Wishing to have a discussion and learn true nature of GMO without rhetoric. Any takers?
I want to generate a discussion (not a flame war) about GMO crops. I wanted to know if anyone has any information which is NOT propaganda either pro or against GMO, but is a simplified, easy to understand. I realize identifying something as propaganda is difficult when you see something that supports your beliefs. It's difficult to dissect it as such. Fortunately, if the contrary to your belief evokes a viscerally negative emotional response, it's relatively certain that you've been subjected to propaganda.
Perhaps this is a wild goose chase, because simple facts and rational discussion is very difficult in this space due to polarization of beliefs. Is there any way to learn about the reality without the narrated rhetoric?
Just taking this opportunity to say "THANK YOU FOR FOLLOWING ME"
Without agriculture no value this world.
From what I understand if you can find statistics on countries that started using GMO's in the last 20 years and compare the cancer rates from before GMO's to 10 to 20 years after GMO's the evidence is very evident. Try it and let me know?
For a simple example, there have been crops that were genetically modified by chemists, in a lab, to be able to survive exposure to Round-Up, aka glyphosate pesticides. Many people took a surface look at "Round-Up Ready" crops, and thought that scientists had somehow engineered a plant that would create toxins within the plant like glyphosate. This is of-course absurd, and would never be allowed--or even considered.
At the same time, there have been issues where small farmowners have benefit from unintended cross-pollination of Round-Up Ready crops with their own crops. Although it was (most likely)never intentional, Monsanto(the maker of Round-Up Ready crops) pursued farmers for pay, claiming that the farmer's owed Monsanto for the crops endowed with the Round-Up Ready genetic traits. This, of-course was an attempt at forcing farmers to buy only Monsanto products, instead of re-planting their own seeds, or buying seeds from other sources.
So, TLDR, and I am doing this all from memory, sorry guys, no sauce:
GMO products are actually not harmful to humans, they don't create unhealthy toxins, they are actually great for increasing the productivity of land and reducing the amount of soil amendments needed to maintain said land.
At the same time, Monsanto as a corporation, is very greedy, and wants to satisfy shareholders, so they've gone about using some very dirty methods to force farmers to use their products.
It's a mixed bag.
The GMO is the future of the planet, if done properly, it can save many lifes and end world hunger.
WoW we could not do withouut
How do you mean?
Nature has been genetically modifying plants and animals since there were plants and animals that can by interaction modify each other. The big difference between nature and man doing it is that nature knows when to stop, humans do not.
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STOPLet's keep it simple! Without entering into long discussion on terminology. Humans are modifying organisms from millennia (yes also genetically). One thing is to breed wolves with more human-tolerant behavior to create the ancestor of dogs, or wild cows (urook-like) to create and select a new species showing higher milk production, but inserting a bacterial gene involved in pesticide resistance into a plant or a jellyfish gene in a tomato is something different. At least different in technology used (try to convince a tomato to have sex with a jellyfish), not in principle that is basically the same: creating something new that in natural condition would have had very little chances to originate and colonize some niches in this planet. So the problem is that technology is allowing us to break any reasonable limit in terms of possibilities but also time. And time can be critical, because we are not able to understand a technology that in some cases became obsolete before it is even understood by large parte of the the people, or better by non-experts. Lately, CRISP technology is emerging as a new method of genetic manipulation that is revolutionizing the way in which we changed DNA so far. Without entering in details, this innovation could also be relatively cheap, but it will not change the fact that the organisms genetically modified with this technology will be patented anyway. However, we should not look at Biotech company monsters, we can ask farmers for confirmation, but probably they pay a lot of money for buying normal seeds (I do not think they are free). So, probably the economic issue is not highly relevant here. Two other factors are the main sources of concerns: safety and biodiversity threat.
Inserting a new organism in an environment where it was not originally present or where it went extinct, can have catastrophic consequences (too many examples), but in some cases also positive effect (take a look at this:
Inserting a new organism in an environment where it was not originally present or where it went extinct, can have catastrophic consequences (too many examples), but in some cases also positive effect (take a look at this: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysa5OBhXz-Q). In some cases, the genetically modified organisms comes with a sterile-obliged option. Probably it will not work( see Jurassic Park where the dinosaurs were supposed to be all females). Third, the fact that GM plants can be rendered more resistant towards pesticide will allow also for a more indiscriminate use of such substances with deleterious effect on insects and possibly other animals. FInally, the human health issue... very tough topic! I would like to make just a consideration. We have used for decades some toxic or cancerogenic compound before realizing it (see DDT, ethernit, teflon, CFC, and the list can be very long). So if somebody is telling me GM organisms are safe for human consumption, it just make me laugh a lot. But I could accept that they could be safe or it could be important to test them properly. And it is also important to avoid generalization a tomato with a gene for long-lasting life could be safe, this is not telling me anything about the safety of a banana were it was inserted a gene from a spider...
I have just noticed that it was cut...
not that nobody cares))))
solo a caso potevo prendere un voto...miii
meglio che niente va!
According to Wiki, GMO's are "any organism whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering techniques."
Humans have been responsible for modifying the genes or expression of genes of organisms for millennia through a different method - artificial selection - where certain desirable traits are selected for breeding future generations. This process has given rise to the variety of vegetables and domestic animals we have today.
It has some problems, for instance, some dogs cannot give birth naturally and rely on cesarean births. Others are prone to certain diseases.
It's my view that whether genetic modification is achieved via selection or via insertion of genes, we have a responsibility not to produce abominations.
In terms of food, fruits are seemin to be bred with more and more sugar, less fiber and possibly less nutrition. Not sure if this is consumer driven or if plants breeders have a preconceived idea that fruit should be as sweet as possible.
Lots of GM is focused on increasing tolerance to pests or resistance to herbicides which makes things easier for farmers.
Based on various studies, no ill effects have been reported from consumption of GM foods but it remains one of those things that makes people feel icky.
Humans are a powerful influence on the Earth and it's biomes. Most of the domestic plants and animals we come into contact with have been shaped over centuries or millennia by the hand of humanity and we can be grateful for that as we don't have to eat carrots that resemble a piece of wood or tomatoes that are poisonous. GM is the next phase of humanities influence over the way domestic plants and animals are and I trust that most of the time, advancements made in this regard will be useful/benign.