Re: genetically modified bananas are here
 

I grow a GM crop planted with seed developed by Monsanto. I don't have a problem with them prohibiting me from collecting its seed for planting. I have plenty of other options and could buy seed from other companies but I make the decision it's worth it for me.

Some people will complain about it and think they should be able to plant seeds with the genes put in place by Monsanto even though they agreed not to. The cases that I think really stinks is where someone plants a crop and he genetically modified crops of neighbors cross-breed with it and then Monsanto sometimes will take legal action to prohibit them from planting the seed from their own crop even though they've never made an agreement to do so. Sometimes it is gray as someone will intentionally plant something next to a neighbor that they wouldn't otherwise. In other cases, I think Monsanto should be buying them replacement seed. Many times it is hard to tell, though.

Re: genetically modified bananas are here
 

I cut out bits - hope I haven't altered the gist of your comments.

Monsanto won't allow independent testing of their products. That's why Mopnsanto is bad and their products are dangerous - its like tobacco companies telling you everything is AOK - but refusing to let you test their products independently.

Pig and cattle farmers in the USA and Canada complain about their animals becoming sterile when fed GM products. - - no testing available because of the licence agreement

Ecuador Columbia and Bolivia are sueing the USA for spraying Monsantos zero/round up/glysophate - - the chemical is causing the same problems in their populations as agent orange did in Vietnam - again no testing of the product why??

Monsanto is one of the major political donors in Australia - is it in the USA?

monsanto is dangerous

one member here says they gladly grow monsantios crops - good. As a consumer give me the option to chose if I want to eat monsantos products - you can't - your supplier of seed refuses to let you segregate the crop.

This is where market forces come into it - if you are fair dinkum about market forces - label the crops and let me the consumer chose.

I mentioned before about a major chicken producer dumping USA corn because it was contaminated with GM corn - even KFC over here has come out and said it won't buy chicken fed on GM corn..... what does KFC in the USA say/

Re: genetically modified bananas are here
 

Did someone say "testing" of GMO's? :ha:

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Re: genetically modified bananas are here
 

Don't you all become so fixed on crops that you forget GM has done a lot of good in medicine -- my cousin for example.

Re: genetically modified bananas are here
 

Pardisi - much independent testing is done of Monsanto products in the USA. Such testing has been required for licensing of their pesticides to begin with and also for permitting their crop seeds to be marketed. My license agreement with Monsanto in no way prohibits me from doing any form of testing. I believe there is some reason to be concerned over large companies gaining too much control over our food supply but also think too much misinformation gets spread around.

Re: genetically modified bananas are here
 

I'm all for it. Have you tried to grow sweet corn or field corn without it--as opposed to the kind that's GM?
When you can produce unsprayed sweet corn into September without worms in it, and sell it at the farmers market without any problems with people finding worms, that's a thing of beauty. Of course we tell people it's GM corn, but which would you rather have? gene spliced corn, or sprayed corn? I prefer the spliced myself. And it's cheaper to produce too.
Even with spraying, late sweet corn will usually have about 30% or more ears with worms. And I'm talking having to spray once a week or so for a month.
No matter how many people at the market SAY that they're in favor of non altered corn, if you shuck back a couple of ears of each, guess which ones are preferred/sold?
That's why they're doing it. And I can see how that would be very helpful in developing countries that can't afford sprays. Their production would skyrocket per acre. Wouldn't that help end world hunger?
There are many sides to any argument. But with so many people wanting to "go green" I can't see why this wouldn't be helpful.
I just wish they'd get cucumbers/pumpkins/zucchini that's spliced to resist the cucumber beetles!

Re: genetically modified bananas are here
 

Actually:

1. Abnormally depressed or aggressive people are often prescribed SSRI drugs, but if they have poor consultation, misguided prescriptions, or stopped their medications they do "go postal"
2. I did not give SSRI as an example of gene splicing being a good thing. I said that if you object to the chemistry of GMO then you should also object to the chemistry of SSRI.

Re: genetically modified bananas are here
 

This is an interesting topic to be sure. One that we will all likely never agree on. I grew up on a farm and we grew corn, wheat, soybeans, etc. When I was growing up you really never heard of GM crops, though they were probably there. It seems like this really got big around the time I was in college (I graduated in 1995) and even moreso since. I think that GMO's are probably the wave of the future, for better or worse. I personally think that a lot of good has and will continue to come from GMO's but I do agree that there should be full disclosure/testing/labeling. It only seems right. It's good for us to have this converstation, though, as I think it is a good way for us all to get a little more educated on the topic.

