We’ll Be Eating Gene-Edited Food In Five Years

[Forgettable]

Try thousands of years. And not just plants, but animals also. How do you think dogs were created (in particular labridoodles, just a big ol' GMO)? Creating GMO's is what domestication is. Just with modern technology and specifically CRISPR, we can modify a plant or animal from one generation directly into the next , instead of over several generations, breeding in the traits we require.

Here is a comparison of different fruits and vegetables over the years. https://www.ranker.com/list/common-f...ariel-loveland

I already said that. "100 years or more"

[smityx]

Eventually yeah, idk about the 5 year timeline. Evolution optimized plants for survival in harsh conditions. As we artificially make those conditions less harsh they can have more yield. Kind of like how farm chickens can be 5x bigger than chickens in the wild, but they can't survive in the wild. Or the gene-editting could make them more resilient as it relates to certain climate zones. So many options.

Now KFC can realize the fantasy of their detractors of the headless chickens farms.

[Charge me Doctor]

Gene-editing is actually more extreme than GMOs. The people who hate GMOs will go into an apoplectic frenzy the moment CRISPR food gets on the market.

This time they learned their mistake and just look at how much better their PR people are doing by not creating an outrage.

[smityx]

Let's genetically modify this corn with CRISPR.

It's not genetically modified though, that would make it a GMO and people are scared of GMOs.

Corn is already modified. It's one of the first agricultural products humans changed to suit our needs.

Original to modern Corn/maize:

[exochaft]

Corn is already modified. It's one of the first agricultural products humans changed to suit our needs.

We've done it with several other crops, as well. Bananas are another example, where the primary source died out due to disease, and now we use a different type that's all based off of one specific source..

If there is something to be concerned about, it's likely unintended side effects of changing the properties of crops via gene-splicing. Everyone idealizes the perfect specimen, but nature tends to have the final say in whether a modified products works out or not. Think of how many variations and modifications on food we've done in the past, and the consequences of such. Heck, thing of our idea of a "healty" eating, that practically changes every day. I've been around long enough to see many foods getting the thumbs up, to thumbs down, back to thumbs up, on to neutral, etc. in terms of whether it's healthy or even safe to eat.

[smityx]

We've done it with several other crops, as well. Bananas are another example, where the primary source died out due to disease, and now we use a different type that's all based off of one specific source..

We've actually backed ourselves into a corner with bananas due to disease attacking them lately. Supposedly we are down to one major species of banana that if attacked could render us banana-less.

https://phys.org/news/2019-04-quest-...xtinction.html

[Powerogue]

We've technically been eating modified food for decades. Watch as these proto-humans from the days of yore marvel at mankind's intelligent design of the modern cavendish banana from its tough, seedy, barely-edible ancestors.

[Noradin]

We've been altering the makeup of plants and animals for hundreds if not thousands of years. If you look up the way the food looked originally compared to now they look way different. All because of selective breeding and altering the DNA of the species through selective breeding.

Yes, but there is a difference in the time-scales involved.

[Freshouttajail]

(Source)


CRISPR shows a lot of promise in the agricultural industry; for both livestock and crops. Scientists are able to both remove target gene sequences as well as add them to enhance the size or resilience of crops. How realistic do you find this prediction? Will our food be gene tailored to maximum aesthetic appeal and efficiency?

If it's healthy food, let's go.

[Thage]

Meh. So long as it isn't Soylent Green.

[Noradin]

https://www.sciencealert.com/fruits-...d-food-natural

This is what hundreds of years of genetics have produced .we are only doing it now more precisely

And more hastily.

If you cannot see the what is at the end of a dark set of stairs, do you jump down head first or do you go down step by step?

People have died jumping into empty swimming pools a night, because they were so sure they knew what they were doing they didn't take the time to check.

