GMO Podacst

The hosts of the show discuss genetically modified organisms (GMOs). They explain that GMOs involve scientists inserting or modifying genes in organisms' DNA. This can be done through selective breeding over time or in a laboratory by inserting or adding genes. The hosts mention the potential of GMOs to create superhumans, but currently, they are mainly used in crops and some animals. GMOs can have benefits such as improving nutrition, reducing waste, and increasing food production. They can also help with environmental sustainability and pest control. However, there are concerns about the ethics of GMOs, particularly when it comes to modifying animals. Overall, the hosts have mixed opinions on GMOs, with some supporting them for their potential benefits and others having ethical concerns. Hello, and welcome to Stuff and Things with my co-hosts, Tyler, Logan, and our special guest Nate, Thomas, and Will. Today we'll be talking about genetically modified organisms, or as you people know, GMOs. Yes, sir. All right, let's get started. What are GMOs, Thomas? Do you want to express in this room today? What are GMOs? I am not a scientist, I'm just going to tell you that. I am not a scientist either, I have no expertise in the field, so just to get that forward on me. Don't believe them, they're actually some of the smartest people in our grade. I am, people's is technically grammar, but anyway, it is technically grammar. I mean, that's true. Totally. All right, off topic. We are the founding fathers of the 63 theorem. Off topic, people, we're talking about GMOs. Genetically modified organisms. It's basically just, you know, scientists take a little selected gene, put it into an organism's code, and kind of what it does. It can be done in two ways. What code? What is the code? The DNA. The genetic code. The DNA that makes up a chromosome. Like, what can they do? Like, how can they modify? Yeah, you guys are the experts here. Yeah, like why should we be explaining this? We are not experts, again. Okay, so what a scientist does is they go in, they match up the DNA. Yeah, they usually put it in like a desirable term. Like with golden rice, they put it in. Yeah, what do you want to say, Will? What is it? So, it can actually be done in two different ways, with slowly, over decades, over centuries, via selective breeding. Also known as corn. It's corn. It's corn! Like, for example, breeding dogs, you have mutts and tourbrines. Or, the more fast and efficient way of doing it, in a laboratory, like Thomas said, by inserting a gene, well, taking out a gene and inserting a new one, or just adding a whole new one. And, you know, to cut out the gene, they use special enzymes that are made for that, and then insert it back in. I think you'd think similar enzymes. Usually. Usually, yeah. What are the capabilities of the genomes? Like, what can a scientist do? Like, how far can they go with these plants and organisms? Theoretically, we could go all the way up to basically making super humans, but that's, maybe. Theoretically, theoretically. But currently, currently, we just have like crops, and some animals, but not. We can genetically modify animals, and we're allowed to genetically modify humans, but the government won't allow it, because of ethics. So, if I have a frog, and I try to add a cow trait to it, can it be a frog cow, or a frow? You can milk a frog. Can I make a frow? That would be a hybrid. Can I, I want to make a frow. No, I do not, you know. There's an egg, and it's a well-fitting goat, so, like, there's spider goats. That is true. Yeah, but you don't, you don't, you don't inseminate a, um, a goat with spiders. Spider goat? It's like, it's milked with some milk. Spider goat, spider goat. And you want to milk a frog, I mean, a frog, that's what he was talking about. No, I don't want to be able to milk a frog. That's one thing. I just want a frog cow. Well, in the past, they used to do pregnancy tests with frogs. Did you know that? No, I didn't know what that was. So they used to, like, take the urine, and, like, put it in a part of the frog, and it would, like, show if a person was pregnant or not. That's interesting. Yeah. Gosh. I don't know, that's one of the cool random things. Yeah, it's fun. So, going back to the topic of, um, genetically modifying, um, actual animals, and not just crops, one example is a cow. Um, we're able to genetically modify them to have less flatulence, so, and that can help with methane, because one cow can produce as much carbon dioxide and CO2 greenhouse emissions as one single car, which is a huge amount. The fact that we can reduce methane by reducing the flatulence in cows is a pretty big deal, and, like, a large contribution that people normally wouldn't think about. Yeah. I hear that. But, do you hear stuff like that? Yes, I heard most of it. Yeah, for sure. I was looking at a friggin' spider goat that was shown on a computer. Yeah, he was a spider goat. That's what I was looking at. Okay, let's get back on topic, shall we, about the GMOs. Okay, so, um, how can these GMOs be helpful? Well, I mean, as I mentioned a little bit before I was cut off, about golden rice, isn't a type of rice, I think it was beta-carotene or something, Yeah, beta-carotene that's made