Geneticall Modified Food - what do you think?

Martha · Post by **Martha** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 4:13 pm

And thanks to you Neesik for your more enlightening post

Yes, I've been aware that purple-coloured fruit and veg are particularly good for you. I eat my own home-grown beetroot, and purple-sprouting broccoli all the time, which I grow myself. But for some reason, I'm not that lucky with carrots - which I also love.

Neesik · Post by **Neesik** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 4:25 pm

I just started to harvest my Broccoli (overwintered in the polytunnels) yesterday, got free range eggs from a neighbor and we had Broccoli quiche for tea. Scrummy.

lostexpectation · Post by **lostexpectation** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 4:49 pm

Martha wrote:And thanks to you Neesik for your more enlightening post Yes, I've been aware that purple-coloured fruit and veg are particularly good for you. I eat my own home-grown beetroot, and purple-sprouting broccoli all the time, which I grow myself. But for some reason, I'm not that lucky with carrots - which I also love.

so infact are carrots should be white or purple well, wow that advertisement for gm. not.

as I said before golden rice is a crock

Neesik · Post by **Neesik** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 5:27 pm

Dutch growers who bred the vegetable to grow in the colours of the House of Orange.

I don't think this qualifies as Genetically Modified, that's like saying my English Bull Terrier, bred over many years by mixing the English Terrier, the Bulldog, and the Dalmatian is Genetically Modified.

IrishKnight · Post by **IrishKnight** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 5:53 pm

thats what GM is...like I said what most people call GM is infact GE

Neesik · Post by **Neesik** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 6:49 pm

I'm sorry but the process described in this quote, (my highlight)

Genetically Modified (GM) foods are produced from genetically modified organisms (GMO) which have had their genome altered through genetic engineering techniques. The general principle of producing a GMO is to insert DNA that has been taken from another organism and modified in the laboratory into an organism's genome to produce both new and useful traits or phenotypes. GM Foods have been available since the 1990s, with the principal ones being derived from plants; soybean, maize, canola and cotton seed oil

Bears no relation to this,

Dutch growers who bred the vegetable to grow in the colours of the House of Orange. Experts believe Dutch breeders used a yellow mutant seed from North Africa to develop the orange variety and then stuck to it through breeding. Their colour comes from beta carotene with some alpha carotene,

Or this

that's like saying my English Bull Terrier, bred over many years by mixing the English Terrier, the Bulldog, and the Dalmatian is Genetically Modified.

IrishKnight · Post by **IrishKnight** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 3:13 am

hmm, I was sure they were different...lucky you told me...it might come up in the ol LC!

Martha · Post by **Martha** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 1:58 pm

IrishKnight wrote:thats what GM is...like I said what most people call GM is infact GE

But, there is a vast difference between something that is cultivated over a very long time and something that is genetically engineered/modified/manipulated (call it what you like) in an unnaturally short space of time, which amounts to gross meddling with Nature. Did you know, for example, that battery hen eggs are about 80% less nutritious than naturally produced eggs? And there's no comparision between the taste either. In general, any food that is saturated in chemicals and pesiticides are a lot less nutritious than food grown in the natural pesticide-free way, and like real eggs, its got real flavour. So, as far as I'm concerned, GM or GE food is not for me, because we're just talking about sprayed chemcials anymore, we're talking about a totally artificial DNA. Thanks, but no thanks!

Its a bit like screaming at your kids in the privacy of your own home and then expecting them to behave like model citizens once they leave the house

alfonso · Post by **alfonso** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 2:50 pm

Artificial DNA? No such thing, we simply take DNA from a natural source and put it somewhere else. As far as I know, we are not able to modify genes in a purposeful manner... yet.

I agree that modern methods of food production have impoverished the quality of our diet in different ways. But you are mixing concepts here, first you talk about GM/GE foods, then you talk about chemicals and pesticides in our crops. GM crops might be more resistant to local plagues thus making the need for pesticides less important. So it is either one or the other.

If you plan on going back to strictly traditional farming sooner or later we are going to have to cut a few hundred million people from here or there...

Martha · Post by **Martha** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 9:29 pm

alfonso wrote:Artificial DNA? No such thing, we simply take DNA from a natural source and put it somewhere else. As far as I know, we are not able to modify genes in a purposeful manner... yet.

I stand corrected. You're right, there's no such thing as artificial DNA. What I meant to say was, they are putting the DNA from one thing into another which doesn't belong there, i.e., interfering with the NATURAL process of life!

alfonso wrote:I agree that modern methods of food production have impoverished the quality of our diet in different ways. But you are mixing concepts here, first you talk about GM/GE foods, then you talk about chemicals and pesticides in our crops. GM crops might be more resistant to local plagues thus making the need for pesticides less important. So it is either one or the other.

My point here is, spraying chemicals and pesticides on food is one thing; they can, presumably, be cleaned off before cooking. But, changing the very genetic code (DNA) of a plant is as entirely different thing altogether. You can't get rid of that by rinsing with water. I just feel that messing around with the DNA of life is a very unnatural thing to do, and therefore not good for us humans.

alfonso wrote:If you plan on going back to strictly traditional farming sooner or later we are going to have to cut a few hundred million people from here or there...

It looks like that's going to happen anyway, as a result of our creating the unsustainable lifestyle which most of us have now become so dependent on. But, we don't have to throw the baby out with the bath water - we just have to sit up and take notice of what we are actually doing to the planet and to ourselves