/ck/ - Food & Cooking

what, not getting serious enough answers on /b/?

Most people who speak out against them don't really know anything about them. There is nothing inherently "bad" about inserting certain genes into plants to give them certain traits. You really have to look at it on a case by case basis, because most changes will be completely harmless while a few could theoretically cause harm if not tested properly. Of the modified food that is on the market right now, there really isn't any proof to suggest that any changes are causing harm to humans or otherwise causing unintended effects.

GMO foods are just like natural crossbreeding, but with genetic techniques that I consider to be pretty safe. I don't know much about the opposition claims though.

People are just scared of buzzwords imo.

While there are business and ethical issues on the farming/supply side from companies like Mosanto and their actions that shade from somewhat evil to Very evil.. on the food safety/nutrition side?

Food is food. And while someone could probably engineer tomatoes that emit sarin gas when cut, that is not what is going on. Mankind has been Modifying food since the first faming humans starting only replanting the seed from the nicest plants they had grown, it is currently a bogeyman issue.

>way too many Anti-GMO people are also Anti-Corporate and Anti-Big-Farm and Organic-Only!
>They are somehow never at the front of the line to be eliminated when it is pointed out that these measures cannot feed the world.

side note: there are genetic research projects running to "fix" the modern supermarket tomato by repairing the tasty-genes that got broken while selecting for the grow-well genes and the ship-well genes. That flavor-death happened due to good ol' fashioned selection and crossbreeding. Thanks science!

>>3959516
Good answer, thanks

Ummm....

If a plant is genetically modified not to react to pesticide, I would consider that bad.

If you believe in evolution, then eating non gmo is the only way to go. Look at the explosion of wheat and dairy into our diets, but our bodies aren't used to it and all of the other processed foods which shows an increase in Intestinal and digestive illness.

theres no long term studies on it yet

not even like 5+ years

i'm a man of science and all for cheap and abundant food for all, but they should be using these methods to feed niggers in Africa first instead of 1st world countries

if they start developing new diseases and die off, oh well.

Guinea pigs

>>3959538
>I don't know what the fuck I'm talking about!
>Guys, listen to my uninformed opinion based on shit some hippy told me!

>>3959575
GMO foods aren't good for organic farmers because a nearby GMO crop can move over to their crops and make their crops worth nothing since they can't call them organic anymore.

I think it depends on what they're doing to the foods. There's a lot of good that can be done manipulating crops, but I kinda agree with >>3959572 there needs to be tons of study done before GMO foods can be given the green light. While it may sound pretty cool that they can modify a food with antibiotics for third world countries, that could really fuck us over in the long run if they don't regulate that very well. Stray seeds can breed with the normal crops and we'll have a disaster.

>>3959614
I have no idea why I referred to that post. Disregard.

>>3959538
>If you believe in evolution, then eating non gmo is the only way to go.

Jesus christ, this is the dumbest thing I've ever read.

>>3959501
GM is a good idea

>>3959538
>If you believe in evolution
You don't believe in evolution, because it's not a faith, it's a scientific theory that you either accept based on the existing evidence or you don't. It has nothing whatsoever to do with GMO, it simply describes a process that was observed and is acknowledged as a valid hypothesis - nothing more.

tl;dr >>3959636

>>3959640
GM, not GMO.

>>3959501
There's nothing inherently wrong with modifiying genes, it happens all the time and we have done it for ages (selective breeding). However, there have been concerns raised about the methods we currently use to implement those gene changes in GM food, and in many other ways it causes problems (patenting of seeds, lawsuits against farmers, lack of diversity that leads to severe risks to food stocks should a new contagion, fungus or what have you come along that targets GM plants). This, along with the fact that the companies behind these things are lobbying REALLY hard to ban any ability we have to find out about whether our food contains GM stuff, and the abysmal safety record of many of the companies (ie. Monsanto), I'm a bit leery of it myself as it stands. We need more safety testing over long term (and not the fucking 'principle of substantial similarity' or whatever that we have now that basically precludes ANY need for safety testing at all). If it turns out that it is indeed safe, then I'm all for it although I'd still guess that home-grown or heirloom stuff would be nicer tasting considering that most of the traits that are being worked towards with GMOs are things like pest/pesticide resistance and long shelf life rather than flavor.

Tl;dr: has potential but as it is now I'm not super thrilled with the prospect.

well genetic engineering maybe does not harm your organism. there are just some genetic features which get transfered into vegetables/fruit (for example omega-3 fat acids from fish into strawberries). you can't really see any harm on this topic.

however, making plants resistant against pests is a very different issue and should be seen sceptically;
the ecosystem is very balanced and changes in plants can effect different organism that you did not want to kill in the first place.
i.e: you transfer a pesticide in corn to kill a pest. the pest eats the palnt and gets infected. the pest however gets eaten by a natural topological higher species which gets also the pesticide into his organism and will also die eventually.


pic related: the marine ecosystem (you see it's very complex)

>>3959528
>cannot feed the world
I wonder if we could feed the world if we stopped feeding most of our wheat/soy to the cows to produce beef and milk...

What does /ck/ think of California Prop 37?

There is easily more than enough food produced currently to feed everyone in the world adequately

>>3959726
True. Almost every famine can be traced to a civil war or the savages using starvation as a weapon against each other.