Genetic Literacy Project

Mutation breeding, mutagenesis, or Atomic Gardening. You take a radiation source, grow plants around it, and breed the ones with interesting mutations. Ruby Red Grapefruit was bred this way exposing either the plants or seeds to radiation from a Cobalt-60 source. I believe there was also a process that involved exposure to chemicals that would cause DNA damage and induce mutations as well, but I don't know how successful it was. https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2016/06/13/pasta-ruby-grapefruits-w… https://unbelievable-facts.com/2017/08/atomic-gardening.html

>Food we've grown + consumed has a multi-millennium history of being safe to consume. Its not so simple. When you consider the significantly lower yields of organic farming[0], combined with a growing world population 71% of which lives on less than $10 a day[1] that will not be able to afford these increased food costs you are left with a question. Do you prefer to add perhaps a few years to the end of your life or do you prefer to allow a great many others to live? Personally even if GMO and others took a decade from me (I have seen no evidence this is the case. Humans are living longer lives than ever before.) if it allows more children to eat I support it. [0]https://www.geneticliteracyproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Scre… [1]http://money.cnn.com/2015/07/08/news/economy/global-low-income/

A brief search reveals that her assertions are based purely on correlation, with no actual links. * http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/glyphosate.asp * https://www.biofortified.org/2015/01/medical-doctors-weigh-in-on-glyph… * https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/glyphosate-the-new-bogeyman/ * https://www.geneticliteracyproject.org/2016/09/20/glyphosate-herbicide… She does seem to be loved by Mercola, captain of the fake science team.

And two days ago... "Facebook bows to anti-science activists, shuts down ‘We Love GMOs and Vaccines’"[1]. It seems like Facebook is playing both sides in this matter. [1]: https://www.geneticliteracyproject.org/2016/08/04/facebook-bows-anti-s…

“For example, the traditional diet of the Masai was composed almost entirely of red meat, blood, and milk – all high in Neu5Gc – yet they were free from modern inflammatory diseases. (7)” I get why people keep trying to fall back on Price’s research into the Masai, but I’m afraid it’s misleading. The Masai actually had significant rates of atherosclerosis, they just didn’t die from it, at least not the ones that otherwise lived long enough to matter. [1] To say that article 'debunks' it is disingenuous regardless. It is simply a counter-argument in article form; part of a debate that could well be retorted by someone more intelligent than myself (I'm sure Greger could give it a good rebuttal). I think we can all agree that the best way to reduce inflammation is simply to exercise. It's been shown time and time again. By using the Masai as an ideal, we're simply looking at healthy user bias but in reverse. Justifying meat consumption with a tribal population that often runs marathons to catch said meat is baffling to me; it is not an excuse to dismiss a vast amount of research, both observational and otherwise. I've latched on to meat and its markers of inflammation because it's relevant to the OP topic, but if we're going down the route of history, really we should be basing diet on our genetic biomarkers. "First of all, humans have been eating red meat for literally millions of years." should really be "First of all, small populations of certain humans have been eating…

Borland Turbo C - how I loved that program! To actually learn C (not ++) I used Bjarne Stroustrup's C all the way. I think it was 150 pages of book with 10 pages of index, not exactly a heavy book, probably no larger than a 13" screen 'ultrabook' and I took it everywhere. Back then we had attention spans longer than a goldfish, so studying a book that was so concise was the way to go, not to skim search results, copy and paste. Before then with the BBC Micro again there were just the two manuals, the one it came with and some advanced one. The ZX81 was okay with just the manual it came with. Computer magazines were actually how you learned new stuff, or at least saw stuff that you wanted to do, even if the reality was typing in hex-dumps. As for attention spans: https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2016/07/25/another-modern-myth-shri… A Microsoft study in 2013 said the attention span of a goldfish is 9 seconds, whereas we had attention spans of 12 seconds in 2000 and 8 seconds in 2013. There is a lot of 'averages' here, however, we have changed how we expect to learn things. I have no idea whether it is 'needle, haystack' or the other way around for commands I use daily. We just remember where to find stuff on the internets rather than in our own grey matter.

