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by sampo 4376 days ago
> "new, man-made chemical compounds that has never existed before"

GMO cultivars usually do not contain new, man-made chemical compounds.

For example, Golden Rice contain beta carotene (occurs naturally in e.g. carrots).

The virus resistant Hawaiian Rainbow Papaya contains a protein from the virus' capsid, effective "vaccinating" the plants, resulting in virus resistance.

Bt Cotton contains a chemical from Bacillus thuringiensis, a common bacterium in soils, that is harmful to pest insects.

1 comments

If you had taken the time to also read the words preceding your quote, "but just like with new,", you would have realized that I was making a comparison instead of believing I was making the claim that GMOs include new, man-made chemicals.

New, man-made chemicals aren't intrinsically bad. But based on past experience, we are right to be cautious because we can't always anticipate their effects, the effects can take a long time to become apparent and they can be impossible to eliminate (like with PCBs).