Chip

Personally I'd rather they didnt mess about with nature. Others will say it's only progress. Trouble is if it all goes t1ts up then the process cannot be reversed.

Chip.

Dracoro

Humans have been 'messing' with nature since year dot. Others call it developing/enhancing nature etc.

In principle, I'm all for it. As with anything, it's about developing GM stuff with strict controls whilst we are unaware of the full consequences. But that 'argument' must also not be used to stop any sort of progress. It's just the science of today, Genetics etc. Amazing stuff really.

In principle, it's not really that different from chucking loads of pesticides over crops as we do today. At some point in the past they had to prove that pesticides (within tolerances) were safe to use. Means healthier crops that ultimately cost less to produce and less waste. Can be used to help developing nations a great deal if it all goes well.

So basically, all for it but we must be careful.

BMWhere?

Definately NO!
Im all for the progress of science for the good of man but not at the expense of our planet! This isnt being done for health reasons or any other good cause, its purely to increase yeald and therefore profits! Id rather pay more for natural stuff!

boomer

No!

For one, it ain't natural.

For two, the GM companies are only in it for the money (else it would all be done by independant organisations).

mb

GM

I've never cropped anything in me life I'll have you know...

I'll get me coat....

CrisPDuk

I wouldn't trust research scientists in the pay of a multi-national to make my morning brew, they aren't exactly what you'd call impartial are they?

DDT, Thalidomide anyone, they're safe

Lets feed the ground up bones of cattle to their VEGETARIAN offspring yeah, thats safe!

Let's introduce flourine into the country's water supplies to help everybody grow strong teeth. Despite evidence to the fact that it is a worse carcinogen than nicotine

Lets introduce three different diseases cultures simultaneously into new born babies & crush any objective discussion as to any side effects. Hmm, that sounds like good practice

Oh yeah, and the biggie! Lets permit the use of oestrogen based release agents for use in the plastic moulding industry. So that every water source in and around the country can become HRT for every man, woman, child & animal.



Then lets bury our head in the sand as the reported cases of Cancer, Autism, CJD, Male Infertility, etc, etc. increase annually.

boomer

CrisPDuk,

spot on!!

And what is really scarey about that list is that the government just doesn't seem to learn

It is like we are all part of some massive experiment (whilst the corporates make vast amounts of money).

mb

Dave T-S

I only eat organic food. GM cross contamination will kill the organic food industry dead. The public enemy # 1 in all this? Monsanto

greasemonkey

...And neither have I (well, apart from an ex who liked a bit of that sort of thing...)

JackClark

This is worth a watch http://www.krafty.org/flash/

Clett

I'm not really sure what everyone is afraid of. When you eat pork do you start expressing pig genes? No. Do you worry about eating new strains of potato made by 'ordinary' breeding methods? No. GM crops made with alterations to the correct genes will show no chemical difference between themselves and ordinary crops. Of course they are made to increase yield - why are so many people on here resistant to that when there are millions of people around the world starving because the crops they currently have can't grow in the harsh environments they live in? By the way, I am a molecular biologist but don't work in this field.

JackClark

>When you eat pork do you start expressing pig genes? No.

When cows eat cows what happens? Another great food experiment!

>crops they currently have can't grow in the harsh environments

Change the growing environment.

Clett

Cows don't normally eat dead cows, that's the difference! You eat wheat, maize or veg-oil everyday. If they don't make you ill, properly done GM equivalents shouldn't either.

GM-crops are do-able!

CrisPDuk

So is Western governments not f**king the third world population over with massive arms derived artificial debts & propping up successions of tyrannical dictators, then deposing them when they serve no further purpose

boomer

GM Franken-corp: Our GM produce is far better than normal stuff, 'cos we don't need toxic insecticides for it to grow.

Joe Farmer: Well actually, said insecticides have been banned under EU law, and we didn't use them in the first place. Oh, and we are thinking of going organic (which will be contaminated if GM crops are introduced).

GM Franken-corp: Er, i'll get my coat (or rather, butter Mr B.Liar's palms with silver - see you suckers later!)

