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"Tampering With Nature" Is Not A Valid Argument Against GM Foods
Man has been "tampering" since the first hunter/gatherers decided to grow food. It is hardly natural for food to grow in rows and moved from one country to the next. Being at one with nature means running around naked and hungry, maybe killing a rabbit with a rock…and dying young. I haven't seen anyone from True Foods wearing a leopard skin. I was amused when one of the activists was carrying a drink with edible linseed, oil, a known genetically modified food. I don't see them protesting against the use of electricity. Most suspicious of *continued*
 Homestar  18 Feb 2009 00:46
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Farmers always cross breed things ie cows or apples. It is a system that almost all farmers abide by to get the best crop
 
 4willis  28 Mar 2009 18:51
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Farmers have been cross-breeding cows to get the best milk genes in them for centuries. The only difference is now we know they were getting the best genes, isolate them and jump forward 20 generations at a time. We can also make cross breeding that wasn't possible before. You can't get grain to cross pollinate with fish, but the antifreeze genes sure are handy.
 
 Quincel  18 Feb 2009 09:05
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GM crops are not against transferring pollen between different species, or "conventional" cross breeding. This is hardly in any way "natural". It seems that having it done in a laboratory instead of a field makes it "unnatural". In fact, it is safer than conventional breeding.
I was angry when activists in India protested against foreign aid from America because it was genetically modified and believed to be a "test" that they didn't want to perform on their own kind. This led to the shipment never coming, the aid organization almost closing, and people going hungry.
Man has been harnessing their environment ever since we lived in caves. This is just another step. The "nature" argument is purely subjective, and is getting in the way of better environmental protection, caps on world hunger, and the advancement of humanity as a whole.
This is a pretty good unbiased essay
 
 Homestar  18 Feb 2009 00:48
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Every argument is "valid". You may not agree with it, or you may have a good rebuttal to it, and it may even be a gut-based emotional argument instead of rational position, but it's still valid. Many people will choose to buy natural over modified, it matters to them, it matters even if other things they consider "natural" were hybrid or cross bred too by some means other than GM DNA.

Personally I'm not too concerned with GM foods, they probably are safe, HOWEVER, I also don't think it's unreasonable for people to demand the foods be labelled as such and for them to have the chance to choose non-GM foods if they desire.
 
 Grenache  18 Feb 2009 20:47
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 In fairness, I'd agree with your response. I voted yes because I think it is a flawed argument.
by  Quincel
 20 Feb 2009 10:40
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What man had done in the past is more to do with pick and mix. Cross pollinating to achieve a better harvest. Now what they do is more like duck soup. The thing feared the most is upsetting the delicate balance of nature.
 
 keepmindok  18 Feb 2009 01:46
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 Pick and mix? Isn't taking genes from a cod and transferring it into corn "picking and mixing"? How is splicing a lemon tree different than removing a nucleus in a lab?
by  Homestar
 18 Feb 2009 03:58
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