No GM Crop in the UK "For the Foreseeable Future"...

[Sandman]

Fair enough, but a better quality/cost and health/cost ratio can be achieved in simpler ways. Cutting the amount of salt in processed food, for example. That would help people's health far more than anything biotech is likely to cook up in the near future.

[RGBVideo]

They are simply useless, that's all. We have much more food than we can possibly use.

Now that statement is just weird. "We", as in EU countries have too much food since our own spineless goverments are licking farmers (the only special interest group in EU currently) butts' and giving huge subsidies to 'em for farming (farming subsidies [incl. tobacco subs.] take up more than 2/3 of the federal budget, don't they?). If we cut down the subsidies, the overproduction will stall and we'll save a ****load of money. Effectivily genetically modified food is more efficient to produce, thus more land is freed for special biodiversity areas and cities. And let's not forget that it also means that less workers are needed to produce the same amount as before.

[Sandman]

Effectively genetically engineered food is more efficient to produce. The key word here is effective. It's not happened yet, has it?

We can designate more city-space and bio-zones simply by importing more from the developing world, rather than trying to hyper-charge our own food production, with the possible damage to soil that could entail. Even if we whole-heartedly embraced GM, we'd probably still not be able to compete with the developing world's lower labour costs.

I'm not sure how much labour you could save with GM foods, anyway. Farm work is already heavily mechanised, and it's difficult to see how much labour could be saved. The few labour intensive tasks left on the farm, such as picking strawberries, would be unlikely to be affected by GM technology.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by VJ
...and then there are genetically modified crops which are more resistant to pests, thus lowering the amount of pesticide needed. Interesting, isn't it?

Only as far as insects are concerned and only until said insects develop a resistence, which they tend to do. But weeds, diseases, and other pests will require spraying.

[cinch]

Originally posted by VJ

The were some basis for being against GM foods years back, when we didn't know if there were any negative consequences in consuming them. Now that the Americans have already tested the stuff for the rest of the globe, there is no reason to keep non-GM agricultural products as 'worse'.

You're assuming that the Americans are allowing GM foods to proliferate because they have been proven safe.

This is a false assumption.

[asleepathewheel]

GM foods bad autos but good for the belly.


Would Mendel be opposed to this? Is it that fundamentally different from what he did more than a century ago? All it is is using a finer blade.

[cinch]

Good for the U.K.!

Let's put an end to the patenting of living organisms, the destruction of natural crops, and the subsidization of corporate farms.

(If you're an Americano, you may add a 4th clause to the above sentence: Let's get Bovine Growth Hormone out of our goddamn milk!)

[PeteH]

The problem w/ cloned plants is the lack of diversity in defense mechanisms. If you have 200 variations of a basic form of wheat, it is unlikely that any one disease will wipe them all out; hoever, a disease which affects the cloned Gm crops can quickly wipe out everythign around it, as there will be no variation in the plants.

There are also problems with containment. The effects of this have been seen already w/ farm raised as opposed to wild salmon. When the hatcherie salmon mix with wild populations, the factors that made the individual fish suited for faming (mainly rapid growth) cause them to outcompete many of the wild fish initially. Their long term survivability however is significatly lower, leading in the end to a collapse of population. It is a lrge part of why there are virtually no wild atlantic salmon left, and the pacific dsalmon are in similar danger (not to mention the dams, pollution, deforestation, and the rest of civilizations ills which have elimated much of their habitat)

In the end I am worried about gm crops and similar items not so much due to human health concerns from consuming them, but from ecological health resulting from their spread. This culture is all about 'production' and nothing makes for better production than uniformity. But diversity is what has allowed life to survive in the long run, and so activities which eliminate genetic potential I view as inherantly dangerous (read: suicidal)

[Urban Ranger]

There are several major reasons to oppose GM food:

1. GM food is absolutely unncessary. Food shortage is not caused by a shortfall in food production. It's the distribution.

2. GM crop seeds are sterile, that means the farmers cannot harvest seeds for next year, but must rely on large GM companies to supply them.

3. Spliced genes spread out into the environment with a staggering speed, with completely unknown effects.

4. GM crops kill things like butterflies, insects that pollenate the plants. Good move, that.

With no advantage and severe disadvantages, I cannot see what all the hysteria for GM food is about.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by asleepathewheel
Is it that fundamentally different from what he did more than a century ago? All it is is using a finer blade.

Yes. You're splicing genes that cannot be found naturally in these species into them.

[Az]

Yes. You're splicing genes that cannot be found naturally in these species into them

wait, I thought genes move from species to species all the time.

[Solly]

Urban Ranger

GM crop seeds are sterile, that means the farmers cannot harvest seeds for next year, but must rely on large GM companies to supply them.

Guess what? It's the same people complaining about that NOW who before were complaining that the seeds could reproduce and "contaminate" other plants.

[Drogue]

I want my choice to eat GM foods. However even where it is labelled, organic standards don't allow GM crops I want GM foods, but I also don't want chemicals sprayed on them.

[Cort Haus]

I'm disappointed that I'm not able to buy GM food and support this exciting and progressive technology. GM hasn't been 'foisted' on the UK - quite the reverse. We live in a relative dark age where science is viewed with suspicion and fear.

If the current fears about GM had been applied to previous technologies we could forget much of our progress. Innoculation - how dangerous is that? Radio waves - were we 100% sure that transmiting radiation everywhere was not harming babies? If the eco-lobby had been as powerful in the past they would have banned refrigeration.

Just because a government lies about WMD, it doesn't mean it is lying about agricultural policy. Such cynicism is counter-analytical.

As for labelling - you might as well put a skull and crossbones on the packet in this country - such is the reputation of "Saddam Monsanto" and the bio-tech companies.

I'm left hoping that the farmers of the third world are not denied access to this technology, so that they can improve their yields, enjoy a surplus and see economic growth.

btw - in some trials the GM crop was better for the environment that the organic crop

[Gibsie]

Unfortunately that one trial involved a pesticide that's being discontinued anyway. Oops.