Distortion of truth

[ActivatorX]

Nowadays, I feel that people take too many things for granted from the media.

I would like to ask you, the Escapist community, what your thoughts are on the following "issues":

1.) Secondhand smoke

2.) GMO & Organic Food

3.) Carbon dioxide overall and in the Earth's atmosphere



Where I live, there is a certain "ecology-oriented magazine". To put it short; they make bogus articles backed up by nothing (no sources, no surveys, absolutely nothing).
Their articles about GMO & organic food, and CO2, pissed me off completely. I called them out on their website, to stop brainwashing people and IF their articles had proven facts (the ones I saw sure as hell didn't!), to provide sources and backup for them. They banned my IP from their website and told me they would pursue legal actions in case I call them out again.

So, I guess I could rephrase my three points as such:

1.) Do you think secondhand smoke kills?

2.) Do you think GMO kills? Is organic food truly superior and healthier, compared to GMO food?

3.) Do you think Carbon dioxide is lethal? Can we survive without it? Are humans responsible for most of the CO2 in the atmosphere?

I guess you could "read between the lines" and figure out my views on these "issues".

 

[L4hlborg]

1) If smoking has health problems on the smoker, it's probably not good for a secondhandsmoker either. Dunno if it kills, but at least it smells like shit.

2) I see no reason why GMO would kill, at least directly. Sure, not all long term consequences can be predicted at this point, but I think anyone making GMO has probably tested them out their foods to see if they have a directly deadly impact.

GMO is being made to be superior to organic food. Otherwise there would be no point in making it now would there. Don't know if they've succeeded though.

3) CO2 is lethal. So is oxygen. If there is too much of them. We can't survive without CO2, since that's what plants use to create oxygen with. And I believe that humans are responsible for at least some of the CO2 in the atmosphere. We do shit that releases extra CO2, and it's not like it's gonna just disappear or anything. Predictions might be exaggerated a bit, but this is one of those things where I think "better safe than sorry" applies.

 

[The_Spirit_of_Epic]

i don't know a whole lot about that stuff, but you should call them out again from a different IP address. I'm not too sure, but i don't think they would get very far charging you for calling them phonies.

OT: 1-3) anything could kill us, its just how much you use at once.

 

[ActivatorX]

1) If smoking has health problems on the smoker, it's probably not good for a secondhandsmoker either. Dunno if it kills, but at least it smells like shit.

2) I see no reason why GMO would kill, at least directly. Sure, not all long term consequences can be predicted at this point, but I think anyone making GMO has probably tested them out their foods to see if they have a directly deadly impact.

GMO is being made to be superior to organic food. Otherwise there would be no point in making it now would there. Don't know if they've succeeded though.

3) CO2 is lethal. So is oxygen. If there is too much of them. We can't survive without CO2, since that's what plants use to create oxygen with. And I believe that humans are responsible for at least some of the CO2 in the atmosphere. We do shit that releases extra CO2, and it's not like it's gonna just disappear or anything. Predictions might be exaggerated a bit, but this is one of those things where I think "better safe than sorry" applies.

I'm glad we're getting this thread started.

1.) I will have to emphasise "Dunno if it kills". I've mentioned in another thread, that all surveys and experiments, (mostly) done by the EPA, are in fact rigged. They distorted their surveys in order to achieve certain things.

2.) You are correct. GMO has been tested beyond belief, and there is no hard proof that it is damaging or lethal.

3.) Once more, you are correct. However, the output of CO2 caused by humans, has risen in the past few years. Although, most CO2 that is released into the atmosphere is caused by natural factors, such as volcanoes. Yes, volcanoes.

 

[AndyFromMonday]

1. I smoke myself and when I do it in the house I try and do it either near a window or on the balcony. I wouldn't say second hand smoking kills but it can't be healthy as cigarettes themselves are not healthy. Plus, entering a house that smells of cigarette smoke is never a pretty experience.

2. By GMO I assume you mean genetically modified organism, right? If that's so, no. I don't believe they "kill". There is no study to date to support the claims that GMO's are unhealthy.

3. Carbon dioxide is essential for the survival of any carbon based life form as oxygen is created using carbon dioxide. Without it carbon based life forms can't exist. CO2 is, however, harmful to organisms and we have quite a few devices that produce CO2 as waste.

Also, in regards to that "ecology-oriented magazine". They can't sue you since what you're doing is exerting your right to free speech. If they sue you their asses will be kicked so fast out of court that the trial will be regarded as the fastest trial ever.

 

[BreakfastMan]

1) While second hand smoke is most definitely not good for you (and it smells terrible too boot), I am unsure of whether or not it can kill.

2) What the heck is GMO? Seriously I have not heard anything about whatever the heck this is. If anyone could explain this to me, I would much appreciate it.

