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Genetically Engineered Food: Blessing or curse?

MiamiFlorida

MiamiFlorida

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Detractors claim that genetically engineered foods pose significant risks to public health. They claim they could trigger allergic reactions.

Genetically modified foods, which are common in the United States, are passionately opposed by many Europeans, who call them "Frankenfoods" and fear they may pose long-term health and environmental risks. These crops have been biologically altered to build in a number of desirable characteristics, from insect resistance to faster growth to greater sugar retention.

Europe's ban on these foods has worsened Africa's hunger. Many African countries, fearing the loss of markets in Europe, are reluctant to plant genetically modified crops that could otherwise ease famine crisis.

Any thoughts?
 
Any thoughts?
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I think it is a good thing.If we could make rice and corn grow in sand then it could feed people who live in deserts,less fertilizer could be used instead of more, less water could be used instead of more to grow food, food could possibly be grown with out the use of pesticides and more food could be grown in a smaller area.
 
jamesrage said:
I think it is a good thing.If we could make rice and corn grow in sand then it could feed people who live in deserts,less fertilizer could be used instead of more, less water could be used instead of more to grow food, food could possibly be grown with out the use of pesticides and more food could be grown in a smaller area.
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I agree. Genetically engineered foods have been around for a long time. Take bananas, for instance. Have you ever wondered what are those small black specs in bananas? They are the vestiges of the ancestral seed. The original banana had a large black seed in the center and very little else. Through genetic manipulation we have what you buy today at supermarkets.
 
All I know is that insurance companies will not insure them. That scares me. And we're not really developing GMOs that could feed the world, we're developing ones that we can spray with herbicides without dying.
 
MiamiFlorida said:
I agree. Genetically engineered foods have been around for a long time. Take bananas, for instance. Have you ever wondered what are those small black specs in bananas? They are the vestiges of the ancestral seed. The original banana had a large black seed in the center and very little else. Through genetic manipulation we have what you buy today at supermarkets.
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The banana story is quite interesting. Most cultivated bananas quit having sex 10,000 to 15,000 years ago (Well, at least with other bananas). Most edible bananas have three sets of chromosomes and we all know what 3 sets of chromosomes mean. This why the banana we mainly eat today, the Cavendish, is doomed and will eventually be replaced as was its predecessor the Gros Michel in the 1960's. They were and are both natural hybrids, that can no longer cope with the changing world, and the next replacement banana will assuredly be a GM.
 
Genetic engineering of plants, is just a more specific method of creating new plant varieties. Farmers have being doing it for years, via selective breeding.

People have to realise that organic food is not going to feed the world. We have to have a second green revolution, that will reduce the impact of agriculture on the environment, yet at the same time increase productivity, and crop yields. Only adopting the latest technology have we any hope of acheiving this.
 
Australianlibertarian said:
Genetic engineering of plants, is just a more specific method of creating new plant varieties. Farmers have being doing it for years, via selective breeding.

People have to realise that organic food is not going to feed the world. We have to have a second green revolution, that will reduce the impact of agriculture on the environment, yet at the same time increase productivity, and crop yields. Only adopting the latest technology have we any hope of acheiving this.
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You are absolutely right. Europeans have ulterior motives for banning our genetically engineered products: competition.

If I walk into the produce section of any supermarket in Europe, I am going to see the product of 2,000 years of genetic engineering all around me. Not only the bananas...the tomatos, oranges, lettuce, apples, pears, potatoes, corn, etc.....ALL have been altered throughout the generations for yield, appearance, etc.. And their livestock? The same.
 
Kelzie said:
All I know is that insurance companies will not insure them. That scares me. And we're not really developing GMOs that could feed the world, we're developing ones that we can spray with herbicides without dying.
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The insurance companies aren't scared of the foods, they are scared of the lawyers and illiformed juries who will decide frivilous cases. Support Bush's plan for tort reform and you will not have to be scared.
 
MiamiFlorida said:
You are absolutely right. Europeans have ulterior motives for banning our genetically engineered products: competition.

If I walk into the produce section of any supermarket in Europe, I am going to see the product of 2,000 years of genetic engineering all around me. Not only the bananas...the tomatos, oranges, lettuce, apples, pears, potatoes, corn, etc.....ALL have been altered throughout the generations for yield, appearance, etc.. And their livestock? The same.
Click to expand...

That is NOT genetic engineering. That is plant reproduction. And it is completely natural, it has been happening for years. It's fertilizing a type of corn with big ears with another type that has a good resistance for bugs. Genetic engineering is inserting a fish gene (for it's cold resistance) into a plant. There is nothing natural about it, and it would never happen in nature.
 
And what do you think plant reproduction is? Any recombination of genetic material, artificially or in nature is Genetic modification!

Technically farmers cross breeding plants is anything but natural, because the farmer is intervening, creating new varieties. If we let nature do its job, and not intervene in plant species, we would not have the modern species of agriculutural plants.

So, if you want to live naturally, live as a nomad. Agriculture is anything but natural. Agriculture is the use of technology to produce food, at the lowest cost to the highest yield.

So really what is natural?
 
Kelzie said:
That is NOT genetic engineering. That is plant reproduction. And it is completely natural, it has been happening for years. It's fertilizing a type of corn with big ears with another type that has a good resistance for bugs. Genetic engineering is inserting a fish gene (for it's cold resistance) into a plant. There is nothing natural about it, and it would never happen in nature.
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Sorry to contradict you...but that IS genetic engineering.

Selective breeding, hybridization, cloning and gene splicing are all forms of genetic engineering.
 
cloning will probably feed the world.

They say they could grow a whole fleet of meat in 6 months to feed the world.


I'm sure there is large potential for veggies too.
 
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