GE

[Rockfan]

I don't really like the idea of eating of eating something thats been mucked round with, what about you guys.

[Anarchist Freedom]

IM assuming you mean genetically modofied foods. I dont like it but its something im going to have to accept considering I cant escape it completely.

[plug]

I don't actually see much of a problem with it, if they actually do it properly, without the foods mutating or anything. However, I think that GE should be controlled, and the food should be observed/tested before given to people, to make sure that it IS safe to eat.

[Rockfan]

Yeah and the problem is it hasnt been fully tested.

[LSD]

Genetically modified foods are not only usable, they are absolutely fucking nescessary if we're ever going to have a chance of feeding humanity.

There is simply no alternative for creating sustained and sufficient agriculture.

And remember, all food is "mucked round with". Humans have been modifying their crops ever since we started planting them and every modification has, ultimately, been a genetic modification.

As to "mutation" or "unforseen harm" or somesuch...it's pretty damn far-fetched.

Scientists aren't just randomly "splicing" genes, they are deliberately and specifically changing the attributes of various plants. They do this specifically with human consumption in mind. Does this mean that "bad" things can't happen? Of course not. But it is worth noting that no "bad" things have happened.

If genetically modified foods were "dangerous" they would have already demonstrated this...by being dangerous!

It's been long enough now that if these plants were poisoneous or carcinogenic or toxic, we'd know it.

There is absolutely no evidence that genetically modified foods are at all dangerous for human consumption. There is no reason to believe that they are at all harmful. There have been countless studies and tests and analyses and the consistant findings are that there is no indication of danger.

Now, anti-GM activists will rattle on about "possibilties", that genetically modified foods could "possibly" be dangeorus...they just have no evidence that they are.

Well, sorry, but science doesn't work like that. When an area has been studied and analyzed and the preponderance of evidence favours a result, that is the result that is accepted. And "playing it safe" is simply not an option when it comes to food!

If we use genetically modified foods, billions of people will live. If we do not, billions of people will die. It is that fucking simple.

We, frankly, do not have a choice. We are in a position in which we have the option of utilizing a tool which we know will save billions of lives and which has absolutely no demonstrated harms.

How can we, morally, not use it?

Now, none of this means that we should blindly support the food companies!

A lot of what they are doing is attrocious. The work on "terminator" genes, for example, is a perfect illustration of the disasterous effect that capitalism has on science.

But rejecting consumption of genetically modified foods is just paranoid primitvast alarmism.

...and it will cost lives.

[Rockfan]

I never said it wasnt useful i just said I didnt like the idea of eating stuff thats been fucked with, scientists can make it to the hearts content dude.

[LSD]

I never said it wasnt useful i just said I didnt like the idea of eating stuff thats been fucked with

But, again, everything you eat has been "fucked with".

We've been modifying plants for millenia. Cross-breeding, splicing, mixing, selective planting, etc...

Every plant that you eat today has been intentionaly genetically modified by thousands of years of directed human actions.


scientists can make it to the hearts content dude.

...what?

[Rockfan]

Originally posted by Lysergic Acid [email protected] 14 2005, 01:53 AM

I never said it wasnt useful i just said I didnt like the idea of eating stuff thats been fucked with

But, again, everything you eat has been "fucked with".

We've been modifying plants for millenia. Cross-breeding, splicing, mixing, selective planting, etc...

Every plant that you eat today has been intentionaly genetically modified by thousands of years of directed human actions.


scientists can make it to the hearts content dude.

...what?
Yeah but thats not directly messing with there genetics, it's effected the genetics but it's not accullay working with the genetics.

It just means they can do it as much as they want.

[Clarksist]

Originally posted by [email protected] 14 2005, 02:30 AM
Yeah but thats not directly messing with there genetics, it's effected the genetics but it's not accullay working with the genetics.
So what? It has the same outcome.

[KC]

I never said it wasnt useful i just said I didnt like the idea of eating stuff thats been fucked with

All the food you eat has been "fucked with." All processed foods have been given their taste from "natural/artificial flavors." This is basically chemists creating the taste in a lab then inserting it into the food. It's not genetic modification but probably 95% of everything you eat has been "fucked with."

[LSD]

it's effected the genetics but it's not accullay working with the genetics.

No, it's actually working with the genetics.

