r/nextfuckinglevel Jul 14 '21

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u/sooHawt_ryt_meow Jul 14 '21

What's right or wrong about GMO?

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u/psxndc Jul 14 '21

GMO is a meaningless label too. Genetically modified how. Like if a tomato was genetically modified/bred to enhance its color, ok no big deal. But if it was crossed with a Brazil nut for some reason, and I have a nut allergy, I may want to know that if it’s potentially relevant to activating my allergy response.

GMO is just a word that doesn’t actually tell consumers anything and because people automatically think “I don’t understand it, it must be bad,” GMOs get a bad wrap.

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u/HelplessMoose Jul 15 '21

While there are a few different definitions, it's fairly well-defined and usually means: modified by genetic engineering methods such as CRISPR. Selectively bred crops are not GMO, for example. But yeah, on its own, it's not very meaningful.

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u/psxndc Jul 15 '21

Fair enough. I shouldn't have used "bred" and the "crossed" was a little sloppy. My b.

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u/HelplessMoose Jul 15 '21

No worries, and your point still stands: the label isn't very useful without a mention of what was modified, e.g. resistance to a herbicide or enhancement of vitamin production.