FACT CHECK PLEASE -- the writer of this nonfactual completely incorrect sensational garbage needs to find a new job in no way related to journalism or honesty; because s/he is too lazy to simply Google Tifton 85 and find out that it's a HYBRID grass. Hybrid plants are NOT genetically modified.I HATE MONSANTO and do not support GMO; and there are enough legitimate and factual reasons to oppose both. Sensationalizing complete nonsense totally undermines legitimate concerns. It really irritates the hell out of me to see so many intelligent commenters providing correct information which is obviously read by nobody at CBS news. I would encourage intelligent people to click on "Contact Us" at the far left corner on the bottom of this page, and I, for one will NOT be getting my news from CBS. This is really atrocious work which belongs in the National Enquirer - if they would even publish it. SHAME ON YOU, CBS!
h/t Black Mamba
He's right on the first part, but he is equally ignorant (and thus incorrect)to "hate" monsanto and to irrationally oppose GMO technology. Classic pots and kettles.
There's a really good thread on /. here: http://science.slashdot.org/story/12/06/23/2147245/cyanide-producing-gm-grass-linked-to-texas-cattle-deaths
Listing a variety of points on what grasses were used to breed this stuff, including how it was done and all the rest. Rather fancy from a scientific pov. But there's also some discussion on just about how all grasses can crate cyanide too. But if it's one thing I hate, it's the whole GMO crowed going OMG LOOK IT'S MUTANT PLANTS. I just want to slap them in the face.
How many cattle dose he run? Cattle die from a lot of grass related problems. This is not unusual. They will bloat. They will just over eat at times. They can get nitrate poisning. Sometimes they just lay down and die. It pisses me off that people that know shit shoot their mouths off.
With the left facts are merely things that can be cherry picked from real data and used out of context or they can be made up on the spot with no basis in truth or reality. The left seems to have no moral compass. They would rather lie and deceive to win a debate or further an agenda. Sad mental state going on between their ears.
While Monsanto does have some shady business practices the GMO hate is completly unwarranted. The natural development of round up resistant kochia has shown us that if we control the selection pressure we can develop round up ready crops by natural means. GMO crops can also help us avoid the use of non selective insecticides and reduce the reliance on organophosphate based insecticides.
The hit against the National Enquirer was uncalled for. They've been doing more legitimate investigative journalism than the "real" press. Ask John Edwards.
I have to agree with Gord Tulk, a@c and confused.
Cattle bloating from eating too much fresh grass is common. If it is noticed in time you can puncture the stomach and relieve the pressure.
So Hybrids are OK but GMO is not?
The natural development of round up resistant kochia has shown us that if we control the selection pressure we can develop round up ready crops by natural means. confused
With all due respect, the "natural development ( do you mean Mendelian breeding? ) of round up resistant kochia only shows that the " natural development " of round up resistant kochia is possible; and the result does not necessarily generalize to all crops.
a@c at June 25, 2012 3:10 PM
"How many cattle dose he run? Cattle die from a lot of grass related problems. This is not unusual. They will bloat. They will just over eat at times. They can get nitrate poisning. Sometimes they just lay down and die. It pisses me off that people that know shit shoot their mouths off."
Yeah......you'n me both.....
I question the accuracy of the "the 15 necropsies"????Is that a new word like truthiness?
The LD50 of cyanide is so high..there shouda been NO survivors. Probably this Yonge Street farmer's herd, on his 80 acre "ranch" died, of bloat.
Actually GMO is just a newer method of producing hybrids.....any hybrid is a GMO if people did it by any means....a mule is a GMO...
I have noted that volunteer corn from GMO "round-up ready corn" is susceptable to round-up in soybeans....IOW like most hybreds the traits do not replicate.
I have noted that volunteer corn from GMO "round-up ready corn" is susceptable to round-up in soybeans....IOW like most hybreds the traits do not replicate. sasquatch
That makes sense; no breeder would want the 2nd generation to be true to the RU resistant trait, or their investment required to produce the line would thereafter be worthless - farmers could just save seed from their 1st RU resistant crop.
When I spray Roundup around my bins to control the weeds it does not kill the 2nd generation volunteer canola growth and I have to follow up with some Target. Maybe canola stays true to the RU resistant trait while "round-up ready corn does not". Hybrid corn may act differently toward the RU resistant trait than Hybrid canola.
I was not real clear in my post, I was refering to the mechanism of natural selection, except we control the selection pressure not mother nature.
I've found recently that going on about Monsanto as the Antichrist is a good heuristic for irrationality on the subject.
GMO sucks - dead beef sucks too regardless of what unnatural crap it was fed. Whoever is either gene splicing or hybeeding don't seem to give a damn about product safety.
"I have noted that volunteer corn from GMO "round-up ready corn" is susceptable to round-up in soybeans"
Incorrect. The genetic DNA of the plant has been modified and that modification is passed to the next generation. The only thing that is lost by the next generation is hybrid vigor. That can have dramatic effect on yield and is the reason why farmers buy the hybrid seed each year.
"Whoever is either gene splicing or hybeeding don't seem to give a damn about product safety".
What does that mean?
What ticks me off about the anti-GMO types is that they don't go ape over the European technique of using "evil" radiation to create genetic mutations they hope will be useful. (At least not the ones quoted in the MSM.)
GMO sucks - dead beef sucks too regardless of what unnatural crap it was fed. Whoever is either gene splicing or hybeeding don't seem to give a damn about product safety Occam
Cyanide production is not unique to this hybrid grass, it appears in many species naturally occuring in the plant kingdom.
Plant breeders routinely cross existing crop lines with their wild progenitors in order to introduce desirable traits to the line, and then rogue any offspring that possess undesirable traits, such as excess cyanide production. The fact that mankind has safely eaten billions of tons of cereals that were the product of hybridization, points to the care with which the breeding programs are carried out.
What andycanuck said.
What the watermelons neglect to tell their audience is that many plant GMOs are the result of transferring DNA within the plant kingdom, such as transferring a wheat gene into a chestnut tree to impart disease resistance.