The Big Picture: Feeding Edge

[Twilight_guy]

Huh... nobody complains about food eugenics...

Nice video to clarify "genetic engineering" as "artificial selection." I think people still worry that guys in white coats are pumping chemicals into their food though.

 

[RoBi3.0]

I am sorry Bob, but you got this one wrong, really wrong. While a lot of people fear Genetically altered food for no reason, There is a reason why Genetically Engineered Food is worrisome.

First off there is a difference between animal husbandry that gradually happens over 100 hundreds of years and cloning an animal. Yes cloning counts as Genetically Engineered Food. The main point being it isn't a variation of a certain animal it is the same god damn animal. This is really a problem when it is small scale, but on a massive scale animal bloodline could disappear to the point where there is only really only one cow in existence, but thousands and thousands of copies of that cow.

Is eating cloned cow going to harm anyone? No, but the eradication of bovine bloodlines leaves that part of the food chain endanger of being wiped off the face of the map. At that point it would one take one type of disease that cloned cow is extremely vulnerable make those cows extinct, and if we only have cloned cow then we as humans are then fucked. This could in turn be applied to any food.

This example may seem extreme, but Genetic Engineering could lead to the destruction Biodiversity. Will it? I don't know, but I am sure not going to put my faith in humans beings acting responsibly, when the consequences for their actions will not be seen of decades.

Secondly, while Genetically altered food may not be harmful to humans we should still have the right to know that we are consuming it. This is one of the hot topics on the issue. The corporations responsible for genetically altered food endless lobby the government on state and federal levels so that Genetically altered food can go unlabeled as such.

If you are willing to completely turn over one of your most basic needs to a corporation, falsely believing that they have your best interests in mind, then there probably no help for you.

 

[Juliana Quant]

Biologist here, shaking my head. Sure, genetic engineering is the same as selective breeding if you don't think words should have meanings.

Taking genes from one organism and inserting them into the genome of an organism from a different kingdom is hardly "selective breeding." A fish is not going to mate with a tomato. That's why there is a different term for that.

Also, Monsanto screws over small farmers and wants to patent genetic code. GMO food means acres upon acres planted with "round-up ready" corn that is actually one genetic individual. It's a political issue and an ecological problem, and I don't want my grocery $$ to support the cause.

Sure, there are people out there who are just plain scared and you can mock them all you want. But really, it's not THAT simple and by pretending it is you seem just as ignorant.

 

[RoBi3.0]

Huh... nobody complains about food eugenics...

Nice video to clarify "genetic engineering" as "artificial selection." I think people still worry that guys in white coats are pumping chemicals into their food though.

Guys in white coats do pump chemicals into our food. Don't believe me Google Ammonia treated meat. It is a interesting process to say the least.

 

[Skunktrain]

Well, now I'm going to be up all night thinking about the looming attack of the killer tomatoes.
I'll be up all night studying for finals but now you know what I'm thinking about.

 

[FlyAwayAutumn]

And that's another win for science.

Spoiler: SCIENCE!

 

[Psycho Cat Industries]

The same can be said for almost anything and yet we strive for innovation do we not?Whenever we have something new,there will always be someone to pick on it.In our nature,we reject that which we do not understand,and you can't really blame people for being paranoid.If you need an example then look at what people think of our gaming industries and the people who play those games.All stereotypes and miscalculations from misunderstanding.

 

[Logic 0]

Does that mean I can't enjoy frank n' beans without knowing it was done with normal science?

 

[kickyourass]

Is it weird that I could tell he was eating a carrot right away?
Anyway, I love genetic engineering, I mean how the hell else am I going to get my catgirls?

 

[SpcyhknBC]

Thank you very much Bob for this. Speaking as someone who is currently studying this field, it's great to see someone actually dispelling people's fears. Now, where did I put the DNA to make those living bagpipes?

Also fun field in this vein, synthetic biology, or the making of biological toys, like bacteria which can solve sudoku.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/18/e-coli-bacteria-solve-sud_n_785494.html

hey can you answer to this guy?

As a chef, I get a lot of information about GMO's.

And frankly yes, just because its altered does not mean is dangerous. The only cause for concern is that when you alter food slightly over generations the body adapts to it. And hybridizing and husbandry combine the genes of the same species.

GMO's can have very harmful side effects, but it is by no means assured. Simple scientific testing can determine its saftety.

The REAL problem is that this testing is not done, and the FDA does not even require biotech firms to tell them if their food is genetically modified.

Im pretty sure he's spouting bullshit, and he has little to no actual knowlege of the field, but just wanted to make sure.

I'm not sure if you're talking to me, or the other guy. Anyways, I don't know that much in regards to FDA regulations dealing with genetically modified food, but I have never ever heard of genetically modified food adapting to the body over generations causing problems.

For example, many strains of corn have been genetically engineered to be resistant to certain chemicals. As part of ensuring that this gene does not transfer to other plants, these strains of corn cannot produce offspring, they are sterile. The only way for genes to transfer from one species to another in plants (I do mean plants, and they can do this and do do it quite regularly) is for pollen from one to fertilize the ovum of another. These strains do not pollinate, so each year, the farmers must buy a new batch of seeds from whichever company makes the corn strains. Because the plants can't reproduce, they can't evolve, therefore there is no adapting.

I have heard of organic plants evolving new toxins which may be poisonous to humans in a few generations, but I have yet to seen any hard literature in this area, so I'm hesitant to proclaim this as fact yet.

And so you know, my qualifications are a BS in Molecular Biology and I'm currently pursuing a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics.

 

[Nyquisted]

Hey Bob, just like too say, I really enjoyed this episode.
There series seems to have progressed from your rambling in the second episode.

