We have been eating genetically engineered food for our whole lifetimes. Gene splicing is simply a shortcut to what used to take decades of selective breeding. For example, in 1969 I worked as an intern at the National Marine Fisheries Services lab in Seattle, where I helped log tagged salmon which were selectively bred in their hatchery and released to the wild. An enormous amount of data was gathered about their migration paths and feeding habits, and when fishermen caught a tagged fish they had to turn the tag in to us with location and size data. At the same time the UW fisheries department had developed the Donaldson trout, much larger than most strains of trout, and tasted better too.
The long term impact of these alterations, should they leak into the wider organic population, is simply unknown at present. This is silly. If I said the same thing about eating monkey brains, you would laugh at me. Genetic alterations don't "leak into the wider organic population." The wider organic population can't interbreed.
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Date: 2010-09-21 06:25 am (UTC)The long term impact of these alterations, should they leak into the wider organic population, is simply unknown at present.
This is silly. If I said the same thing about eating monkey brains, you would laugh at me. Genetic alterations don't "leak into the wider organic population." The wider organic population can't interbreed.