2nd August 2016, 1:12 PM
Dark Jaguar Wrote:ABF, I don't think you have as much to fear about GMOs as you think. Now, Weltall brings up a valid concern. We've been genetically engineering our crops for ages (and our livestock for that matter), but there's one thing to keep in mind. One, those changes took place over a long enough time that problems could be found and, ahem, weeded out before they could hurt too many people. Secondly, that genetic engineering is powerful stuff, but genetic cross-transfer is another ball game. Bacteria and viruses have been splicing their own genes since life began, but bigger critters haven't had the luxury save for very rare historical incidents, like absorbing a bacteria as part of it's own system (like in our guts). It is possible that introducing genes from all manner of species could have dangerous side effects. What I'm saying is that the creation of GMOs need a good level of oversight, to make sure self-interested companies aren't doing something stupid just to turn a buck. That wouldn't need labeling though. That's just a do-nothing bit of FUD.
Oversight, definitely. Government exists, ideally, to regulate large entities and ensure their good behavior when no one else can. But GMO labeling does no good at all. It does not inform consumers or raise the level of discussion in any way. It's just a big "DON'T BUY THIS SCARY THING" label. Genetic modification is a very new science that we are still attempting to understand, and so to label yourself as anti-GMO takes you past the honestly skeptical and into the realm of agenda-driven paranoia.
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