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Roger Burton West wrote:
> On Sat, May 07, 2005 at 03:36:25PM +0100, Karen McAtamney wrote:
>> What's the problem with GM foods? (in
>> terms of health - indeed, arguably they are healtier, since fewer
>> pesticides etc will need to be used on them).
> Technically: monoculture
And field upon field of wheat isn't a monoculture already? Hah!
> and pollen-borne transplanting of altered
> genes into other species (such as nearby weeds).
Only a Bad Thing if you consider genetic manipulation to be a bad thing
in and of itself.
The only technical drawback I can see is that by making the crops less
tempting for wee beasties bio-diversity is reduced. *But* if it weren't
reduced in this way it would instead be reduced by spraying the crops
with huge quantities of Beastie-B-Gone.
> (Why, do you suppose,
> did the American companies that developed these things insist on doing
> their field (literally) tests outside the USA?)
Because sane governments quite rightly don't trust US government test
results for products from US megacorps and so they *had* to test outside
the US if they were to sell outside the US.
> As for health, well,
> that depends - corn engineered to be more sugary isn't going to be
> healthier than anything much...
That I'll grant, *if* that's what they've been manipulated to be. Not
that I eat much corn anyway. The natural variety is too damned sweet
anyway.
I'm far more concerned about crops being designed so that farmers can't
keep some seeds back and sow them next year, and instead have to pay
Mega Corp Inc again next year, and the year after, and ... And also
about crops being patented.
> On the other hand, people are stupid and will mostly buy what they're
> told to buy. Google "turkey twizzlers" for some of the recent discussion
> on this subject - one repeated theme is "yes, we know it's crap, but the
> kiddies will eat it without making a fuss".
I ate my greens because if I didn't, I ate no meat and no pud either.
Someone needs a slap here, and this time it's the parents, not the kids.
--
David Cantrell | top google result for "internet beard fetish club"
On the bright side, if sendmail is tied up routing spam and pointless
uknot posts, it's not waving its arse around saying "root me!"
-- Peter Corlett, in uknot
There's stuff above here
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