I would agree that it would not be a good idea to genetically modify stuff blindly without having any idea what the modification will do. But as far as I know, they DO know what these modifications will do, which is why they do them in the first place. Tomatoes that have a longer shelf life and taste better, plants that have a better resistance to parasites, so they don't require chemical sprays to protect them, etc.
Calling them "frankenfood" brings to mind an image of the superstitious villagers circling the castle with torches, in a total panic because they don't have a clue what is going on inside. Better to find out what is going on, get some real knowledge of the subject, and then panic. :-) And I'm certainly not for blindly accepting anything like GMO either. But I know nothing about it, so need to find out before I take a position either for or against. As for evolution, it is caused in a number of ways: 1. Changing environmental conditions can cause organisms to die off that are unable to adapt, leaving only those that do adapt to reproduce and thereby replicate their genes. 2. Changing sexual preferences can have the same effect, but many orders of magnitude faster than 1. 3. Pure chance -- gamma rays, chemicals, or other accidents can cause genetic modifications that, if they are "successful", will begin a new line of organisms, perhaps even drastically different from their predecessors, all depending on the nature of the modification. As I understand it, random accidental genetic modifications happen to all living things all the time, but since most result in changes that cause the new organism to fail, they never see the light of day. There is a lot to evolution. I highly recommend Richard Dawkins's book The Selfish Gene. Dick ________________________________ From: Bob Banever <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Thu, March 4, 2010 9:18:39 AM Subject: Re: CS>Take a stand now and reject Mon San To's GMO drive Steve, That statement is shocking. Do you work for Monsanto or some other agrifood corp? Nature does nothing by accident... genetic changes occur over thousands of years for survivability and those changes occur within a given species. Thus, animal genes NEVER enter into a plant cell in nature. The practice of genetic engineering is not only unhealthful, it is fraught with all sorts of dangerous outcomes. Allergic reactions in people who eat the GMO food is just one outcome. The practice of genetically altering plants could potentially wipe out all life on earth and should be banned. People have already died from eating GMO corn (Starlink variety). Insects ingesting these plants have also died en masse. Birds (and bats) may also be dying due to genetically modified foods (grains and other plants). This practice MUST be stopped now.
