10-11-2012, 04:20 PM
All these GMO posts got me interested in doing a little research. First, calling for a GMO label seems incorrect. It should be for a "transgenic" label. Pretty much every food is GMO. Take corn. Corn as we know it today would not exist if it weren't for the humans that cultivated and developed it. It is a human invention, a plant that does not exist naturally in the wild. It can only survive if planted and protected by humans. It is a product of GMO.
Transgenic is done in a lab. Instead of crossing two plants with thousands of possible outcomes, a particular gene is manipulated for a particular reason. The problem I see is not the process but the reason. I have read that close to 70% of transgenic seeds were made to resist a particular pesticide, resulting in a large increase in pesticide usage.
The problem is not the transgenic process, which is just a more exact way to do what humanity has been doing since the birth of agriculture. The problem is the reason is it being done--to sell more pesticides and make a bigger profit.
Jerry
Transgenic is done in a lab. Instead of crossing two plants with thousands of possible outcomes, a particular gene is manipulated for a particular reason. The problem I see is not the process but the reason. I have read that close to 70% of transgenic seeds were made to resist a particular pesticide, resulting in a large increase in pesticide usage.
The problem is not the transgenic process, which is just a more exact way to do what humanity has been doing since the birth of agriculture. The problem is the reason is it being done--to sell more pesticides and make a bigger profit.
Jerry