When you "cross-breed" plants to make them produce more fruit, what do you think it is that changes?

Agriculture is changing genetics; not accidently, but specifically. It doesn't "effect" genetics, it purposefuly modifies it.

That's the whole point!

[rocksinger]

Although i think it is a bit weird eating food that is made to order (GM) it is necicary.
Theyve created a new type of rice (Golden Rice) that has a yeild 3 TIMES THAT OF ORDINARY RICE.
GM IS NESSISARY, so dont come with shit that its " not natrual" we are natrual so GM IS NATRUAL

[Rockfan]

oh Fuck it I'm beat.

[Rockfan]

oh Fuck it I'm beat. I should just stick to the music forum

[chaval]

remember the green revolution (at least i think thats what it was) in india thanks to the introduction of a genetically modified strain of wheat, much much much more wheat could be grown to feed a starving population. thanks to that, thousands of innocent lives were saved.

[KC]

remember the green revolution (at least i think thats what it was) in india thanks to the introduction of a genetically modified strain of wheat, much much much more wheat could be grown to feed a starving population. thanks to that, thousands of innocent lives were saved.

Thousands of lives were saved that will go and have kids that will starve.

[pedro san pedro]

But, again, everything you eat has been "fucked with".

We've been modifying plants for millenia. Cross-breeding, splicing, mixing, selective planting, etc...

Every plant that you eat today has been intentionaly genetically modified by thousands of years of directed human actions.



this is completely irrelevant to a discussion on GE - humans have been practicing selective breeding for a long time, yes, but genetic modification is something different.

imagine breeding a red rose with a white rose to get a pink rose - that'ld be selective breeding and can occur naturally.

now imagine taking genes from a frog and putting them into the genetic make up of a potatoe - thats genetic engineering, something that simply cannot occur in nature.

the genetic engineers themselves are saying that this is something fundamentally different from cross breeding.



There is absolutely no evidence that genetically modified foods are at all dangerous for human consumption. There is no reason to believe that they are at all harmful. There have been countless studies and tests and analyses and the consistant findings are that there is no indication of danger


The release of Monsanto’s MON863 rat study this month, as a result of a court case in Germany, has highlighted again how little independent work has been done in assessing the safety of GE foods for human consumption.

"It cannot be presumed that the damage to the rats' inner organs and the animals' blood picture are based on chance. The documents also show that the set-up for the experiments was inadequate and evaluation of the data incorrect. Further investigations are absolutely necessary." - Prof Arpad Pusztai, who made a risk assessment of Mon863 for the German government

For more info visit (http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5395)

or to read the entire 1139 pages CLICK HERE (http://www.monsanto.com/monsanto/content/sci_tech/prod_safety/fullratstudy.pdf)

edit - fixed link

[pedro san pedro]

Genetically modified foods are not only usable, they are absolutely fucking nescessary if we're ever going to have a chance of feeding humanity.

There is simply no alternative for creating sustained and sufficient agriculture.


According to the UN, we already have one and a half times the amount of food needed to feed everyone on the planet. Our problem is not one of lack of food, but rather of vast inequalities.

GE actually has the potential to make the problems worse - a report released in 2001 by the UK soil and health association showed that crop yeilds in the states had actually droppped in GE crops, presumably due to the increased use of pesticide.

I really dont see how forcing subsistance farmers into paying rolyalities to chemical companies is going to help feed their families! Read about argentinian farmer's experiences with GE - itll tell you a lot about how much the people pushing this technology care about helping humanity

[Che NJ]

It has not been proven that GM crops are going to part of a sustainable agriculture. Nobody knows the long term effects and how the crops will change over time.
Another problem with developing the best crops through GM, is a dangerously low level of variation. As you may or may not have heard the breed of bannana you buy in the grocery story is on an unavoidable path to extinction. Breeders and Genetics scientists have developed the best tasting bannana they can and that breed has been brought to all banna plantations around the world. A new race of fungus is now threatening all bannanas but in particular the cavendish breed. Since there is literally no variation between everybannana from malaysia to Central america there is no chance that the bannanas will be able to resist the fungus. The only remaining bannana plantations in the world are now in Africa and Central america with all of southeast asia and australias bannas wiped out.
Just as devastating a problem could just as easily afflict more imoportant crops such as grain or corn.