On Thursday, February 13, 2014 11:58:20 AM UTC-8, Jonathan Cline wrote:
-- If any intelligent
conversation is had on this topic, then all parties will
eventually agree that it is a medical/nutrition experiment
which will take decades to complete (that is, monitoring the
health impact on humans throughout their lives, which takes
But then the same could be said of any new tropical fruit introduced on the global market, or of any of the crazy new hybrids that are being produced by traditional crossbreeding (check some of these beauties). Heck, we're still discussing whether coffee is good for you or not. Any new food is an experiment - often one to be savored.
When I first saw starfruit, I didn't bother asking whether it was safe for me to eat, even though until that point it had essentially only been eaten by people with a very different genetic and nutritional background. A tomato with a single extra gene inserted will be far, far more similar at the metabolic level and its effect on my physiology than an oddball heirloom tomato I've never seen before. Some naturally bred potato varieties contain high levels of solanine, which can increase to toxic levels if the potatoes are stored in the light. Wikipedia: "In the 70s, Solanine poisoning affected 78 school boys in Britain. Due to immediate and effective treatments, no one died.[6]"
"Generally Recognized As Safe" doesn't mean "guaranteed not to cause any unexpected side effects two decades later". Just that they're no more likely to cause issues than conventional foods. Heck, I would love to see much more long-term research on *all* foods. Then again, I would also love to see more long-term research on all of the thousands of novel and poorly characterized chemicals we're exposed to on a daily basis - that seems like a much higher priority to me.
Patrik
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