14 replies to this topic

[A.Mullins]

What are peoples view on GMO's? Should we be using them or not?

[Charles.C]

What are peoples view on GMO's? Should we be using them or not?

In view of the origin, are you referring to potatoes by any chance ? for example

 

http://www.technolog...modified-foods/

http://www.technolog...ato-in-ireland/

 

http://www.takepart....fry-your-future

 

or perhaps the more general issue ?

http://www.foodsafet...modified-foods/

(note criticisms in comments section)

 

Rgds / Charles.C

[A.Mullins]

It was more of as general query with relation to oil production using soybeans etc. From what I can see it seems to be a bit of a grey area. What are the risks attached to using Genetically Modified soybean?.

[GMO]

Risks to health are probably none but, despite my name, I remain skeptical.  I don't know if this is still the case but in the early days of GM foods the plants were cloned by cuttings etc.  This would result in vastly reduced genetic diversity which could then result in disease problems later.  Certainly from what little I know, genetic diversity is generally a good thing.  Also I worry about the crops which are resistent to weedkillers becoming weeds in themselves.

 

A lot is also made of the potential to the third world but, in general I think this is overplayed; partly because some of the GMO foodstuffs are made to be resistant to a certain brand of weedkiller, meaning you then have to buy that weedkiller but also because it's even much worse than buying F1 hybrids if you have clones surely?  The next generation of seeds would be useless meaning you'd need to buy new each season.

 

So my concerns are more environmental.

[Myusername]

Health Related: not worried

 

Environment: Problematic, over use of pesticides and resistant volunteer weeds, som plants don't need gmo tampering like alfalfa.

 

Business related: Terrible, causes too few to have too much power over our food chain, people lose the freedom to chose what they want to eat, farmers lose the power to grow what they want

[Charles.C]

Dear A.Mullins,

 

As previous post, from a purely health-related viewpoint the "experts" seem to have concluded that there is no case to oppose GMO related products which are currently commercially available. Numerous publications with this conclusion exist on the net. i am guessing soyabeans are no exception.

 

However, this presumably does not exclude the possibility of someone targetting the design of such an  inimical product. And so-called Frankenfoods  perhaps ?.

 

http://en.wikipedia....d_controversies

http://en.wikipedia....rankenfood_Myth

 

Rgds / Charles.C

[Penard]

A. Mullins,

 

To complete the previous feedbacks and answer your question we have to answer 1) facts 2) people views 3) concrete reactions

 

Thousands and thousands tests have been done to ensure the inocuity of GMOs for humans. Up to now these tests have not shown any deviation on a health-related aspect as stated by Charles C.

On an environmental perspective we had recently the evidence in South Africa (Sept. 2013) that a high level of resistance can be developed by pests targeted. So unlike scientific expectations the population of pests targeted by the genetic evolution grew...and the average of destruction of the crops after the use of GMO is more or less the level before its use : where is the added value...and what about the negative effects as underlined by 'our GMO ;-)'!

 

To know more - this site is interesting because this is a factual & neutral one :

http://en.ird.fr/the...ant-to-gm-maize

 

 

Let's consider now the peoples view on GMOs. The worldwide perception is far to be homogeneous. Enthousiasm in America - North and South, from April 2013 no prosecution possible in USA for GMO plantations.

Africa seems not to have a clear approach on them - if someone has a clear and global approach I'm interested.

 

European people are the most reluctant & suspicious - cf the 2010 european union report attached. In short 80% of european people are not comfortable with GMOs. The most 'enthusiastic' are Czech rep & slovakia (35% ok), the less ones are the french (15%). So in spite of slight local differences there is an european alignment.

 

They clearly consider there is a grey area. There are so many datas, different scientific approaches and passion that they do not really know which ones they can rely on.

Several reasons could explain this position - this would be interesting to develop but it does not answer the question 'what are peoples view on GMOs'

 

 

As a consequence in Europ the ratio risk for the image of the company/ advantages is clearly not in favor of GMOs. Whatever the products you manufacture - either finished products for consumers or products for the food industry like soybeans.

 

Consumers are always right...so the common sense is to align with their expectations.

so I would recommend no use of GMO for the european market = this is currently the position of big and pragmatic companies like Nestlé (might be a wordlwide position but I'm not 100% sure)

If  you export products from Ireland to North or South America I would say 'why not using GMOs' as this is not as touchy as in Europ.

