Do you feel there are long term health effects of genetically modified foods?

(I need help brainstorming and I also think this may have to do with "clean" eating - not eating processed foods - but I don't know if I'm wrong! )

Fred do your worst and learn me some Biology!

There might be... but then again thier might not be... hard to say because they are grown to be healthy but sometimes the stuff they use and in some people can cause problems if not mistaken I know preservitives for like meats and stuff definatlly isn't good for you but that is on EVERY meat and nothing you can really avoid... unless you hunt and get the animal your self or something... or least I do not think you can avoid it...

But then again I haven't really read much... animals don't eat it and seem to do pretty good the only reason they do not live nearly as long as because they do not got doctors and plus having to run away from everything not to be eatten tends to be a problem...

-RMS Carpathia-

Welllll, I actually attending a bioethics conference that this was the subject of.
You can either take most people interpretation of that question and explain that no long term studies have been done to show genetic foods have had any adverse effects, but that it will take more time to discover anything.

You can also look up an article or two on how plants have been modified to contain vaccines, so you can then grind up the plants to make pills to distribute vaccine to third world countries or hard to reach places that have no refrigeration for the typical vaccine. This means the long term health effect is to reduce infectious disease or possibly eradicate diseases through the spread of low cost vaccination that would not be possible without genetic engineering. Also, drug companies don't like to make vaccines because you can't sell them for a profit usually (especially to the poor countries that need them the most) and so coming up with these solutions allows the science to be put to use curing the infectious diseases that would otherwise be ignored for financial reasons.

Also, there are the dangers posed by genetically engineered crops. This could include a crop of alfalfa growing with that vaccine in it that i was just talking about. If the pollen from those plants blows on the wind to an adjacent field then suddenly you have mutant crops that are distributing a vaccine to say...dengue fever to the general populace and that is not a good thing. These are hard to control because making a guarantee that you won't cross pollinate is very tough.

Also, tinkering with staple foods crops genetically could cause them to become susceptible to disease. If all farmers are growing a strain of "super corn" that has been genetically modified to be the best of the best, but then a pathogen finds a chink in the chemical armor of that species you could end up with an epidemic that wiped out a staple crop across the country or across the world. This is obviously worst case scenario, but the loss of diversity in the agricultural world can lead to negative outcomes in crop yield. These can lead to long term health problems from food shortage.

As far as eating a tomato that's been engineered to be juicer or something mutating your DNA or something, that is not the case. Eating something that has been genetically modified is not going to be able to change a person's DNA or genetic structure. No worries about X men come to life. I would say the only thing that could go badly is if there was a product that unwittingly created a larger than normal amount of free oxygen in the body, which could then lead to higher levels of cell damage -> higher cancer risk. I don't know how that would happen really but I could see it as a possibility when messing with the chemical makeup of food products.

Hope some of these ideas help, let me know if you need more

http://www.bioethics.net here's a great link for info and a quick quote from an article about an oregon law to label genetically modified foods.
"In terms of safety, the law’s opponents are on solid ground. The Food and Drug Administration has already weighed in against the proposed Oregon law on the grounds that there is no scientific evidence that foods containing biotech ingredients are hazardous. Genetically modified foods have been used in the United States and other nations for many years and have not been linked to health problems of any sort. Right now, 70 percent of processed foods in America’s grocery stores already contain genetically modified ingredients. So it’s very likely that you have already eaten food made with genetically modified soy or corn."

Holy Poop Batman! Thank you Fred!

*jaw drops in shock*

My gosh Fred!

Man now I feel stupid =P haha!

Darn smart people! That is totally awesome!

-RMS Carpathia-

Don't feel bad Carp he's going to be a Doctor..haha I might have to switch mine when he graduates

Oh! Man that is amazing to me! I was going to go into the field earlier but I decided I want to do Car Vetinary... ironic because I am allergic to some metals =P Oh well I am going to do it anyway!

Fred that is totally amazing your going to actually go ALL them years to become a doctor! I wish I could hear half the information your being taught I am still intrested into it but I do not want to see people die and such... atleast with Car Vetinary I will usually see them get better and return home feeling better back to thier loving humans! (Or I hope they be loving)

-RMS Carpathia-

I recently read about a rice they modified to help people in third world countries. It's for kids mainly, who get very ill and usually die from things like dehydration. The rice breaks down into the same things which are in breast milk and saliva. If something like that could take the place of expensive medicines, it would be good. The bad thing is it hasn't really been tested on humans. And, as mentioned above, what if it spreads? There are a lot of complications behind all this.

Hehe, yeah I feel really blessed to have made it as far as I have. I love being around people, and helping them feel better seems to be the greatest thing anyone could ask to do. I bet everyday I complain about how ridiculously hard school is right now, but I still try to remember how lucky I am to have the opportunity.
Right now I have a balance of a class I hate (neuroanatomy) and one I love (microbiology) basically one is memorizing things that are essentially invisible while the other is learning about diseases which I feel is more practical and interesting.