The Big Picture: Feeding Edge

[aeroz]

I had a class where we studied the moral implications of technology and one group did a presentation on genetically modified foods. The conclusion was simple

It doesn't matter anymore. If not for these modified foods we wouldn't be able to produce enough to feed the current population of the planet. There is a reason the only people swearing off this stuff are from places like the US where food is plentiful and cheap. If we all did what these guys wanted billions would be dying of starvation right now

 

[Zechnophobe]

Feeding Edge

This week, Bob takes a bite out of "frankenfood."

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Awesome, your best video yet Bob! I'm actually starting to like these more than your movie reviews.

 

[geierkreisen]

kobe beef is freaking expensive, but it doesnt have to be, if we allowed cloning of animals, but alas, cloning sounds even more scary than genetic engineering, heck im all for it and i still piss my pants when someone mentions it.

Yay, clones. I don't have a problem with clones. You just need a virus that the original was susceptible to and all the copies are done for as well. That's exactly the opposite of genetical engineering. Hell, it's basically inbreeding carried to the extreme. Something nature can kill in an instant. I can hear agri-corps whine in their sleep.

Oh, wait. Before that happens, healthy Dora the All-Natural Cow will have been replaced by bovine Imperial Moohtroopers. And when they die like uddered flies it's tofu time all the time. Where's that hot organic cocoa to soothe my nerves?

 

[Ardenon]

But the way they modify the food, is it actually safe and does not include any chemistry that reacts negatively to the human body, but rather increases the duration of time such foods can be kept for instance?

 

[HeSaNa]

As always Bob, you bring light and clarity to issues that I may not necessarily think enough about. Thanks for the information good sir.

 

[Jangles]

I call shenanigans! People who benefit from defibrillators are not dead. Rather, their hearts have stopped beating. "Dead" is when no more electrical impulses are being generated by the brain. If you tried to shock a brain dead person... Bye Bye Birdy.

 

[SFR]

Nice way to oversimplify a horrendously complex issue, Bob. While some of the hysteria over genetic engineering is unfounded, there are quite a few genuine concerns associated with *modern* genetic engineering, some of which I will very briefly touch on. But first things first - recombinant DNA technology is not simply a more efficient form of selective breeding. Its scope is much wider and allows scientists to do things which are simply impossible through "classical genetic engineering." But at least you went to the trouble of admitting that you were oversimplifying things. Too bad it kinda harms your argument quite a bit.

As for the genuine concerns, they're mostly commercial ones, which is to say the ones that bother me are. When biotech companies started spruiking GM crops they were touting all these great potential benefits such as pest resistance, improved nutrition and higher crop yields. As far as I'm aware their track record hasn't exactly been stellar in regards to delivering on these wonderful promises. One thing just about all GM crops have in common is that the plants are sterile, i.e. they don't produce seeds. This means that farmers have to go begging to the biotech companies every season for new seed to plant (one could go so far as to argue that GM crops are engineered in this fashion purely for profits). As for pest resistance and improved yields - the story of Monsanto's Roundup Ready Soy is commonly cited as an example of the failings of GM crops.

Then there's that rather knotty issue of so-called "gene patents." In general I have serious misgivings about the very concepts of patents and intellectual property (kinda ironic/hypocritical seeing as I have my name on a patent), so I'm probably not the best person to discuss this issue.

And then there's the alleged link between GM crops and declining bee populations. While I've yet to see conclusive research that shows precisely that GM crops are killing bees (and more importantly *how*), if it turns out to be true then this is a pretty big deal (y'know, seeing as how a whole lotta plants rely on bees for the whole sex thing).

You make some great points, but I think Bob was mostly trying to dispel people's fear of actually eating the food. You know, the people that think you'll grow an extra arm or something. That being said, that gene patent issue is so idiotic. Farmers have lost millions from it. There have been cases where farmers have been sued even though they didn't use the seeds, just for simply reseeding their own seeds and the message that gives to the farmers who are using these patented seeds.

I want a purple carrot. Also, I HATE baby carrots. Those are just not natural. Plus they don't taste as good and look terrible... also their really weird as far as efficiency goes.

 

[supersword44]

i still dont like al franken

 

[Jangles]

I agree with your general point, but your arguments are moot.

 

[DreamingMerc]

At least in my little Google based researching genetically modified food is not only safe and more efficient, but its also becoming essential to sustain a world population over 4 billion, which that number I believe is the maximum projected figure that growing only whole organic food can feed, meaning that turning away from engineering food is kind of for lack of a better more descriptive terms the starvation of some 2.5 billion people.

