Genetically Modified Food Debate

[Ironberg]

That's true, but we Americans have been eatting GM foods for many decades. Then again, perhaps there is a logical explnation for the sharp increase of cancer in our society - hmmm...

[DLopez]

I think it bears repeating that the majority of American's health problems probably stem from not eating healthily.

 

I think it's a moot point whether vegetables are grown organically or genetically enhanced if they're not even being eaten instead of fast food burgers, fries and chips.

[Ironberg]

I can't argue with that, DLopez. Basically, I see a GM veggie eatter more able to live to 80 than a person who doesn't see anything wrong with most fast food joints (not to mention the chips and fries, and other garbage passed off as food).

[shotochem]

I think it bears repeating that the majority of American's health problems probably stem from not eating healthily.

 

I think it's a moot point whether vegetables are grown organically or genetically enhanced if they're not even being eaten instead of fast food burgers, fries and chips.

 

point well made.

 

There are no reliable studies stating the negative effects of genetically modified food or irradiated meat nad veggies for that matter. People have been eating this stuff for years without any proven negative effects.

 

I believe the increase in cancer has more to do with the advancemet of technology and the incraese of radiation from all our little toys than the food we eat.

 

All in all we are alot better off today than 100 years ago before we invented all this stuff. We live longer healthier and more productive lives than our ancestors did, when the average homosapien tived to about 40yrs old max.

 

I say better living through chemistry.

[Beka]

If science hadn't discovered the A-bomb, we would all be speaking german or japanese right now.

 

Wait, hold on a sec, lemmee call up Hiroshima...

 

Me: Hello? Hiroshima? You there?

 

Hiroshima: *static*

 

Me: Huh? What's that you said? You're all radioactive and dead and your skin all burned off and your babies turned out to suffer from mental retar dation and you're still feeling effects? Oh, my bad. So Should I call up Nagasaki? Huh? Oh. Hm. I guess not.

 

*click*

[kchenault]

I never said it wasn't horrible, but what Hitler and Japan were trying to do to the rest of the world wasn't any kind of picnic.

 

But then again I shouldn't expect anything different from someone who lives in Berkeley, CA. Home of the great psuedo-intellectual pacifists of the U.S.

 

War is a terrible thing, we can all agree on that, I think, but some things were necessary. Don't even try to tell me the world isn't better for the U.S. dropping the H-bomb on Japan. The are several million Jews in the world who are probably a little more grateful than you that we did. But this should be on another thread. This one is about GM food. So if you want to continue Beka, PM me.

 

**EDIT** A-Bomb, I have been corrected. I just thought they were the same thing. A really BIG bang.

Edited April 28, 2004 by kchenault

[Ironberg]

The Japanese wanted the war to continue whether we dropped the A-bomb (not H, we developed the H-Bomb after WWII and never used it) or not. After the first bomb, they still wouldn't give up their fight.

 

Russia was about ready to invade Japan during that time. Russia had already lost millions (alot more than we did) due to the war in Europe. The bloodbath that would have ensured between those Russia and Japan alone would have been nasty.

 

Don't get me started on the nature of the war between us and the Japanese imperialists in the Pacific. They were known to NEVER surrender - even if it was just one guy armed with a katana against an army of GI's.

 

-Back to modified food

 

My research paper is completed. Just have to worry about the debate presentation next month.

[ninjanurse]

I think it bears repeating that the majority of American's health problems probably stem from not eating healthily.

I can't agree more! Since I work in emergency medicine I get the opportunity to see people and their illnesses/problems first hand. There is a DEFINITE coorelation with diet and type/number of illnesses and medications taken by Americans. A great majority of disease can be prevented by simply changing your diet and lifestyle but people aren't willing to change when there is a little pill they can take to "fix" the problem. I will stop there to avoid my growing impulse to get on my soapbox!

 

As far as GMO's go, I don't want to put anything mutated or chemically altered in my body-especially when you don't quite know what exactly it is. Besides, factory farming damages the nutrients in the soil making crops less nutirious in the long run; and the antibiotics and hormones fed to food animals get passed on to people when they eat them. Yuck! Someone mentioned the athletes now being bigger, etc....well, did you know that since dairy farmers have been allowed to give additional estrogens to dairy cows the average age of pubery in the US has been dropping? And, in countries that have limited access to cow's milk and/or use organic farming methods, the age of puberty has remained the same!

 

I imagine that the growth hormones in our poultry and beef have the same body altering effects!!

 

Enough, enough!!!!

 

[Ironberg]

I couldn't agree more either.

 

Unfortunately, however, American society has made it exceedingly difficult to foster a healthy diet. Good food, organic or high quality, has become difficult to purchase because of limited stock, and high price - therefore the demmand goes down, the stock goes down, bad foods become cheaper, and the downward spiral continues.

 

However, a smart individual bent on a healthy diet will be smart enough to avoid things such as hot-dogs, soda, chips, McDonalds (help me I'm gagging here!).

[DLopez]

Besides, factory farming damages the nutrients in the soil making crops less nutirious in the long run;

 

I don't agree it's an accurate statement that genetically enhanced = less nutritious. I would have to see some hard data on that.

 

Nonetheless, no one complains about vitamin supplements as being bad, so if there's a concern about vegetables being less nutritious, it's easily remedied in your diet using supplements that folks are already using with no ill effects.

 

Also, it's not like mutations in the plants we eat never happens naturally. In fact, it can be argued that the varieties of squash one eats, for example (zuchinni, yellow, butternut), are due to natural mutations in the species for one reason or another, like surviving in different climes or becoming more hardy against localized diseases.

 

I think it boils down to the notion that 'natural' is better than 'manmade', but I think most of that is prejudice. There's nothing wrong with that - you should eat what you find most appetizing - but I think those prejudices lead to premature claims that the 'manmade' enhancements are bad, without the evidence to support those claims.