Our food is being poisoned

[LonerAndy]

6 hours ago, David1701 said:

You make several good points; but, GMO is not about selective breeding, to produce particular characteristics that are within the existing gene pool of that organism (there is nothing wrong with this and it happens all the time). 

GMO is about splicing genetic material from one organism into another one.  It changes the genetic makeup of that organism, into something that has never existed before, cannot be produced by selective breeding, could contaminate non-GMO organisms and cannot be reversed, with our present technology.

Sort of.  So I have two examples of GMO, beyond selective breeding.

First is the story of polled cattle.  Polled is hornless cattle.  Horns are cattle are obviously dangerous, and people can be easily killed by an angry cow with a horn, goring them to death.

In this case, there are cattle that are bred to be hornless in beef cattle.   The problem was, when they tried to cross-breed to have hornless dairy cows, the result was lower production of milk.

So you have two breeds of the same animal... one for dairy with horns, and one for beef without horns.   How do we get the hornless trait, into the dairy breed, without losing the milk production?

GMO.  GMO found a way to transfer the trait, without losing the milk production.

Is it really that bad?  I don't see a problem with this.

Equally, you have story of Golden Rice.

So 2005 according to the World Health Organization, you had 190 Million children, and roughly 19 million women in 120+ countries with Vitamin D deficiency.   This resulted in 1 to 2 million deaths every single year, and roughly 500,000 cases of irreversible blindness.

These are people too poor to buy vitamin supplements, and often too far away from cities or towns that would carry them anyway.

In order to fix this problem, researchers determined the only real, and virtually "free" solution, would be to introduce Vitamin D into their normal food supply, which was rice.

In order to do this, they found the gene that creates Vitamin D when eaten, in Maize.  Now that's critical, because Maize is in the same genetic family as Rice.

So they introduced the gene that creates Vitamin D when you eat corn.... and they introduced that Gene into Rice. Now people in the poorest parts of the world, who can't afford anything but Rica, are able to get the Vitamin D they need, thus avoiding death and blindness.

I don't see the problem here.  Do you?

I'm not saying there isn't not fair need for oversight, and monitoring what we do.  Of course in all things, we need basic checks.

But thus far, GMO has been nothing but a positive thing for the entire world.

[David1701]

1 hour ago, LonerAndy said:

Sort of.  So I have two examples of GMO, beyond selective breeding.

First is the story of polled cattle.  Polled is hornless cattle.  Horns are cattle are obviously dangerous, and people can be easily killed by an angry cow with a horn, goring them to death.

In this case, there are cattle that are bred to be hornless in beef cattle.   The problem was, when they tried to cross-breed to have hornless dairy cows, the result was lower production of milk.

So you have two breeds of the same animal... one for dairy with horns, and one for beef without horns.   How do we get the hornless trait, into the dairy breed, without losing the milk production?

GMO.  GMO found a way to transfer the trait, without losing the milk production.

Is it really that bad?  I don't see a problem with this.

Equally, you have story of Golden Rice.

So 2005 according to the World Health Organization, you had 190 Million children, and roughly 19 million women in 120+ countries with Vitamin D deficiency.   This resulted in 1 to 2 million deaths every single year, and roughly 500,000 cases of irreversible blindness.

These are people too poor to buy vitamin supplements, and often too far away from cities or towns that would carry them anyway.

In order to fix this problem, researchers determined the only real, and virtually "free" solution, would be to introduce Vitamin D into their normal food supply, which was rice.

In order to do this, they found the gene that creates Vitamin D when eaten, in Maize.  Now that's critical, because Maize is in the same genetic family as Rice.

So they introduced the gene that creates Vitamin D when you eat corn.... and they introduced that Gene into Rice. Now people in the poorest parts of the world, who can't afford anything but Rica, are able to get the Vitamin D they need, thus avoiding death and blindness.

I don't see the problem here.  Do you?

I'm not saying there isn't not fair need for oversight, and monitoring what we do.  Of course in all things, we need basic checks.

But thus far, GMO has been nothing but a positive thing for the entire world.

The well known problem with GMO, is that genes rarely only produce one effect and whilst the desired effect may be good, there can be undesirable effects, as an unavoidable part of the package.

Here's an example I found, after a quick Google search.

https://www.independentsciencenews.org/health/hidden-health-dangers-former-agbiotech-insider-gmo-crops/

[BeauJangles]

15 minutes ago, David1701 said:

https://www.independentsciencenews.org/health/hidden-health-dangers-former-agbiotech-insider-gmo-crops/

I'm having some difficulty with the link. Can you copy/paste the URL?

