why are genetically modified foods bad?

Question

help me understand that!

Answer 1

G M foods are not bad. It is just like no. 2 here said. It is a bad science fiction movie that some people are trying to scare everyone with.

Answer 2

Y'know, this exact question was asked a couple days ago, so I think I'll just repost my previous answer:

Bad how exactly?

Some folks think that putting genes from a frog into the genetic makeup of corn is bad because it goes against nature.... but at the genetic level things are just base pairs- there isn't really anything to say that this portion is "frog" and that one is "carrot" unless you read an entire sequence. Genes are not like taxidermy.

Others are concerned that modified crops will pass their genes on to wild weeds near the crops. An herbicide-linked gene for resistance would be "bad" for farmers if it became attached to johnsongrass from the wheat that was being grown. Either pollen or transposons could account for this shift.

Still, the genetically modified portion of the plant (or whatever) need not be the portion that is consumed.

Then again, people are rather new to this whole "what does this gene do?" thing. We may find that a useful gene placed in a food crop may have alter uses once consumed- consequently fiddling with our own physiology. For example, cis and trans orientations for unsaturated hydrocarbon tails. cis-fatty acids are found in nature, our species evolved with them, they are edible- if artery-clogging (when too much is consumed). Trans-fatty acids are produced when people try to force extra hydrogens onto the hydrocarbon tain... producing fat-like substances form oils. These do not clog arteries, but not being found in nature and consequently us not being adapted to deal with them, they cause cancer.
-We didn't figure this one out until a few years ago.
So, could geneticists accidently put in a gene we aren't used to? Absolutely, but they might do more testing before it goes out on the market. Then again, you never know. Still, the genes being worked with are natural and we might have evolved alongside them- meaning they are "safe."

Not saying everything natural is good for you- look at the genus datura.

Btw, most of the corn you find in the supermarket is GM. Just pull the husk down a bit. See any wormy bits, or fungal growth? No. It's GM. You always lose the top inch or so of kernels with non-GM corn.
(Unless you're out in the field every day with the eyedropper of baby oil.)

Answer 3

Because they might genetically modify you. Many fruits and vegetables have been crossed and combined genetically for generations. You can splice a branch from one fruit tree to another and cross breed that way and that is safe. You can use cross pollination of flowers on things such as tomato's and change those to make new kinds. And they have genetically made those plastic tomato's they now sell for the bigger bucks and those things taste so god-awful that you have to know they may be dangerous to you. Mother Nature is not to be fooled with and they don't care if some change they make causes you to suddenly grow a third eye on a stalk sticking out of your head. They just want more money. They are not trying to genetically make food better - but O-n-l-y working to make it so it does not spoil so they don't lose one single buck. If they kill you - weeeellllll - so what. If they had a requirement to make it better or more nutritious and not just longer lasting for bigger profit, we could (maybe - maybe) trust them. As it is now - refuse to eat it if they modify it. Hormones for more milk per cow have been found to be bad and they are getting rid of bad milk in stores as WE will sue.

Answer 4

Because the genetics of the originating plant have been altered, and that alteration could get passed on to other wild plants, causing alterations in them that are completely un-expected, and quite possibly(?) damaging to the rest of the Plants that are the food we eat.

If went "horrible wrong" that way, transgenic, we could have difficulty with the rest of our food supply.

Answer 5

They seem to cause huge growth that natural foods don't cause. Anything fed this kind of food gets bigger and fatter. It may not be any more than just eating more but it sure seems to be a problem.

Answer 6

people are afraid that the chemicals used to genitacally alter the food will contaminate it and cause disease or mutations in humans

Answer 7

They're bad for you? Whoa.