British attitudes to genetically modified crops are still divided

petros

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It's still flax and it won't kill anyone will it?

Food production has always been about profit. Nobody works for free.
 

B00Mer

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So what happens when a few companies like Monsanto, become the only source for seeds to grow food and they have every politician in their back pocket.. basically a monopoly on the worlds food source... To me that's the first thing I think of when I hear GMO.

... and small farmers getting sued for using a different seed, forced into bankruptcy.
 

PoliticalNick

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So what happens when a few companies like Monsanto, become the only source for seeds to grow food and they have every politician in their back pocket.. basically a monopoly on the worlds food source... To me that's the first thing I think of when I hear GMO.

... and small farmers getting sued for using a different seed, forced into bankruptcy.

That's what I think too.

It's still flax and it won't kill anyone will it?
No it isn't flax. It is like flax but different. Real flax doesn't have genes from onions.
Food production has always been about profit. Nobody works for free.
Wrong, food production has historically been about feeding the population. Now I don't mind people making some money doing it commercially but, like Boomer, I don't want to see small guys sued into bankruptcy by mega-corps or the global production controlled by 1 or 2 companies and I certainly don't trust a human scientist trying to make money over mother nature.
 

petros

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So what happens when a few companies like Monsanto, become the only source for seeds to grow food and they have every politician in their back pocket.. basically a monopoly on the worlds food source... To me that's the first thing I think of when I hear GMO.

... and small farmers getting sued for using a different seed, forced into bankruptcy.
That would be impossible. Just like everything else, patents are time limited , expire and become public domain. Besides with nearly 1500 cultivars of wheat catalogued (as an example) so far, the combinations of hybrids would be endless.
 

Christianna

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A hybrid.
OK, heres what I read about genes and fruit.
Because nectarines are the result of genetic mutation, growers must rely on transplanted strains of peach trees known to produce them. Certain peach trees are identified as having at least one recessive nectarine gene, so they are often mated with other strains likely to contain recessive genes. Only a successful pairing of two recessive genes will guarantee a yield of the fruit.
 

petros

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No it isn't flax. It is like flax but different. Real flax doesn't have genes from onions.
Some where down the line flax and green onions where one in the same just like you and I have the same genes as thousands of other animals and even bugs.



- Genome-wide variation from one human being to another can be up to 0.5% (99.5% similarity)

- Chimpanzees are 96% to 98% similar to humans, depending on how it is calculated. (source)

- Cats have 90% of homologous genes with humans, 82% with dogs, 80% with cows, 79% with chimpanzees, 69% with rats and 67% with mice. (source)

- Cows (Bos taurus) are 80% genetically similar to humans (source)

- 75% of mouse genes have equivalents in humans (source), 90% of the mouse genome could be lined up with a region on the human genome (source) 99% of mouse genes turn out to have analogues in humans (source)

- The fruit fly (Drosophila) shares about 60% of its DNA with humans (source).

- About 60% of chicken genes correspond to a similar human gene. (source)
 

Sal

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It doesn't say they lose money growing non-GMO. It says they make bigger profits growing GMOs. That means they are profitable growing conventional crops but put greed over public health. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that those farmers for GMOs are not private but corporate managers for Monsanto.
who knows who owns what any more

If you lost money doing it would you continue to give away food that you've grown?
Oh course not! I was a business woman for 26 years.
 

petros

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If it's all about profits and nothing more, who stands the better chance of surviving without funding or tax credits? The non-GMO producer or the GMO producer?
 

PoliticalNick

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If it's all about profits and nothing more, who stands the better chance of surviving without funding or tax credits? The non-GMO producer or the GMO producer?

How the heck would I know, I'm not a farmer and don't plan to be one. Unfortunately I have read or heard nothing good about Monsanto or GMOs and I don't trust a mega-corp as far as I could toss their head office.
 

Sal

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If it's all about profits and nothing more, who stands the better chance of surviving without funding or tax credits? The non-GMO producer or the GMO producer?
I have no idea. I just know I won't eat that crap and that should be my right. But then I no longer eat a lot of the crap that people think is fine and dandy until they get sick.

If the people won't buy it, it won't be profitable.
 

petros

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How the heck would I know, I'm not a farmer and don't plan to be one. Unfortunately I have read or heard nothing good about Monsanto or GMOs and I don't trust a mega-corp as far as I could toss their head office.
So you're going to go by what the organics people are saying because organic people are honest?

I have no idea. I just know I won't eat that crap and that should be my right. But then I no longer eat a lot of the crap that people think is fine and dandy until they get sick.

If the people won't buy it, it won't be profitable.
Why don't you know? it's the central issue at hand in the argument.

You have proof it's crap or you too are going by the organic marketing group that is trying to say it's product is king sh*t of turd mtn?
 

Tonington

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No it isn't flax. It is like flax but different. Real flax doesn't have genes from onions.