Keep up the good work!

 

[Jack_the_Knife]

What I perceive the general controversy surrounding GMO food isn't so much playing God with whatever we eat, but rather the industry practices that come with it, like questionable business practices(e.g. Monsanto and their terminator seeds, other companies and their vaguely organized crime-esque activities, etc.), a rise in outbreaks like e. coli that seem to originate from genetically modified foods(whether causation or just correlation is the bigger question), animal cruelty(obviously an individual's stance may vary), and environmental impact, among other issues.

I mean, the obvious benefits are that we're able to feed people all over the world(or at least industrialized nations) rather inexpensively, we're able to enjoy all kinds of food all year round and we're safeguarded against disasters with pest-resistant crops or pest-destroying practices.

There's a fair and fascinating general overlook of this in the documentary Food Inc. and I think it's pretty fair to both sides of the debate, but with the obvious and outright stated sympathies towards the organic market.

 

[teknoarcanist]

You want food horror, Bob? Thanksgiving turkeys that are selectively bred now to the point where they can't even have sex to create new turkeys because their thighs are so large. They're artificially inseminated in order to create more food, and they're pumped full of steroids and drugs to make them grow as large as possible, and they spend the majority of their lives in cages, wing-to-wing with more turkeys than should conceivably fit in one cage, knee-deep in their own shit. Their beaks are broken at birth so they can't kill one another or themselves, in the endless state of terror and distress that is their lives.

This is where your turkey comes from. The same is true of about 75% of your chicken, about 80% of your pork, and about 40-50% of your beef.

A super-cow for your troubles.
http://www.cavehumor.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/super-cow.jpg
(That big tumor-ish looking bit is the tasty part )

A dumpster full of discarded male chicks for your time.
http://blog.seattlepi.com/theproducers/library/male-chicks-crop.JPG
But who needs em amiright?

WALL-TO-WALL, BEAKLESS, SELF-MUTILATING MEAT-UNITS, ON THE HOUSE!
http://liberationbc.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/battery_cage_01.jpg
Just lookit their adorable little faces :3

And it goes on, and on, receding into the distance . . .
http://www.treehugger.com/20100519-chicken-factory-farm.jpg
It's like the Matrix up in here. Except now WE'RE the awesome robot overlords! Yay...for........us?.........waitnoshit.

So yeah. It's not so much Franken-Food as it is Dante's-depiction-of-hell -Food. Given that, I think a little outrage and controversy just might, erm, be...a tad called-for.

Hell, if the visceral stuff doesn't do it for you and you want some REAL Orwellian nightmare fuel, wiki Monsanto or go watch 'Food Inc.' Even beyond the obvious moral/ethical outrage (granted, varies from person-to-person) there's problems with this at the levels of food safety, enabling political corruption, etc.

 

[Namewithheld]

Anyone who bitches about GM crops needs to read about a guy named Norman Borlaug.

Whose that?

Well, he's just a guy who single-handedly saved almost a billion people. How? By finding new and better way to grow crops, AND to find new kinds of crops to grow.

Finding ways to make food cheaper and more plentiful is one of the best ways to save lives, and I fully support anyone and everyone who does it.

 

[Safaia]

As someone who works in a grocery store and watches people spend $2 on cucumbers on a regular basis I just want to shove this video in their faces. I still stand by that organic foods is the biggest sham of this generation.

 

[Kumomaru]

Er, defibrillation isn't used on dead people, that's an extremely common misconception. It's used on people whose heart rates have become erratic, it stops the hearts and gives our natural pacemaker a moment to (for lack of a better phrase) 'get it's bearings' and get the heart pumping properly again.

 

[righthanded]

Bob, when you celebrate a carrot, bred for it's aesthetics, you ignore the fact that foods aren't being selectively bred for their nutritional content or even taste. When Monsanto holds the patents on everything you consume, there might be a conflict of interest in delivering sustenance and delivering profit to share holders. I trust a corporation to do everything in its power to generate revenue, including flooding a market with foods that grow fast and heavy without providing the nutrients necessary to sustain life.

From the company that brought you agent orange comes: everything you eat!

Yeah, it's not a conspiracy, bob, it's business. And businesses aren't in it for the consumer.

 

[Hashime]

Skeptiod has a good podcast on this: http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4112

 

[Redd the Sock]

Well first off, don't put to much faith in the term "franken" whatever, or at the very least, the next time you hear the term, see if the person using it at least knows Frankenstein was the doctor not the monster, then see how much of the book and or movie they know beyond the 3 most commen elements: doctor animates corpse, reanimated corpse kills girl, villigers seige doctor's home. I think most people have more experience with Herman Munster than even the classic film, let alone the book.

Second, there's a genral distrust of science, and not just from relgious nuts. By its nature, science is about saying "we were wrong, and this is right" often contridicting itself voer time. Just think of all the things once good for us later revealed bad, from all meat diets, to lead paint, to DDT. Factor in mushroom cloud images and one of the most common story elements being someone falling due to their own hubris, and you get a recipe for people afraid to move forward lest we suffer the ill effects unforseen by an overeager scientist. Sometimes you even get a more tangible example. Do you think that the internet would have grown at the rate it did if corporations foresaw movie, music, and game pirates?

The issue itself, well, overall I'm not sure, but then, the C- I got in 10th grad biology encouraged me to take physics so my thoughts wouldn't have much qualification behind them, but between growing populations, rising meat prices, and a neverending hope that someone will discover the genetic sequance to make fattening foods healthy without sacrificing taste, I'll side with the tinkerers for now.

 

[Aerakade]

God I love movie bob so much.