{"id":429,"date":"2011-11-22T14:21:00","date_gmt":"2011-11-22T14:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gsu.eventmedialabs.com\/?p=429"},"modified":"2015-07-13T00:49:32","modified_gmt":"2015-07-12T23:49:32","slug":"gm-a-ticking-time-bomb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/gm-a-ticking-time-bomb\/","title":{"rendered":"GM. A ticking time bomb?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"GM.<\/a>

photo credit: www.urbansprout.co.za<\/p><\/div>\n

Many people I’m sure, see the initials\u00a0GM or GMO’s and their eyes glaze over, or worse they ignore them and skip onto something more interesting.<\/p>\n

Why is that I wonder? Why aren’t people interested in knowing the origins of what they’re eating? Is playing around with genetics, or DNA, \u00a0something that many of us wish wasn’t happening but feel helpless to do anything about, much like battery hens or mass commercial farming?<\/p>\n

I’ve thought of writing about genetically modified food (GM) ever since I heard Alfie from Old Farm<\/a> talking about it at this year’s Food Camp<\/a> at the Savour Kilkenny festival, but how do you encourage people to read about it with glazed eyes? More importantly, do I know enough myself to write about it accurately? Getting the facts straight is important whenever we write, but the more I’ve delved into the subject of GMO’s over the past few days, the more bogged down by legal documents, political declarations and scientific research I’ve become.<\/p>\n

One thing I’m certain about however, is that I’m not happy that my personal choice over whether I wish to eat this contentious food source appears to have been taken away from me. Given that my housekeeping budget doesn’t allow my family to eat a diet made up entirely of organic food, it would seem that we are already eating food that contain GM ingredients, like it or not.<\/p>\n

Although I knew scientists have messed around with genetics (cows producing human milk<\/a>, come on!), it wasn’t until I heard Alfie speak so passionately about it that the dangers of using human beings as living, breathing test tubes for this branch of science, and where it’s potentially headed that it really struck home.<\/p>\n

I’ve since brought the topic up in a couple of workshops and it seems that many people just aren’t informed, or have never heard of GM. So, rather than give you a detailed scientific list (which I’m not qualified to do anyway), the following are just a few points that I’ve gathered that we do know about. I’m sure this can be added to, and if you can and wish to, please do so in the comments…<\/p>\n