3) Carbon dioxide is just as lethal as dihydrogen oxide, and dihydrogen oxide is all over the place! As for the global warming stuff, I am not sure. We definitely produce a lot of the stuff, but I am not sure how much is damaging the environment, but I do not think it would kill us to produce less.

 

[zehydra]

1) Yes. Well, we at least know that it is very harmful to those around it/

2) I don't know, but I do know that the body has evolved around eating natural foods, so I'd wager that eating organic foods is probably healthier. I'm not sure if GMO's are necessarily harmful though.

3)Humans are indeed responsible for a dramatic increase of CO2 in the atmosphere. What this does exactly is still being studied. (Global Warming??).

 

[x EvilErmine x]

1) I think it's over hyped. The are situations where it's not good e.g. around small children but most of the time it's non-smokers making a fuss over nothing really as just breathing the air in an industrialized city is nearly as dangerous.

2) No they aren't a danger as such but i do think they should be uses with extreme caution. We simply don't know the effects they will have on the wider biosphere or how they will react in the real word as labs are one thing but life has a funny way of messing things up in unexpected ways.

3) Co2 is vital to life as much as oxygen, without it pants would not be able to photosynthesize and since they are the basis of all food chains then we would not be here if they were not. Most of the Co2 in the atmosphere is not caused by humans and is part of the natural carbon cycle of the plaint. However there is no doubt at all that we are responsible for accelerating the release of Co2. This is bad not for the planet but for us. Life will continue to exist, hell it's survived commits and asteroid impacts that have scoured it clean of 99% of all life and it's still here. I say sod the planet, it's old enough to look out for it's self we need to save the humans!

Edit
BreakfastMan, dihydro oxide ....lol good one, i wonder how many people wont know what it is.

 

[ActivatorX]

1. I smoke myself and when I do it in the house I try and do it either near a window or on the balcony. I wouldn't say second hand smoking kills but it can't be healthy as cigarettes themselves are not healthy. Plus, entering a house that smells of cigarette smoke is never a pretty experience.

2. By GMO I assume you mean genetically modified organism, right? If that's so, no. I don't believe they "kill". There is no study to date to support the claims that GMO's are unhealthy.

3. Carbon dioxide is essential for the survival of any carbon based life form as oxygen is created using carbon dioxide. Without it carbon based life forms can't exist. CO2 is, however, harmful to organisms and we have quite a few devices that produce CO2 as waste.

Also, in regards to that "ecology-oriented magazine". They can't sue you since what you're doing is exerting your right to free speech. If they sue you their asses will be kicked so fast out of court that the trial will be regarded as the fastest trial ever.

When you said "CO2 is, however, harmful to organisms and we have quite a few devices that produce CO2 as waste.", were you talking about the actual CO2 or did you accidentally type CO2 instead of CO (Carbon Monoxide)?

The problem is; if I were to breach their IP ban and violate their ultimatum of not allowing me to call them out, I could get sued for harassment.
Whereas I cannot sue them for not providing backup and sources to their articles. Most likely, I could just notify a government official about this and they could look into their false propaganda.

EDIT: Ah, just saw BreakfastMan's post. It made me giggle a bit and reminded me of the famous Penn & Teller "petition".

 

[AndyFromMonday]

When you said "CO2 is, however, harmful to organisms and we have quite a few devices that produce CO2 as waste.", were you talking about the actual CO2 or did you accidentally type CO2 instead of CO (Carbon Monoxide)?

Isn't carbon dioxide toxic depending on its concentration in the air? Can't exposure to certain amounts lead to carbon dioxide poisoning

 

[OakTaooper]

1 & 2, don't care, 3 however...has anybody on this post actually looked at any ecological studies on the amounts of CO2 in the atmosphere? If you're just going by graphs that you see on the internet and on the television screen then you really need to examine the labels more closely. They all show a dramatic rise in number, but in reality it's not going up all that much. A little bit, there is not denying it, but not nearly as much as the media would like you to believe.

 

[Syrus Vikeruce]

I honestly don't care about any of these issues but then...

I'm a bit of a misanthropist. *Grins*

 

[ActivatorX]

When you said "CO2 is, however, harmful to organisms and we have quite a few devices that produce CO2 as waste.", were you talking about the actual CO2 or did you accidentally type CO2 instead of CO (Carbon Monoxide)?

Isn't carbon dioxide toxic depending on its concentration in the air? Can't exposure to certain amounts lead to carbon dioxide poisoning

Well yes, it can be damaging when in gigantic quantities. I'm not sure any human being was ever exposed to enough CO2 to actually die from it.
I don't know if you could call it "toxic" when there's too much in the atmosphere, though. It's definately not great, but I doubt it's toxic.

