Should Genetically Modified food be the future?

[goodman528]

Just watched Horizon on BBC iplayer. I was outraged by the footage of the anti-GM activists destroying fields of food. Destroying food, wasting food, is a sin. Not only are you destroying the products of someone else's hard work, you are destroying food that feed people. What makes these people think it is right to destroy GM crops?

I support GM crops, because with increasing yields, and tolerance for hard conditions, and reduced use of pesticides. GM is the technology that will feed the world, population grows exponentially, traditional food production can only grow linearly, without GM, the only solution is population control. I believe food should be cheap and affordable for everyone.

Is there really such resistance against GM crops? or is it just a vocal minority? What do you think?

 

[smallharmlesskitten]

Yes... for all your reasons.

And the people against it campaign very vocally.

 

[crimson5pheonix]

GM crops seems like something I would be on the fence about. I might have been against it if I didn't learn about it at the same time I learned I had already been eating it. If it works, keep it up.

 

[meatloaf231]

Assuming that GM stands for Genetically Modified, I am totally in support of it. Anything that science can do better than nature...

You know what? Screw it. I'll just link Penn and Teller again. Just be sure to watch all three parts.

Part one, the rest are in Related Videos.

 

[jim_doki]

meh, all food has been genetically modified

we just use a lab now

 

[Boober the Pig]

The problem is that we don't know about long term effects of GM food. I'm all for feeding the hungry but not if it will cause long term health problems. Most of what is considered GM food is simply hybrids of naturally occurring crops but anything this new and untested could have long term effects that no one even suspects. Asbestos was a breakthrough in fire prevention and safety, it was meant to save live and now it's a dangerous killer. I'm not saying GM food will be held in the same regard as asbestos but I don't think we know enough about the long term effects for wide spread use.

 

[crimson5pheonix]

For us non-UK people what is GM crops?

Genetically Modified crops. They are available in most first world countries including Canada.

 

[SimuLord]

On the one hand, I don't like the idea of companies like Monsanto and Archer Daniels Midland controlling the food supply, but on the other hand, organic and "sustainable" farming is exactly what's behind the global food shortage and self-righteous tree-huggers at my local Whole Foods are exactly the sorts of people who shouldn't be dictating the market at a time when basic human sustenance is threatened by conscience consumerism.

GM seems like the lesser of two evils.

 

[stompy]

Will GM food have the genes used in its production listed? If so, then yes. If not, then it's a danger to those with allergies, and also is a negative to those that have dietary requirements.

 

[GyroCaptain]

Yes. I want beef to wish to be eaten and off itself a la The Restaurant at the End of the Universe.

Maybe that doesn't deal with the question but it's sure as hell my answer.

 

[runtheplacered]

We're all already eating genetically modified foods. It's a fantastic solution to a growing problem.

 

[implodingMan]

Almost everything we eat is genetically or chemically altered in some way, so it would be too hard to get rid of it.

Plus, humans have created foods through genetic manipulation for thousands of years. Edible corn is the product of genetic modification, just the old fashioned kind.

 

[crimsondynamics]

I'm not a big fan of GM foods - they haven't been out long enough to truly understand whether any side effects could be caused by GM food consumption. It's the mobile phone all over again.

However, it's not entirely true that the world is running out of food. There is plenty of natural, sustainable food to feed each and every last one of us well into the future.

Insects. Ounce for ounce, insects pack a wallop in proteins, far more than meat or vegetables. They are readily abundant wherever there are humans, do not require extensive care and stocks can be easily replenished by virtue of their fantastically rapid development.

Given the proper health requirements for human consumption insects are just as clean as the cabbage or pork you buy in supermarkets today; we wouldn't eat cabbage watered with sewer waste or swine fed with leftover waste, so there is no reason to expect insects to be filthy.

Insects are consumed in a number of countries today. The only problem with insect consumption is whether we are able to accept it or not as part of our food chain. I understand most people would be appalled at the mere suggestion of consuming insects, but in reality this is no different than eating other food staples that are an integral part of any society today, such as sushi in Japan or Balut in the Philippines. The main challenge to successfully introducing insects into the human food chain is not its sustainability, but its perception: we've been told all our lives that insects are pests and our minds are instilled with images associated with disgust whenever we see a cockroach or fly. Just like most people who never grew up eating "pitan" (or 1,000-year-old egg, famous in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, the egg "white" is a translucent dark green/blue, while the yolk is a murky dark gray in color) would be completely disgusted by even looking at the egg, most Asians consider this a delicacy.

