kurtster wrote: 

We got rid of our microwave for cooking about 4 years ago (we use it as a mini faraday cage), if this makes me crazy ****shrug**** so be it.

 Lazy8 wrote: 
What is Facebook ?  

Not sure why you you put this here cuz I haven't seen anyone here try to say microwave ovens are the ruination of man or link it to the GMO issue.  

Perhaps the real problem is this Facebook thing you mention.  I hear that it lowers peoples IQ's simply by using it.  Of course I have no scientific evidence to back that up.  But I am sure that this micro aggression towards users of FB has offended everyone and made them all feel unsafe.

Then again there is this rumour circulating that Climate Change is 1000% beyond any shadow of anyone's doubt 100% man made.  There is absolutely no possibility of natural cycles of nature to be considered at any level because the science is 100% settled because 97% of all scientists say so.

But since you brought this up, name another common household kitchen appliance that is regulated by the FDA ?

 

 Lazy8 wrote: 
I saw that go by on facebook too. To be fair, the comments on the post were overwhelmingly on the side of "you people are nuts" with some pretty straightforward posts and links that talked about the benefits of microwave cooking.

More fun from the March Against Monsanto Facebook page.

I'm presenting this without comment other than this: I had some reservations about posting this here because there are probably people reading it so scientifically illiterate that the pseudoscience presented will make perfect sense. I reconciled myself to this by figuring that these people are lost causes, and that the benefit of exposing the quackery to those who haven't gargled this Kool-Aid outweighs the risk of affirmation for those who have.

 ScottFromWyoming wrote: 
As if you or these corporations give 2 shits about hunger in Africa. Or cancer rates that GMO's may cause, or any other malady.

Why the Addition of a Warning Label to Roundup Matters
Nathan Donley, a staff scientist with the Center for Biological Diversity, discusses the harmful side effects of the glyphosate.

Last week, the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) announced plans to label glyphosate—commonly known as the primary ingredient in the herbicide Roundup—as a cancer-causing chemical.

Proposition 65, voted into California law in 1986, requires the state to publish a list of chemicals linked to either cancer or birth defects. Any business putting consumers in contact with these chemicals is required to warn its customers about their potential hazards, either in the form of public notice, a workplace posting, or a label on the product. Environmentalists are rejoicing the state's announcement to label glyphosate as a carcinogen, hailing as it a key step toward eventually placing federal restrictions on the chemical.

We can thank Monsanto, the agrochemical and biotech powerhouse famously vilified in the 2008 documentary Food, Inc. for all those "Roundup Ready" corn and soy crops genetically modified to survive normally fatal doses of the glyphosate. Farmers, in effect, can plant Monsanto’s herbicide-tolerant crops and spray their entire fields with glyphosate to kill all other weeds. It's no wonder, then, that Roundup is the most commonly used glyphosate-based herbicide in the entire United States. Between 1990 and 2012, use of glyphosate on crops nationwide increased from 10 million pounds to more than 280 million pounds of the herbicide. (...)

Food Industry Enlisted Academics in G.M.O. Lobbying War, Emails Show

French court confirms Monsanto guilty of chemical poisoning

 islander wrote: 
When did you stop beating you wife ?

 islander wrote: 
Zevon.I hate that guy.

 kurtster wrote: 
Okay, who shall we deprive of food first?

 Lazy8 wrote: 
Sure, why not ?  No one is going to be eating it.

The main objection to GMO's is about what gets in the food chain.   A whole different animal if I may ...

 Lazy8 wrote: 
Heh.  20+ years ago, I did some lab grunt work for Dr. Randy Lewis trying to isolate certain proteins out of spider silk.  The goat thing was a brilliant move, and it's fascinating to me that this is still progressing (however slowly).

Amazing Spider Silk Made from Modified E.coli Bacteria

Thu, 08/27/2015 - 12:58pm by GE Reports


These are genetically modified organisms, making spider silk to be used in bandages (inherently antimicrobial without antibiotics) and very light, strong fabrics.

Is that OK with you?

How about e. coli modified to make insulin? Is that OK?

Depends on who makes it, maybe? Not if it's a huge corporation, one with the resources to finish the R&D and (a far bigger challenge) get it through the FDA approval process?

One with the resources to face down armies of ignorant activists waving their pitchforks and torches?

Maybe we just need more arbitrary barriers. Prove it's safe. Gin up some fake research that shows it causes some terrible effect, promote that research all over the world until repetition alone gives it credibility, then insist that massive amounts of biomedical resources be diverted to investigate the claims—money that won't be spent on legitimate research, won't cure disease, won't promote understanding of the world we live in—so we can prove once again that hysteria isn't the same thing as evidence?

Reject the results of that research, fixate on microscopic statistical anomalies in tiny samples, accuse the researchers of being bought and paid for, insist that they do it over and over in ever larger studies until one of them finds the smoking gun you'll insist is still there. Somewhere.

You can focus pressure on a legislature somewhere cowardly and ignorant enough to ban it, especially if the company leading commercialization is American. Europe is good for that, but anywhere is good. A victory! A model for the world! Onward!

I think about the progress we could be making—feeding the hungry, eliminating disease, improving the lives of billions of people—but that we aren't making, held back by superstition and scientific illiteracy. And I despair.

