Transgenic and social consciousness.

Transgenic and social consciousness. Interview with Dr. Victor Manuel Toledo Manzur

OBJECTIVES

It seeks to generate interest in spreading popular empirical knowledge, wisdom accumulated by indigenous peoples, represent strong alternative for better agricultural development in our country.

PURPOSE

In this brief interview kindly granted Dr. Toledo Manzur, tells us his opinion on the use of GMOs, their impact on the ecology, its insertion in the current trade and other issues.

PROBLEM

Being the spawn of transgenic science and technology for corporations, governments around the world are continually pressured by these giant companies looking all facilities to sell massively, and any social an environmental costs, your goods. This is not an innovation arising from a public university or government institution which still dominates the social interest.

THEORY

It is false that GM foods, at least until we know today, help increase the production of healthy food. The great majority of designs respond to pest problems or environmental stress (such as soil), and almost none raises yields or productivity. Furthermore, although there is no direct evidence of potential harm to human health (although there are reports of impacts on laboratory animals), the potential for genetic pollution damage is unimaginable. No one knows what will happen, and how long, these genetically engineered organisms in relation to the rest of the agro- diversity and everyone alive. It's like leaving uncontrolled nuclear plant, with the difference that the effects of radioactivity are most visible and obvious that the genetic modification of organisms.

There is growing evidence indicating that we are facing a structural crisis, facing a crisis of civilization. A social, ecological, energy crisis, today added the financial, economic and political. Two major processes , one demographic and economic one , represented by the machine of the population ( each year add 70 to 80 million new human beings) and the accumulator machine capital ( we have reached the pinnacle of economic gains for minority sector ) make a world of immense social inequality , crumbly , and a planet permanently threatened by predation and ecological imbalance. In this increasingly difficult context, the search for an "alternative modernity" of a sustainable society, it becomes urgent and must indicate the organic or organic farming.

CONCLUSION

Humanity versus worrying future be increasingly divided into two blocks: the "demented monkeys" and "sapient or conscious monkeys." The battle will be among nearly two different "species", one whose blindness, cynicism, individualism and / or ignorance will work for the disaster or the abyss, and the other whose mind will be able to become aware and act cautious manner, solidarity and humane. The case of GM food is only one of the tracks or the scenarios in this battle. Each of us will go lining either side as the crisis goes by more acute.

http://www.revista.unam.mx/vol.10/num4/art23/int23.htm

Franco Sánchez Ana Karen

If you have not been clear what is GM food, why do not you see these videos? They are short and specific! (:

GM Food and Bioethics

At present, the genetic modification of plants, animals and other organisms has intensified and has allowed developed increasingly sophisticated methods. The creation of transgenic foods, their use and distribution have generated various positions, because there is uncertainty about its effects on human health or the environment. Bioethics is, then, to question what is the best environment for the development of new technologies in food and put in the balance the ideas of the sectors that support or reject the production and use of genetically modified organisms, and thus promotes free and clear knowledge of the information contained in these products. The effects that GM food and its impact on the political, market, society and the environment are some of the points made ​​in this interview played Dr. Enrique Linares Jorge Salgado, Dr. of Philosophy , postgraduate Coordinator in Philosophy of Science, Institute for Philosophical Research , UNAM, who speaks from the perspective of Bioethics and Philosophy of Science from the broad debate that has been around this topic.  
Revista Digital Universitaria : What is the role of bioethics to the production of so-called GM foods?  
Jorge Enrique Linares : As in any biotechnological development , bioethics does fundamentally questions about the social and environmental consequences of these developments and investigate what is the most appropriate criteria or conditions to occur and spread in the world . So are twofold research : both scientifically and technologically , as , of course, a strictly ethical and political grounds .  
RDU : According Bioethics : What problems generated in the social aspect of the production and use of genetically modified foods ?  
JEL : First have to say that there is still a scientific controversy by the possibility of risk of GM foods . Those who are currently in the market say that they are safe , there are no reported incidents allergenic to human health , but even so there is still a scientific debate on the environmental medium and long term consequences. And that's where it would risk ecological order , which are not very clear , and precisely what we have seen in recent years is that these are not easy to measure and that means a long deep both scientific discussion and social , where it enters the Bioethics full, as it is about technological innovations that span the world market, the genetic and environmental negative effects, which could occur, would affect many people and ecosystems . And that means that there should be a public debate and social monitoring or social monitoring of the risks and the effects. Currently one of the most discussed topics is the effect they have on the socio-economic relations. GM were designed from a model of industrial production tends to monopolization of the agricultural market, that was the main purpose of his invention, for putting it on the market, although the companies that developed them still insist on their direct benefits to raise food production, and even trying to take their projects with a humanitarian alo saying it will help reduce world hunger. On the other hand, it is still true that, if the general data in the world are, there is still a deficit of global hunger, the problem is not production but distribution costs in the market. One of the most debated issues currently are the socio-economic risks : market monopolisation , rising prices of basic foods because the new biotechnologies that are used to create transgenic foods can be used to make biofuels, then the costs increase grains .