>...can you get a patent for the resulting lifeform or its individual genes? My understanding is that you can not, but if that's wrong I'd love to be corrected. Yes, you can get a patent. There are even organisations that aspire to patent organic plant variants that obviously aren't GMO. [0] >given that all of the GMO companies seem to be grabbing patents on their products No, not all are. First of all, not all developers of GMO technology are even companies - they may be universities or government agencies, for instance [1]. The widespread and misguided opposition to GMO technology works to the benefit for large companies (like Monsanto), though, because they have the resources to hire enough lawyers to manage the process where it matters. Secondly, there's nothing "grabbing" about filing for patents or equivalent IPRs for plant variants; it's what you need to do to protect your variant even when you plan to release it into public domain (so that a malicious party would not claim them). [0] https://www.geneticliteracyproject.org/2015/08/07/challenging-myths-ye… [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_rice

The report makes no mention of any inclusion of genetics or epigenetics (environmentally-influenced gene expression) in this study. It would be a shame if that were excluded as a factor worth investigating, as research I've seen elsewhere indicates that it is [1]. The notion that the gut microbiome is a major factor in metabolism and health is now widely known and accepted, but it just raises the next question: what is the cause of variance in the health of the microbiome? A good diet and supplementation with good microbes (probiotics, ferments, etc) is part of it, but the body itself also needs to do its part to create an environment that is fertile and hospitable for beneficial microbes, and inhospitable for harmful ones. This requires a well-functioning immune system, correct enzyme activity, oxygenation, pH, optimal function of all the organs, to name just some of the factors in the vastly complex system that is the mammalian body. Genetics and epigenetics play a key role in this system, and you'd hope to see this being included as a part of a study like this. [1] https://www.geneticliteracyproject.org/2014/09/15/how-epigenetics-our-…

It is not a simple story https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2021/07/09/organic-vs-conventional-… The most important advantage traditional agriculture has is that it uses less land and frees up space for nature.

> Why would you claim they’re tumours? Is there evidence showing that it’s unsafe? Intentional or otherwise they are just spreading disinformation put out by the meat industry to scare people away from a threat to their profits. All the talk about tumors and cancer comes from their PR scare-campaign. https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2024/01/26/cell-based-meat-grows-li…

Most organic certification programs allow (or even require) the use of pesticides; they simply use those which are considered “natural”. Some of these allowed pesticides, like copper sulfate, are far more carcinogenic than even the compounds (glyphosate, for example) that are considered dangerous enough to warrant public concern campaigns.[1] [1] https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2020/07/23/organic-fungicide-copper…

This page has a helpful graphic showing the reference dose for several chemicals, including caffiene: https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2017/04/18/caffeine-40-times-toxic-…

This is accurate, yet most people read one headline or listen to a glib podcast and think they know all the answers. Colony collapse is real but there are numerous theories around why. https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2023/03/03/beepocalypse-myth-handbo…

That would be counterproductive. GMO crops have a lower yield than non-GMOs without the application of pesticides. https://geneticliteracyproject.org/gmo-faq/can-genetic-engineering-imp…

I'm not sure what you're thinking GMO technology should be used for. Pest control is a large part of successful agriculture. BT is used in organic farming as well (mentioned in your linked article) but instead of it being made by the plant itself as a GMO does, it's applied to the plant which means more of it needs to be applied overall. Pesticide resistance is nothing new, GMO or otherwise. That's the nature of nature and the reason 99.99% of the pesticides you consume are made naturally by the plant itself. https://geneticliteracyproject.org/gmo-faq/do-gmo-bt-insect-resistant-… https://www.acsh.org/news/2017/06/13/9999-pesticides-we-eat-are-produc…

