PLease ignor this one I cocked it up sorry Currently in the UK we are being asked to give our opinion as to whether Genetically Modified Food Crops should be allowed to be grown commercially in our farms etc. I have my own opinion but what is the international view although not related to WBs I could not think of another truly international forum There are 4 basic questions. 1) Given free choice would you eat GM food. 2) Would you be happy for GM crops to be grown in your country 3) Do you think GM crops are being developed for the good of Humanity 4) Do you think GM crops are being promoted purely for profit Gmac
1- Yes I would, I don't believe they are more dangerous than ordinary food. 2- Depending on what type of GM food, no problem to me. 3- I think they could go that way, and a few researches are I believe... 4- ... but still most are in the profit area, as croops that doesn't produce seeds and etc... I'm strongly against this type of GM croops.
Hi Gmac, >There are 4 basic questions. 1) Given free choice would you eat GM food. 2) Would you be happy for GM crops to be grown in your country 3) Do you think GM crops are being developed for the good of Humanity 4) Do you think GM crops are being promoted purely for profit These options aren't mutually exclusive. However, I don't think you'll gain anything by asking for the intentions behind the development of gentically manipulated foods anyway. History has countless of examples for the best intentions leading to the worst consequences, so it's obvious that a good intention doesn't automatically imply a good result. I personally wouldn't touch GM food with a pair of thongs even if it were grown, cooked and served by Mother Theresa herself. Regards, Henning (HoHun)
Gene food is ok IMHO. Switching genes wont make food dangerous to anyone. Nature switches genes all the time. I think people are just afraid of new things. Injecting salt water or waste meat from other livestock to ie. chickens sold in food markets to increase meat weight is another thing. (And its happening right now in UK) I read about inspection where they found pigs and cows DNA in chicken steaks (can i say steak when i talk about chicken???) sold in UK..huh!?!? Btw. I just read "The Future of Life" by Edward O. Wilson. Among whole load of other things it suggests that there are many plants (or livestock) which would be far more efficient than current ones used in western countries and strain less environment. It's a great book which I recommend to anyone. It tells about biodiversity and it's unevitable(?) destruction. Im very very glad i read it. @Fabinho. You must read above book. It touches your country and makes it very clear how important it is for sustaining (or destroying) life on our planet. Actually it's a must read for any Brazilian. http://www.yalereviewofbooks.com/archive/spring02/review02.shtml.htm http://www.readinggroupguides.com/guides3/future_of_life1.asp
Simple vote My personal view is that we don?t need it. It?s a potential polluter of the environment with possible long tern consequences to health and wild life. The main reason it is being developed and push so hard is because it is going to make a lot of money, and has had allot of money invested by multinational companies. Europe doesn?t appear to want it, and the US wants us to buy it, and is using any reason or justification to achieve that end. I am very biased one way I have children, I am a cynic, and also an "Organic Farmer" But a resent letter of mine to the BBC was replied to that I was in the minority, And most people saw no risk in tinkering with nature. So I though I would ask here world wide.
Man has "gene manipulated" plants for some 8000 years by selecting seeds only from preferred plants. Ofcourse this is much slower progress and has it's limits. I can't see any health issues about GM food though. DNA in food you eat wont intrude your cells. Effects on nature and wildlife? Thats more complicated. There might be some negative effects which im not aware of. But also lots of positive effects. Original plants (ones not manipulated by man) are experts of survival because evolution of million of years. Ie. Wheat and corn we eat are from plants that could not survive in nature. These only grow in fields taken care by man. So I would think GM plants could not screw up any ecosystems if let out in nature. Most likely these plants wouldn't survive. However if GM food was more productive it would put less strain on ecosystem because requiring smaller farming areas. Chopping critical rain forests in south america because need for more and more farming space could be atleast slightly decreaced. Actually im not for or against GM food. It really doesn't matter so much. GM food isn't needed, since there are much better options. We could use more productive food sources. Fact is that our level of consumption strains nature and will break the back of global ecosystem sooner or later. There are much better (more productive and less pollutive) plants and livestock, but man is used to eat mainly wheat, corn, rice, cows and pigs. This is simply because those plants have been tied in major cultures history of farming and such customs are hard to change before it's really dictated by situation. For example there are certain meat sources 700 times more productive per surface area than beef. Still beef is what we produce since we are so used to it.
I don't know what GM means in your county but in Australia it means they can splice animal DNA into plants..and the one that i don't like is the mixing of animal genes ... A few years ago they started injecting pigs with human genes to make the fat on the bacon whiter....Now i dont want to be eating my fellow humans so now i don't eat pork .... I can't beleave that the people in your country get to have a say .... Over here they would just go ahead and do it and the only way we would find out about it would be if the greenies got hold of it....
Changing 1 gene in millions of genes is no bad for me. It wont make tomato any more human even if genes were taken from human. Gene manipulation is still really rare and always informed (atleast here in finland). But injecting something to my food without letting me know about it i consider as crime. I should know if my food was injected with hormones (when it was still living), waste meat, fat or even salt water. Especially hormones aren't very healthy to consume. Also waste meat can include many diseases. These things are used today to maximize profits and I see it bit odd that people go against GM food while happily eating beef with loads of hormones.
