Genetically modified food

[Evil Eye]

"GM" food

Hmm, how many more are you going to do?

 

[DrLeftover]

"GM" food

I don't know.



I just had a coworker get upset with me because now they're not sure they want to eat anything.

 

[Evil Eye]

"GM" food

Did you tell them about insulin?

 

[DrLeftover]

"GM" food

no, as it didn't come up.



Besides, most insulin sold to patients today is totally, or mostly, synthetic.



The 'engineered' stuff isn't in general use (that we know of) yet.

 

[Evil Eye]

"GM" food

The 'engineered' stuff isn't in general use (that we know of) yet.

It's all engineered stuff: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin#Synthesis_2

The vast majority of insulin currently used worldwide is now biosynthetic recombinant human insulin or its analogues.

Bacteria were modified to produce the stuff because extracting it from other animals was inefficient.

 

[DrLeftover]

"GM" food

Fascinating.



And thereby comes the rub to doing these sorts of articles.



No matter what you write about, somebody will have a small area of intense interest that you didn't cover.



Even if you spend some time looking at giant Japanese monster movies, you'll miss mentioning somebody's favorite. While I did mention several monsters, they felt I slighted Gamera who had ... ... his, its, whatever... series of movies in the shadow of Godzilla. I'm sorry, when you think of giant monster movies, you think of the lizard, not the turtle. http://themediadesk....s9/godzilla.htm





Since I did the GMO food article I've also been asked about baby formula. No, I didn't look at baby formula either. I was trying to cover as much as I could without writing a textbook on the subject. Yes it is terrible that some baby formula contains an entire chemistry book and has never seen a cow, or a goat, or anything else that ever drew the breath of life.



When I said you write the article and I'll post it they got pissed off and checked their phone for messages.



Oh well.



I'm sorry, I do what I can do, and yeah, just like the TV documentaries I'll miss something, and it might be really important. Maybe I'll do a follow up and hit some of the other points, maybe, like Gamera, I won't.



I don't know.



OK?

 

[Evil Eye]

"GM" food

I never expected you to write about everything. That'd be like trying to read all books: you'd have to freeze time to do it.



I do confess, I half expected you to know (almost) everything about a subject after doing an article.



So, yeah, ok. Live and learn, live and learn.

 

[DrLeftover]

"GM" food

I did skim the medication side of the issue, and I saw some information about insulin. It just didn't make it into the article.



Not everybody takes medication, including insulin, but everybody does eat, and it's almost impossible to eat without getting some GE food. Which was the point of the first half of the article.

 

[DrLeftover]

"GM" food

And now the NYT is on the bandwagon.

For more than a decade, almost all processed foods in the United States — cereals, snack foods, salad dressings — have contained ingredients from plants whose DNA was manipulated in a laboratory. Regulators and many scientists say these pose no danger. But as Americans ask more pointed questions about what they are eating, popular suspicions about the health and environmental effects of biotechnology are fueling a movement to require that food from genetically modified crops be labeled, if not eliminated.



Labeling bills have been proposed in more than a dozen states over the last year, and an appeal to the Food and Drug Administration last fall to mandate labels nationally drew more than a million signatures. There is an iPhone app: ShopNoGMO.

http://www.nytimes.c...r=MYWAY&ei=5065





And I'll have to apologize to Evil for them.... they probably missed something too.

 

[Evil Eye]

"GM" food

I just like to see both sides of the argument. Ignorance rules supreme in a lot of things, that'd be all right if it didn't end up getting people killed.



As the article says, products are labelled here. I can honestly say I have never checked for GM ingredients before buying anything, though.

Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure most starch is modified (the label doesn't just include GM, it includes all modifications), so I'm not so sure companies would have to find non-GM ingredients.

 

[DrLeftover]

"GM" food

You can't find non-GM sugar from sugar beets as it is almost all engineered to resist rot and some pests. Non-GM corn and soy beans is practically an endangered species,



Which means, it doesn't HAVE to be labeled and even ORGANIC products can still claim to be 'organic' because the organic ingredient isn't commercially available.



http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/getfile?dDocName=STELDEV3004446&acct=nopgeninfo

 

[Evil Eye]

"GM" food

Which means, it doesn't HAVE to be labeled and even ORGANIC products can still claim to be 'organic' because the organic ingredient isn't commercially available.

That seems a bit odd. So if the GM food market was to completely displace all non-GM food, it could all be labelled as organic?

http://www.ams.usda....acct=nopgeninfo

Sewage sludge?

 

[DrLeftover]

"GM" food

completely displace....



That would be my take on it.



And for the sludge.... what is traditional heirloom organic fertilizer besides.... poop.

 

[Evil Eye]

"GM" food

I see... Shouldn't they just ban fertilisers altogether?

completely displace....

No very likely, I'll admit, but in the long run... who knows?

 

[DrLeftover]

"GM" food

Well... damn.

France orders probe after rat study links GM corn, cancer



AFP - France's government on Wednesday asked a health watchdog to carry out a probe, possibly leading to EU suspension of a genetically-modified corn, after a study in rats linked the grain to cancer.



Agriculture Minister Stephane Le Foll, Ecology Minister Delphine Batho and Health and Social Affairs Minister Marisol Touraine said they had asked the National Agency for Health Safety (ANSES) to investigate the finding.



Depending on ANSES' opinion, the government will urge the European authorities to take all necessary measures to protect human and animal health, they said in a joint statement.

http://www.france24....-gm-corn-cancer







So is it the genetic tinkering, the chemical, or ... most likely... the combination that is doing the damage?

 

[Evil Eye]

"GM" food

So is it the genetic tinkering, the chemical, or ... most likely... the combination that is doing the damage?

Given that either caused problems, I'd say both.

If (we're still waiting for reviews, right?) either the tinkering or the chemical causes cancer, I'd like to know how it does that. Banning something because it causes cancer is of course justified, but if you don't find out why, you won't make any progress developing something that doesn't.

 

[DrLeftover]

"GM" food

Well.....



You could watch this and decide for yourself:



http://geneticroulettemovie.com/

 

[Evil Eye]

"GM" food

http://geneticroulettemovie.com/

Institute for Responsible Technology, doesn't sound like they're advocating responsible use. Sounds to me like they're saying that every natural food is automatically safe because it won't mutate. They do have a point though, it's hardly being used responsibly in most cases, and long term effects aren't tested. Also, higher chances of mutation because of imperfect techniques would end up (per definition) with higher numbers of mutations that cause the food to be unsafe for human consumption.

However, not using the technology would be irresponsible as well. There's too much potential to simply let it all go to waste. That'd be like banning electricity because it can kill people. What if there's a chance of developing a crop that cures cancer? (Well, probably not cure, but prevent wouldn't be entirely unrealistic.)

 

[DrLeftover]

"GM" food

On the 'responsible people's' side you do have a history of radical groups that want to ban, or have had banned, everything from booze to guns because of the potential for abuse.



Currently there is a firestorm of bsybodies who are anti-pit bull. Then there is the bunch that want to prohibit all soft drinks in school.



Remember the Flouride in the Water debate? The good teeth lobby got it put in the water 'for the children' and now there is another bunch that want it taken out for exactly the same reason.



Those Who Know Better What Is Good For You have always had the ear, and the wallets, of the politicians.

 

[Evil Eye]

"GM" food

Those Who Know Better What Is Good For You have always had the ear, and the wallets, of the politicians.

They're just afraid of losing votes... That's democracy.

Although nuclear power is still being used.