Science and Exploration

[Hollylane]

Originally Posted by dreadgeek

The gene is in a fish that, if memory serves, lives under one of the ice packs either the Arctic or the Antarctic. It literally evolved a means of keeping its blood from freezing. Like you, I think that it is so amazing and I really wish there were some way to communicate so that the general public would understand that there's no 'essence of fish' that is taken out and put it into a strawberry. Rather, a specific gene that builds a very particular protein, is inserted in another organism which then can build that protein. It's the same protein. It does the same thing. A gene that codes 'for' something codes for that thing not all of the traits of the organism the sequence came from. All living things can transcribe the same DNA because the bases ACGT are the same in fish and in plants and in mammals. It is a sign of the unity of all life on this planet that the gene that says "build eyes here" is the same in the fruit fly, mice and humans.

The fact that the gene originally came from a fish wouldn't trigger a fish allergy because the DNA in the strawberry doesn't 'know' that it came from a fish. It knows that when it gets a signal to start making some protein X, it starts making that protein until some other signal tells it to stop.

Cheers
Aj

While all of this is amazing, and only possible because of the human brain, I am still appalled. In nature, a strawberry and a fish would never meet. If I buy a strawberry, I want it to be only a strawberry. Thankfully, I can avoid all of these mutations (for now) by purchasing locally grown organic fruits/vegetables, and making sure that other vegetables/fruits that I may buy are non-gmo.

I want to see strong labeling laws, that protect those of us who desire to eat whole foods, that are unaltered from their natural state. The sick part of all of this to me is, that even though I am making these important choices for myself, the fact that these things exist, means that I may still be exposed to them over time.

Altering animals to produce things that they would never produce naturally will never be okay with me, and I don't think it is a matter of me "freaking out", it is simply appalling to me that humans are meddling in nature this way, and subjecting other creatures to experimentation for the purpose of production.