I decided to post this after seeing a number of people posting about how they won't eat genetically modified fruits and vegetables and got to thinking how they obviously don't realize they've probably never eaten anything that isn't genetically modified.

Her's a good article about it.

In the past week you’ve probably eaten crops that wouldn’t exist in nature, or that have evolved extra genes to reach freakish sizes. You’ve probably eaten “cloned” food and you may have even eaten plants whose ancestors were once deliberately blasted with radiation. And you could have bought all this without leaving the “organic” section of your local supermarket.

Anti-GM dogma is obscuring the real debate over what level of genetic manipulation society deems acceptable. Genetically-modified food is often regarded as something you’re either for or against, with no real middle ground.

Yet it is misleading to consider GM technology a binary decision, and blanket bans like those in many European countries are only likely to further stifle debate. After all, very little of our food is truly “natural” and even the most basic crops are the result of some form of human manipulation.

Between organic foods and tobacco engineered to glow in the dark lie a broad spectrum of “modifications” worthy of consideration. All of these different technologies are sometimes lumped together under “GM”. But where would you draw the line?

1. (Un)natural selection
Think of carrots, corn or watermelons – all foods you might eat without much consideration. Yet when compared to their wild ancestors, even the “organic” varieties are almost unrecognisable.

Domestication generally involves selecting for beneficial traits, such as high yield. Over time, many generations of selection can substantially alter a plant’s genetic makeup. Man-made selection is capable of generating forms that are extremely unlikely to occur in nature. Modern watermelons (right) look very different to their 17th-century ancestors (left).

2. Genome duplications
Unknowing selection by our ancestors also involved a genetic process we only discovered relatively recently. Whereas humans have half a set of chromosomes (structures that package and organise your genetic information) from each parent, some organisms can have two or more complete duplicate sets of chromosomes. This “polyploidy” is widespread in plants and often results in exaggerated traits such as fruit size, thought to be the result of multiple gene copies.

Without realising, many crops have been unintentionally bred to a higher level of ploidy (entirely naturally) as things like large fruit or vigorous growth are often desirable. Ginger and apples are triploid for example, while potatoes and cabbage are tetraploid. Some strawberry varieties are even octoploid, meaning they have eight sets of chromosomes compared to just two in humans.

3. Plant cloning
It’s a word that tends to conjure up some discomfort – no one really wants to eat “cloned” food. Yet asexual reproduction is the core strategy for many plants in nature, and farmers have utilised it for centuries to perfect their crops.

Once a plant with desirable characteristics is found – a particularly tasty and durable banana, for instance – cloning allows us to grow identical replicates. This could be entirely natural with a cutting or runner, or artificially-induced with plant hormones. Domestic bananas have long since lost the seeds that allowed their wild ancestors to reproduce – if you eat a banana today, you’re eating a clone.

...snip

In my mind there is a drastic difference between plants that are selectively bred and plants that have had their dna deliberately modified for whatever reason.

I have no problem eating the former, I’ll take some steps to avoid the latter.

What thumper said.

Also, I have a much stronger aversion to food products coming from PRC and to some extent Mexico than I do to GMO.

I have a HARD line for foodstuff from PRC. Zero tolerance.

quote:

Originally posted by thumperfbc:
In my mind there is a drastic difference between plants that are selectively bred and plants that have had their dna deliberately modified for whatever reason.

I have no problem eating the former, I’ll take some steps to avoid the latter.

Unless you are growing it yourself, it has had its dna modified.

Even then... the seeds may also be modified that you buy

"Genetically modified" is a very general term. It brings visions of a mad scientist with a microscope and laser. In fact, cross breeding is genetic modification and occurs naturally anyway. But, live with whatever biases you choose.

Guaranteed you are eating what you vehemently insist you won’t regardless. Most genetic modifications are drought and pesticide resistance. You won’t grow a third eye.

Let me paraphrase the Statue of Liberty here:

"Send these, the genetically modified foods, to me. I lift my spoon beside the open door."

Seriously, if we keep agriculture stuck in last century, we will not feed this century's population. Not that this matters to some.

TL: DR - Modify away.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: joel9507,

quote:

Seriously, if we keep agriculture stuck in last century, we will not feed this century's population. Not that this matters to some.

This about sums it up,with out science this planet would be hungry.

Thinkl of it this way: when you marry the pretty girl instead of the ugly one, you are genetically modifying your kids.

I have no problem with GMO food. That being said my concern is more why it was modified. If it’s for resistance to pesticides and weed killers that means they spray the shit out of it with poison. I’m more concerned with that.

I will absolutely NOT eat anything that doesn't taste good to me.

My problem with GMOs is that most of the latter day GMOs are just designed so that more and more chemicals can be used on them.
Someday the accumulative effect is gonna make people wish it never happened. Already had some major brand names of food products test positive for Glosphate (sp?), you know, Round Up.

^^^^ In many cases, GMOs require less "chemicals" than native, wild-type plants. Nature is the greatest bioengineer so you can lie to yourself all you want that "my orange is free and clear of changes to its DNA". Monsanto's ROUND-UP though certainly has its downsides and appears to be the culprit behind beehive disorders (as their microbiome is altered). Unfortunately it works like gangbusters against invasive plant species.

The good news is that a super majority of the BioAg companies only use genes that are already found w/in wild-type plants, so no bacterial genes such as Cas9 will be present in the edible crops (except perhaps for the plant-associated bacteria, but they already contain such).

The bad news is that ~ 78% of the commercial GMO seeds for the worlds' crops are owned by 5 companies. Now that fact is something worth discussing, not whether GM plants are bad (assuming they've passed regulatory scrutiny).

Most of the soil on our farmlands would not even sustain traditional, non GMO/modified seeds.

I resist eating anything that is labeled "Organic!" Who wants shriveled up tasteless, expensive food?

Every bite of food that people eat is GMO. Get over it!!

Genetically Modified Food?

....would that include or leave out, my great aunt's special grange picnic offering.....bologna chunks floating motionless in lime green jello?

I lived on our small family farm in the 40’s and 50’s and the average bushels per acre of corn was 70 or 80. Through genetically modified variety’s there is 300 bpr these days. And it’s a good thing with increased population World wide and hundreds of thousands acres WW dis appearing every year with business and housing expansion Worlld Wide. Genetically modified food is keeping us from starving.

I had a student declare to me, "I will never eat cloned or GMF Products"

I asked him, "Do you eat bananas?"

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
What thumper said.

Also, I have a much stronger aversion to food products coming from PRC and to some extent Mexico than I do to GMO.

I have a HARD line for foodstuff from PRC. Zero tolerance.

This is where I am at. I will not buy any food from China.

I was ordering some good meats and seafoods from Schwans. I checked the label on the salmon and found it was from China so I wont buy it any longer.

I have no problem with most GMO foods.