[PINeely]

I made edits to my first post including links to studies and such.

Originally Posted by bmw325i

You contradict yourself quite a bit. Russia and china are also rejecting our genetically modified food so at this point it is hurting the U.S economy.

Why is this a contradiction? First of all, they are rejecting other foods besides GMO. Second, their rejection doesn't mean that people in Zambia aren't starving right now because someone convinced Mwanawasa that they would be better off without our corn. As you already stated, their refusal of our corn is politically motivated. Zambia's refusal was on the basis that the crop was GMO and could harm the people who ate it (it can't).

There is a difference between natural breeding and inserting genes from a different species.

There really isn't actually. Both are a means to the same end: a crop which has been modified through gene selection to better benefit society. The difference is that one takes days and the other takes centuries, which is a time frame that our growing population can't accommodate. Neither is going to make you grow a new set of feet as shown by the previously linked studies.

Almost all genetic modification is done for pesticide or herbicide resistance and in the case of bt corn the plant itself produces the pesticide.

It's a double-edged sword. GMO crops also produce much more food per square acre, grow more quickly, are more resistant to poor conditions and can be grown in a wider variety of places. So yes, we have pesticide-resistant insects but we also have more food. If you grew everything naturally you could feed maybe 2/3 of the world's population at absolute best and people in harsh climates would be hung out to dry. So even though downsides exist, they are outweighed by the benefits of everyone not starving to death.

The reason Monsanto owns the patent on soybeans is because they are genetically modified.

I know. Is the GMO soybean the one running farmers out of business and suing them for using heirloom seeds? This is an issue with Monsanto as a company, not the GMO crop itself.

So your saying that your body is going to acclimate to be able to handle high levels of glyphosate (roundup) and 2,4-d (agent orange).

Absolutely not (although we will build up negligible tolerances, sure). I'm saying that we are genetically modifying our food to suit our needs as a national and world population, and that by the same token we are adjusting our population to GMO. In other words, the shit is here to stay and it's for the better.