- Jun 5, 2011
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To a certain extent, everything we eat is a GM food. From the crops we plant, tot he animals we raise, they all have been selected and bred for specific traits. Traits not necisarily found in their wild ancestors, and this has brought about a modifaction of their genetics. The biggest difference, however is that animal husbandry involves working closely witht he animals you are modifying. We know a trait is possible within a species and we selectively breed until it shows up. It can take generations of that animal tog et it right, but we can do it. When altering genes int his manor, nature has time to sort out the changes we are requesting of her, and we can find all the defects and flaws that surface along the way. More and more, as we discover how genes and DNA work, we are discovering that NO genes perform only one function. They all are responsible for multiple characteristics. Beyond that, there are thousands of codes in DNA that are seperate fromt eh genes that act as switches to turn certain characteristics "on" or "off". Again, as long as we are making changes through breeding, a careful breeder can witness what happens when you add or remove a characteristic. Current GMO techniques invlolve altering the seeds of a secies in a lab by injecting or removing sections of DNA and then mass producing the offspring as quickly as possible. One of the draw backs of this is that while we might succeed in producing the change we wanted, there is no way toknow, until the seeds are plants and harvested, what other changes occured. Also, studies have shown that the DNA of these altered seeds in unstable and the cells of those plants frequently rect the altered sections, much the same way that a human body may reject a transplanted organ. This results in free floating sections of DNA and RNA in our food. Our bodies absorbe that DNA and RNA and tries to figure out what it is. on the Whole our bodies are very efficient at realizing those bits and pieces are trash and getting rid of them, but some look enough like our own codes that our bodie will try to use it for a bit before figuring out that it doesn't belong. Long range studies have been, for the most part, inconclusive about the effects of these unwanted bits of genetic material, because everyone who starts out to studyit, seems to have a preconcieved opinion. Reasearchers funded by the corporation inevitably find them perfectly safe, and researches funded by those opposed tot hem inevitably find them deadly poisonous. To my mind, I simply veiw it this way: The human body is a well run, and finely tuned machine; why would I want to go mucking up its running by throwing loose screws into the gears? It might not hurt anything, but whytake the risk?
