How dangerous are GM foods?
By Nic
@academic2 (7000)
Uganda
April 27, 2007 4:26am CST
Sometimes I look at food and I dont bother about other deatils! Not long ago I saw media reports of real food shortages in Zimbabwe, people did not have what to eat, But when Donations of Genetically modified foods were declared available, the government had the arrogance of rejecting it as dangerous food. Are GM foods really dangerous? Did the Zimbabwean government have a point in rejecting it?
1 person likes this
4 responses
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
27 Apr 07
Genetically modified food is not, on the whole, dangerous. It is merely a method of speeding up the long and arduous process of breeding desirable traits into a plant and this has been done in the traditional way for many, many years to improve yields and flavour. If wheat were a new plant, it would be banned from the food market because of the allergies and complications it tends to cause yet it is the result of tens of thousands of years of cross breeding from the chance fertilisation of two different grasses.
Genetic modification is to a very large extent done carefully, responsibly and scientifically. Most often, genetically modified crops have been well tested for any unwanted side-effects but the danger comes, of course, when the testing has not been long enough.
There is no reason to ban all genetically modified foods simply because some have not yet been fully tested and approved. Most often the modification involves a single gene with well known properties and very specific and known action. It is not worth the scientists' time to simply bombard the DNA with random genes to 'see what happens'. The work is always very well planned.
1 person likes this
@academic2 (7000)
• Uganda
27 Apr 07
Thanks for this best marked response, it has been very expertly presented and I must say, has added to my own knowledge on the subject!
@academic2 (7000)
• Uganda
27 Apr 07
Genetically modified foods are foods grown when their natural genetic components have been changed in the name of quality improvement. You will find that some foreign genes say of high yield or bigger sizes are added, so that a tomatoes that used to produce 10 smaller fruits can now produce 15 or 20 Large size fruits per plant! The problem is no one knows the effects such a change can bring when such a plant cross polinates with natural plants of a similar type. Its because of this uncertainties that most countries are affraid of GM foods
@DJ9020 (1596)
• United States
27 Apr 07
We've been genetically modifying food ever since what's-his-name started messing around with sweetpeas!!! I do not think they are dangerous. Do genes from the food you eat now migrate into your DNA? NO! So there is no reason to fear GM foods, in my opinion. Which is worth about $.02!
@charlieman99 (101)
• Andorra
17 May 07
I dont trust genetically modified food because of the companys that sell these products, they only seek profit and money, probably the donation of the food were made by some companys that only want to test if their products were safe and took the chance to send their food with the excuse of some donations, pharmaceutical industry has made that in Africa, and genetically modified food industry would do the same if they could.