P.S. Scratch that. It linked in the quote. Thanks!  

15 minutes ago, David1701 said:

The well known problem with GMO, is that genes rarely only produce one effect and whilst the desired effect may be good, there can be undesirable effects, as an unavoidable part of the package.

When it comes to the bottom line in a situation of a starving world - food will be consumed to survive. 

Period. 

Edited August 4, 2020 by BeauJangles

[LonerAndy]

1 hour ago, David1701 said:

The well known problem with GMO, is that genes rarely only produce one effect and whilst the desired effect may be good, there can be undesirable effects, as an unavoidable part of the package.

Here's an example I found, after a quick Google search.

https://www.independentsciencenews.org/health/hidden-health-dangers-former-agbiotech-insider-gmo-crops/

Sure I have no problem with people double checking the work of GMO products.   By all means. Where the problem is, is condemning all of the science from one single example.

Basically everything that exists today, could have been banned in the past, because it was harmful or deadly.   Nuclear technology being the most obvious example. Millions of lives have been saved by nuclear technology, and yet you go back just 50 years, and they were saying we need to ban all nuclear technology.

Golden Rice has been tested and re-tested, and tested again, and there is no evidence that consuming Golden Rice has any harmful effects.  None.  As near as they can tell, humans that have eaten Golden Rice as part of a stable diet.... are just.... healthier humans.

Even the example above, is patently limited.   All potatoes have been genetically modified.  Some potatoes have been modified using modern techniques.

Now I don't know how serious the specific example is, but there are other GMO potatoes that have had zero problems, and are in wide usage.

By all means, if that specific GMO variant is a problem, investigate it, and if needed remove it. 

Just like any science in history, there are going to be mistakes.  But we can't blame all, for the error of one.

Edited August 4, 2020 by LonerAndy

[Guest]

What about our vitamins, supplements and prescription medications?  A lot of the raw materials come from countries looking to make money at our expense. 

[branchesofHim]

On 8/2/2020 at 12:05 PM, missmuffet said:

The world is poisoning our food today. We are dealing with toxic chemicals, high fructose corn syrup, many food recalls and GMO produced foods, pesticides.  

Indeed. And it is a good idea to sanctify it by word and prayer before consuming. Shalom.

Mark 7:[18] And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him;
[19] Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats?
[20] And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man.

1 Timothy 4:[1] Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
[2] Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
[3] Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
[4] For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:
[5] For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

[johnthebaptist]

On 8/2/2020 at 12:05 PM, missmuffet said:

The world is poisoning our food today. We are dealing with toxic chemicals, high fructose corn syrup, many food recalls and GMO produced foods, pesticides.  

We can't stop eating.

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, johnthebaptist said:

We can't stop eating.

Right.  And it's not like back in the good old days before refrigeration when spices became popular to add to rotten meat to make it taste better. 

[johnthebaptist]

4 minutes ago, ChickenCoop said:

Right.  And it's not like back in the good old days before refrigeration when spices became popular to add to rotten meat to make it taste better. 

I didn't know they did that, but it wasn't so long ago they used iceboxes instead of refrigerators, and I don't know what they did before the icebox was invented in 1802 (according to Wikipedia).

[David1701]

50 minutes ago, LonerAndy said:

Sure I have no problem with people double checking the work of GMO products.   By all means. Where the problem is, is condemning all of the science from one single example.

Basically everything that exists today, could have been banned in the past, because it was harmful or deadly.   Nuclear technology being the most obvious example. Millions of lives have been saved by nuclear technology, and yet you go back just 50 years, and they were saying we need to ban all nuclear technology.

Golden Rice has been tested and re-tested, and tested again, and there is no evidence that consuming Golden Rice has any harmful effects.  None.  As near as they can tell, humans that have eaten Golden Rice as part of a stable diet.... are just.... healthier humans.

Even the example above, is patently limited.   All potatoes have been genetically modified.  Some potatoes have been modified using modern techniques.

Now I don't know how serious the specific example is, but there are other GMO potatoes that have had zero problems, and are in wide usage.

By all means, if that specific GMO variant is a problem, investigate it, and if needed remove it. 

Just like any science in history, there are going to be mistakes.  But we can't blame all, for the error of one.

I wouldn't condemn all GMO practise from one example (although there are other bad examples); but, the technique contains a serious element of risk and, once an organism has been genetically modified, there is no going back.

See here, for a list of the risks involved, particularly under heading 2. Risks Related to the Use of Genetically Modified Organisms Ecological Stability of the GMO.

https://www.hindawi.com/journals/isrn/2011/369573/