A Padlock On The Foodchain

[Yerda]

Does anyone have any thoughts on GM crops.

I notice there is massive potential; some sources claiming an end to world hunger. But I've also spotted the huge commercial interest, and the fact that little is being done by biotech companies to help anyone besides the shareholders (as is off course their legal obligation).

I used to feel opposition to GM was a fear of science and a blockade against progress. But then again opposition to nuclear weaponry does not imply fear of physics.

Sorry to threaten your domination of the RF political scene pah .

 

[Pah]

Does anyone have any thoughts on GM crops.

I notice there is massive potential; some sources claiming an end to world hunger. But I've also spotted the huge commercial interest, and the fact that little is being done by biotech companies to help anyone besides the shareholders (as is off course their legal obligation).

I used to feel opposition to GM was a fear of science and a blockade against progress. But then again opposition to nuclear weaponry does not imply fear of physics.

Sorry to threaten your domination of the RF political scene pah .

Hehehe Additional topics are never a threat.

But one question - is GM genetic manipulation? or something else?

Bob

 

[Yerda]

Eh, I usually take it in the context of recombination of DNA from different sources. But that's not the only possible definition.

 

[painted wolf]

I think that the issue should be looked at closely, corperate money intrests are just as big a factor in this as science. Monsanto has a very preditory, and IMHO scarry business history. I'm not shure that I want all the worlds food producers to have to purchase thier seeds from one company. Monsanto is also known to go after any farmers that 'steal' thier product through natural cross-polination by bees or the wind. Any crop that ends up with thier 'special' genes they own, regardless of the origional purchase.

DNA from other plants I think is ok, it when you have tomatos with human DNA that things get a bit odd, to me.

I also feel that mono-culture in terms of crops is a dangerous idea. Our future success in farming depends just as much on our crops heirloom genetic heritage as it does future developments. Growing one type of wheat, rice, corn, whatever is a recipe for disaster.

wa:do

 

[desi]

Messing with how things grow messes with what they become. Awhile back some potatoes were made super resistant to bugs which ended up killing people. That was the short run, who knows what problems the modified compounds in the foods will have on our bodies in the long run.

 

[Yerda]

I've never heard of that, when and where was this?

 

[painted wolf]

we have been messing with the way things grow from the day we started to plant crops. The old way just took longer. Personally I think that it will be shown to produce better results in the long run but hey the DNA thing is still new. So new, that I'm not 100% convinced that we've really looked at the process enough.

wa:do

 

[Scuba Pete]

If God had wanted us to mess with DNA he would have given us brains.

 

[Quoth The Raven]

This is a full on can of worms...isn't it? Monsanto is a very unpleasant company. Aside from vigorously prosecuting farmers who end up with their genetically altered product through natural causes, they have also - since their patent for Roundup expired - started producing plants with a resistance to roundup. This ensures that once this particular bit of genetic material is distributed via natural causes the only herbicide able to kill these plants will be something owned and produced by Monsanto.
That aside, no-one knows what the long term effects of all this tinkering will be. There have already been crops with inbuilt insecticide that have caused traditional pollinators such as bees and butterflys to drop dead. Apparently the focus was on the death of pest insects, no-one considered collateral damage. There have been GM cotton crops which were supposed to be used solely for fabric production that have somehow found themselves in vegetable oil cooking someones chips.
There has been some research done into producing bananas which vaccinate against disease. Who has any idea of what the long term results of that could end up being.
There is a gardening club here called The Diggers Club. They're a member of the World Seed Sacers Network, and have done extensive testing on the varieties of fruits and vegetables that they offer seeds for. After all the testing they deleted almost all the supermarket hybrid varieties they carried because the heirloom varieties produced far superior flavour and harvest yields.
There are food plants that grow naturally all over the world. Surely it's better to use sound ecological management in food production than see how much you can screw around with a radish before it turns nasty and bites you with the pointy teeth you gave it with something elses DNA.