Why is it that most medical research and testing is done on genetically modified animals?
As you know I work in the medical/pharma industry on the lab animal side. I’ve assisted in tests for drug efficacy, drug toxicity, and animals models for human medical conditions and treatment. Most of this stuff is done with genetically modified animals.
They have genes knocked in, genes knocked out, and all sorts of other stuff that is done to genetically modified food.
Maybe if you’re scared of that stuff you should be scared of your medication?
Genetically Modified = Short-Term Breeding. How else do you think they got a dachshund out of a wolf?
A lot easier than getting a dachshund INTO a wolf. I have scars to prove it.
Note: It does matter which end of the wolf you’re trying to get the dachshund into.
{snicker}
I do not fear genetically modified food per se. To be sure, much of that from the wild which we use for food has been genetically modified by nature, if only in multiploidy of genetic material.
What doe concern me greatly is that the the proliferation of genetically modified food, governed by the economic equivalent of Darwin’s laws, might severely reduce the biodiversity so necessary for a healthy environment.
Um, by and large, domesticated plant cultivars (not even what most people think of as “gen-mod”) are already out of the “biodiversity” game already.
Just like toy poodles do not really contribute back to the wild canid stock anymore.
Maybe if you’re scared of that stuff you should be scared of your medication?
If they’d start taking their damn medication they wouldn’t be worried about this in the first place.
I have to say you got a MONSTER laugh out of my wife when she read that!
Well played!
From my understanding, lab animals are genetically modified to allow for a blank slate so to speak for testing specific interactions with drugs and/or what a specific gene does. When it comes to genetically modified food animals, however, there is not enough research to know how it will affect the quality for human consumption. Some genetically modified foods include grains, especially wheat. When plants are bred to change the yield or structure the genetic code doesn’t split the same as animals. It merely adds the code to existing code and therefore the number of chromosomes increases. In wheat this has changed the properties of the proteins such as gluten and has increased the likelihood of allergies. Ancient wheat such as Einkorn wheat for example has less chromosomes and some people with gluten intolerance are able to eat it without a problem.