What bothers me most about genetically engineered crops is the possibility of losing the pool of random genes that exist in the wild varieties that gave rise to our supercrops in the first place. It appears, though, that if I am aware of this, as far removed from agriculture as I am (except geographically), potential problems also occurred to professionals in the field who must give a thought to crop resistance to disease, pests and climactic variations.
The only reason we have the luxury of worrying about long-term effects of produce that has been treated in some way is that we now have a longer life span, due in part to better nutrition and more reliable food supplies, which has happened partly because produce has been treated in some way. Caution is called for, not paranoia. If people who would have died at 35 from a form of starvation manage to live to 70 and die of cancer caused by food additives, I say let's fix the additives after the problem is known and treat the cancer. Thirty-five more years of life is not a bad thing.
Off Topic » in reply to re: And hidden effects in industries we think of as traditional.
Agreed.
The whole thread (44 posts)
- Is the Party coming to an end?
- re: When the lights will go out
- Sounds like the predictions from the Club of Rome back in 1972
- Undoubtedly