Quote:
Originally Posted by samcol
You don't see a problem with crossing cockroach genes into corn or spiders into goats?
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AFAIK nobody is proposing to insert cockroach or spider genes into any foods whatsoever, and I don't know why they would. I think this is just fearmongering by capitalizing on people's disgust of creepy crawlies.
But in any case, even if it were true, this reminds me of the "pissing in the shower" thread. Sure, it seems disgusting, but there's nothing dangerous or unsanitary in it.
The fear of spider genes in your corn flakes is completely irrational. There's no biological law, or chemical law, or physical law etc. that states that mixing genes from two different species is bad for you, for any reason whatsoever. So any such fear is essentially a fear of spiders. Or a fear of cockroaches. Etc. It's based on your own personal psychology or aesthetics, and doesn't have anything to do with the science. Just keep in mind, a gene is not a spider, it's just a stretch of DNA.
Maybe folks will be shocked to learn that we already eat spider genes and cockroach genes in all our foods. In fact there are many genes in the human genome that are practically identical to many cockroach genes.
For those of us who believe in evolution, that's no surprise. We all evolved from a common ancestor, and we still have those common ancestor genes.
Genes /= organs (that's science fiction)