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Penn & Teller: Genetically Modified Food

A look at the accusations of dangers of GM food, and the effects that GM food and anti GM food activists have had.
Genetically Modified Food

  • funberg
  • posted by funberg
  • Date 8/14/2008 2:09:45 PM
  • Views: 4616
  • Teen
  • Teen
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15 Comments

Current View: 15 / Show all Comments

funberg : LVL 45: VP 5: said:

funberg

13 votes NegativePositive

472 days 18 hours ago...

Manny people rightly feel that Penn & Teller are very one sided (which they openly admit very often), so if you want to hear the other side of the debate, computermexican recently uploaded this video:

http://www.spikedhumor.com/articles/161211/Genetically-Modified-F
ood-Panacea-or-Poison.html

While a lot of the issues in that they claim to be the problem with GM crops are brought up by Penn & Teller. I watched the whole thing to hear both sides, and while I disagreed with a lot of it, you may find your views to be different. And at the very least you will see that most issues have two stories and be compelled to do your own research before blindly agreeing with either side.

Brokenworlds : LVL 21: VP 3: said:

Brokenworlds

2 votes NegativePositive

472 days 18 hours ago...

Indeed they do

KTM_Orange : LVL 1: VP 1: said:

KTM_Orange

7 votes NegativePositive

472 days 16 hours ago...

Genetically engineered food is an amazing discovery however I don`t think the problem lies with the modification of it rather the method it is grown. The pesticides and herbicides are more the issue, with chemicals and whatnot getting into they fruits and vegetables. You are still getting all the same nutrients you need in GE/GM foods, they just may not taste as good. Norman Borlaug has done this world a great service in my opinion.

blue_devil : LVL 40: VP 4.8: said:

blue_devil

Hidden (Show Comment) -18 votes

472 days 16 hours ago...

There are to many ppl in the world and most of them are poor and stupid .Way to many retards who don`t have shit to eat who fuck like mad rabbits and bring 6 to 8 or more kids in the world to share there shitty lives.
Even if we could feed them all today we would have a bunch more retards to feed tomorrow.
The problem with any modified food is that it degrades the quality ,just look at all the big ass tomatoes and stuff that don`t have any taste when compared to natural ones.
Big corporations will always go for the extra buck and will slack on the quality and fda and others will not do shit...
The food market is owned by Big Corporations and here is the result :You can break the bones of a fried chicken with your teeth very easy ,try doing that to a naturally grown one.
Even more weird is that some eggs taste like medicine and that`s just fucked up.


lostperson : LVL 40: VP 4.8: said:

lostperson

19 votes NegativePositive

472 days 15 hours ago...

weather you think Norman Borlaug is a good guy or a bad guy most people won`t know who he is
even when he dies.
is kinda sad because most people remember someone like bernie mac and not someone like Norman Borlaug

Dweebster : LVL 22: VP 3.1: said:

Dweebster

12 votes NegativePositive

472 days 9 hours ago...

blue_devil:
"There are [too] many [people] in [this] world[,] and most of them are poor and stupid[. ][There are] [w]ay [too] many retards who don`t have shit to eat[,] who fuck like mad rabbits[,] and bring 6 to 8[,] or [even] more kids [into] [this] world to share [their] shitty lives.
Even if we could feed them all today we would have a [lot][bunch is a quantifiable amount, which is not the meaning of your sentence] more retards to feed tomorrow.
The problem with any modified food is that it degrades the quality[, ][<-Source?]just look at all the big [assed] tomatoes and stuff that don`t have any taste when compared to natural ones.
Big corporations will always go for the extra buck and will slack on the quality and [the FDA] and others will not do shit...
The food market is owned by [big corporations][.] [H]ere is [an effect][: ]You can break the bones of a fried chicken with your teeth very [easily][.] [T]ry doing that to a naturally grown one.
[Something even] more weird is that some eggs taste like medicine[,] and that`s just fucked up."

Maybe you are one of the stupid ones who shouldn`t be breeding?

blue_devil : LVL 40: VP 4.8: said:

blue_devil

Hidden (Show Comment) -11 votes

472 days 8 hours ago...

^English is not my first language sorry.

Aeroboy : LVL 38: VP 4.6: said:

Aeroboy

0 votes NegativePositive

471 days 20 hours ago...

I see the threat more in the danger that genetically engineered foodcrops may encroach on the native species. And don`t tell me it has not happened, because it has. A certain hybrid seaweed-type plant has started to spread pretty much worldwide on the ocean floor, displacing other species(plant AND animal). This plant was created in a lab for aquariums, because the fish won`t eat it and as a result the aquariums` foliage stays as good as new. Now this very same plant is driving fish away in the seas and coastal ares of the world.

www.damninteresting.com has a good article on the subject, but I cba to link it.

venom2 : LVL 1: VP 1: said:

venom2

Hidden (Show Comment) -9 votes

471 days 20 hours ago...

We don`t need to save more people, we need more people to die quicker.