 

For Africa and Asia...honestly I don't know - who could help

 

For me GMO use is a never ending debate so at the end I think this is a business decision to use or not to use...I hope above elements will help you

[Penard]

Enclosed the 2010 eurobarometer

Attached Files

•  ebs_341_en.pdf   7.52MB   15 downloads

[chongts]

In Malaysia, GMO food has been in the market for many years. Debate still going on, but generally we accept it with some doubt over the long term use of such food.

 

Recently Malaysia government mandate the GMO labelling, so that consumer have more information about what consumer is buying and consuming.

 

The Malaysia regulatory covers pre-market approval, enforcement, and post-market monitoring;

 

1. Biosafety Act 2007 (Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, NRE) - to regulate the release, importation, exportation and contained use of Living modified organisms (LMO), and the release of products of such organisms.

 

2. Food Regulations 1985, ammended in 2010 (Ministry of Health, MOH) - to enforce GMP labelling

 

The regulations is expected to enforce in july 2014.

[Charles.C]

Dear Penard,

 

Thank you for the fascinating document. I wonder what it cost to produce ?

 

The focus on "EC Perceptions on Biotechnology" seems to wander a little – eg from the conclusions in exec.summary -

 

believe that protecting human rights is favoured more than fighting crime and terrorism.

 

believe  that  reducing  economic  inequalities  is  more  important  than  having strong global companies.

 

I was surprised at the lack of  text comments regarding  accuracy. The claimed reliability is summarised on page (218/385) and prefaced by this probably invalid statistical statement  –

 

With samples of about 1,000 interviews, the real percentages vary within the following confidence limits:

(the location of the true percentage is unknown, should have stated something more like "the true percentage is predicted to be within the limits shown with a confidence of Z%")

 

Nonetheless, some of the results are intriguing, eg

 

From the total number of respondents who had never heard of GM foods, 38% didn’t know whether the development of  GM food should be encouraged (or presumably not).

 

Only 38%!.  Implies that majority of EC inhabitants are very willing to make blind guesses.   A possible implication with respect to the remainder of the poll ?.

 

Rgds / Charles.C

[GMO]

Just one question; if you have limited genetic diversity; it doesn't half leave your supply chain open to bioterrorism...  Perhaps worth a thought!

[Penard]

thanks chongts; it appears that some questions - and debates - are common between our 2 continents! we have also a restrictive regulation in Europ regarding the labelling & GMOs.

 

 

Charles. C, yes this is a very instructive document and I haven't found any equivalent of this document for any other continent - or group of countries.

So I won't blame money spent for this 'eurobarometer' - if only taxes were always used in such an useful way I would be happier when I will go and elect next June the european parliament!

 

To precise your point, 16% of european people have never heard about GMOs, and 38% of them have no idea if we have / or not to encourage GMO. At the end it represents 6% of the population - hopefully not so many

 

Re-reading the document the proportion of european people regarding GMOs is 2/3 not ok versus 1/3 ok. Would be a matter of interest to track the evolution in 2014-2015

[Snookie]

GMO's or hybrids, I am concerned we are getting too specialized in our seed lines and don't have enough diversity.  With the speed at which disease, plant or otherwise travel it could quickly become a global disaster.   

Edited by Snookie, 10 January 2014 - 02:16 PM.

[Penard]

Yes, at the end it would represent a risk on the environment

 

This point is shared by most of the participants of the topic - but coming from US it's more than interesting!

 

Snookie what is the global perception of your countrymen&women on the subject? Is it a topic that is regularly discussed around you, or globally accepted - as such not a matter of discussion?

[Snookie]

Yes, at the end it would represent a risk on the environment

 

This point is shared by most of the participants of the topic - but coming from US it's more than interesting!

 

Snookie what is the global perception of your countrymen&women on the subject? Is it a topic that is regularly discussed around you, or globally accepted - as such not a matter of discussion?

 

Coming from a background in produce, while there is at least some awareness, am not sure it rises much beyond that level overall.  When you get into the retail areas where there is a focus on organic there is more discussion about it.  Most customers and by that I mean the big ones such as the large grocery store chains and foodservice companies address whether they are being sent any GMO's but most that it does not seem that their concern level rises above that.  My background is mostly in processing so growers may in fact be seeing more discussion than I see.  From my perspective I see a very small level of discussion especially based on the importance of the issues.