Genetically modified foods kind of freak me out. Not because I think of it as some sort of mutant plant, but because I believe that if we have to power to genetically alter a plant and basically grow how we want it to, there is little to stop us from genetically modifying animals to do the same. Now I know we’ve been selectively breeding plants and animals for millennia, but selective breeding and genetically altering an organism are two completely different things.
With selective breeding, there is still the element of chance; with genetic modification, you eliminate that element and you know exactly what your outcome will be. I mean, forget plants and animals, what would stop us from genetically modifying humans to be stronger, to be faster? What would stop the military from basically growing an army of super soldiers (think Nazi Germany as brought up by Karen-Sue Taussig in her article)? Sure that sounds like science fiction but so did genetically engineering plants to be better than they ever should have been.
Are we even so sure that messing with the genetic code of plants isn’t some going to affect anyone who eats that plant? Do we even really know what we are doing, and are we positive we know the outcome? What if some scientist got the calculations wrong, like maybe they spliced the wrong gene; we could end up with something straight out of a low-budget horror film. I don’t know about you, but the ability to genetically modify something to your own specifications definitely freaks me out a little.
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