However I do have one small petty gripe with MovieBob here, related to the use of defibrillation. In that speaking as an EMS agent, we don't shock dead people as this is not a life restoring intervention. Defibrillating or shocking, temporarily depolarizes the cardiac tissue which essentially shuts it off for a second, and allows the natural pacemaker in the heart to resume its normal electrical impulse. So in the scenario of a patient in asystole, or commonly refereed to as "flat Lining", shocking the patient is NEVER the proper treatment because there is no cardiac electrical impulse in asystole, in this case a medical rescuer is preforming CPR, now an AED or Automated External Defibrillator will more be attached as the use of proper CPR may bring an asystole patient into a cardiac condition in which shocking is advised. The two common conditions for patient to be that would require shocking the patient is Ventricular Tachycardia (V-Tach) and Ventricular Fibrillation (V-Fib), I am aware there are other rare cardiac electrical rhythms that shock is advised but they are rather rare to come across in a patient. So the next time you see a flattening heart rate monitor and there's a person calling out for the paddles as their first intervention, do know they are full of shit.

But enough of that, yes the fear of modified foods is irrational as there is no study to suggest the ingestion of such products is harmful.

 

[Mechsoap]

i need to show this to my aunt...NOW!

 

[Wolcik]

Cyberfood and modded cow were the best XD I didn't know about the purple carrot, so thanks

 

[mykalwane]

Well I do agree with you, but most of the fear I believe is in the possibility of what it could lead to rather then what it is. It kind of brings the fear of Jurassic Park since it is people without any real limits while they mess with the genetics of something. There is the probability it could be used to end world hunger, but there is also the probability that it might end up like Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. Much is unknown, and people fear what they don't know.

 

[geierkreisen]

I think Bob was mostly trying to dispel people's fear of actually eating the food.

Lasers? Cool.
Robots? Cool.
Giant laser-eyed robots laying waste to your hometown, killing your family? Not cool.

 

[Evilsanta]

I didn't know that. Thanks for sharing it.

And mecha vegetables? Sorry cyborg vegetables only sounds awesome to me.

 

[Omgsarge]

Bob, I have to disagree with you. That was not the big picture because genetic engineering is the altering of genetics in a laboratory. Selective breeding is a very different process. Are you telling me that something that happens in a few months in a laboratory is just as save and tested as something that happened over several hundred generations?
I'm worried about genetic engineered food because I know who really funds this research: Big food and agricultural cooperations and I trust big multimillion dollar cooperations as far as I can throw a car. I'm not saying that these alterations done in a lab are dangerous but they have to be thoroughly tested and made sure that they don't affect their environment or people in a negative way. I once read about a salmon that fully matures in a matter of months instead of the normal few years and multiplies like crazy because of an alteration and activation of a gene. Sounds well and good but what would happen if it got into the wild? It would wreck havoc on the ecosystem and drive many other fish that can't compete with it into extinction. I know we already did these things with some other breeding programs in the past but now we can do it faster and on a much larger scale. Don't let them escape you say? See my comment about big cooperations above. The ecosystem is not on their number one spot of their "most important things" list, it's money and profit. I'm not criticising that, it's their nature but we can't be careless with these things. They have a tendency of snowballing out of control.
All in all, I'm all for the process of genetical engineered food. I just think that they should be held to high scrutiny and not be altered and sold willy nilly.

Edit: Bob, I agree with your opinion in principle, but it sounds like a defence of your precious science and not considering the dangers of it. Good scientists consider benefits and dangers of their material.

 

[John the Gamer]

Yay! We (dutch) made carrots! Also: BEWARE! Be nice to us or we'll make all foods orange!

Be nice to us or we'll send Bear cavalry.

Then we'd turn those orange too! Have Fun!

 

[Slash47]

Wow, I enjoy the movie reviews, but this was completely pointless and a waste of my 5 minutes. Zero informationl; no fresh, creative insights; no humor... nothing.

Almost nobody is making a fuss over (slightly) selective breeding, the issues are with quality vs quantity and spreading the wealth in an economically viable, sustainable, ethical way and also with somewhat agreeing on those values. None of which you touched upon.

Did you hear some hippie moan about something and it pissed you off?

 

[Tsaba]

Carrots where purple? I'll be damned, I learned something new today.