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Gmo

CLAX1911

CLAX1911

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So I've heard a lot of claims about GMOs and I'm really wondering what even exists that isn't a genetically modified organism. To my understanding since the dawn of agricultural we have been genetically modifying our food.

Altering genetic material is just adding or subtracting amino acids.

So what is the harm?
 
Some are good. Some are bad. To be truly healthy, you need to think harder and beyond the false dichotomy of "GMO good vs. GMO Bad!", simply another sub-strain of the wider divide-and-conquer agenda.
 
Abbazorkzog said:
Some are good. Some are bad. To be truly healthy, you need to think harder and beyond the false dichotomy of "GMO good vs. GMO Bad!", simply another sub-strain of the wider divide-and-conquer agenda.
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Nope, GMO IS bad. It is designed to be bad.
 
The average person could not define GMO or tell you what it is in their own words but they are deathly afraid of it anyway
 
Mac77 said:
The average person could not define GMO or tell you what it is in their own words but they are deathly afraid of it anyway
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Good! they are more sane then the avarage 'scientist'!
 
Fortunately, even young children are aware of the gmo dangers! very very good.
 
CLAX1911 said:
So I've heard a lot of claims about GMOs and I'm really wondering what even exists that isn't a genetically modified organism. To my understanding since the dawn of agricultural we have been genetically modifying our food.

Altering genetic material is just adding or subtracting amino acids.

So what is the harm?
Click to expand...

There is and there isn't harm. It's all in the usage.

Let me explain. Say there's a grain blight that's ravaging the Rye crop. Before genetic engineering what we had to do was to try and hybrid Rye with another grain that it resistant to the blight. Let's for the sake of example...we'll use Barley.

So they cross-pollinate the Rye and the Barley. They get several strains of the hybrid that they now have to test. Some will not be resistant, some will. Of the ones that are...some of those strains (perhaps all) will no longer have the qualities that make Rye...Rye.

So it's back to the drawing board and they try again. Test, grow, test, grow...until they find the right species that resists the blight, but has all the characteristics that are Rye. Then they have to check to see if the new strain can be bread with itself and continue the resistance across future generations.

All of this takes time. They have to plant the seeds and wait for them to germinate and to mature. For every generation they try. That's a lot of time.

Genetic Engineering means that they can cut the time down drastically since they can pull the genes they want and splice it in. This gives them a higher rate of success right from the start.

Now since we eat Rye and we eat Barley...nothing that is in the new "frankenfood" is anything that we don't consume in the two grains separately. To me, this is a good GMO.

But there are other GMO applications that are less benign. Say that there's a weed that has natural selection has made it resistant to the herbicides they put on the crops. It's now starting to choke off the Rye crops. You can't increase the amount of herbicide or go with a stronger one since that will kill off the Rye that you want.

So they look around for a species of grain that is more resistant to the herbicides. Again let's use barley. There's a strain that is tougher and resists herbicides. You splice the bit that makes it hardier into the rye.

Then you are free to dump all the herbicides on our food to kill off the plant you don't want.

To me...that's a bad GMO. Not the GMO itself, but the application. Nothing in the new GMO is harmful to us (again because we eat both Rye and Barley and the new plant has nothing that we aren't already eating), but it's not contaminated with newer, stronger and increased amounts of herbicides.
 
CLAX1911 said:
So I've heard a lot of claims about GMOs and I'm really wondering what even exists that isn't a genetically modified organism. To my understanding since the dawn of agricultural we have been genetically modifying our food.

Altering genetic material is just adding or subtracting amino acids.

So what is the harm?
Click to expand...

I love me some GMO's.
 
Hypnotoad said:
There is and there isn't harm. It's all in the usage.

Let me explain. Say there's a grain blight that's ravaging the Rye crop. Before genetic engineering what we had to do was to try and hybrid Rye with another grain that it resistant to the blight. Let's for the sake of example...we'll use Barley.

So they cross-pollinate the Rye and the Barley. They get several strains of the hybrid that they now have to test. Some will not be resistant, some will. Of the ones that are...some of those strains (perhaps all) will no longer have the qualities that make Rye...Rye.

So it's back to the drawing board and they try again. Test, grow, test, grow...until they find the right species that resists the blight, but has all the characteristics that are Rye. Then they have to check to see if the new strain can be bread with itself and continue the resistance across future generations.

All of this takes time. They have to plant the seeds and wait for them to germinate and to mature. For every generation they try. That's a lot of time.

Genetic Engineering means that they can cut the time down drastically since they can pull the genes they want and splice it in. This gives them a higher rate of success right from the start.

