FDA responds to citizen petition for GMO labeling

[zoobernut]

Other than when pro-GMO activists want to be snarky, it's pretty well-accepted that GMO means precise laboratory genetic manipulation for a desired effect. It doesn't have to be cross-species even, the Innate GMO potatos fuck with potato DNA only (to minimize bruising and reduce acrylamide).

That is what I think of when I think of GMO's I just was curious because I didn't realize that precise direct laboratory genetic manipulation was so prevalent in food. I thought most people were mixing up cross pollination and selective breeding with GMO.

[archibaldcrane]

There's a few, very prevalent crops that are mostly GMO now in the USA. However, there's not that many crops that have GMO varieties, and many that do are not widely planted.

The commercially grown GMO crops (that I can find) are:

Alfalfa
Apples
Rapeseed (Canola)
Corn
Cotton
Eggplant
Papaya
Potato
Rice
Soybeans
Squash
Sugarcane
Sugar Beets
Sweet Peppers
Tomato

and now

Salmon


Really though, Soybeans, Corn and Canola are the three GMO foods that have widespread planting, and those are three ingredients that are very common in processed food.

If you're buying produce at a store, it's likely the only GMO crops you'd find are Hawaiian Papaya and (maybe) Sweet Corn.

[BerenTebogo]

That is what I think of when I think of GMO's I just was curious because I didn't realize that precise direct laboratory genetic manipulation was so prevalent in food. I thought most people were mixing up cross pollination and selective breeding with GMO.

Almost(98+%) everything you eat, literally, is a result of selective cross breeding whether you know about it directly or not.

The main "war" on GMO today is about genetic manipulation. The main reason anti-GMO activists are dumb is that they have no fucking clue at all about the science or the effect. A non-negligible subset of people who think GMOs are the devil are people who think all chemicals are bad, or purchase GMO -free salt unironically http://www.amazon.com/Salt-Himalayan.../dp/B007PR93EU .

Because, you know, I hate when my inorganic compounds have motherfucking genetic material. Really chaps my hide.

Edit: apparently that salt is chemical-free too. Who knew. I wonder if it's dark matter salt?

[Wulfgang]

I mean, aren't disease/pest resistant crop strains GMOs? Arguing against that is effectively saying you indirectly support genocide in the third world. I feel like I'm a dinosaur because I just think all of this is ridiculous. Does it taste like chicken? Is it mostly chicken? Good enough for me.

[zoobernut]

Yes Sath I understand that almost everything we eat is a product of selective breeding and cross breeding. I was asking about the prevalence of GMO's today as in animals or plants that have had direct in lab genetic modification done to them. For example had genes inserted into their genome from another organism that they can't normally crossbreed with.

I was just curious how prevalent that example is.

Edit: For example I am pretty sure the vast majority of Soy and Corn in this country has been lab modified but how prevalent is it in other crops?
GMO's have been around for quite a long time why is there so much backlash against them now?

I guess this is kinda like the anti-vaccine thing. Did fine with it for a long time then someone decided they didn't like them.

[BerenTebogo]

Yes Sath I understand that almost everything we eat is a product of selective breeding and cross breeding. I was asking about the prevalence of GMO's today as in animals or plants that have had direct in lab genetic modification done to them. For example had genes inserted into their genome from another organism that they can't normally crossbreed with.

I was just curious how prevalent that example is.

Animals we are, to my knowledge, on the forefront of it today (yesterday) re: things that will go to human consumption.

As far as crops - less prevalent in the US (aside from soy, corn, wheat as archi mentioned above). Very, very important for developing nations. Crops like golden rice which have vitamin A to help combat childhood blindness in poor countries due to vitamin A deficiency are hugely important.

They are also widely protested and opposed by anti-GMO activists.

Fun times.

[BerenTebogo]

Yes Sath I understand that almost everything we eat is a product of selective breeding and cross breeding. I was asking about the prevalence of GMO's today as in animals or plants that have had direct in lab genetic modification done to them. For example had genes inserted into their genome from another organism that they can't normally crossbreed with.

I was just curious how prevalent that example is.

Edit: For example I am pretty sure the vast majority of Soy and Corn in this country has been lab modified but how prevalent is it in other crops?
GMO's have been around for quite a long time why is there so much backlash against them now?

I guess this is kinda like the anti-vaccine thing. Did fine with it for a long time then someone decided they didn't like them.

To answer your edit: bored, rich, white, under-educated people having access to the internet.

The same root cause of a lot of problems, really.

I mean, aren't disease/pest resistant crop strains GMOs? Arguing against that is effectively saying you indirectly support genocide in the third world. I feel like I'm a dinosaur because I just think all of this is ridiculous. Does it taste like chicken? Is it mostly chicken? Good enough for me.

