After seeing this on the news alot, It makes me wonder why certain people have so much against genetically altered foods. They alterations allow us to grow them in different climates and under different conditions, so we can have more of them. I dont see how this is bad or poses a threat to anyone. Should genetically altered food be made more of or stopped altogether? Any reasons why gen-altered food is bad?
One probelm with genetically modified crops is if they interbreed with weeds. A strain of wheat that is modified to resist herbicides is a good idea, except that wheat can interbreed with some weeds; this creates weeds that are also resistant to herbicides. That’s the only probelm with genetically modified foods that I know of. Even considering that, I approve of genetically modified crops.
I’ve never touched this subject before not knowing anything about it until now…Couple of weeks ago on NPR I heard a report about genetically altered corn. They called it “Super-something” or “Star-something”. Ok this corn has evidently “contaminated” some of our regular corn crop. It had not been approved for human consumption because it was found to cause some mild amount of stomach cramps in humans. It had been approved for limited use as feed corn. Seems that a few growers got this stuff and didn’t know it wasn’t approved. And when you do grow genetically modified plants there are certain precautions that must be taken so you do not contaminate your non-genetically modified crop. Things like building barriers around the plot to prevent cross-pollination. Which isn’t always effective enough. Anyway, on top of these mix ups with the growers, grain elevators and storage facilities were not notified. So now the genetically modified stuff has been dumped in with a lot of the regular stuff. So then the implications of that are obvious. You’ve got this corn mixed in with regular corn that might give humans a big old belly ache. And to top that all off the Japanese, who evidently buy a lot of corn from us, will not buy ANY of our corn right now. They have a ban on ALL genetically altered foods. So we’ve got some grain storage facilities that cannot sell their corn, and farmers losing big bucks because they can’t sell their stuff. I believe the government is going to throw the book at the company that caused all of this.
Needs2know
This would probably have gotten a better response if you’d posted it in GQ.
Anyway there are several problems with GM food aside from those already given.
People with allergies cannot tell if the food they are eating is likely to contain an allergen. This has already happened once, though I can’t remember what with. As an example if someone with an allergy o fish ate bread made out of GM wheat with fish genes they could easily die.
Pollen from plants genetically modified to produce insecticides has been shown to have an adverse affect on insects feeding on other nearby plants on which the pollen has settled, so GM doesn’t always mean environmentally friendly.
Vegetarians and others who may have religious and ethical problems eating food derived from animals have no way of telling what they are eating, particularly if cross pollination with GM crops has occured as stated above.
We recently had a discussion on this topic. Lots of good info came out!
Needs2know, is talking about the corn called StarLink. It is not approved for human consumption because it has not been thoroughly tested to show whether it can cause allergic reactions. It’s approved for use only as animal feed.
The developer of the corn hybrid said it clearly explained that there were restrictions on how it could be used, that it must be kept separately from “human” corn, and that growers must plant a “buffer strip” between it and regular corn. Growers say that information was never communicated to them.
In any case, a small amount of StarLink was mixed in with a large amount of regular corn, and since it’s impossible to trace, it all had to be thrown out.
I happen to be in favor of GMO crops, but screwups like this don’t do anything for public confidence in the food chain to take care of itself.