GM foods

[The Bacon Guy]

I heard on a radio programme today that EU scientists are planning to revive the debate over GM crops to try to change uninformed public opinion and relax government restrictions. So I thought I’d see what people here think of genetically modifying food. Personally, I think GM food is the future and that the benefits far outweigh the claimed (and mostly unproven) disadvantages. So what are your thoughts? Should we invest more in GM crops and relax the strict EU regulations or are GM crops the wrong way to go?

[Compugasm]

We've been modifying crops since... gees, since we started planting stuff if you want to get picky. More modern examples would be coffee, marijuana, tequilla, corn, wheat, all those plants that are strengthed through cross breading or put indoors to control the environment in which they grow.

[iahag]

Ive not researched heavily into the subject, however ... any argument Ive heard from the mainstream media against GM foods is baseless emotional statements which hold no proof or statistics.

The arguments I have heard for, is that GM foods are saving millions of peoples lives. But hey, Im welcome to stats and maybe a proper argument against GM foods. 'Cure my ignorance' ... if you will. Jus .. please, no scare tactics...

[gallo]

If you are afraid of GM foods, then don't eat tomatoes, carrots, corn, and a few others. Since GM foods don't produce toxins (just the same starches, sugars, proteins, and fats as always), why should we be afraid?

Maybe those who fear GM foods attended too many "evil mutant monster" movies. Wasn't it great to see Pat O'Brien eaten by the mutant monster spider?

[Compugasm]

Why should you be afraid of genetically modified food?



The cuteness of monkeys, the deliciousness of peas.

[Tobzie]

Although I think GM crops are a good idea one reason why people think it's a bad idea are the unknown effect on the enviroment.
For example if all crops are made so that they won't be eaten be insects then insect populations may be severly affected and this in turn may have an extremely detrimental effect the food webs in the area with unknown consequences.
Also many poorer farmers won't be able to afford the GM products forcing them out of the market aswell as giving huge amounts of power to multinational biotechnolological companies.
Not sure i agree with these arguments but they make some relevent points.

[G. Adams]

If you can prove that there will be zero cross pollination between GM and none-GM goods, go ahead and start wide scale production across Europe. Until then, keep them out of Europe.

[Pooeypants]

What are you talking about? We've been genetically modifying plants ever since the days of selective plant breeding.
How exactly will we go about "proving" zero cross pollination? That's a negative isn't it?

[Nono]

Quote by: iahag 'Cure my ignorance' ...

The scariest thing to me is the fact that the farmers who grow the stuff become consumer-slaves of the big agribusiness companies. That's definitely another step in the wrong direction.

[G. Adams]

Quote by: Pooeypants What are you talking about? We've been genetically modifying plants ever since the days of selective plant breeding. How exactly will we go about "proving" zero cross pollination? That's a negative isn't it?

That's the point. If you can't prove it, which as you've said is impossible, and you can't go ahead with production until you can, it will never go into production.

I don't see why we don't keep Europe GM free, in terms of production that is. If there are any problems it will show up, and we will have GM free products to replace the GM stock. If all goes fine, we can go ahead with production. It's not going to hurt Europe to keep it GM free.