GM food. Do you care?

[manda]

We’ve been eating GM foods for over 100 years.

I don't think we've been eating genetically modified foods for that long ...food that has been selectively bred to have whatever quality it was they desired within the same species - yes and as you says that has been around for centuries ...but not specifically had the DNA changed by adding DNA from one species to another.
My understanding from my wandering around the www is the first genetically modified plant was created in the 80's (happy to be corrected though).

I'm all for selective breeding ...although I have to say I like purple carrots

[jannie]

Anything that has soya bean in it is a GM food.. The beans were genetically modified in the early 90's with the first crop planted in 1997 in the US and because of the yield and disease resistance is now used around the globe. It's not just veggie foods that use it ..have a look at the labels on bread and ready meals. It's also in meat products as it's used for animal feed including chicken food. What you won't see is it labeled as GM .. it was sneaked in under the radar and we are now so reliant on soya that the food chain would collapse if it was removed.

[saint-spoon]

Funny old debate, on the one side there is us sat in our comfy homes with more than enough food to stop us starving to death being ethical about GM and on the other there is the farmer in a third world country struggling to feed his family because he can’t afford chemical fertilizers or pesticides and drought resistant crops are being blocked by western ethical campaigners on account of them being GM. I would rather not eat GM but I suppose that it is because I have been indoctrinated to see GM as bad, I doubt that I would feel the same if I was starving and GM could save my family. I did read recently that a global organisation has been spreading lies about GM golden rice to Pilipino farmers to that they won’t use it. People will certainly die without the crop. I am not pro GM in anyway but the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides is a far greater risk to the environment IMO, the run off from farms in the US can be clearly seen in the form of algae blooms from space, that can’t be good.

[wendy]

You have a point SS.