from vitamin A, that was inserted into rice to help places with vitamin A deficiencies, like a lot of Asian countries, because their diet is mostly rice. Yeah. And it changes the colors more, which is kind of cool. Yeah, it's true. So GMOs can help not only just the nutritional benefits from the, like, golden rice, but it can also help the eco, um, and create sustainability in farming. Yep. Very interesting information. Wait, I think I'm not done. What are some, like, positives? Like, what other things can GMOs do? Well, finish your stupid thing, my god. I forgot where it is. Well, GMOs, there's some pest-deterring GMOs, or GMO plants. They also sometimes, like, eliminate viruses and stuff like that. So, again, back to the sustainable agriculture. Sustainable agriculture is a way of farming that balances the environmental health, profitability, and social equity. Um, for example, in, like, community gardens. Um, yeah. And, like, GMOs can, like, improve the shelf life of food, right? Yes, again, which can lead to less waste. Yeah. And that's a good thing, because, well, we have, um, first world countries, western countries, like the United States, have a lot of waste of food, I think. That is, we waste a lot more food than we have in Africa. I mean, we genetically modified so many crops that they produce way more than we can actually eat. And we eat a lot. Yeah. I mean, that's kind of what the stereotypical American thinks. Um, it's not a lie, either. It's a stereotypical thing. Yeah. Um. Um, okay. Have we touched base on all the pros? Yeah? I mean, like, there are a lot of pros. What are the main pros? Don't, like, be like what do you guys think the main pros are? Just on plants. Yeah, just on plants. Like, how can they benefit us? Well, again, like, the GMOs have a certain eco-friendly nature as well as a nutritional benefit, like, right? And if we extend shelf life and cut down waste and even increase our production using GMOs, like, you know, corn is a good example. Like, natural non-GMO corn produces a lot less kernels. Um, we can help to cut down on food caries around the world. This also, like, fades into the problem with, like, world hunger. Because, like, if we can make more foods and there's a lot less people who can go hungry. Yeah, that's the problem. So the problem is food distribution and piggybacking off of what Christian said earlier. The fact that GMOs can increase the shelf life, it can also mean that it's easier to get food to impoverished countries with low infrastructure. And difficulty getting it there, like places in Southeast Asia and Africa. Isn't it the problem getting the stuff there? Yeah. That there's a lot of wars and people who just don't like it. And the fact that it would probably perish overseas. Yeah. I was reading something about a tomato that they genetically introduced. I don't think it's actually a tomato. A tomato? Mass market. Bob was a tomato. Well, a tomato that could last 45 days in open air without perishing. What? That's crazy. Which is a long time. A month and a half. Yeah. Um, and so I think a normal tomato would only last about a week until it starts to decompose and become bad for us to eat. Interesting. So that's why we put it over a refrigerator. There are some arguments against GMOs that people have about the ethics of it. Yeah. I think it's just really a lack of knowledge about GMOs. Going into this, I have a question for all of you guys. What is your opinion on it? What is your opinion on GMOs? Personally, I believe that GMOs are viable and are good if they're being used in a beneficial way. So for example, putting pest resistant stuff and herbivorous resistant stuff to help fight off weeds and insects and viruses that benefit us in a positive way. However, I don't really like, with animals though, it gets a little rough. If it's beneficial and healthy animal for us, then yeah, I'm fine with that. But if it's just like a glow-in-the-dark cat, Bro, I'd buy that for real. I'd buy that for real. That is real. I don't dig with that. I don't think that's ethically right. So I'll take your word on some of that. Okay. So I personally believe GMOs are very likely to solve current and future global problems such as food insecurity, climate change, healthier food options, agricultural challenges, food shortage, and sustainability. While the contributions of GMOs are huge, as technology advances, which I kind of like to interpret as an exponential function, the future possibilities of GMOs could be endless, and with the possibilities for it being beneficial to humankind is unfathomable. However, I will try to remain an unbiased point of view. Well, I mean, I was just saying, that's kind of like the even more function, I think it was called, that we were looking at, of how every year it happens. Well, that's true. Like more technology as a whole. So what was your thought on the ethics of GMOs? So, I personally am very for science and the pursuit of knowledge, but my ethical claims are probably different than those. What are those ethical claims? Well, yeah, explain for us. Well, I think that assuming anything we do in the name of science and the pursuit of knowledge, assuming it is not torturous towards animals or humans, should be something thought