[Sca-cooks] FW: genetically engineereed foods OT- OT- WAY OT

[jenne at fiedlerfamily.net]

> At some level nearly everything we eat today has been "genetically
> modified"...

However, the term 'genetically modified' in this case doesn't refer to
normal crossbreeding conditions, but gene surgery.

While the use of 'genetically modified' gives science fans something to
make fun of, there is a disinction that can usefully be made in terms of
the technique being used as opposed to previous plant and animal
breeding/development methods.

> What, exactly, is the cause for concern? excepting, of course,  nebulous
> antiscientific concern over "playing God" and "FrankenFood"

I believe that the people who are concerned basically are concerned over
the possibility that such foods may turn out to have serious issues in the
long term.

Prior to the use of gene surgery in the laboratory, hybridization and
crossbreeding were limited in the number of massive mutations they could
force... for instance, generally when crossbreeding you have to use things
that are cross-fertile-- where with genetic surgery you can combine
tomatoes with pigs under certain circumstances! So, some people are
cautious about the possible other long term effects of these products on
humans.

While there is a reasonable chance that most dangerous side effects will
be caught in testing in the first few years, there are certainly cases
where some chemical or botanical has had long term cumulative effects on
people that were not discovered for years-- and there are many alleged
effects based on correlation studies between, say, cancer and eating
certain foods (burnt toast!) that people are currently concerned about.

> I can see that some people with highly specific allergies to certain
> proteins may have a legitimate cause for concern, but really, is all the
> Hype worth it?

That is something that people have to decide for themselves. No one can
decide it for them. It is like the people who go on the Atkins diet or
refuse to eat mushrooms or meat or whatever-- that is their personal
choice.


-- Pani Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, Knowledge Pika jenne at fiedlerfamily.net
"I'm sorry, the antichrist you have dialed is no longer in service.
Please check your list of enemies and dial again."