World: = A worse place

mb

farmer1

I have to say Yes, I really couldn't care what I eat as long as it tastes nice, and if I die yonger just saves the governemnt having to pay me a pension and reduces the rate of over population so they won't need GM crops anymore.

Go for it I say

Brit_in_Japan

No. Whilst the food produce itself may be safe to eat, there are several real prolems associated with genetically modified foods.

1. It's not like natural evolution or breeding hybrids. Genes from completely different species get spliced onto crops. Once planted crops can then cross breed with other species and gene transfer can take place. The results of that are unknown as they won't have been tested for or evaluated.

2. GM crops are designed to be more resistent to certain insecticides and herbicides (those which the Agro Chemical company concerned manufactures). So farmers will use greater quantities of herbicide and insecticide to improve yield. There are big problems with increasing chemical usage on the land. Some of the chemicals get washed into the streams and rivers and damage the ecosystems there. The water eventually runs into the sea and the problem gets transported there too.

3. Biodiversity. There is a risk that if GM crops are adopted in large numbers then the amount of biodiversity in the countryside will be irrepairably harmed. There is already a reduction of biodiversity in this country which is linked to more intensive farming. The use of extra herbicides and insecticides associated with GM crops will hasten this reduction. This has a domino effect on other forms of wildlife, flora and fauna. Wild bird populations are reducing. There are less wild bees than ever before which affects pollination etc etc...

The arguments that we need to produce more food because there are people in the world starving doess not mean that GM is the only way to go. Many countries in Africa would be self sufficient in food if they didn't have to grow cash crops to meet large international debt.

So for me, GM - NO !

ajm

Selective breeding has been going on for hundreds of years and is socially acceptable, however GM is not.... why?

Just because the process "seems" less natural because it happens in a lab doesn't necessarily make it worse than what goes on already.

There are benefits to be to had from GM food, that much is well publicised. The problem is that the drawbacks never seem to be investigated with as much enthusiasm as the benefits until after the fact.

Changing the natural order of things can have benefits, but invariably those benefits come at a price. When balance is tilted nature will work to restore that balance, and that process, as we have seen, isl often not in our favour.

Personally I havn't got a problem with GM food so long as the effects are properly investigated and the results, both good and bad, are properly published. I think it is naive to assume that benefits can be had without drawbacks - it is up to science to prove that the benfits outweigh the drawbacks before we adopt mass GM programmes.

eClaire

As long as it feeds me and doesn't mutate me I'll eat it.

Leslie

Yes Claire, but how do you know it won't cause damage to you in the future?

Governments always seem to lean towards the side of big business first rather than the public safety. I still remember the Conservative government telling us all that their scientific advisers did not believe that BSE could cross over to humans and look what happened. We may still be on the verge of a terrible tragedy in that respect in the future.

Despite all the hocus from the scientists who work for the government and what the politicians tell us, I do not believe that the full safety of genetic food engineering is guaranteeable. Micheal Meacher, who should know, has said that the tests done so far are not realistic and that far more research is needed before commercial production can safely be authorised. As was mentioned, it is an unnatural process and Nature has proved often enough before that fiddling about with it can be dangerous. Commercial use will also contaminate all other grown foods and no-one can tell us the likely consequences of that. The other side effects are also very worrying.

The big winners in all this are the seed providers and chemical engineers who will have a guaranteed enormous market each year and all those others associated with those businesses who will have even more power over us all then they have already. Like the cigarette manufacturers who put addictive additives in the tobacco to hook people even more, the health of the product users is of no concern to them. By the time any possible problems come to light, the ones concerned will be untouchable with their ill gotten gains.

We should all be very careful not to be conned into accepting something which cannot be positively proved to be safe.

Les

Wurzel

iTrader: (1)

don't care either way.

Chip

You will when you grow an extra ear

Chip.

Leslie

Its a bit like smoking or drinking to excess Wurzel. When you are younger you don't consider what effects it may have on your health when you reach tha age of 50. Trouble is, if you do get to that age but start to suffer poor health that is when you will regret your past lifestyle. Its a nasty shock when you are told you have some terminal illness because you still want to live just as much as you do when you are young!

Even worse perhaps when your troubles were caused by bad political decisions all those years ago.

Les