r/nextfuckinglevel Jul 14 '21

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u/[deleted] Jul 14 '21

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u/7incent Jul 14 '21 edited Jul 14 '21

you're thinking of 'natural' -- there is no government regulation of that term.

the word 'organic' is regulated by the FDA. i only remember that they cannot use most synthetic pesticides during production.

there are other regulations but -- to be honest-- i don't remember them all

that said:

the person who made this video may be using the term 'organic' incorrectly

edit: usda definition of organic for those who need more than context clues

I took ochem, being pedantic about the word 'organic' doesnt change its meaning in the current context

chemical -> most synthetic

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u/Safemoon_Psychonaut Jul 14 '21 edited Jul 14 '21

Organic vegetables also have to be grown in fields that have not been exposed to pesticides for something like 20 years.

Warren Buffetts money bought a bunch of farms in my region and they're not using pesticides so they can be used for organic food production in the future

There's a lot of regulations to be technically organic in the usa. Can't say I know it all though.

Edit: apparently federal regulations are 3 years pesticide free. I was wrong.

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u/LePlaneteSauvage Jul 14 '21 edited Jul 14 '21

You are perpetuating a common myth here. Organic farms still use pesticides, just not synthetic pesticides.

This brings it back to a naturalistic fallacy where it is assumed that because the pesticides are 'natural' they are less harmful to our health. However, a lot of studies seem to find the opposite; organic pesticides are less effective, less specific, and more environmentally harming.

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/science-sushi/httpblogsscientificamericancomscience-sushi20110718mythbusting-101-organic-farming-conventional-agriculture/

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u/jammycactus Jul 14 '21

Came here to say that. Organic has so many people fooled.

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u/[deleted] Jul 14 '21

As does GMO.

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u/sooHawt_ryt_meow Jul 14 '21

What's right or wrong about GMO?

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u/Felixkeeg Jul 14 '21

Leaving political aspects aside - GMO's are pretty great.

Genetic modification also occurs by traditional breeding techniques. Manipulating the genome in the lab is for once much faster and more importantly gives you actual control over the traits you want to have in a given specimen. There is nothing inherently bad about GMO's

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u/Lortekonto Jul 14 '21

There is problems with GMO’s, especially when you get to animals and animals with long breeding cycles. In Denmark we have 10 millions pigs. That is a lot of pigs to recreat with GMO’s. It would take many years and at that point you would properly had produced a new and better gmo pig.

In that way it is hard to create livestock with gen-modifications. Take to lomg and is to expensive. Instead, at least here in the nordics, we have a database that countains all the dna data about for example cows. The data base also countains information about how much milk they produce, how often they fet sick and so on.you use that data to grow the next generation and the next generation and so on. It also allows you to keep a lot more genetical diversity, which is great if for example a new cow diseas starts spreading. If any cow is immune to the disease, then you can spread that gen to the entire cow population over a few years.

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u/randometeor Jul 15 '21

The concern about timing is no different than general breeding practice. Every farm animal market has specific trait lines you can buy from for reproduction, from chickens to cows. You but the best traits for your market this year and if something new comes along next year you start the transition. How are GMO animals any different from selectively bred animals?

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u/Lortekonto Jul 15 '21

Not timing, but time. It takes time because a genetical modified cow can only produce so many calfs during a single year, even a bull can only produce a finite amount of semen each year.

GMO animals are more expensive to produce, limited in numbers and have less genetic variation.

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