The “environmental movement” is still fighting nuclear. Where are the lawsuits to stop nuclear plants by big oil? There aren’t any. Greenpeace on the other hand has made it their mission. The greens are responsible for the higher emissions in Germany by shutting down perfectly fine nuclear plants and replacing them with coal and gas. They are gonna do the same thing in Belgium. They shut down the nuclear plant in New York then oppose an alternative.[1] It’s dogma. Might be an interesting read for you: https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2022/02/14/viewpoint-environmentali… [1]https://twitter.com/JesseJenkins/status/1491802719878672395

I think to a certain degree we can adapt to the amount of sunlight at a young age, or even in the womb. Just as we do for food scarcity, see the Dutch winter famine [1] This article seem to point into the direction of epigenetics. [2] - [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/31/science/dutch-famine-genes.html - [2] https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2016/10/17/black-white-twins-geneti…

Fun fact: mutagenized crops are generally not considered to be GMOs. From https://geneticliteracyproject.org/gmo-faq/glp-tackles-one-of-the-most… : > [...] chemical/physical mutagenesis and a lot of other techniques are “unnaturally” performed “in the lab” but are not classified as GMOs.

Organic agriculture has much lower yields than conventional agriculture for most crops [1]. I believe permaculture is more restrictive than US-Organic. It would take some big changes in our diet to absorb such a loss in productivity. [1] https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2018/02/16/usda-data-confirm-organi…

I’m not sure, but the source website seems to be quite biased: https://geneticliteracyproject.org/glp-facts/bioscience-resource-proje…

I think im confused, what exactly is wrong with this take on GMOs: https://geneticliteracyproject.org/glp-facts/nassim-taleb-financial-ri… From everything I have read about Monsanto (none of it from Taleb), they are a pretty shitty, unethical company. They have ruined the lives of farmer in many places inside and out outside the US. I mean, round up is illegal in the EU. His issue with GMOs, as I understand it, is mother nature "developed" and evolved these crops over a long period of time, and we should not trust a few IYI scientists at Monsanto, etc to play with that evolution via genetic manipulation.

Most definitely not. This is what happens. Article also contains a good summary of how the science was manipulate to get the ban in place. https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2019/01/09/with-the-bee-crisis-fadi…

This is a really interesting area and problem. When you factor in the extra food we need to produce to feed a population expected to hit 9bn people AND the increased demand for a more western diet from a growing middle class in places like China and India, we need some serious innovation in agriculture. Another interesting area not covered in the article is genetic engineering bacteria in soil to fix nitrogen, reducing the need for chemical fertilizers: https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2018/11/20/can-genetic-engineering-…

Copper Sulfate is toxic to birds, mammals, insects, etc. It has a lower LD50 than glyphosate. https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2018/03/20/far-more-toxic-than-glyp…

> The only thing that got farmers sued by Monsanto That is factually incorrect. https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2018/06/01/dissecting-claims-about-… The licensing cases were world news.

Ironically, organic wine is one of the organic products that’s least sustainable, because of the widespread use of copper sulfate (conventional vineyards use it too, but also have other more sustainable options). It builds up in the soil and in the vineyard workers. https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2017/06/09/winemakers-abandoning-or…

This article explains the use of copper compounds for both conventional and organic apple crops is about the same. https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2018/05/23/a-behind-the-scenes-look… The author solicited input from many farmers. He openly admits the official record keeping is lacking. So in some cases he has to infer amounts. Author also gives examples of organic crops which are (generally) more damaging than conventional. Such as organic bananas. TIL. But the general gist is that organic techniques use much less of much less toxic pesticides.

you may find this four part series on pesticide use on organic farms to be interesting: https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2018/05/21/do-organic-farmers-reall…

I appreciate your open mind. Here's a balanced and well researched article from a farmer if you want to read more: https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2017/02/14/without-glyphosate-farmi…

As per [1] there's GMO rice which tolerates 12-15 grams of salt per liter. Seawater (depends on place) is about twice as salty. Salt accumulation is an issue that needs to be taken care of even with normal irrigation. [1] https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2015/08/18/as-sea-levels-rise-gmo-s…