Pope Francis Slams GMOs and Pesticides for Destroying the Earth's 'Complex Web of Ecosystems'

[jeff47]

147. No, nature did it for 4.3 billion years.

Humans showed up and started manipulating plants 10,000 years ago.

Nature has its own proctectors (Fail Safes) in place.

Nope.

The oxygen now in our atmosphere nearly wiped out all life a few billion years ago. It's a toxic waste product from photosynthesis, and was deadly to almost every lifeform on Earth when cyanobactiera started dumping it into the atmosphere.

There was no "failsafe" or other protections. Lots and lots and lots of things died. A few things figured out how to withstand oxygen. And much later figured out how to use oxygen in respiration.

Since it takes thousands of years for evolution or "genetic selection", each natural generation will be a small variation of the original that has to be sustainable and reproduce on its own. Most of the time, there is no detectable variation.

Until humans showed up.

What is natural about grafting one apple tree onto another apple tree? It's how every single apple in the supermarket (and "all-natural, local organic farmer's market) is grown. Where's the tiny step in cutting off the top of one tree and sticking it on the bottom of another?

Another "Fail Safe" nature has in place is that two species can't cross breed unless they are the same species, and relatively close in size, constitution, and growing limits.

The creatures known as Mules say "Hi".

Also, there's lots of bacteria that breed across species boundaries, thanks to things like the F' plasmid.

GMO lobbies are trying desperately to connect what they do with nature's Natural Selection....and that is the BIG LIE.

There are many big lies involved. Some are being told by "GMO lobbies". Others are being told by "natural food" companies.

GMO is something NEW, not at all like Natural Selection.

How is bombarding pink grapefruit with gamma rays until it grows red grape fruit not "NEW"?

How is dumping a chemical mutagen on watermelon, causing it to produce 4 copies of its DNA instead of 2 not "NEW"?

GMO has NOT been tested by our FDA or USDA, but was approved by our politicians under a Grandfather clause...because it looked like the original

And here's where the "natural food" people are lying to you. People producing GMO crops have to demonstrate that the crop is not nutritionally different from the "natural" crop. Thus there is actual testing and FDA and USDA approvals.

But gamma rays on grapefruit? No testing. No approvals. Sell it as all-natural. Chemical mutagens on watermelon? Again, no testing, no approvals, sell it as all-natural.

Heck, I could use traditional hybridization techniques to combine nightshade and tomato plants. And I can sell it immediately. Sure, nightshade may mean the fruit is poisonous, but I can sell it. As all natural. And organic.

If lack of testing is your fear, you need to be worried about much more than just GMOs.

Do NOT spray bt during the daytime (when bees are active), but after dark,
and do NOT use the Bt powder which can be picked up by a bee and carried back to the hive.

Even better, have the plant make a much smaller concentration of Bt that can not get on the bee. Because it's inside the plant's tissues, not dumped all over the plant's flowers, nectar or pollen.

Oh, the toxin also lasts for much longer than one day. So doing it at night isn't terribly helpful.