autism. [/QUOTE] Whats wrong with having children participate in a march?

[QUOTE=Troll;40847544]Whats wrong with having children participate in a march?[/QUOTE] It's more of a pathetic appeal to emotion and the fact that the signs are lies and make no sense.

[QUOTE=Troll;40847544]Whats wrong with having children participate in a march?[/QUOTE] [img]http://kkk.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/ku_klux_klan_children.jpg[/img]

norman borlaugh should rise from the dead and slap the anti-GMO 'scientists' i dont understand, if they're against GMO, what's their plan to feed starving millions like the GMOs did?

One of the people mentioned in the article, in addition to organizing recent anti-gmo marches and inflating the numbers of protesters, claims to levitate using his mind. [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_M._Smith[/url] [quote]Smith was a Natural Law Party member in 1996 and participated in a TM-Sidhi program yogic flying demonstration in Des Moines, Iowa.[6][/quote]

[QUOTE=Troll;40847544]Whats wrong with having children participate in a march?[/QUOTE] The child doesn't know if what they are marching for is right or not, they just believe their parents. If they spend their childhood marching against GM crops then chances are they will continue to do so when they are older. It doesn't matter if their cause is right or just, it removes the child's ability to make their own decision on the subject through what is effectively indoctrination.

[QUOTE=squids_eye;40847616]The child doesn't know if what they are marching for is right or not, they just believe their parents. If they spend their childhood marching against GM crops then chances are they will continue to do so when they are older. It doesn't matter if their cause is right or just, it removes the child's ability to make their own decision on the subject through what is effectively indoctrination.[/QUOTE] Yea, you're right, I'd rather have my son sit at home and play video games... Assuming that the parents are trying to indoctrinate them is just that, making assumptions. The parents could also be trying to show their kids that participating in such matters is always important.

What is bad about GMO anyway? I always thought it was good to produce more food for more people more time in the year. Maybe I don't fully understand what's going on here.

GMOs are okay but the anti-monsanto people need to get their shit together. [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neonicotinoid#Links_to_decline_in_bee_population[/url]

[QUOTE=Badballer;40847737]What is bad about GMO anyway?[/QUOTE] Nothing at all. The rest is just fear.

[QUOTE=Troll;40847672]Yea, you're right, I'd rather have my son sit at home and play video games... Assuming that the parents are trying to indoctrinate them is just that, making assumptions. The parents could also be trying to show their kids that participating in such matters is always important.[/QUOTE] Kids literally build religions around their parents. If they are bringing them any political event of sorts, you can be sure the kid is going to have the same opinion as their parents.

[QUOTE=Sobotnik;40847407][img]http://b-i.forbesimg.com/jonentine/files/2013/05/Screen-Shot-2013-05-29-at-1.21.48-PM.png[/img][/QUOTE] this doesn't even make any sense. people should focus less on GMO crops as a whole and more about the use of pesticides, and how it's killing off all the crop pollinators. that should be the main goal of the anti-monsanto movement. probably the most legitimate concern of the anti-GMO movement is the potential effects of genetic modifications that produce insecticides within the organisms (Bt is the most prominent example) on crop pollinators, but that's just a specific [I]kind[/I] of modification, not the use of modifications as a whole.

[QUOTE=Sobotnik;40847800]Nothing at all. The rest is just fear.[/QUOTE] In fairness, Monsanto is engaged in some pretty shady practices, but I can't deny GMOs themselves are pretty much harmless.

[QUOTE=asteroidrules;40847859]In fairness, Monsanto is engaged in some pretty shady practices, but I can't deny GMOs themselves are pretty much harmless.[/QUOTE] Although Monsantos record isn't clean, a lot of the things said about it are irritatingly exaggerated or done without reference to how the legal system works, or how some things (such as terminator seeds) are claimed to be used when they don't even exist.

[QUOTE=Sobotnik;40847800]Nothing at all. The rest is just fear.[/QUOTE] wait did you just dismiss that there might be a problem with GMOs? You can't be serious.

[QUOTE=Sobotnik;40847800]Nothing at all. The rest is just fear.[/QUOTE] A lot of GM crops have been modified in such a way that it is harmful to certain bugs that want to eat it. These pesticidal crops replacing wild crops would be pretty bad for the ecosystem.

