Would you buy GM potatoes?

[specofdust]

Why wouldn't you perlmode?

[Saracen]

Why wouldn't you perlmode?

I'm not perlmode, but I'll give some of my reasons why I will not, at least until and unless the situation changes dramatically, willingly eat ANY GM food whatever.

Firstly, I don't see the need. Secondly, it puts too much power on the hands of GM companies. Next, the long term health risks are not clear. Next, the long-term environmental risks are not clear. Commercial scale GM crops amount to letting the genie out of the bottle without knowing whether it's benign or malignant, with virtually no chance of getting the genie back in the bottle if it proves to be the latter.

So, it boils down to :-

1. Nowhere near enough research has been done.
   
   
2. I remain totally unconvinced that the benefits (significant though they may be) are benefits to consumers rather than to GM conglomerates, or can't be achieved in other ways
   
   
3. Once gene "contamination" has occurred, it'll be impossible to uncontaminate
   
   
4. Just about every consumer survey I've seen has shown they just don't want it!

I just don't see a convincing case for why we need it, and until I do, I exercise my consumer's right to have absolutely nothing whatever to to with it. The only way any GM product will go down my throat is if I either don't know it's GM (and that, I'm certain, is happening already ) or if the choice is between GM food and starving. Until then, manufacturers can shove it somewhere dark and unpleasant.

[vicar]

Spot on

[ponders]

i read in new scientist a few years ago that sma ( i think it was them) baby foods were actually genetically modifying cows to produce milk containing anti bodies found in natural breast milk, essentially giving human breastmilk from the cow.

now, i dont know about potata's but this hapenned somewhere in Africa.

potata's need a lot of water to grow, parently...!

[gary_rip]

Im hungry, so at this moment in time id eat anything, including a crap covered GM potatoe!

[ponders]

potata

[elixirsoo]

I don't like the sneaky way GM food was first introduced here. I only buy organic products that are certified by the Soil Association because they have the highest standards. I'd rather have quality over quantity and they can stick their GM potatoes where the sun doesn't shine!

When I eat a tomato I don't want a gene from an Arctic Flounder spliced into it. Too few people seem to consider the knock-on effects GM crops may have on eco-system. There are, for example, butterflies that rely on a certain plant species to breed and if it has been genetically modified the caterpillars that feed on it have died. Then any species that feed on those caterpillars will die out too. It doesn't take a genius to work out where it could all lead.

The American population was given no choice when it came to GM food because big business rules over the pond. I suppose you can only live in a land of the free when you're brave enough to stand up for yourself.