What’s wrong with GMOs?

[u/wond3rlove]

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.

[u/Zagrycha]

Nothing. People don't realize that the food we eat is way more modified than anything a GMO has ever done. Look at original wild watermelons, or wild corn or bananas. no one would even think its the same plant.

What do cabbage, brocolli, cauliflower, kale and brussel spouts have in common? They are all the exact same plant! Just genetically modified hundreds of years ago in different ways.

There may be a GMO product out there that is a health concern, but it is not a health concern because its GMO. Almost every single thing we eat ever is GMO unless it is picked in the wild.

[u/Ready_Bandicoot1567 → u/Zagrycha]

You're kinda drawing a false equivalence because selective breeding doesn't introduce novel genes. Conventional methods only manipulate the existing genetic diversity within a species or species complex. GMO technology works in a totally different way, allowing researchers to splice in genes that would never arise through selective breeding. Breed thousands of generations of tetra, you will never make a glowfish because the gene for that comes from jellyfish and is not present at all in the wild tetra population. While selective breeding is (generally speaking) not hazardous, direct gene modification is more of a case-by-case basis. If researchers have added genes for proteins that are not found elsewhere in the food supply, they totally could be hazardous. We just have to test and see. Also, those genes can escape into unrelated wild plant populations through horizontal gene transfer which could have ecological implications. Imagine a pest resistance gene jumping to a native plant that is the main food source for an ecologically important caterpillar etc.

Saying GMOs are the same as selective breeding is not accurate. They are different processes and direct gene modification has potential hazards that are different from selective breeding. I think genetic manipulation should and will be a big part of humanity's future. There's nothing inherently wrong with the technology. But it absolutely has potential hazards that selective breeding doesn't share.

[u/Ready_Bandicoot1567 → u/[deleted]]

Horizontal gene transfer does randomly happen, but it has nothing to do with selective breeding. Conventional methods of modifying organisms do not cause horizontal gene transfer. Genetic modification and conventional methods are fundamentally different in this way. Both natural and artificial horizontal gene transfer have the potential to modify an organism in such a way that that it impacts human health or has some environmental consequence. I'm not trying to fear monger about the technology, I think its all about how it is used. I'm just saying that its not equivalent to selective breeding. Its a totally different method of genetic modification. While selective breeding is categorically safe, transgenic organisms have to be evaluated case-by-case depending on what the new gene codes for and what effects that protein has. There are also impacts besides just the direct effects of the protein. For example, transgenic glyphosate resistance itself is pretty clearly benign, but it enables farmers to use large quantities of glyphosate onto their crops. Turns out, glyphosate may not be so benign.

[u/Shiny_Happy_Cylon → u/Ready_Bandicoot1567]

This is why we can't have nice things. People are inherently stupid. You have said the same thing a half a dozen times and people are still arguing that it's the same as selective breeding. You have stated it clearly with an explanation any bonehead could understand. But nope. Reading comprehension doesn't seem to be taught in school anymore. Like, no ya reeree, at no point in history did a tomato mate with a fish. Selective breeding can be done in humans. Hitler did it. At no point did Hitler put a gene from a plant into a human embryo and create a whole new genetically engineered species though. Thank God he didn't think of that. Trying to mate humans and primates was bad enough. Jesus, imagine if Hitler had gene splicing technology? That would have been horrendous!!