Health and Medicine
GMOs
I have two problems with GMOs. The first is that when it is applied in very large scale (as opposed to specialty crops) it reduces the variety in the gene pool making food production susceptible to a sudden blight - a new fungus or predator. The second is the way the politics of GMOs is handled - why can Monsanto sue a farmer whose non-GMO field gets naturally pollinated by a nearby GMO field when the farmer ought to be able to have an equal complaint about the GMO field pollinating their field? In either case, I agree with Blaise Hartley that GMOs are just a more precise version of breeding that has been done for 1000s of years.
I still say the two biggest problems with GMOs are the genetic limiting of our crops causing susceptibility to new diseases and the heavy handed political dealings of Monsanto. The first is a somewhat scientific issue, the second strictly political.
I have two problems with GMOs. The first is that when it is applied in very large scale (as opposed to specialty crops) it reduces the variety in the gene pool making food production susceptible to a sudden blight - a new fungus or predator. The second is the way the politics of GMOs is handled - why can Monsanto sue a farmer whose non-GMO field gets naturally pollinated by a nearby GMO field when the farmer ought to be able to have an equal complaint about the GMO field pollinating their field? In either case, I agree with Blaise Hartley that GMOs are just a more precise version of breeding that has been done for 1000s of years.
I still say the two biggest problems with GMOs are the genetic limiting of our crops causing susceptibility to new diseases and the heavy handed political dealings of Monsanto. The first is a somewhat scientific issue, the second strictly political.