To think genetically modified food will now be allowed in our supermarkets?

[ReadyPayerTwo]

One of my biggest fears about the Tory victory and the ability to now 'strike a massive trade deal' that Trump tweeted about just after the 10pm exit poll, is that the European ban on GM foods obviously won't apply in the UK anymore.

Friends and relatives of mine who recently returned from living in the US have said that, unless you can afford to shop in Whole Foods (and who can), the quality and nutritional value of what is all GM fruit and vegetables is incredibly poor and that it's contributed massively to the obesity crisis, as people end up having to eat three times as much to make up for what it lacks in taste or nutrition.

Would it be made clear to consumers if supermarkets started selling GM food - would they have to be labelled as such? Or would we just not be told and find out a couple of years down the line that almost everything is now GM and there was nothing we could do about it?

I wonder if the level of scientific ignorance can actually become fatal in a society?

Starts off as a fair question, but then manages to lose any respect:

Actually scratch that - it already did in several african countries that decided to promote vitamins as a better solution to the Aids epidemic than antivirals....

When it picks on Africans, rather than looking closer to home at our own anti-vaxxing idiots ....

G.M. Food has been in our supermarkets for years! Can’t believe people don’t know this and the damage it does to your health!

YABU OP. And hysterical. As are many others on this thread. This sort of ignorance does a lot of damage.

GM food is already here, and it's exactly the same nutritionally as non-GM food. Sigh.

@Amccan

Damage? 🙄

@SerendipityJane "high yield" can mean anything from greater grain density per ear (compare wild wheat to domesticated), or more apples per tree, or more eggs per week (wild chicken breeds will only lay up to 20 per year, compared to 5 or 6 a week for domestic breeds).

It's not just a synonym for "lots of water".

What damage does GMO food do to your health?

“What damage does GMO food do to your health?”

Causes hysteria.

If we have a trade deal with the US it does not necessarily mean we will start importing fruit and meat from them. I'm pretty sure we'll still buy food from EU countries. We don't want to cease trading with the EU. We want a trade agreement but also want self-determination and to end freedom of movement.

I definitely don't want GM food or chlorinated chicken so, if we do import some of our food from the US, it may be up to us to petition for good labelling so that we can avoid buying it if we don't want it.

It would also be totally irresponsible for us to start importing foods from further afield and increasing the carbon footprint whilst talking of making great inroads into resolving climate change.

“What damage does GMO food do to your health?”

Causes hysteria.

@SerendipityJane "high yield" can mean anything from greater grain density per ear (compare wild wheat to domesticated), or more apples per tree, or more eggs per week (wild chicken breeds will only lay up to 20 per year, compared to 5 or 6 a week for domestic breeds).[] It's not just a synonym for "lots of water".

If I hadn't tasted the food, you could have been in with a chance of persuading me. But the problem is I have. (I admit yield goes much further than simple price/kilo and is a complex arena as well).

However, my point still stands - in letters of rock. If you trade by weight and weight alone (as most agriculture does) then getting the heaviest crop per hectare will be prioritised over getting the best crop per hectare. A hell of a lot of shops and farmers would have a nasty shock if someone devised a way to pay per flavour.

You really have to taste food that was grown for taste, not weight to realise how insipid, bland, and pretty dire most bulk foods are.

But that's a tangent to GM crops - which I'm not particularly fussed about in this context.

So much misinformation and hysteria about GM.
The truth is we have been eating genetically modified food in one way or another fror thousands of years.

@PlanDeRaccordement

How is selective breeding 'as god intended' but GM crops are 'playing god'?

I thought the issue wasn't just about GM food but also about the antics of Monsanto and how it affects small farmers.
Maybe need to start shopping at Iceland.

about.iceland.co.uk/2019/06/18/we-really-were-doing-it-right-on-gm-food/

This election really has driven people to desperate measures. Do you just trawl the net looking for anytjing you can bend to moan about the election result.
Like Y2K and Brexit, nothing will happen and then people will find something else to worry about.

The truth is we have been eating genetically modified food in one way or another for thousands of years.

Not it's not. In fact that's big hairy bollocks. Selective breeding is not comparable with genetic modification. As was pointed out upthread. That's almost as stupid as claiming "we've been using plastics for thousands of years because we wrap things in wax".

Is gm food cheaper ?

The I’m unsure of it’s safety id have to research that but if it’s cheaper and of similar nutrition content and organic non gm still available so there’s a choice I’m not against it in that sense maybe it will make healthy eating more affordable for those in poverty

SerendipityJane

So in what way is GM different from selective breeding in terms of risk?

The meat industry should shock most people long before its laden with hormones and chlorine. Its fucking horrific how these animals live.

Red tractor/organic/humane..... All words to make us feel better. Those animals are still driven to the same slaughter houses.

So in what way is GM different from selective breeding in terms of risk?

GM uses gene splicing techniques to remove/add/modify genes inside the genome. Selective breeding can only act upon genes that are exchanged in breeding. Beyond that ... well not my field of expertise.

Not quite sure what you mean by "risk", since I haven't said anything about GM being "risky" or not.

Mind you, if you do want to talk about the risks of selective breeding, I'd just say bananas ...

bananageddon.webflow.io/blog/the-science-of-bananas-why-are-bananas-vulnerable

So much misinformation and hysteria about GM.
The truth is we have been eating genetically modified food in one way or another fror thousands of years.

There's a big difference between breeding, recombination and genetic modification

There's a big difference between breeding, recombination and genetic modification

Not big enough to register on some tabloid discussions ... where simple vegetative propagation becomes "highly sophisticated genetic modifications" if cannabis and the Daily Mail ever meet

I am not asking about the techniques involved- I have a background in DNA technology- I am asking about the risks it brings to us.

So are modified foods dangerous? What risks do they pose? I've tried to find studies but nothing really comes up (except for fearmongering greenmedinfo etc pages, of course)

Agriculture in the US remains quite backward in many respects. It retains a position of resisting more information on labels to limit consumer knowledge and engagement. Its livestock sectors often suffer from poor husbandry, which leads to more prevalence of disease and a greater reliance on antibiotics. Whereas we have a “farm to fork” approach to managing disease and contamination risk throughout the supply chain through good husbandry, the US is more inclined to simply treat contamination of its meat at the end with a chlorine or similar wash.

From this article www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/mar/06/us-chlorinated-chicken-trade-deal-agriculture