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larsenjw92286
Your invitation to come on down!
Joined: Aug 31, 2004
Age: 23
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Location: Seattle, Washington
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 Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2005 8:41 pm Post subject: |
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I have heard genetically-engineered food is not good for you. Many astronauts eat it, but that is the only thing they have to eat, so they deal with it.
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Jason Larsen
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Pandora
Cat Lady
Joined: Jun 18, 2005
Age: 49
Posts: 4684
Location: Townsville
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| Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2007 10:34 am Post subject: |
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| larsenjw92286 wrote: | | I have heard genetically-engineered food is not good for you. Many astronauts eat it, but that is the only thing they have to eat, so they deal with it. |
I really cannot see a problem with GE food. There has been so much hysteria on this subject in recent years.
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DeaconBlues
They call Alabama the Crimson Tide - call me...
Joined: Apr 22, 2007
Posts: 2487
Location: Earth, mostly
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| Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2007 12:06 pm Post subject: |
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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.
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monty
Phoenix
Joined: Sep 05, 2007
Posts: 3158
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| Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2007 1:03 pm Post subject: |
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| Feste-Fenris wrote: | Yes... but there is no substantial point that GM food is dangerous...
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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. |
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Pandora
Cat Lady
Joined: Jun 18, 2005
Age: 49
Posts: 4684
Location: Townsville
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| Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2007 12:22 am Post subject: |
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GM has been going on for thousands of years, only before it was done through hybridising.
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Break out you Western girls,
Someday soon you're gonna rule the world.
Break out you Western girls,
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skafather84
Platypus God
Joined: Mar 21, 2006
Age: 25
Posts: 6524
Location: New Orleans, LA
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| Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2007 1:05 am Post subject: |
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| Pandora wrote: | | 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. |
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monty
Phoenix
Joined: Sep 05, 2007
Posts: 3158
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| Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2007 1:10 pm Post subject: |
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| Pandora wrote: | | GM has been going on for thousands of years, only before it was done through hybridising. |
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.
| Quote: |
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, ... |
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. |
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snake321
phoenix
Joined: Mar 26, 2006
Age: 30
Posts: 3250
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| Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2007 2:57 pm Post subject: |
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| 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. |
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Anubis
Prophet of The Future
Joined: Sep 07, 2006
Age: 121
Posts: 13838
Location: Mount Herculaneum/England
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| Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2007 4:50 pm Post subject: |
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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_controversy#Toxic_GM-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.
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