Martin

Senior Member
Dec 31, 2000
56,913
Genetically modified organism.
aha. well personally I don't buy into the outrage. european governments are more or less trustworthy when it comes to food administration. so far.

what we don't have here in europe, though, is synthetic ingredients in food. apparently fast food chains put actual meat, actual potatoes etc in the food they sell here, which on the face of it sounds completely logical. but then you hear that what they're doing on your end isn't the same thing.
 

Bjerknes

"Top Economist"
Mar 16, 2004
116,240
aha. well personally I don't buy into the outrage. european governments are more or less trustworthy when it comes to food administration. so far.

what we don't have here in europe, though, is synthetic ingredients in food. apparently fast food chains put actual meat, actual potatoes etc in the food they sell here, which on the face of it sounds completely logical. but then you hear that what they're doing on your end isn't the same thing.
GMO foods have higher pesticide ratios to regular crops, plus have exposure to mercury. Once again we are only subject to what TV commercials and the government tells us on the matter.
 

Martin

Senior Member
Dec 31, 2000
56,913
how does that make sense? isn't the whole point of genetic engineering to make the organism tougher, bigger, healthier etc? so if that were to succeed they should be less susceptible to pests
 

Bjerknes

"Top Economist"
Mar 16, 2004
116,240
how does that make sense? isn't the whole point of genetic engineering to make the organism tougher, bigger, healthier etc? so if that were to succeed they should be less susceptible to pests
It's like a more difficult piece of code. The more extravagant it is, the more it needs to be controlled.
 

Enron

Tickle Me
Moderator
Oct 11, 2005
75,665
how does that make sense? isn't the whole point of genetic engineering to make the organism tougher, bigger, healthier etc? so if that were to succeed they should be less susceptible to pests
That's the idea. But in making the organism "better" you give it certain traits that it didn't have before. In addition the genetic pool becomes way smaller and leaves the organisms open to blight, disease, pests, etc that the scientists didn't look forward to. In the future GMOs may be just fine for people to eat and may even help to solve the hunger issue. The thing is that GMOs aren't tested to see the effects of their new "powers" on humans.

A lot of GMOs require an extra input of antibiotics, a practice common in animal husbandry, but not usually found in the plant world. Now the scientists that have developed these plants haven't done the research to judge what the effects of the additional antibiotics will be on humans that ingest them with respect to illness and resistance of disease.
 

Enron

Tickle Me
Moderator
Oct 11, 2005
75,665
I probably should have said chemicals. That's more accurate.

But pesticides and chemicals are the same thing anyway.
GMO's don't get pesticide treatments. That's the whole point. Instead of spraying the plant with DDT you make the plant bleed DDT or something similar when it's attacked by pests.

Or in another example, tomatoes crossed with DNA of cold water fish, so that they can be grown in colder climates.

GMO's and pesticides are totally separate issues, even though the philosophies are linked.

Oh no... fitted hats are back... and I'm still enjoying life's ride... right. :shocked:
 

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