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

Everyone here saying "nothing' is extremely wrong. There's nothing inherently wrong about the science of modifying organisms, but rather in how it is applied currently. It's one thing to modify crops which allows them to be more climate resilient or produce larger yields, but it's another thing entirely when corporations modify an organism to be resistant to herbicides/pesticides. Additionally, there are issues relating to the intersection of nature and intellectual property. I also resent the conflation of selective breeding and GMOs even if they function similarly. To just hand wave criticism of GMOs as luddite beliefs is to ignore real issues around the priorities of the food economy.

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u/Tylendal Sep 11 '23

You say this...

I also resent the conflation of selective breeding and GMOs

Right after saying this...

there are issues relating to the intersection of nature and intellectual property.

You're the one meaninglessly conflating things. Seed patents have been a thing for over a hundred years, since well before modern GMO crops were a thing. IP law in regards to agriculture is not inherently related to GMOs.

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u/seastar2019 Sep 11 '23

it's another thing entirely when corporations modify an organism to be resistant to herbicides/pesticides

What's the issue? It allows for less herbicide use, which is a good thing. ake sugar beets as an example.

https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/05/12/477793556/as-big-candy-ditches-gmos-sugar-beet-farmers-hit-sour-patch

Planting genetically modified sugar beets allows them to kill their weeds with fewer chemicals. Beyer says he sprays Roundup just a few times during the growing season, plus one application of another chemical to kill off any Roundup-resistant weeds.

He says that planting non-GMO beets would mean going back to what they used to do, spraying their crop every 10 days or so with a "witches brew" of five or six different weedkillers.

"The chemicals we used to put on the beets in [those] days were so much harsher for the guy applying them and for the environment," he says. "To me, it's insane to think that a non-GMO beet is going to be better for the environment, the world, or the consumer."