[Flarelaine]

CRISPR shows a lot of promise in the agricultural industry; for both livestock and crops. Scientists are able to both remove target gene sequences as well as add them to enhance the size or resilience of crops. How realistic do you find this prediction? Will our food be gene tailored to maximum aesthetic appeal and efficiency?

Nothing like a side of CRISPR bacon.

[Unholyground]

Yup, that winter wheat that my grandfather used to grow, doesn't look anything today like it did back then. Back then it was waist high, now it barely comes up to your knees. It has been genetically modified to have a shorter stalk, this way more of the plant's energy goes into producing grain instead of building a stalk, resulting in higher yields per acre.

Same thing with Cannabis but that was from selective breeding. With auto flowering seeds you can go from seed to weed in like 18 weeks.

[Sezh]

This idea that genetically altered food is a thing of the future confounds me. There is not a single vegetable, fruit, root or whatever found in a store in a western nation that hasn't been tampered with to look like the thing people now believe is "natural".

[Unholyground]

We've actually backed ourselves into a corner with bananas due to disease attacking them lately. Supposedly we are down to one major species of banana that if attacked could render us banana-less.

https://phys.org/news/2019-04-quest-...xtinction.html

Not if you hold onto seeds and the disease goes extinct too which does happen.

[Nerovar]

I want Pork flavoured beef.

I want beef flavoured chicken.

[horbindr]

This idea that genetically altered food is a thing of the future confounds me. There is not a single vegetable, fruit, root or whatever found in a store in a western nation that hasn't been tampered with to look like the thing people now believe is "natural".

eh, everybody understands "only use the seeds of the best plants / only let the strongest horse breed" and you will get good offspring. (but continue that story with talking about the pros and cons off inbreeding and they will go "yeah see inbreeding causes problems" while mostly discarding the pros)

when people hear "lets put fish genes into plants" they tend to scratch their heads and wonder wtf is the point and wont that mess it up?

and when you then one up that and talk about research with custom genes or dna with different base pairs, they start to think you are a mad scientist playing god.

it's a pretty natural reaction. and unfortunately when good hearted scientist try to explain why it isn't such a bad thing, they often tend to make the explanation way too complicated which just has an adverse effect.

and then there are ofc the actual real life examples of people misusing these tools for greed and the ecological damages that came of that.

[talwynn]

There's a difference between a child being born with blue eyes, and surgically removing the eyes from a child and replacing them with someone else's blue eyes.

There is a major difference. One is genetic modification, the other is surgery. Performing surgery to get a specific trait isn't really viable, particularly in the one you described. It's impossible to transplant eyes, and probably unethical to do so just for a change of eye color.

Now, imagine you are ancient man. You have captured a bunch of wolf pups and you want to see what you can do with them. Half of the wolf pups are hyper aggressive and don't seem very friendly. The other half follows you around, lets you pet them, plays with you, lets you feed them. What do you do? You let the hyper aggressive pups die, and you mate the friendly pups together. The next generation is even more friendly. You can start to teach them tricks and take them hunting with you. You keep doing this over generations and you get a whole new animal in the form of dogs. We then did this for plants and livestock. This is genetic manipulation through selective breeding.

Modern technology will allow us to identify the genes we want in a plant or animal and insert it directly. In plants one of the best things we can do is make them resistant to diseases and bugs. In Bangladesh, they were growing eggplants. They had a problem with bugs. This caused the farmers to use harsh pesticides to kill the bugs. This harmed the farmers and the crops. In 2013 a GMO bug resistant variant of the eggplant was introduced. Since that time, the farmers have gotten healthier and have been bringing home more money. They have reduced their need for pesticides by upwards of 80%.

[Kumorii]

Find it ironic that most people I know that are against this sort of stuff are the ones that goes overboard about global warming. Science foods is solving multiple problems at once and one of them is climate.

[talwynn]

I already said that. "100 years or more"

I just don't think you realize how long ago it was. We started selective breeding and domestication of wolves into dogs before we invented the wheel. By about 11,000 years.