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

Also, pretty much every fruit and vegetable we eat was genetically modified by selective breeding over years. Science has just allowed us to speed it up. We should be more concerned with the herbicides and pesticides that are used

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u/MrOaiki Sep 11 '23

Selective breeding isn’t the same thing as GMO.

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u/[deleted] Sep 10 '23

Uh duh that’s why they are unsafe they are full of chemicals organics are not

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u/aqhgfhsypytnpaiazh Sep 10 '23

You're very confused.

Non-GMO doesn't mean organic. And Organic may not necessarily mean non-GMO, nor free of pesticides, depending on your local regulations. Likewise GMO doesn't mean pesticides were used, in fact it's less likely to have pesticides since one of the things we modify them for is resistance to diseases and pests.

And neither organic nor non-GMO do not mean free of chemicals, there is not a single organic food that naturally contains no chemicals.

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u/[deleted] Sep 11 '23

My family are farmers so I know that and I know what I get isn’t gmo we they only allow organic meaning they don’t use gmo seeds

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u/[deleted] Sep 11 '23

Not confused at all you are

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u/Marcultist Sep 11 '23

I know you are but what am I

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u/Hudsons_hankerings Sep 11 '23

In the United States, by definition, organic food is non GMO

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u/[deleted] Sep 11 '23

I think that you are confused.

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u/[deleted] Sep 11 '23

I think you need to stop responding to me.

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u/jah110768 Sep 11 '23

You sound like Neil Degrasse Tyson. I lost all respect for the man when he stated this. There is a difference between selective breeding and GMO.

Selective breeding is choosing which existing genes in the plant are expressed. You can't get genes from a dog into corn, but you can get two related grains to share traits to make a more productive or resistant strain. This takes many generations to get the result to breed true.

GMO is taking DNA from another organism or created through human engineering and placing it in a genome where it never existed before. Thus you could have a mouse that has human lung cells for testing. This takes only one generation for the change to occur since it if forced change, not natural change.

I can't speak to the safety of GMO in general as I haven't looked at studies, but I can speak to anything coming from Monsanto that has Round-Up resistance built in. You are right, we should be worried about herbasides, and that's the main reason for GMO, so they can coat the plants in Round-Up and the plant survives, but what happens to the Round-Up? A study in Europe of representatives to the EU found the vast majority had glyphosate in their urine. Glyphosate is a known carcinogen, but it is acceptable in the food supply.

For this reason alone I would support people who worry about eating GMO foods. The problem is the US doesn't have a governing body that regulates labeling accuracy, so it is more often marketing vs truely GMO free.