Why have some countries outlawed GM foods?
There are two main reasons. The first is anti-science or anti-foreign paranoia. A lot of people are frightened and confused by sceience that they do not understand, and in the case of third world countries, leaders often resent foreign, better-off governments giving food and interfering with their economy. The second reason is economy. For safety resons, a lot of GM crops can’t reproduce well. This is to stop environmental problems that could result if the crop becomes a weed. It also means that the economy of farming changes. For example, let’s say you have two farmers, Mr X and Mr Y. Their fields are failing and they aren’t happy. Mr X solves his problem by buying a new, drought-tolerant, salt-tolerant GM crop; he is able to survive, the crop is very productive, and Mr Y’s failing fields can’t handle the competition, putting him out of business. But now Mr X has a problem: his crop can’t reproduce, so if he wants to keep growing it he needs to buy new seeds from the GM company. He ca
I have no definitive answer, this is based solely on anecdote. From experience with casual conversations with the science illiterate, I’ve come to notice that fear of genetically modified foods is usually due to one of two things: – Misunderstanding of what actually constitutes genetic modification. As others have pointed out, humans have been genetically modifying food (usually unknowingly) since we developed agriculture. – A hyped up affinity for things so-called “organic”, despite there being absolutely no evidence of enhanced health due to a strictly “organic” diet. To me, anti-GMers are no different than practitioners and advocates of CAM and homeopathy.
overblown fears and myths perpetuated by organizations like greenpeace that go around burning GM crops wearing full biohazard suits. this article/podcast explains it: http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4112# @Rachel: useful to note, as Sergio is making reference to, that we have been using selective breeding to eff around with nature for centuries, bananas for example in nature look nothing like the typical desert banana that we all think about. @Gorkbark Porkduke Gefunken Fubar: Morgellons disease isn’t widely recognized as an actual disease, but rather a broad name applied to a number of real diseases, also there is little to no evidence showing a causal link between GM and the condition, until that evidence is presented this is nothing but while speculation and fear mongering. also to blame this on GM as a whole simply misses the science behind GM a gene in one creature will do the same thing in any other creature, its not li