[QUOTE=Troll;40847912]wait did you just dismiss that there might be a problem with GMOs? You can't be serious.[/QUOTE] Mainstream science has found nothing wrong. [editline]31st May 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=ravenhurst;40847974]A lot of GM crops have been modified in such a way that it is harmful to certain bugs that want to eat it. These pesticidal crops replacing wild crops would be pretty bad for the ecosystem.[/QUOTE] And farmers already spread pesticides on their crops.

[QUOTE=Troll;40847672]Yea, you're right, I'd rather have my son sit at home and play video games... Assuming that the parents are trying to indoctrinate them is just that, making assumptions. The parents could also be trying to show their kids that participating in such matters is always important.[/QUOTE] It doesn't matter if they intend to or not. If they want to teach their children that participating in activism is good then they should encourage the child to choose their own cause rather than dragging them to a rally and telling them what to believe.

Watch as Japan bans GMOs and the autism rate still goes up, just like it did with the vaccination bullshit.

pesticides gave me autism [QUOTE=Sobotnik;40848042]Mainstream science has found nothing wrong.[/QUOTE] grrr two stripes are off in your avatar avatar

[QUOTE=Sobotnik;40848042]Mainstream science has found nothing wrong. [editline]31st May 2013[/editline] And farmers already spread pesticides on their crops.[/QUOTE] yep the neonicotinoids kill the bees meanwhile the bt corn kills the monarchs its an ecological catastrophe waiting to happen

[QUOTE=ravenhurst;40848313]yep the neonicotinoids kill the bees meanwhile the bt corn kills the monarchs its an ecological catastrophe waiting to happen[/QUOTE] he's got a point about the bees. to put it briefly, one of the major concerns is that it's linked to the inability of bees to return to their hives. [url]http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/03/29/10921493-neonicotinoid-pesticides-tied-to-crashing-bee-populations-2-studies-find?lite[/url] [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neonicotinoid#Links_to_decline_in_bee_population[/url] [url]http://www.americanscientist.org/science/pub/colony-collapse-disorder-linked-to-neonicotinoids[/url] [url]http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2012/04/new-studies-colony-collapse-disorder.html[/url] [editline]30th May 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=Sobotnik;40848042]And farmers already spread pesticides on their crops.[/QUOTE] "problem B is similar to problem A, therefore we should ignore problem B" do you not see the issue with this kind of logic

[QUOTE=ravenhurst;40848313]yep the neonicotinoids kill the bees meanwhile the bt corn kills the monarchs its an ecological catastrophe waiting to happen[/QUOTE] Do you have any evidence for this? Repeating things you found on biased web sites doesn't prove your argument.

[QUOTE=joes33431;40848447]he's got a point about the bees. to put it briefly, one of the major concerns is that it's linked to the inability of bees to return to their hives. [url]http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/03/29/10921493-neonicotinoid-pesticides-tied-to-crashing-bee-populations-2-studies-find?lite[/url] [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neonicotinoid#Links_to_decline_in_bee_population[/url] [url]http://www.americanscientist.org/science/pub/colony-collapse-disorder-linked-to-neonicotinoids[/url] [url]http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2012/04/new-studies-colony-collapse-disorder.html[/url] [editline]30th May 2013[/editline] "problem B is similar to problem A, therefore we should ignore problem B" do you not see the issue with this kind of logic[/QUOTE] Bees are important as fuck and their population has been dropping ever since this shit went on the market. Their absence has the capacity to start the fucking apocalypse.

[QUOTE=Troll;40847672]Yea, you're right, I'd rather have my son sit at home and play video games... Assuming that the parents are trying to indoctrinate them is just that, making assumptions. The parents could also be trying to show their kids that participating in such matters is always important.[/QUOTE] Hah. Bullshit. Look at these kids, they can't be much older than about 7 or 8. Do you think, for even a second, that they not only know about genetically modified food, but are intelligent enough to decide for themselves a side for this debate?

[QUOTE=Troll;40847544]Whats wrong with having children participate in a march?[/QUOTE] it's inherently dangerous to some degree. protests and marches can often be broken up by police or someone might incite violence and cause a riot. the last thing you want is your children in the middle of a crowd of police firing cs gas or sting grenades.