RE: Predatory Algae (Horrorstory Contest Entry for Cryptails #1)
Thanks for your knowledgeable reply. It's an honor to have a chat with an expert.
I appreciate your corrections to my limited knowledge on the subject.
I agree with you about the pesticides. Our ecosystem, while very robust, just might not overcome every assault we or nature throws at it. Reductions in the bee population can have devastating effects on certain crop productions and thereby reducing the food available to the world.
I'm also concerned about the pesticide gene that makes pesticide in the plant. I have read that it was placed in the plant DNA by a bacteria. When we or animals eat those plants with that gene, isn't it remotely possible that the gene could be picked up by one of our gut bacteria, which naturally multiply, and produce pesticide in our gut?
Another concern is that there are so many genetically modified foods coming to farms and therefore the market, and each one is unique, and while many may be perfectly safe, isn't it remotely possible that certain genetic modifications could have unintended consequences that could arise in our complex ecosystem or our children's health in ways that we hadn't considered beforehand?
Adding a foreign gene to a plant makes it transgenic.
Transgenic plants are only allowed "outside" if they're made infertile, because of exactly your concerns.
Everything you see outside that is fertile
has modifications that could have happened naturally and were just forced to happen faster.
There are many ways to manipulate a plant's genome and many, many rules apply to it.
And before a plant is deemed safe for human consumption, it is throughly tested for safety and possible dangers.
For an example on how genetic manipulation works, you could read my "Why we squish no-squish tomatoes" story.
Thank you again for your insight.
When I think about how many medications that were thoroughly tested for safety but later had to be recalled because of unexpected problems, causes me to wonder just how thoroughly tested the genetic modified foods were when there is so much money involved.
I also have read that the effects on children, fetuses and future generations may not have been thoroughly tested.
I just don't believe we have all the pieces of the puzzle yet. And the issue of labeling foods that contain various genetic mutations seems to have an endless supply of money to fight labeling that would let mothers easily choose whether or not to feed it to her young children.