WTO to EU: You'll eat GM food and like it!

[Thorn]

If I have offended anyone I apologize was too much of a generalization, statement retracted.

[Odin]

Originally posted by Spiffor

Speaking of which, Oxygen has nearly been banned in the EU. I kid you not.

The "ban hydrogen monoxide" joke was based on a real story. I heard that some high schoolers started a Ban Hydrogen Monoxide campain, and people in thier community took it seriously. Oxygen isn't scary because it is a common word. It's big chemical names that aren't used in everyday speach that scare people.

[Odin]

Originally posted by Sava
people have been modifying food since developing agriculture... maybe not on a genetic level, but essentially, the concept is the same... taking something and changing it to suit our needs.

That's what has allowed humanity to progress as a civilization.

Genetic engineering, modifying the genetic code of our food, etc... that is going to be a major breakthrough in human development and could usher in a great age for humanity.

Why are people against this?

Sava:

[Rufus T. Firefly]

We have already forgotten. Our tomatoes might not be GM yet, but they still are grown in hydroponics, and have no taste.

We would love to, here in UK, but we have forgotten too...

I think this letter goes to south/east Europe

I'm sorry to hear it. I thought we were the only country that willingly gave up that pleasure. When I moved to Turkey in 2000, I actually tasted tomatoes for the first time since my childhood (in the 1960s). My first thought was, "What a treat!" Followed quickly by, "how freakin' perverse that it's a 'treat.' "

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by DaShi
GM foods tend to be easier to grow, thus poorer nations with GM crops are more able to grow their own food and sell more crops. Poor farmers in China grab as many GM seeds as possible despite them being illegal. The GM crops are significantly more profitable for them than their regular farming methods.

There are different sorts of genetically modified food crops. Some are engineered to be resistant to pesticides. What kind of pesticides beats up on plants? And do I want to know? Not only spraying huge quantities of pesticides a serious environmental problem, but you will get pests that are just as resistant to the stuff sooner than you would expect, esp. when the spliced genes get out into the environment.

We already have evidence that spliced genes can get into the environment easily. This is serious bad news with regards to certain types of genes. It's not a problem (not that bad anyway) for more efficient photosynthesis, say. But traits like resistance to pesticides are very, very bad.

Another issue is farmers must buy seeds of GM crops. They can't just keep part of the harvest for next year. This is a bit like a drug addiction, except it is a lot harder to kick.

[OneFootInTheGrave]

Originally posted by Rufus T. Firefly




I'm sorry to hear it. I thought we were the only country that willingly gave up that pleasure. When I moved to Turkey in 2000, I actually tasted tomatoes for the first time since my childhood (in the 1960s). My first thought was, "What a treat!" Followed quickly by, "how freakin' perverse that it's a 'treat.' "

people in general just don't care, or don't even know what it should be like

they don't even know what it is! when you get a Brit to Croatia to eat some normally produced vegetables, it's sweet to them, they love it, but ultimately they don't care too much.

I am really pissed off with the tasteless food here, but am "kind of" content, as there is no choice. In London there are places where you can buy "normal" veggies and food, but that is about it, and only because there are so many foreigners around. Everywhere else in the country and normal supermarkets is a "plastic land" all looks but no taste. I guess it is cheaper to produce and people who never tasted normal stuff cannot even know what to like :|.

Now in Japan I was impressed, even in supermarkets their food or veggies had taste. I surely did not expect that, but I guess it has something to do with culture, and I assume that people there are not willing to put up with pretty crap despite of it being a few pence per kilo cheaper.

The worst part in UK is that even expensive stuff is tasteless too in normal supermarkets . It is just occasionally, by mistake that a "good" batch of something comes along, and than you better buy as much as you can but in 99% of cases it is pretty on the outside, nothing on the inside.

[Saras]

Originally posted by Spiffor

We have already forgotten. Our tomatoes might not be GM yet, but they still are grown in hydroponics, and have no taste.

My summer tomatoes are grown by my grandma using cow poo!

[Daz]

To continue the discussion (though offtopic) I'd say that people are missing an important factor when buying vegetables and fruit: the SEASON!

There's a season for everything grown. If you expect good tomatoes in March, you're WAY off. Tomato season is Summer. Everything else is artificial crap.

Apples - June - Winter (since they can be stored relatively long without much loss)

We have tomatoes in the winter too. But they taste like waterbaloons, too.

[OneFootInTheGrave]

but, I wish that they tasted like wterbaloons in summer... they taste like waterbaloons when you are lucky, and other times like soft plastic (including summer time) ... real tomatoes - never.

It's not just tomatoes though... it is everything "fresh" no matter what time of year. You have to come and live here to see what it's like.

[VetLegion]

Originally posted by Daz
To continue the discussion (though offtopic) I'd say that people are missing an important factor when buying vegetables and fruit: the SEASON!

There's a season for everything grown. If you expect good tomatoes in March, you're WAY off. Tomato season is Summer. Everything else is artificial crap.

Doesn't have to be. Chile has summer when we have winter and voila

Although, I bought some tomatoes yesterday here in Zagreb and they indeed taste like coloured water

[dannubis]

EU to WTO : eat my dust ...

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Odin

is so rediculous that you could get water banned if you called it hydrogen monoxide.

I think this would be a great experiment to do. Ask people to sign a petition to ban hydrogen monoxide because X number of people are killed by hydrogen monoxide each year (via drownding or what not but don't tell them that). It would be funny to see how many people agree with the proposed ban.

[dannubis]

actually that has been done already.... in the US

[lord of the mark]

whats with the tomatoe complaints? You eat tomatoes out of season, shipped thousands of miles, of course they were bred to resist bruising. If you want old fashioned tomatoes, you do the following, in descending order A. Buy locally grown ones, in season B. Buy from a farm stand or farmers market C. Grow them yourself

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Originally posted by lord of the mark
whats with the tomatoe complaints? You eat tomatoes out of season, shipped thousands of miles, of course they were bred to resist bruising. If you want old fashioned tomatoes, you do the following, in descending order A. Buy locally grown ones, in season B. Buy from a farm stand or farmers market C. Grow them yourself

You would be surprised at how hard this is in some parts of the US, particularly smaller cities. The combination of supermarket monopolies and the leverage agribusiness has with them can function to severly limit alternatives. But you're right about tomatoes, to some extent; to my mind, apples are a much, much bigger problem, and a harder one to solve. There are whole varieties of apples that have simply disappeared since my childhood, and much of what's left tases little better than styrofoam.