Don't knock it until you've tried it, and try to see beyond appearances. I know so many people who go into an Italian restaurant and order "calamari" because it sounds exotic, and heartily enjoyed the dish, only to throw up after they are informed that calamari is Italian for squid.

I personally have had my share of insects and while not all of them rank high in terms of taste, I fondly remember having that spicy-fried cricket dish in Taiwan that was just heaven with my liter of draft.

The world isn't running out of food at all. We're just being too picky in our food choices and blinded by our alternatives.

 

[Good morning blues]

There's plenty of evidence that GM foods have health risks. Take, for instance, Latin America, where there is no legal limit on how much bovine growth hormone is allowed to be used in the production of milk, and as a result the girls in the region reach puberty several years earlier than they do throughout the rest of the world. Despite the pro-market propaganda we've all heard, these things actually do need to be studied, because surprisingly enough, fucking around with the material that we put into our bodies does have an effect on our bodies.

Additionally, I would like my culture and society to distance itself from corporations like Monsanto as much as possible.

There's nothing stopping us from switching over to sustainable agricultural options aside from the loud protests of the people that stand to make money off of GM crops and the further exploitation of the third world.

 

[Rolling Thunder]

Insects. And you have issues with GM crops. Hmmmmmm...

Firstly, the econlogical issue is that insects are vital to maintaining the ecosystem as is. Removing them would have catastophic effects on it- flowers would not be polinated, plant and animal waste would not rot, etc, etc.

Secondly, a good many insects are highly toxic to human consumption. That is why we don't eat them, and why most cultures that do are ones that developed in a place where there is little food (Like deserts)

Thirdly, the main issue is that many countrys, in particular Africa, are having too many children, and too many of them are surviving. Thus, as in accordance with Malthusian population dynamics, the population rapidly outstrips the optimum for efficency and eventually, the food supply itself, resulting in famie, disease and war.

Fourthly: How doth one plan to farm insects? Ah, an issue.

 

[hellthins]

Yes yes yes yes yes. We've already been genetically modified food with the crude tools of cross pollination. Look at Corn and Bananas. Now compare them to where they came from. We've had a hand in cultivating crops that might not survive so well outside of our care, but serve our purpose.

Direct genetic modification is just doing that with a lot more control over what does and doesn't get expressed, instead of hoping and praying that it works.

 

[Lukeje]

The problem is that we don't know about long term effects of GM food. I'm all for feeding the hungry but not if it will cause long term health problems. Most of what is considered GM food is simply hybrids of naturally occurring crops but anything this new and untested could have long term effects that no one even suspects. Asbestos was a breakthrough in fire prevention and safety, it was meant to save live and now it's a dangerous killer. I'm not saying GM food will be held in the same regard as asbestos but I don't think we know enough about the long term effects for wide spread use.

Have you ever heard that if Potatoes were brought to the licensing board to be classified as fit to be sold today, the application would be rejected? You see, the green bits of potatoes actually contain DEADLY NIGHTSHADE. Yet people have been eating potatoes for centuries with no ill effects.
The moral is that GM food has been more extensively tested than most of the food you will eat, and has actually been certified as fit for consumption.

 

[Naeberius]

no genetically modified food should be used as a suppository and we should eat babies.[/sarcasm]

yes genetically modified food is the source for the future. man kind has been doing it for centuries the low tech by way of artificial selection (eg apples used to be the size of cherries). GM is the way of the future, maybe food could be taken in a sort of bland paste daily made of essentials and then other foods are a luxury item.

 

[Scorched_Cascade]

The problem is that we don't know about long term effects of GM food. I'm all for feeding the hungry but not if it will cause long term health problems. Most of what is considered GM food is simply hybrids of naturally occurring crops but anything this new and untested could have long term effects that no one even suspects. Asbestos was a breakthrough in fire prevention and safety, it was meant to save live and now it's a dangerous killer. I'm not saying GM food will be held in the same regard as asbestos but I don't think we know enough about the long term effects for wide spread use.

I agree with this but reluctantly I do have to accept we are already eating unnatural food; also I think a better example than Asbestos would be DDT. DDT was marketed as a wonder product pestacide and all way well and good till they realised it was highly hydrophobic and soil permeable ran off fields, into streams and was swallowed by fish. Levels built up in fish causing it to build up in things higher up the food chain-guess what? DDT is toxic to humans and lethal to embryos and eggs (for avian and lizard animals).

Also I think the OP should specify what kind of modifications we are talking about here-disease/pest resistant? Changed flavour? Changed colour to be more appetising? Hypo allegenic?

 

[Sewblon]

Genetic modification is the future. We still need to breed an animal that wants people to eat it and can articulate it, Emo cattle possibly?