Which foods are genetically engineered?

[allyinoh]

Sominabitch--ain't nuthin' safe no mo?

How about insects? Can we eat crickets without the fear of GM shit?*



*By "GM shit" I don't mean Chevy, but most Chevy's suck, especially Cavaliers--I mean, what a crappy piece of carp.

This made me laugh... Thanks, I needed that today!

 

[SeanEdwards]

Why do people fear the application of human reasoning to the creation of life forms? Do you likewise fear human engineering when it comes to such things as, bridges, buildings, and airplanes? Perhaps all you people terrified of genetic engineering should move into caves, and wear fig leaves for your underwear.

You folks seem to have no concern with the fact that random mutation and normal biological processes have the potential to create harmful organisms. In fact, as far as I know, ALL the harmful biological entities that have affected the earth to date have all come about naturally without any human intervention needed at all. Can you provide even ONE example of some human engineered plague or supervirus, or rapacious engineered lifeform?

The potential of applying our human intellect in guiding evolution and developing organisms that benefit us and the environment is staggering. But the fearmongers want to shut it all down prematurely, apparently preferring to let random chance be in the driver's seat. Yeah, sometimes humanity builds a titanic, or other engineering disaster, but is that sufficient reason to turn the clock back and reject intellect in favor of base animal nature? You can't get back into eden folks. It's much too late to spit out the apple.

 

[amy31416]

You folks seem to have no concern with the fact that random mutation and normal biological processes have the potential to create harmful organisms. In fact, as far as I know, ALL the harmful biological entities that have affected the earth to date have all come about naturally without any human intervention needed at all. Can you provide even ONE example of some human engineered plague or supervirus, or rapacious engineered lifeform?

You KNOW someone is going to say HIV, right?

 

[SeanEdwards]

You KNOW someone is going to say HIV, right?

We barely understand how HIV works at all. Nobody could have built such a thing from scratch.

However, there is some evidence that the crossover of a simian immunodeficiency virus to humans might have been enabled by efforts to vaccinate large numbers of Africans. Apparently the vaccine was developed using ape or monkey cell cultures at some point, and some people theorize that this allowed the virus to cross over.

A competing theory is that some bushmeat hunter people got the simian virus by hunting and eating apes.

Yeah, the human mind is a terrible thing. We make nukes, and dioxins, and whoknowswhatall. But it's still no excuse to bury our heads in the sand and hide from knowledge. Bridges fall down. Planes crash. Zeppelins burn. But our only choice is to keep trying to learn from our mistakes and progress. Going backwards and rejecting science is a dead end. Just ask a dinosaur, if you can find one.

 

[acptulsa]

Isn't selective breeding a form of genetic modification which has been used to produce various fruit and vegetable strains for a very long time? Or is this in reference to lab work?

Selective breeding is breeders choosing what to breed based on results. These are all naturally occuring variations and someone picking the ones they prefer. Genetic engineering means resplicing the DNA into something that didn't--and maybe couldn't--occur in nature. It involves doctoring with the very essence of the plant. Theoretically, if you had enough cells to get all the building blocks you needed and were good enough, eventually you could re-engineer a future corn seed into a future rattlesnake egg.

I don't think we're that good. I don't know what they might screw up, I just know that a little knowledge (which is still all we have concerning the way DNA works) is a dangerous thing. And DNA is much, much more complicated than, say, a bridge.

 

[SeanEdwards]

Selective breeding is breeders choosing what to breed based on results. These are all naturally occuring variations and someone picking the ones they prefer. Genetic engineering means resplicing the DNA into something that didn't--and maybe couldn't--occur in nature. It involves doctoring with the very essence of the plant. Theoretically, if you had enough cells to get all the building blocks you needed and were good enough, eventually you could re-engineer a future corn seed into a future rattlesnake egg.

I don't think we're that good. I don't know what they might screw up, I just know that a little knowledge (which is still all we have concerning the way DNA works) is a dangerous thing. And DNA is much, much more complicated than, say, a bridge.

One practice in agriculture that has been around forever is combining multiple organisms into one hybrid that could not exist or develop on it's own in nature. Grape plants that are used in wine production involve grafting the grape plant to the root system of an entirely different plant. This is a kind of macro level recombinant genetic engineering, combining aspects of different organisms to create something new. The fact that ALL life on planet earth uses the same molecular alphabet to organize biological processes means different species are not really that different at all. Corn and rattlesnakes share a common ancestor, and they both store their genetic information using the same 'language'.

People might one day build a corn plant that slithers around and has a venomous bite. Maybe. But if we don't play god, who will?

 

[steve005]

Why do people fear the application of human reasoning to the creation of life forms? Do you likewise fear human engineering when it comes to such things as, bridges, buildings, and airplanes? Perhaps all you people terrified of genetic engineering should move into caves, and wear fig leaves for your underwear.

You folks seem to have no concern with the fact that random mutation and normal biological processes have the potential to create harmful organisms. In fact, as far as I know, ALL the harmful biological entities that have affected the earth to date have all come about naturally without any human intervention needed at all. Can you provide even ONE example of some human engineered plague or supervirus, or rapacious engineered lifeform?

The potential of applying our human intellect in guiding evolution and developing organisms that benefit us and the environment is staggering. But the fearmongers want to shut it all down prematurely, apparently preferring to let random chance be in the driver's seat. Yeah, sometimes humanity builds a titanic, or other engineering disaster, but is that sufficient reason to turn the clock back and reject intellect in favor of base animal nature? You can't get back into eden folks. It's much too late to spit out the apple

you are completly wrong, like you said; all this food came with us through time without our help, why would it need our help now?

how can you compare a man made stucture to food? its like saying "yeah us bad ass humans, we planted all these trees to make oxygen so we could live"

 

[MAGICKAL]

Why do people fear the application of human reasoning to the creation of life forms?

Because it's usually done because of money and/or power with no inherent regard for the consequences.

Google "Monsanto company history"

There is no doubt in my mind genetically modified food this is what is killing the honey bees.



There is now strong evidence which suggests HIV was the result of radiation manipulation to try and kill the viruses occupying monkey kidneys which were used as a culture medium to grow the polio vaccine. Google Ed Haslam and Dr. Mary's monkey. But not before millions of people were innoculated with polio vaccine which contained the viruses that were in the monkey kidneys, these viruses were found to cause cancer in humans. Is it any surprise the baby boomers suffer an unusually high incidence of cancer?