Now since we eat Rye and we eat Barley...nothing that is in the new "frankenfood" is anything that we don't consume in the two grains separately. To me, this is a good GMO.

But there are other GMO applications that are less benign. Say that there's a weed that has natural selection has made it resistant to the herbicides they put on the crops. It's now starting to choke off the Rye crops. You can't increase the amount of herbicide or go with a stronger one since that will kill off the Rye that you want.

So they look around for a species of grain that is more resistant to the herbicides. Again let's use barley. There's a strain that is tougher and resists herbicides. You splice the bit that makes it hardier into the rye.

Then you are free to dump all the herbicides on our food to kill off the plant you don't want.

To me...that's a bad GMO. Not the GMO itself, but the application. Nothing in the new GMO is harmful to us (again because we eat both Rye and Barley and the new plant has nothing that we aren't already eating), but it's not contaminated with newer, stronger and increased amounts of herbicides.
Click to expand...

You can just wash your produce
 
CLAX1911 said:
You can just wash your produce
Click to expand...

Ever try to wash flour?

And even then, washing produce is no guarantee that you can remove the herbicide. As they are distributed in water, anything that doesn't hit the plants themselves (or does and drips off) will go into the ground. The plant's roots will suck the water and herbicide in and it will remain in the plant. Including the bits that we eat.

There's the harm. Otherwise the GMO in of itself is not the problem.
 
Hypnotoad said:
Ever try to wash flour?

And even then, washing produce is no guarantee that you can remove the herbicide. As they are distributed in water, anything that doesn't hit the plants themselves (or does and drips off) will go into the ground. The plant's roots will suck the water and herbicide in and it will remain in the plant. Including the bits that we eat.

There's the harm. Otherwise the GMO in of itself is not the problem.
Click to expand...
so is the harm that herbicides are toxic to humans?

So in what concentration do they become toxic and are the levels in foods at least detectable?
 
CLAX1911 said:
so is the harm that herbicides are toxic to humans?

So in what concentration do they become toxic and are the levels in foods at least detectable?
Click to expand...

I think you're missing my point. I'm agreeing with you that GMOs are not harmful in of themselves. If you splice "X" gene from "Y" edible plant into "Z" edible plant...there's no harm since you can eat both Y and Z plants. The only difference is that now you have a plant that is a rapidly developed hybrid. That GMo is a shortcut to the years of hybridization trials to get the same result.

You can cross-breed over generations and have to wait for each generation to mature for testing...or you can just cut and paste the bits you need and have a higher chance of getting the result you want at a vastly accelerated rate.

The harm that I mentioned was merely an example of how one can take a GMO to an unsafe point. Forgive me if I'm misreading this...but it seems as if you're feeling argumentative and are using an example of how the safe process of genetic modification can be used less safely and are trying to get me into an argument about it...even though I'm in agreement with your main point of...

Altering genetic material is just adding or subtracting amino acids.

So what is the harm?
Click to expand...

That may or may not be what you're shooting for, but that's how it appears to me.

I believe in GMO since it's a shortcut in an otherwise very lengthy process. I believe that GMO (like anything else on this planet) can be used in unhealthy and unsafe ways. It's neither good or evil...It's all in how it's used.

Cut! Print! Check the gate! Moving on.
 
CLAX1911 said:
So I've heard a lot of claims about GMOs and I'm really wondering what even exists that isn't a genetically modified organism. To my understanding since the dawn of agricultural we have been genetically modifying our food.

Altering genetic material is just adding or subtracting amino acids.

So what is the harm?
Click to expand...

I agree with your post as far as man has been selectively breeding plants an animals for hundreds of years. That much is certainly true.

That said, it does appear that the GMO effort has perhaps gone too far. The death in Madrid shows that.
 
Thoreau72 said:
I agree with your post as far as man has been selectively breeding plants an animals for hundreds of years. That much is certainly true.

That said, it does appear that the GMO effort has perhaps gone too far. The death in Madrid shows that.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't be that quick to say it's gone to far. One death could be just freakish
 
CLAX1911 said:
So I've heard a lot of claims about GMOs and I'm really wondering what even exists that isn't a genetically modified organism. To my understanding since the dawn of agricultural we have been genetically modifying our food.

Altering genetic material is just adding or subtracting amino acids.

So what is the harm?
Click to expand...

You're conflating selective breeding with genetic alteration (the introduction of foreign DNA). IMO the problem is we have no way of knowing what the unintended consequences will be as the altered DNA works itself into the environment.
 
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