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Originally Posted by katsy
This is a sincere question(I'm not being snarky): Then why are foreign countries banning GMOs? The European Union doesn't want it. The US says it is safe.
Some concerns I have of GMOs:The allergens it introduces.The changes to the nutritional value of plants, in an adverse way.
I understand the benefits. But have the benefits been weighed against the probable negative outcomes? I haven't been able to find any studies on such. Everything that I am able to find conveys that gmo foods are safe, as safe as any food can be. However, there is always that but-- but, we do not know about long term effects.
I have read studies where people feel better, and symptoms of skin disorders in particular, start clear when the person removes gmo's from their diet. I'm not so blind to think that other factors may also be involved.
All of that aside, I just want the foods labeled, and a better regulation system.
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I understand your concerns, but the truth is any fear of GMOs is largely based on ignorance in regard to genetics. What do you think is being modified? It's probably not what you think. We introduce pesticide resistance, insect/pathogen resistance, and maybe select genes that influence ripening time or fruit longevity. Anything influencing nutritional value has been artificially selected for over generations of breeding and has not been modified directly. The genes we do introduce artificially are latent until activated by what they were programmed for (ie pesticide application or insect attack). The countries banning them are either 1) more afraid of big agro monopolization or 2) are developing countries and are ignorant of the scientific facts.
True story... In an East Asian country (I can't recall which specifically) a man was trying to get a divorce because he was gay. Both divorce and being gay are big no nos in this country but they convinced the judge to be ok with both counts because the man "walked through a crop of GMOs and turned gay". That's the ignorance we are dealing with.
Now, I think all the traits I mentioned above are good things. However, the aspects I disagree with are the development of one-use crops (meaning the plants that grow are infertile) forcing the purchase of expensive seed directly from the company, the reduction of genetic diversity which could result in species-wide famine, and the fact that you could be prosecuted for growing unlicensed big agro plants even if they result from genetic drift. This kind of monopolization is horrible.
But GMOs themselves are perfectly fine. You can't be affected by a few artificial genetic sequences.