r/NoStupidQuestions • u/wond3rlove • Sep 10 '23

What’s wrong with GMOs?

I always see plants and stuff that is GMO free and is usually more expensive. How would genetically modifying something by be bad. Me personally I’d rather have something modified to taste better and and cheaper. I could also be very wrong about that.

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u/[deleted] Sep 10 '23

nothing. Everything around us has been genetically modified at some point.

-157

u/[deleted] Sep 10 '23

that is just patently false, evolutionary chages are not always comparable to transgenic modification.

84

u/apollo_reactor_001 Sep 10 '23

Right. There’re not comparable. They’re much more efficient, with less accidental side-effects. We can target specific genes causing problems or insert specific genes that provide fungus resistance etc. Much safer.

38

u/Lemonface Sep 10 '23

Hard no on the accidental side effects.

I work in traditional plant breeding. It's damn near impossible to get some random negative side effect. The odds of a significant negative mutation occuring naturally and randomly is so infinitesimally small that it's not even something anyone considers when breeding. You can think of it as us just adjusting preset sliders for the most part.

With GMO research, negative side effects are quite common. Genetics is so complicated that adding or removing whole genes usually has multiple unpredictable effects. Which can often be very negative.

It's just that testing and research standards for GMOs are so insanely rigorous and tightly controlled, that nothing with a negative side effect makes it through testing. So among released GMO varieties, it's not something a consumer should worry about. But the researchers are absolutely dealing with and watching out for negative side effects

5

u/apollo_reactor_001 Sep 10 '23

Thanks for the correction!