Would you eat "Frankenfood"?

[Giselle]

So I read this little article about creating so called "Frankenfood", or bioengineered produce, and it really jolted my mind.

In this high-tech world, we generally tend to gravitate towards "all-natural" foods. In fact, in the midst of this eco-awareness, there's actually been a significant rise in organically grown products. Naturally, people tend to avoid genetically modified foods because of the fear of toxins and possible carcinogens, but are they *really* that bad?

This so called "Frankenfood" is genetically modified, yes, but with a higher purpose in mind. Take, for example, Golden Rice. In an attempt to gradually erradicate world hunger, engineers invented Golden Rice - a Vitamin A rich form of rice. The idea behind Golden Rice is noble, indeed, but engineers have taken it so much further. We now have enriched tomatoes which help cleanse the soil that they are grown from. These tomatoes are rich and more flavorful, and, in a sense, more eco-friendly. But label them "Genetically Modified" and nobody is going to buy them (and very few people did!).

So, I was just curious. What is your take on this?

[Twisterdog]

Scientists are getting better at this, and more sophisticated, to be sure ... but this is nothing new. We have been eating genetically and biologically modified foods for years, decades. Seedless grapes, for example. We ALL eat foods like this, and have been for many years.

[critter crazy]

Heck as far as I am concerned pretty much everything you buy now is "Genetically Modified" and has been for years! So why stop now???

[smokey the elder]

Twisterdog, thank you! YOu took the words right out of my keyboard. GM has been done since the dawn of agriculture. It's just in the last generation we have been able to accelerate the process. One place we DO need to be careful is "transgenes", where a gene from one species is inserted into another. This can lead to unforeseen effects. Golden rice is technically transgenic. The gene that codes for vitamin A does not exist in rice naturally, so the scientists put it there. The risk of any bad effects is *probably* very small, compared to the benefit of eradicating vitamin A deficiency in many parts of the world.

OK, I'll get off my soapbox now!

[Miss Z]

Scientists are getting better at this, and more sophisticated, to be sure ... but this is nothing new. We have been eating genetically and biologically modified foods for years, decades. Seedless grapes, for example. We ALL eat foods like this, and have been for many years.

You are definitely right there.

I think that the 'Golden Rice' is a brilliant idea and if it's going to save lives then I'm all for it. Personally, if we can modify crops, such as the tomatoes Giselle mentioned, it could reduce the amount of pesticides which are present on virtually all the produce we buy. The only thing that I would not support is over-extensive hybridising of plants which could make some species extinct or become a problem for our native plants, but as long as it never comes to that I think the idea should definitely go ahead.