An example about the last publication. (:

Lies and truths about GM maize 
Myth: It is safe for the environment . 
Reality: Much of transgenic Bt maize is type was engineered to produce an insecticide that attacks the European corn borer , but also harms other insects that help control pests , including the monarch butterfly. This toxin accumulates in agricultural soils and therefore could affect your long-term fertility.
Myth: It is safe for human consumption . 
Reality: The biotechnology industry has refused to make public the vital information that shows the problems to human health from the consumption of GM food. Scientists have revealed that Monsanto failed to report serious adverse effects , such as signs of toxicity in the internal organs of rats. 
Myth: You need to combat climate change . 
Reality: Independent studies confirm that corn ethanol is not sustainable as a method of bioenergy. The use of corn for this use raises food prices and food security threat . Reducing CO2 is minimal due to the energy used to manufacture it. 
Myth: Provides economic benefits.
Reality: On the contrary , companies like Monsanto offer loans to poor farmers to buy their expensive GM seeds. At the end the farmers end up with debts and are forced to buy more loans. Whether you buy seeds or "accidental" pollution hundreds of U.S. producers have you been forced to pay millions of dollars . And since GM seeds do not have the high returns they promised , all they do is engage in producing more expensive and harmful to biodiversity technology packages.
Myth: It will help reduce hunger.
Reality: Hunger is a problem of distribution and lack of resources. There are too many people who may not have access to basic food , not because there is a shortage of them, but because they do not have enough income to do so. Transgenic seeds are not designed to solve world hunger but to produce profits for corporations.
Myth: It is possible the coexistence between GM and conventional crops.
Reality: GM crops contaminating conventional crops, organic foods and honey. When grown outside the laboratory is impossible to stop the normal course of nature: insect , pollination or drafts. Therefore contamination expands naturally and inevitably . If we transgenic maize contaminated native maize plants are in danger of losing these mother plants that are the source of all varieties of this grain , which would be a major disaster. 
Myth: It is impossible to stop the transgenic technology.
Reality: So far the majority of GM cultivated in only four countries : United States, Argentina , Canada and Brazil . Other countries have opposed their cultivation . More than a decade of its inception , the biotech industry has failed to prevail because of all the environmental , economic and health risks as it does not solve any problems in the game. In Mexico , although in 2009 the experimental plantings of GM maize were approved , the rejection of this technology among farmers, consumers and independent scientists is growing .

We know that the news is not published in English but we consider it important. (:
http://www.informador.com.mx/economia/2013/491225/6/en-mexico-se-deben-cultivar-transgenicos.htm

What're GM foods?

GM foods are those included in it's composition any ingredient from a body that has incorporated by genetic techniques, a gene from another species. Using biotechnology can transfer a gene from one organism to another to give it some special quality that is lacking. Thus, transgenic plants can resist pests better withstand drought, or better resist certain herbicides. In Europe all forms of unauthorized GMOs are only some can be grown and then sold.

Advantages and disadvantages of GM .

Advantages.

- We can eat foods with more vitamins, minerals and proteins, and lower fat content .

- Production of specific fatty acids for food or industrial use .

- More resistant to attack by viruses, fungi or insects without the need to use chemicals Growers , which saves money and less damage to the environment .

- Herbicides resistant crops, so that they can maintain the performance by reducing the number and amount of the products used and using those with desirable environmental features.

- Increased shelf life of fruits and vegetables.

- Increased production .

- Reduced costs of agriculture.

- Biotechnology can help preserve natural biodiversity.

- Crops tolerant to drought and stress (eg , excessive salt content in
ground) .

Disadvantages

- There is a risk that hybridization occurs .

- You can always be a rejection of the foreign gene.

- Genes may not develop the character as expected .

- Will always arrive unlabeled GM products to markets