1. Yeah, second hand smoke can kill you, just like smoking can, but unless you actually live with a smoker, and are around him all the time when he's smoking, you'll be fine. If you inhale some second hand smoke every once in a while when you're outside, nothing is going to happen to you.

2. That's bullshit. GMO food is completely safe, and just as good for you as organic food. They taste exactly the same, and have the same amount of nutrients, but GMO crops have a greater yield. If everyone only ate completely organic produce, with the population we currently have a lot more people would be starving.

3. The majority of CO2 in the atmosphere is from decaying plants and volcanoes, not from humans. Humans make up about 3% of the total CO2 in the atmosphere. Still, reducing the amount of CO2 produced by humans would be a good thing, because while we only produce 3%, it is in very concentrated areas, which is bad for the environment of that specific area, just like any industrial waste is, so limiting our CO2 emissions more would be desirable, even though CO2 is not killing us all.

2.) Except organic food is more expensive in stores. *shudder*
3.) I'm getting the feeling you are a Penn & Teller fan as well.

 

[FalloutJack]

{1} Don't care.

{2} Don't care.

{3} And...CO2 is devoured by plants to produce air.

 

[Luftwaffles]

1. EPA surveys were rigged weren't they? Been watching alot of Penn and Teller have we now =P
2.As a food scientist i fully support GM food products. Not for profit though like Monsanto....Money brings in stuff like corruption and half arsed finished products with little to no research done...
3. CO2 is essential to our living. Tell the purists to ban dihydrogen monoxide while they are at it. It effects our breathing when CO2 displaces oxygen and that never happens outside.

 

[ActivatorX]

1. EPA surveys were rigged weren't they? Been watching alot of Penn and Teller have we now =P
2.As a food scientist i fully support GM food products. Not for profit though like Monsanto....Money brings in stuff like corruption and half arsed finished products with little to no research done...
3. CO2 is essential to our living. Tell the purists to ban dihydrogen monoxide while they are at it. It effects our breathing when CO2 displaces oxygen and that never happens outside.

As a matter of fact, I've seen all P&T episodes. Multiple times, even.
What can I say? I even watched all the episodes of Pennsays (on Youtube), before they implemented that BULLSHIT country ban.

 

[AndyFromMonday]

Well yes, it can be damaging when in gigantic quantities. I'm not sure any human being was ever exposed to enough CO2 to actually die from it.
I don't know if you could call it "toxic" when there's too much in the atmosphere, though. It's definately not great, but I doubt it's toxic.

At 1% problems can appear. From 5% onwards it can be dangerous with symptoms ranging from headaches to feinting.

 

[Amyler]

1) Second hand smoke is still smoke. It isn't as murderous horrifically deadly as some people claim, but it still causes serious health problems.

2) GMO is fine. There is absolutely no hard proof or even strong correlation evidence to prove otherwise.

3) Carbon Dioxide is part of nature and such. It is as nessecary for us as oxygen, although in less direct ways.

 

[DJDarque]

When you said "CO2 is, however, harmful to organisms and we have quite a few devices that produce CO2 as waste.", were you talking about the actual CO2 or did you accidentally type CO2 instead of CO (Carbon Monoxide)?

Isn't carbon dioxide toxic depending on its concentration in the air? Can't exposure to certain amounts lead to carbon dioxide poisoning

Too much CO2 in the air can be very bad, it can lead to hypercapnia, which is too much CO2 in the blood, and can be fatal. However, this is more often caused by things like hyperventilating or sleep apnia (abnormal pauses in breathing while sleeping), but can also be caused by high concentrations of CO2.

Thank you wikipedia!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypercapnia

 

[Tips_of_Fingers]

1) Second hand smoke sometimes bothers me...depends on how "up in my face" the person smoking is. I mean, if they're not blowing it in my face, i'm not entirely bothered but if it's going in my face I'll tell them to stand the side of me that the wind is blowing towards, but at the same time i won't be think "ZOMG I'M GOING TO DIE OF TEH CANCERZZZ."

2) GMO doesn't bother me too much. What botehrs me is the fact that Organic food costs MORE than GMO. Organic farmers are doing LESS to their food so why the fuck is it more expensive than the deliciously mutated sort that has countless extra things done to it?? *sigh* if anyone could enlighten me on this, i'd be greatful. Although I don't care that much so...*shrugs*

3) CO2 is essential for plants and plants are essential for us living so CO2 isn't a major issue for me. Sure, we could benefit from losing some but then again, fat people could benefit from losing a few pounds so *shrugs*

>.> I should be having a lecture on Malcolm X right now but because it was cancelled I'm here showing my ignorance/ability to not give a damn about (probbaly) important world issues.
Although in saying that, I've not heard anything for MONTHS - maybe even years - about these 3 topics in the news.