I would eat GM food happily if it helps humanity and nature. If it doesn't I will gladly stick in normal food. But IMHO it must be notified if food is modified in any way. Customers must have freedom to choose.
and more Somebodys deleted the correct Poll We in this country banned the use of hormones in the treatment of cattle and the trend is to eat Organic food not because it is nescerrly better or more tasty but because if its been properly produced then you know it not been mucked about with in any way.
1) Given free choice would you eat GM food. no. wtf did they do to that unrealistically huge tomatoe?! 2) Would you be happy for GM crops to be grown in your country no. not only do pure products have preference in certain markets, i just wouldbt be happy about it. 3) Do you think GM crops are being developed for the good of Humanity yeah right! producing redder, juicier tomatoes in larger quantities are for making more money with less land (costs). they wont directly help the starving billions around the globe. 4) Do you think GM crops are being promoted purely for profit yup. "good for humanity".. the good consequences are no match for the bad ones i see.
I am neither pro or con GM food as I don't know a lot about it. But I am led to believe that it helps with things like drought and pest resistance as well as higher yields. I do know that in Australia, some animals (in particular chickens) have been fed growth hormones for years in order to make them develop quicker. Advantages are earlier laying, quicker to the dinner table etc. But the disadvantage is that these hormones are past onto the ppl eating the chicken, which is why girls (particularly) are developing a lot earlier than they did say 20 years ago. There have even been cases where boys are developing breasts due to chicken consumption. That sort of thing really needs to be stopped. regards, Oz
illo, I'd worry, it's not just the UK, it's just that we found out about it. The factory that produces the "protein" that is injected into meat and poultry products to increase the weight is in Germany and sold through dealers in Holland. The main distributors of this "protein injected chicken" operate out of Holland. The UK goverment has been lobbying the EU to get the factory closed down and the rules change but those arseholes in Brussels have yet to do so (they won't let you buy a banana unless it's yellow, but you are allowed to put beef/pork proteins into Chicken!!!) The other worrying thing is that the factory in Germany has discovered a way to destroy the DNA chains of the "protein" they inject into the food, so when tested whilst they can tell that it is a protein they can't tell where it's come from. This scares the shit out of me when you think they could be injecting anything pork, beef, lamb, human offal into the chicken and theres absolutly no way of knowing! more here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/panorama/press_reviews/2798203.stm Malino
www.gmpublicdebate.org.uk/ is the place to go if you are a member of the UK public. But watch the questions I think they were drafted by Monsanto. I grow organic and eat organic as far as is possible prefrably what we have produced ourselves. From Beef to Veggies. I know exactly what has been used to produce the food and more to the point what has not
Just a little thing wich is not well known, germs and products of GM vegetables, are sterile. I hope you know what it mean on the world-wide market.
Guys dont confuse hormone injection with GM. Hormones, antibiotics, etc. etc. were fed in the West (includes Australia ) for decades. So buy products of Bulgaria! We may not be trusted by the commissions of EU, but can tell you there is nothing else in our fruits and vegetables than good ol fertilizers. Proof: brittish girls are overgrown, bulgarian are just the right sizes`n`shapes! What GM does is automaticly produce those hormones & proteins inside the plant. So I have no objection against the technique itself, but it most often will be used to make dangerous products. I think it already happened 1-2 times - plants producing insecticides which are poisonous to man as well. And usually if something is dangerous will be discovered 5-10 years later of course. But most of those dangerous products are on the market already although not GM (in West, at home they appear only as exotics because they are more expensive than domestic ). On the other hand there is the joke-essay about the cucumbers. And also there is the very wise and encompassing thought: "Life is detrimental - you die from it" Then, Ive read that since the Green revolution (introduction of pesticides and fertilizers in 50-60s) the world produces enough food to feed the world (and more). Hunger exists for political and economical reasons. They wont be removed by GM. GM like anything in this world, especially like anything that costs alot of money to research, is made solely for profit. Who gives a shit if GM will be grown in UK? The real problem is if GM (with its copyright protection - infertility) is forced upon poor countries in Africa, Asia, etc. It will be yet another colonial chain. In UK it will only rise the prices of Organic and all will be happy. GM (if not copyright protected obviously) is dangerous for current wild ecosystems. But the trick with Life and Evolution is that death and change is part of it so on large scale nothing else than the Sun going black may threaten it. Current species will be replaced by other, more competitive. Kangaroos will disappear because of sheep, humans will disappear because of cockroaches. Life is there and will continue its progress towards the nothing. This is my - quite multifaceted - view.
offtopic: Im rather curious why is this reaction against human clones? they try to convince us a clone will be identical to its prototype and all the complicated ethical issues arising from this. It is obvious a clone should be considered as twin brother. Genotype and phenotype both have their share in forming of the individual, so identical people are impossible.
Grobar, peaple fear the possibility to create human clones as pieces of change for the real human. Since it's possible create a clone genetically modified (without mind, life and "spirit") i do not see what's wrong if it could save peaple lifes. Ofcourse many peaple wich are against didn't lost theyr legs in a car accident, or they haven't to live with serious malformations and dysfunctions. They say, "it's not hetic" but see a child paralizzed or without limbs is not better; IMO if there is a way to let him run and play soccer like others child.
