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This is a normal post Ummm - no.
What's your concern here? Is it GM, per se, or what some people might do with it? Genetic modification is very promising - unless you happen to be a fan of famine and desertification...
(, Tue 10 Mar 2009, 13:19, , Reply)
This is a normal post /\ this with fucking bells on
Im sick of the anti-gm lot..

Weve been genetical-modifying plants and animals since time immemorial, just these days we take a short cut.

And I'm not just saying this because I want a Bear-Wolf-Eagle hybrid for a pet...

EDIT- also, all this opposition to legislation and Gm etc and progress is because of a fear thart "the bad men might do bad with it".. thats no way to go about life.. Its the motherfucking future biatches! lets go nuts with the science! BRING ON THE NUCLEAR FUSION BABEY! WOOOO! YEAH! *crushes beer can on head*
(, Tue 10 Mar 2009, 13:24, , Reply)
This is a normal post I'm still waiting for my hover car

(, Tue 10 Mar 2009, 13:41, , Reply)
This is a normal post Wrong
We have not been genetically modifying anything up until now, we have been selective breeding which is not inserting cow-arse genes into frogs brains to make a nice soup.
(, Tue 10 Mar 2009, 13:46, , Reply)
This is a normal post You are Heston Blumenthal.
AICMFP.
(, Tue 10 Mar 2009, 15:30, , Reply)
This is a normal post I have no problem with genes from a species being mixed with other members of the same species by natural means
I think that inserting human genes into goats is an abomination
I think that destuctor genes in GM food crops is a means to make more money for the seed companies
I think that the human population has to live within the natural resources available and if birth controll doesnt keep it in check then starvation will, and GM foods will make the situation worse



EDIT
www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1141105/Were-raising-GM-goats-make-human-breast-milk-say-Russians.html



ps I am an atheist
(, Tue 10 Mar 2009, 13:40, , Reply)
This is a normal post ...
Abomination by what standard? What, precisely, is so wrong with "cybrids"? Or is this just a knee-jerk "yuk" factor? (Note that, genetically, we're rather closely related already...)

Yes, there might be a problem with destructor genes. Then again, there might not. There's no such thing as a good or bad gene; it all depends on how it's used and in what context.

You'd really rather see mass starvation than GM food? REALLY? Tell that to the huddled masses of Africa and Asia.

What do you mean by "natural" resources, by the way? "Natural" as in factory-farmed? As in living in houses? Given that humans are part of nature, how is it possible not to be natural? And why would that be a moral problem anyway? Alternatively, if you're going to condemn GM technology as unnatural, shouldn't you also be condemning farming and house-dwelling as unnatural?
(, Tue 10 Mar 2009, 13:47, , Reply)
This is a normal post and as for your update...
... So what if goats make human milk? If a woman can't, and granted that human milk is a good thing to provide, why not goats, or machines, or anything else?

From this point of view, the breast is just a nutrient-making machine. If you can get the same nutrient "artificially", then what's the problem?
(, Tue 10 Mar 2009, 13:49, , Reply)
This is a normal post I am a firm believer in evolution and survival of the fittest
And fully accept that means that unfit individuals do not survive (however sad that may be)
The biggest problem with GM technology is the malicious (or accidental) manufacture of harmfull organisms capable of great harm.
Imagine the flu virus being GM combined with the AIDS virus, the more GM technology is used and advanced the more liklihood of a disasterous "accident"
(, Tue 10 Mar 2009, 14:07, , Reply)
This is a normal post But that's utterly idiotic
It's a bit like saying that it's OK not to rescue a child who's about to drown and whom you could save easily, and trying to say that her lack of gills is what makes it OK. It's complete nonsense.

"Unfitness" in your slightly sinister understanding is not a reason not to assist.

As for your second point - it's trite. In effect, what you're saying is that it's problematic to do problematic stuff. Woo-hoo. What's your evidence about the likelihood of a disaster? Is making nutritionally-enhanced golden rice a disaster?

And, either way, if there is such a disaster, by the lights of your first point, you ought to be indifferent, because we're obviously not fit to survive it.

You're making Ayn Rand look sensible.
(, Tue 10 Mar 2009, 14:16, , Reply)
This is a normal post I don't see what that adds.
There was a fuck up here, by the looks of it. But to think that that tells you anything about GM in abstracto is a bit like thinking that a road accident tells you that using a car is wrong.
(, Tue 10 Mar 2009, 14:33, , Reply)
This is a normal post That's nice.
Lets hope you never have any kids who develop diabetes or anything.
(, Tue 10 Mar 2009, 15:24, , Reply)
This is a normal post Viruses have been sticking bits of DNA in other creatures for millenia
But that's okay because we didn't do it?

Edit - though I do agree that the human population is a big problem, but letting people starve is not the way forward - it will lead to instability, radicalisation and wars, rather than leading to the realisation the 2 children per couple is the only sustainable birth rate.
(, Tue 10 Mar 2009, 14:01, , Reply)
This is a normal post I fully accept your point about viruses (Genes were often damaged by chemicals and radiation as well)
But when this happened in the past it was only small local populations that were wiped out.If/when it happens now it causes worldwide problems due to modern transport, consider the worldwide flu epidemic at the end of WW2 (spread by returning soldiers)
(, Tue 10 Mar 2009, 14:16, , Reply)
This is a normal post Is this supposed to be a demonstration of your well-thought-out objection?
If so, it doesn't impress. You've got the wrong war.
(, Tue 10 Mar 2009, 14:18, , Reply)
This is a normal post wha?!
"I think that destuctor genes in GM food crops is a means to make more money for the seed companies"

um, no.
it's to prevent the GM stuff from breeding with the natural plantlife, which is an extremely important safety measure.

the seed companies might be gaining from this but it is an absolutely vital safety precaution for many, many reasons.
(, Tue 10 Mar 2009, 15:33, , Reply)