What about a plant infected with a pathogen? Those genes of viruses and bacterial plasmids don't belong either, but they are there. They use the host cells to create the proteins needed to produce more virus and plasmid. Foreign proteins being expressed in another organism. You've eaten food all along just like this. In fact it's one method for creating a transgenetic organism.

Of course it's still flax- the difference is that it has a morphological difference from non-transgenic flax.
 

PoliticalNick

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Of course it's still flax- the difference is that it has a morphological difference from non-transgenic flax.

That is like saying a fraternal twin is an identical twin. Flax is flax. When it is genetically changed it is no longer flax. It may be a lot like flax but genetically it isn't.
 

Sal

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So you're going to go by what the organics people are saying because organic people are honest?

Why don't you know? it's the central issue at hand in the argument.

You have proof it's crap or you too are going by the organic marketing group that is trying to say it's product is king sh*t of turd mtn?
petros I do a lot of on going research about the food I eat, I have for years, most people are okey dokey with bread, rice, potatoes etc... all of it turns to sugar and has a whole host of negative reactions in our body. They did not know this 50 years ago or even 20 although they were beginning to understand it any cardiac specialist will recommend the same diet as for diabetics and a whole host of auto immune diseases. They do not yet know long term what GMF will do to the human body. We humans have enough dietary issues as it is. If you think it is fine you eat it. I do not choose to and should not be made to.
 

Tonington

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That is like saying a fraternal twin is an identical twin. Flax is flax. When it is genetically changed it is no longer flax. It may be a lot like flax but genetically it isn't.

So it's your contention that a human infected with the influenza virus...is no longer a human? You can run a micro-array to show that after infection, the organism has been changed genetically. Some genes will have been up-regulated, and down-regulated. If I test their tissues I will find non-native genes expressed. That doesn't mean they are no longer human.

That is foolish, and ignorant of how we classify organisms.

What if I breed flax to flax in successive generations and get a novel protein that you won't find in other flax? Is it no longer flax? I can still breed it back to the original line. Depending on the breeding strategy, the successive generations can lose that protein. Going back to humans, are humans that carry a gene mutation that make them immune to HIV infection not still humans?

It's still flax. If you sent a sample to the lab and asked them to give you the species, they'd tell you it's flax. That's because, the conserved part of the genome, the part that all flax share, remains the same. One new protein doesn't make a new species. You need many new proteins.

You're trying to redefine biology to suit your political needs.
 

PoliticalNick

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So it's your contention that a human infected with the influenza virus...is no longer a human? You can run a micro-array to show that after infection, the organism has been changed genetically. Some genes will have been up-regulated, and down-regulated. If I test their tissues I will find non-native genes expressed. That doesn't mean they are no longer human.

That is foolish, and ignorant of how we classify organisms.

What if I breed flax to flax in successive generations and get a novel protein that you won't find in other flax? Is it no longer flax? I can still breed it back to the original line. Depending on the breeding strategy, the successive generations can lose that protein. Going back to humans, are humans that carry a gene mutation that make them immune to HIV infection not still humans?

It's still flax. If you sent a sample to the lab and asked them to give you the species, they'd tell you it's flax. That's because, the conserved part of the genome, the part that all flax share, remains the same. One new protein doesn't make a new species. You need many new proteins.

You're trying to redefine biology to suit your political needs.
I am certainly unaware that the flu changes my genetic make-up. My understanding is the virus has it's own DNA and genetic code and infects the cells but not the nucleus. The genetic material of the virus doesn't become part of the host cells genetic material, it just causes the existing genes to be expressed in a different way.

I will admit Bio 12 was a very long time ago and there could very well be more data now than back then so I can't say with certainty.
 

Tonington

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I am certainly unaware that the flu changes my genetic make-up. My understanding is the virus has it's own DNA and genetic code and infects the cells but not the nucleus. The genetic material of the virus doesn't become part of the host cells genetic material, it just causes the existing genes to be expressed in a different way.

I will admit Bio 12 was a very long time ago and there could very well be more data now than back then so I can't say with certainty.
The nucleus of your cells is where the viral RNA is made. It's transcribed in the nucleus, and replicates once the viral mRNA produced by the host ribosomes enter the nucleus.

Without a nucleus, the influenza virus can't replicate.

Causing genes to be expressed differentially is a genetic change...
 

petros

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petros I do a lot of on going research about the food I eat, I have for years, most people are okey dokey with bread, rice, potatoes etc... all of it turns to sugar and has a whole host of negative reactions in our body. They did not know this 50 years ago or even 20 although they were beginning to understand it any cardiac specialist will recommend the same diet as for diabetics and a whole host of auto immune diseases. They do not yet know long term what GMF will do to the human body. We humans have enough dietary issues as it is. If you think it is fine you eat it. I do not choose to and should not be made to.
It upsets your 60 fruit fly genes?

That is like saying a fraternal twin is an identical twin. Flax is flax. When it is genetically changed it is no longer flax. It may be a lot like flax but genetically it isn't.
Do your feline genes make you want to poop in a box and cover it with sand?