So, um, yay—spider silk! Three cheers.

Monsanto Bids to Take over Syngenta—a Move to Assure a Pesticide-Saturated Future?

 ScottFromWyoming wrote: 
I think their issues are beyond GMO/Non-GMO food. 

Well either way, it seems that most of the world is rejecting GMOs so there is hope:

EU AND ITS MEMBER STATES
The recently adopted revised EU regulation 90/220 on deliberate release does not contain direct provisions to enable Member States to declare GE free zones. A respective amendment introduced by the Parliament to give national authorities the unqualified power to take action to protect environmentally sensitive areas was lost. The safeguard clause on health and environmental protection derived from
the EU Treaty, known in the existing 90/220 as Article 16, still exists
as a mechanism for national protection but is intended to be only a
short-term measure pending arbitration at EU level. In practice this
Article has been invoked so far by six member states without any
enforcement measures being taken by the Commission to repeal the bans.
Italy: The four regions Tuscany, Molise, Lazio and Marche and
around 25 provinces, cities and communes banned GE crops, including Rome, Milan, Turin, Brescia and Genoa. These are all democratically-taken decisions in local or regional councils and in the case of Tuscany, the result has been ratified by the national government - the decision means that regional governments have been given the authority under Italian law to overturn decisions taken at EU level.
Austria: Bans on three GE maize (Novartis, Monsanto and AgrEvo), the Federal Institute for Less-Favoured and Mountainous Areas is pressing for GM free legislation and published a study on GE-free zones, initiatives in the States of Vorarlberg and Salzburg to ban GE trials.
France: ban of PGS and AgrEvo HR rapeseed
Germany: Ban of Novartis Bt maize. The initiative "No GE on communal land" of BUND (Friends of the Earth Germany) launched
activities in several German communities to discuss and vote on the
GE-free resolutions. Application are launched in: Bad Vilbel,
Blauenstein, Lahr, Konstanz, Hannover, Hamburg. Application are accepted in: M¸nchen, Reutlingen, Freidrichsdorf, Blomberg, Seligenstadt, Niddatal, Maintal, Riedstadt, Adendorf, Schwebheim, Pinneberg, Schwabach, Langenhagen, Wyhe, Burgdorf, Neetze, District Traunstein. Several protestant regional church organisations: banned GE crops from their land: Hannover, Hessen und Nassau, Sachsen, Protestantic Church of Westfalen, Protestantic Church in Berlin-Brandenburg, Church Province of Sachsen.
Luxembourg: Ban of Novartis Bt maize.
Portugal: Ban of Novartis Bt maize.
Greece: Ban of AgrEvo HR rapeseed, moratorium of GE crop trials.
Spain: The Basque Government went for a five year blanket
moratorium for GMOs. The Basque Government claims full powers for agricultural policy and thus that they can provisionally ban GMOs if they so wish. The three provinces of Castilla-La Mancha and Baleares banned GE food, AndalucÌa declared a five year moratorium on GE crop trials and GE food.
UK: The Church of England has refused permission for GE crop trials on 60,000 hectares of its land, dozens of local authorities supply GE
free school lunches, the House of Commons banned GE foods for its
catering. The vote of the Welsh Assembly to keep Wales GE free was
counteracted by the ministry of Agriculture approving a GE maize variety.
The Island of Jersey banned GE crops.

OTHERS
Switzerland: Although a center of GE science and industry, only two trials with GE potatoes in 1991/92 have been performed until now.
Norway: Banned the import of several GE crops and products which
contain antibiotic resistance genes.
Australia: The State of Tasmania banned GE rapeseed as weed, Western Australia has banned commercial GE planting. Australian States are given the right to declare themselves GE
free. Some communities (e.g. Bondi/Sydney, West Wimmera Shire) declared
themselves GE free.
New Zealand: Some local bodies in Auckland and Wellington have declared themselves GM free. Trials with GE salmon have been blocked by the government.
Thailand: Banned imports of 40 GE crops for commercial planting, but not for research purposes.
Philippines: The community of Valencia called for a five-year moratoria on GE food and GE crop trials and commercialization.
The Philippine president announced a moratorium on GE crop research.
Saudi Arabia: Banned food that are made from GMOs and declared not to import GE wheat.
Egypt: Declared not to import GE wheat.
Algeria: Banned the import, distribution, commercialisation and utilization of GE plants except for research purposes.
Brazil: Planting GE seeds is prohibited by federal law in Brazil for the time being, the States of Rio Grande do Sul and Mato Grosso do Sul have declared their intentions to remain GM-free, 18 States
called upon the Central government to block commercial GE crop planting.
Paraguay: The Ministry of Agriculture plans to ban GE crops from
commercial planting.
USA: Various bills calling for moratoria on GE food (Vermont), bans of GE wheat (North Dakota, Montana) have been filed within the last year. Several municipalities declared moratoria on GE food (Burlington/Vermont), bans of GE crops (City of Boulder/Colorado),
or urged the federal government to ban GE food (City and County of San Francisco/California). Many attempts to adopt such bills or resolutions failed in the past.
GENET will update the situation in the USA in a subsequent GE-free Newsletter.

 ScottFromWyoming wrote: 
It's (more) complicated.

 black321 wrote: 
Africa might disagree.