Correct.

[Wulfgang]

Almost(98+%) everything you eat, literally, is a result of selective cross breeding whether you know about it directly or not.

The main "war" on GMO today is about genetic manipulation. The main reason anti-GMO activists are dumb is that they have no fucking clue at all about the science or the effect. A non-negligible subset of people who think GMOs are the devil are people who think all chemicals are bad, or purchase GMO -free salt unironically http://www.amazon.com/Salt-Himalayan.../dp/B007PR93EU .

Because, you know, I hate when my inorganic compounds have motherfucking genetic material. Really chaps my hide.

Edit: apparently that salt is chemical-free too. Who knew. I wonder if it's dark matter salt?

Haha did you read the first question before the reviews on the non-GMO salt?

Question: Is it free from sodium chloride (or as I call it: "sod-em killide")? And you're it came from a non-gmo salt tree that was organically farmed?
Answer: Ben, yes. It's also free of NSA nanobots and government fluoride that will give you teh autizmz.

[zoobernut]

Lol the questions and answers on that Amazon salt page are hilarious. Reminds me of the dihydrogen-monoxide parody stuff.

[BerenTebogo]

The dihydrogen monoxide stuff was gold. The few facebook / twitter groups that actually took it and ran with it and then flipped their shit were A++++.

[Silenka]

The dihydrogen monoxide stuff was gold. The few facebook / twitter groups that actually took it and ran with it and then flipped their shit were A++++.

My Advanced Bio teacher in high school did this to us as an introduction to our chemistry unit. One day he decided to preach the evils of Dihydrogen Monoxide, explained the many nasty effects of it and had us write letters to our senator stressing the chemical must be regulated better. Only two or three people caught on and after the jig was up he made sure to call all of us idiots.
He was an amazing teacher.

[Churchill]

Well I mean, the color pink itself is a contaminant.

[Ksandra]

What I find crazy is how environmentalists can often have zero sense of what actually helps the environment. I remember reading once how cloth diapers are not anymore environmentally friendly than others, because of the amount of water wasted cleaning them. (citation needed) Yet, I see way more of my like hippie friends going the cloth diaper route than the biodegradable diaper route.

Now, that salmon seems to be a HUGE benefit to the environment, yet they don't want it. Dumb.

[BerenTebogo]

Hippies in 2015 still dumb as all fuck and have no clue how science works. All this and sports with Bob at 11.

[archibaldcrane]

I remember reading once how cloth diapers are not anymore environmentally friendly than others, because of the amount of water wasted cleaning them. (citation needed) Yet, I see way more of my like hippie friends going the cloth diaper route than the biodegradable diaper route.

They're so much cheaper though!

I make up for it by dressing my son in biodegradable paper clothes and throwing them away instead of washing them.

[zoobernut]

What I find crazy is how environmentalists can often have zero sense of what actually helps the environment. I remember reading once how cloth diapers are not anymore environmentally friendly than others, because of the amount of water wasted cleaning them. (citation needed) Yet, I see way more of my like hippie friends going the cloth diaper route than the biodegradable diaper route.

Now, that salmon seems to be a HUGE benefit to the environment, yet they don't want it. Dumb.

I know California is in a drought but I would love to see citation on this. Plastic diapers last so long in the landfills and take petroleum to produce and you continually buy more that have to be shipped to you etc. I can't imagine that the water used to wash the cloth diapers outweighs all of the production and shipping costs and landfill cost associated with disposable diapers.

For the record we used disposables though. Who has time for cloth?

[archibaldcrane]

I know California is in a drought but I would love to see citation on this.

It's pretty impossible to get a confident "this is better than this" because you are comparing solid waste vs. water usage. Obviously one is better in one realm while the other is better in the other.

edit: also do fully biodegradable, fully disposable (not just liners I mean) diapers exist?

[archibaldcrane]

What I find crazy is how environmentalists can often have zero sense of what actually helps the environment.

This is never more clear than when they try to shut down existing nuclear power plants.

[Jaybar]

Hippies in 2015 still dumb as all fuck and have no clue how science works. All this and sports with Bob at 11.

They're still getting over the whole DDT thing still.

[Blubbartron]

This is never more clear than when they try to shut down existing nuclear power plants.

To be fair, aging nuclear plants that aren't getting the repairs and upgrades we deem necessary for safety only ever grow as a threat. There does come a point where a plant is in sufficient state of disrepair that it makes more sense to shut it down instead of risking a meltdown. Shutdowns can be planned for and accommodated.