Re: genetically modified bananas are here
 

I buy organic corn with worms and appreciate the fact that they are there! A few missing kernels doesn't matter to me.

Re: genetically modified bananas are here
 

There is a simple cure for the whole issue. Put the genes for strawberry flavor into a water melon. No one, except for a fringe few, is going to complain about at 25# strawberry with the shippability of a watermelon, the shelf life of a watermelon and the ease of preparation of a watermelon. Then do the same with peach flavor genes. Anyone going to object to a 25# peach with no fuzzy skin to peel? Oh, and the strawberry melon and peach melon will be 30 cents a pound, not $3/lb as peaches are, or $3/basket as strawberries are. Suddenly very few will be so anti-GM.

Re: genetically modified bananas are here
 

monsanto will be wrong, the devil incarnate, a terrible company until the day they allow me to chose if I want to purchase their product or not.

give me a choice. give me a label. don't mix GM products with ordinary food products unless they are labelled as such. I'll even take sweet corn with worms in it. (extra protein)

let the market chose.

Re: genetically modified bananas are here
 

I wonder if they could modify a banana plant to survive my zone 5 winters. Maybe cross with an opuntia from our region. :-)

Re: genetically modified bananas are here
 

There are a lot of good things that can come from GM plants. I heard of one (not seen the results), where they put a gene from a potato, into a strawberry. This gene was a frost resistant one; it was one of very many in the makeup of the strawberry, and it didn't make the berry taste like a potato, but it gave the berry plants greater frost resistance. Around here, strawberry crops can get wiped out by one late frost. Isn't this little insurance helpful?

Re: genetically modified bananas are here
 

Did you know that organic corn is sprayed with the Bt protein? It is used as an organic pesticide.

Re: genetically modified bananas are here
 

Not the corn I buy with worms actively eating it!

Btw, I'm not scared of BT and have used it on my own flower gardens to control caterpillars like the cabbage moth from completely destroying them.

Re: genetically modified bananas are here
 

Then there is the way they GM food crops to resist herbicides so that they can spray more often to keep weeds down - can't be right..... It could all be used for the greater good - but they have lost their way and corporate greed and profit has taken over - think of the increased sales of herbicides.

Re: genetically modified bananas are here
 

That is the opposite of what takes place, actually. Glyphosate resistant plants allow spraying with something that is more effective in killing the weed and allows for fewer sprays and the use of less toxic herbicide. I know this very well from personal experience. I grow conventional and "Roundup Ready" alfalfa and can sometimes get by with one spray per year for both but in a year with a lot of weed pressure the conventional will require a second spray. When I spray the conventional I use a combination of three herbicides and must wear a respirator. Glyphosate has a much lower toxicity level and a respirator is not needed. The main risk of glyphosate is the surfactant contained in it is hazardous to amphibians so care must be taken when applying to open waterways. Growers have similar experiences with "Roundup Ready" corn (field corn grown for grain, not for human consumption). To control broadleaf weeds in conventional corn the standard treatment is the use of 2,4-D which is very volatile and fumes can drift and cause damage to vineyards located even up to a mile away (or more). Both conventional and Roundup Ready corn are usually sprayed only once for weeds as the plant height quickly reduces the chance for weeds to compete.

Re: genetically modified bananas are here
 

Thanks Harvey for some real data to counteract what I had read and heard. Please don't take my comments as a personal attack for growing GM crops - it is mostly fear of the unknown and the suspicion that we have no choice in the matter. Look at the way that the world's soya supply has been contaminated by mixing GM and non-GM soya so that no-one can avoid it unless they refuse to eat pre - prepared or processed foods. For over 15 years our family has avoided eating anything that has not been prepared from scratch - but what has been fed to the meat we eat?

Sorry to be a pain when I know that farmers have a hard life - without you we would all starve!! I just don't trust the big corporations not to lie!!

Re: genetically modified bananas are here
 

Give me a slap and tell me to stop!!!

Re: genetically modified bananas are here
 

No problem, I did not take it as a personal attack at all and know that it is hard to get actual experiences with many of these things. And don't feel too bad for farmers...the work can be hard but right now it is pretty rewarding. Seems a bright spot in the economy, though some sectors are having troubles.

Funny thing.... I'm not about to say I have no concern about GM crops....and when I'm out irrigating alfalfa, etc. I will sometimes grab a stem of it and chew it. If I'm in a field of GM alfalfa I sometimes think "what am I doing?" and spit it out! lol I don't know why I chew on that cow food anyway since it don't really care for it...just seems like the "thing to do". ;)