SDN Rundown: Genetically Modified Food

[The Grim Squeaker]

I won't go into this due to time, and a level of bias on the subject that leaves me blinkered. (I'm a biologist)

All i'll say is:
1. Hey guys, guess what? Allmost all the fruits, vegetables and animals you eat today? Guess how similar they are to their original forms, before tens of years (~hundreds of generations) of selective breeding according to inheritable, GENETICally transferrable traits?
2. GMO = Better. Healthier. More environmentally sound.
3. The groups who keep things like "Golden rice" off the market should go and die (instead of the children dying of vitamin deficiencies).
4. Hell yeah it needs regulation, but the current level of over-regulation is absurd in my opinion. (The levels of regulation and checks are... extreme).
5. GMO. GMO. (And make my meat vat grown. Maybe with a side order of GFP, so I don't need candle light to see it) .

[Disclaimer - I know next to nothing about Monsanto and the like, or their shenanigans with making sterile seeds or plants. So - Due to my lack of knowledge about them, i'm not arguing for them or about them]

[Broomstick]

Industrial scale food production needs oversight, whether that's over the genetics of the crop/animal or chemicals it's exposed to during growth or proper sanitation and handling during harvesting/processing/distribution.

[salm]

And perhaps it´s overregulated in some aspects but underregulated in some other aspects.
The fact that it´s a relatively new technology compared to traditional breeding also means that the regulatory institutions might not have enough know how yet to actually regulate GMO efficiently.

[Melchior]

Well, the widely used Creso wheat was obtained partly by x-ray bombardment, not even modern targeted splicing. I don't think that even the most unscrupulous Monsanto researcher could take bigger risks.

[Lagmonster]

And perhaps it´s overregulated in some aspects but underregulated in some other aspects.
The fact that it´s a relatively new technology compared to traditional breeding also means that the regulatory institutions might not have enough know how yet to actually regulate GMO efficiently.

No. Agricultural regulatory and inspection bodies are more than equipped with the personnel and resources to understand the technology and the products, and are doing just fine at protecting public health. I'd wager that the public is at far greater risk from contaminated or poorly prepared foods overall.

[Guardsman Bass]

My worries about GM food are mostly the possibility of overusing uniform genes in a major crop, so that when some new parasite or disease comes around that suddenly ravages it, we don't have any genetic variation in our crops to survive and adapt to it.

^ We've managed to achieve that problem just with ordinary, old-fashioned selective breeding. Look into the problems with bananas over the years. Cultivars like the Gros Michel can no longer be produced commercially, and the the Dwarf Cavendish and Grand Nain are threatened by yet another pest. Rinse and repeat on a slightly smaller scale for other some other plant cultivars that are essentially mass-produced clones due to inbreeding and clonal propagation.

That's also in part because they grow them in monocultures, at least in the rich countries. Mixing it up with some complementary plants can really help to control pests, like if you grow corn, beans, and squash together.

[salm]

And perhaps it´s overregulated in some aspects but underregulated in some other aspects.
The fact that it´s a relatively new technology compared to traditional breeding also means that the regulatory institutions might not have enough know how yet to actually regulate GMO efficiently.

No. Agricultural regulatory and inspection bodies are more than equipped with the personnel and resources to understand the technology and the products, and are doing just fine at protecting public health. I'd wager that the public is at far greater risk from contaminated or poorly prepared foods overall.

Oh, they´re doing fine with public health overall. GM and food regulation in general is about more than public health, though.
Agricultural regulation needs more expertiese than "is this product ok for consumption". It also has to be concerned with envirionmental, cultural and financial long term impact of the food grown.
This is getting more important with GM in my opionion because changes to plants can be done a lot quicker than with traditional methods.