Hey curious what others think, I'm a big believer in sustainable & permaculture based agriculture but also have heard of some instances where its helped, idk maybe that's monsanto propaganda I turn to you chacha to educate me.

"Golden Rice is a covert attempt to win wider approval for genetically modified food and will not solve problems of malnutrition. Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) – like other problems on malnutrition and hunger – is not caused by the lack of Vitamin A in food, but by people's inability to achieve a balanced diet." https://www.grain.org/article/entries/5177-golden-rice-is-unnecessary-and-dangerous

"Rainbow papaya (Carica papaya L.) is a genetically engineered (GE) cultivar with resistance to papaya ringspot virus (PRSV). This cultivar currently accounts for about 70% of Hawaii's papaya acreage. ... No differences were observed between GE and non-GE papaya for 36 nutrients at any of the tested fruit ripeness stages."

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0889157510002693#:~:text=Rainbow%20papaya%20(Carica%20papaya%20L,70%25%20of%20Hawaii's%20papaya%20acreage.&text=No%20differences%20were%20observed%20between,the%20tested%20fruit%20ripeness%20stages.

  • RNAi [he/him]
    ·
    4 years ago

    Biotech dude here:

    It's a case-by-case thing. Literally, at least in my country, before approving the use of a new GMO it must be go through a very long and specific set of studies, some are approved, and some are rejected. And most of them never even try to go through the examination process because all those studies are really expensive, so if you have a transgenic creation that makes a small improvement "it's not worth it", which could be shitty.

    Anyways, GMO's can be "good" in a lot of instances. They could be good in a lot more instances, BUT first the whole agricultural production system should be changed. "No ethical consumption under capitalism", etc. For example: the glyphosate-resistance transgene "caused" the overuse of glyphosate and its consequences.

    It's a INMENSE array of VERY powerful tools, but the problem is how you use them.

    I dislike how much local leftists groups are de-facto opposed to them, but I get them, considering they aren't experts and just oppose what fucking Monsanto and agro-oligarchs want, which is a pretty good rule of thumb.

      • crushendo [he/him]
        ·
        4 years ago

        ag engineer here, greetings comrades. I am thankful for your good takes. decommodify agriculture immediately

        • RNAi [he/him]
          ·
          4 years ago

          ag engineer

          hey! we farm commies are rare

    • infuziSporg [e/em/eir]
      ·
      4 years ago

      I was squeamish about bacterial transgenics until I realized that it's not fundamentally so different from what viruses are doing to us all the time, and have been for eons.

      I can't remember what percentage of our DNA is viral in origin, but it's a shockingly large one.

      • RNAi [he/him]
        ·
        4 years ago

        Transgenic microorganisms CANNOT be liberated to open air. They are used in contained facilities that should be able to be bleach-nuked if something goes wrong. Yet, spreads happen.

        Any approved transgenic organism must be able to be eradicated and should have a limited spread of their genes, which is possible in plants in some cases, but for example, in Mexico where corn was "developed" there are wild species that could be contaminated with transgenes. That's why transgenic maize is not allowed there