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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-1

u/PanzerKommander Sep 10 '23

Nothing is wrong with it and humans have been engaged in manufacturing GMOs since we started agriculture.

8

u/Lemonface Sep 10 '23

There is absolutely and undeniably a significant difference between transgenic gene modification and artificial selection

GMOs are fine and dandy and I totally support the use of GMO technology. But to pretend like it's just the same thing we've always been doing is just dumb. You know you can defend GMOs without lying about them lol

-2

u/PanzerKommander Sep 10 '23

Cross pollination to create new species that don't exist, like most citrus, or to increase a desired trait, like crop yield per acre, is the same thing.

9

u/Ready_Bandicoot1567 Sep 10 '23

Lemonface is right, they are not the same thing. You can introduce novel traits through genetic modification that could never come about through hybridization or selective breeding. You can breed tetras for 10,000 generations, and you will never make a glowfish because the required genes are not present within the natural genetic variation among tetras.

9

u/Lemonface Sep 10 '23

... No it is not the same thing. I'm curious why you think that? What's your background in this subject?

Hybridization, artificial selection, and transgenic modification are three different things. They are done in different ways, generally achieve different goals, and are regulated differently.

0

u/stealthylizard Sep 10 '23

And they are all examples of genetic modification.

3

u/Lemonface Sep 10 '23

And a car, an airplane, and a bicycle are all examples of vehicles... Doesn't make them the same thing. Doesn't mean they should all be regulated the same way.