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Comment Re:Has dulse always tasted like bacon? (Score 1) 174

I've never had traditional dulce (dried) fried, but it starts out with a salty savory flavor. That said, imagining what it'd taste like fried, I think it would be a bit of a stretch to say "bacon." Hopefully these guys have pulled off something special with this variant and we truly will get sea bacon.

Comment Re: This legislation brought to you by.. (Score 4, Informative) 446

From the FDA's web site (emphasis mine):

Food and food ingredients derived from GE plants must adhere to the same safety requirements under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic (FD&C) Act that apply to food and food ingredients derived from traditionally bred plants .

The developer produces a safety assessment , which includes the identification of distinguishing attributes of new genetic traits, whether any new material in food made from the GE plant could be toxic or allergenic when eaten, and a comparison of the levels of nutrients in the GE plant to traditionally bred plants.

FDA scientists evaluate the safety assessment and also review relevant data and information that are publicly available in published scientific literature and the agency's own records.

In my book that qualifies as a statement from the company of "trust us." There's no independent verification. Since GMOs are held to the same standard as traditionally bred plants, no standard either really.

Comment Re:Meaningless mental masturbation (Score 1) 446

This a thousand times. Nature prevents humans from impregnating hippos, but with GMOs we're accomplishing this as well as things more perverse. No one is stepping up to force safety studies in the manner with which medical drugs are scrutinized. We're just supposed to accept "trust us" statements from the companies themselves. If Monsanto and co. wish to play a calculus with our health and their profits, having the ability to opt. out is important to a lot of people.

Comment Re:Meaningless mental masturbation (Score 1) 446

And technically all food is some measure of "organic" compounds. But just like that's not what people mean when they say "organic" this also isn't what anyone is talking about with regards to GMO. GMO in this context is quite obviously interpreted to mean synthetic. As in a modification that cannot naturally occur such as inserting a gene from salmon into soy.

Comment Re:This legislation brought to you by.. (Score 3, Insightful) 446

Crossing bacterial genes with corn genes is not quite the same thing as mixing and matching corn genes from one variety with another. When we take a gene from bacteria and insert it into corn we are creating a quite unnatural thing and making a whole lot of assumptions about our understanding of genetic language in the process. Maybe it was safe to do, maybe it was not. With selective breeding and hybridization, you are at least starting with genetically compatible material. You also have millions of years of history demonstrating this to be reasonably safe. Nature prevents humans from impregnating hippos, but GMOs are effectively doing just that as well as things far more perverse.

For many of us, we feel an abundance of caution is merited. Given the players involved, it's really hard for us to simply accept their statements of "trust us." There's no independent verification of safety, just blind faith that Monsanto and co. aren't employing a calculus with our health and their profits.

Comment Re:The cost of a single Airport. (Score 1) 143

AC could have forewent with the "illegal wars" part, but he does have a point. These aren't very large number in terms relative to other infrastructure projects and certainly not relative to military actions. Given that much of the history of war has a foundation built upon the disenfranchised seeking a correction their usage of "war" as a comparison has merit. Feeding the world's hungry can be solved for $30B/year according to UN estimates. The Iraq war is estimated to cost $1.7T with a projected cost (that includes veterans benefits to $6T within the next four decades.

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