after. So, I think GMOs are actually an amazing thing, really. The whole, and I really, I don't think the government puts too much money into it, and, you know, we still have, you know, hunger issues. But I think if the GMOs were, like, allowed to, like, actually thrive, then we would have a lot less problems with it, because there are some Karens who just don't like GMOs. We can explain more into that, because there are very valid points about GMOs. But, like, yeah. I'm pretty sure currently, like, 90% of our corn and cotton and soybeans are GMOs. I mean, yeah, but there are still people who don't like GMOs. Yeah, that's true. That's the figure of lack of education about them. That's true. What was your opinion on them, Nathan? To be honest, I think GMOs are pretty good. The fact that they can, like, survive in more harsh environments is pretty nice, because, like, in other countries where, you know, they have more droughts or something, they can have these, like, plants or crops that can, like, that they can genetically modify to be able to survive in droughts. Yeah. So I think it's actually really, really cool what GMOs can do. Okay. I think GMOs definitely can be a solution to a lot of things. They're pretty cool. Ethics. Ethics are an interesting subject. I think using them on animals could be beneficial to us. Yeah. It's, like, increased production of, whether it's, like, milk and cows, which we've done with what they're breeding over time. So, and then with humans, I don't think so. I just think... Wait, do we get cows to produce chocolate milk? I mean, maybe. Cows to... You know, like, when I was younger, I was really into Minecraft. I hate Minecraft. Yeah. And, I don't know. It's just, I've been, like, just... It would be, if we did figure out how to use GMOs on humans, it could be a lot easier for another hitler to come around and just... What? No, that is... Think about it. Yeah, that is true. Someone could make, like, a super soldier that can literally... Yeah. Edit everyone's genes. That is what Hitler had to do. Hitler did have crazy, like, war ideas. I'm pretty sure he did try to make super soldiers. Interesting. My main opinion on it is that I like the GMOs on plants and, like, that type of stuff. But, for animals, I don't like the genetic, like, change of, in a scientific point of view. I understand selective breeding and, yeah, all that. But, when you're actually changing what an animal is, and that might not be good for the animal, and I don't really appreciate that type. But, if it's actually helping the animal, I'm perfectly fine with that part of it. And that's one of the big things against GMOs is, just because we can, does that mean we should? We're messing with nature at that point and just trying to... Well, I mean, to be fair, we've already messed with nature, like, a ton. Yeah. But just going down to that microscopic level. Right. I think, as long as... I feel like we can genetically modify them to help nature as well. And if there's parts of genetically modified that we're actually helping nature. I think as long as we don't meddle in with biodiversity, because that is one counterclaim to... Don't play with biodiversity. One opponent to GMOs is biodiversity, which is a very valid point. However, one thing that GMOs... The thing with GMOs, when they become public, they have to go under very difficult scrutiny against national, worldwide health organizations, like WHO, the FDA, and science organizations as well. It makes it extremely difficult for a GMO to become commercialized. Like, it can take decades. And that's mostly because not a lot of people actually know what they're for and what they're doing. And they're not as knowledgeable on it. I think there was a piece that he was looking at. Like, more people who are... It was something about... I think it was more people who are against GMOs don't know as much about them. It's just a lack of information. Yeah. And with most of the things against GMOs from what I've found, is that there's mainly just plans with very little evidence to support them, or back them up. However, we're not... There's very little evidence to back them up, and so much evidence against them. But all that evidence against them really isn't true. But all the evidence towards them is really factual and just... Yeah. I feel like there's a lot of claims against GMOs, but they don't really have evidence for them. And for all the claims for GMOs that think GMOs are the positive thing, there's a lot more claims. Like, a lot more evidence. Yeah. Will and I are going to say goodbye, and you guys will... Yeah. We have somewhere to be. Go to class. Okay. Have a good day. Thank you guys for coming on. Thank you guys for coming on. Have a good day. All right. So... God, they were great. Yeah. They did really good. Yeah. That was very helpful. Very good scientists. Very good scientists. Well, to close the podcast off, I'm just saying, GMOs are good. Just use them right. Everything's... Yeah. Yeah. Let us know what you think of GMOs. Yeah. Yeah. Comment below. I currently believe GMOs are a good thing. Yeah. But it's really how people use them. Yeah. It really depends on the use. All right. Well, have a good day. See you next time on... Yeah. Still Visiting. Bye. Bye.