I am 37 and have seen bloated bellied black kids in africa on TV since I can remember. Know what`s weird? I still see commercials of bloated bellied black kids from Africa on TV.

nature is trying to tell us something. Some people have to go, some places aren`t designed to be livable by humans. The more we mess with nature, the more fucked up the world gets.

Heres to hoping genetic food does fuck us up because we as humans are far to irresponsible to control our population.

daeve : LVL 36: VP 4.4: said:

daeve

-3 votes NegativePositive

471 days 19 hours ago...

GM foods are there ONLY to make money. 15 years ago when they came out they were supposed to be the cure to starvation etc etc... People are still starving, No one has seen any decrease in this either over GM foods glorious reign. GM foods now, (as predicted) are where the money is at - stuffed into western supermarkets.

What happens when corporations have money in their iron sights? Public health, responsibility goes out the window...

And don`t think for a second that theres isn`t a chance they may be unhealthy. They`re brought to you by the same mobs like monsanto that made agent orange and a whole assortment of other drugs that fuck people up daily.

And just because they`re everywhere doesnt mean they`re safe either. The governments are stake holders too seing as though they approved these foods for distribution...

ArtDragonDream : LVL 29: VP 3.8: said:

ArtDragonDream

-6 votes NegativePositive

471 days 18 hours ago...

From what I`ve seen there is a big problem with GM foods in Hawaii right now because if your farm happens to be next to a GM farm and the pollen from those GM plants wafts over to your farm fertilizing your plants and future seed crops, GM foods will sue you and take your farm from you for growing there "patented" plants.

The big scare, health wise, is that these modified plants are producing proteins that our bodies are not designed to proses. There is evidence that shows this could be one of the biggest causes for most of the cancer in the world today.

That`s just what I`ve heard. If its true its a very big deal.

Kosmous : LVL 23: VP 3.2: said:

Kosmous

4 votes NegativePositive

471 days 16 hours ago...

The problem with saying something is a cancer-causing (carcinogen(?)) is that people have claimed many things are cancer-causing but are not or have very inconclusive data. So blaming GE foods for a "high rise" in cancer incidences could be ignoring the possibility that its coming from something else or that we simply are detecting cancer much more often now then ever before. The only real way (if I`m not mistaken) to prove something is cancer-causing is if it has a component which has been proven to be so OR do extensive long term tests (which is not always correct either... giving mice cancer can only give so much accuracy when relating it to human beings). There`s no guaranteed instant litmus test that people can use in most cases.

Unmannedperson : LVL 41: VP 4.9: said:

Unmannedperson

5 votes NegativePositive

471 days 10 hours ago...

They really didn`t emphasize that even organic food is genetically modified from when we first found it millions of years ago. Through selective breeding and grafting, we have made core species (i.e., the ones that exist today in their "natural state") more durable, bountiful, and sometimes nutritious.

Also, one GMF that got through the radar was a breed of tomato that was GM at University of California at Davis to have thicker skin. Before, tomatoes had to be loaded onto crates and carefully into trucks. However, with thicker skins, they can be loaded onto trucks w/out crates, drastically reducing prices, wasted cardboard, and time. The strands they have made have replaced all non-GM tomatoes on the planet. But GreenShit doesn`t seem to take that into account.

funberg : LVL 45: VP 5: said:

funberg

4 votes NegativePositive

471 days 9 hours ago...

^That`s because "organic" food is the cash crop, their crops are all selectively bred strains that are sold for 5X the amount because they don`t use fertilizers or pesticides(usually harmful "organic" substances). They are the ones that are going to lose money if crops no longer need dangerous and costly pesticides to grow.

Produce vendors are scared to label their crops as GM foods because of the negative out look that organic farmers, and their oblivious supporters have created towards "GM" foods.

@hogo, that`s the racist Bull Shit that they were talking about, because you were born in an area that has the technology to let you choose what you want to eat, doesn`t mean you are better than the people that weren`t brought into this world in your situation. African tribes aren`t going through explosive population growth like 1st world countries are, so I will only hope that you will help the future problem of food shortages by never reproducing. Your family isn`t starving so SHUT THE FUCK UP!

Edit: I agree that suing farmers for incidentally growing "copyrighted" plants is total bullshit, but that is not a reason to get in the way of progression, but to fight frugal legal battles by the companies that can improve the standard of living in impoverished parts of the world.

chinky005 : LVL 34: VP 4.2: said:

chinky005

3 votes NegativePositive

471 days 5 hours ago...

there are some people out there that are down right fucked. like I know some people who don`t eat strawberries because they say frog DNA`s been spliced into them to make last through winters. or tomatoes with fish DNA.
Even when you tell these people that it is scientifically impossible for animal DNA to survive in a plant, their answer is just "well......they do it!!!!".

I`m sorry but no...do you have hard evidence that this is going on? do you have footage of people deifying the laws of nature and actual growing these freak fruits? they`ll just say they read about it on the internet. then I`ll tell them I have hardcore evidence that it`s scientifically impossible for them to do this and tell them my sources are books videos and then the internet. they`ll look at me and laugh as say " yeah, like you can believe anything the internet says." what makes your sources more valid then mine?

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