On GE Food

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Of course you "have heard" that eating GE food is bad for you - the anti-GE lobby has been vociferously implanting this concept in the public consciousness for nigh on twenty years now. Its correlation to reality is not established by its widespread retelling.

Are you concerned about the loss of biodiversity? What of the "loss of biodiversity" in the fields of eastern Washington and Oregon states, where millions of acres are planted with the exact same species of wheat? What of the American Midwest, with all those square miles of the same species of sweet yellow corn - a species not found in nature, whose existence is owed entirely to generations of crossbreeding and inbreeding (the pre-Crick/Watson equivalent of genetic engineering)?

How is the world made materially more dangerous by rice that secretes beta carotene, or by tomatoes that don't start to rot the very moment they turn red? (This last is accomplished by reversing one gene, suppressing the production of a certain toxin native to the plant - something that could scarcely be transferred to any of the plant's relatives.)

And please, don't come back with diatribes against economic systems, or hatred of major corporations - neither concept is germane to the discussion of the safety, or lack thereof, of genetically-engineered foodstuffs. Bring me hard data, or none at all, thanks.

Actually, there is - check out the research on Aventis corn. It was found to cause allergies and was approved only for animal feed, not human consumption. Yet it found its way into the human food supply. Taco Bell was rather embarrased when its taco shells were shown to contain this banned form.

There is also research that indicates that ordinary BT corn may cause gastrointestinal issues in mammals.

I just heard a story on the radio about soybeans in Brazil - they are set to become the #1 exporter of soybeans. They have a competitive edge against the US because they do not allow genetically modified soy to be grown there. So they get a higher price in many markets.

GM has been going on for thousands of years, only before it was done through hybridising.

and still is today.....i can't wait to try my first bite of beefalo.

Hybridizing is similar to, but quite different from genetic engineering. In nature, genes might cross from one closely related grass to another, but not from shrimp to wheat.




You are right that the commercial fields in the United States are often large areas of monoculture with no genetic diversity - which poses risks when a pest or disease expands dramatically (potato blight or take-all).

But you are confused or ignorant about biodiversity in the areas that might 'benefit' from rice that secretes beta carotene. These are areas where strains of rice have been selected over hundreds or thousands of years, and there is significant diversity from place to place. These rice varieties do contain valuable genes should be considered important with respect to biodiversity.

The real problem is not that rice does not contain beta carotene - it is that people are not eating a balanced diet. They could grow sweet potatoes or squashes or spinach or hundreds of other plants that contain beta carotene (and other important nutrients). That would help them in many ways. Persuading them to throw away their traditional seeds and grow golden rice is on par with convincing third world women that breast feeding is old fashioned, and that hi-tech baby formulas are better. It is immoral.

Point is here, even if this altered food was good, it's still providing profits for large corporations that are working to enslave us. I do not want to put more money in their pockets. If a university did it and it was good, I would have a different attitude. But first thing is I have to look at both sides of the issues, economically and health-wise (honestly I don't know much about this topic). Either way the LAST thing I wanna do is give large corporations more money and more power.

GM foods need health and safety checks, as do pesticide covered foods. I'd rather that using pesticides was banned outright, in fact.

But are products properly tested? Nope, alot of these new GM products are rushed to stores, and allowed without much testing. Carcinogenic sweeteners and additives are put into food, not properly tested until hundreds of thousands have increased cancer risks and passed defects onto their offspring. Ever heard of Thalidomide?

Wasn't tested properly, ended up in alot of kids with birth defects.


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

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GM_food_co ... M-potatoes

There should be extreme caution in introducing new GM products to the market, and alot of current food additives need reviewing. It's unbelievable how much crap is added to food these days.