[Goldfinger]

Been to get some hen pellets, and noticed recently he's been selling two types of feed pellets.

Both from BOCM Pauls, yet one's in a white bag, the other's in the what I'd say the 'normal' coloured bag.

I finally got ask the question since the boss was on serving, so why two coloured bags?

One's non-guaranteed GM free, the other's Guaranteed GM free. And there's a 50p difference in price too.  :blink:

Does the GM / Non-GM argument bother you?

[JaK]

It really does bother me. I always go for the GM free feed as it continues through the food chain i.e. we eat the eggs...

[joyfull]

it bothers me too - GM free all the way 

[Sassy]

I also pay a few pence extra for non-GM. It is a personal choice but I feel no-one really knows enough to understand the effects, if any, of this technology. But, we are once again, interfering with nature

[ANHBUC]

Can I plead ignorance as I did not know you could get GM or not GM?  Will have to check the labels next time I buy feed.     It is getting like food shopping where you spend too much time having to check labels. 

[splash101]

I havent really given it any thought. Its really just a case of of what my supplier has.

Although the bag i have just bought, for the price i paid i would expect it to have been organic, GM free, gold encrusted and gift wrapped 

[arugula]

I did a Biology degree and found genetics a particularly interesting subject. I have no problem with GM, if used for the likes of making better, as in healthier and more affordable, food crops. The world population needs to eat after all and feed its livestock.

Had I followed that career path rather than the very different one I did, I think it quite likely that I would have worked on GM.

And no, I don't like spraying chemicals on crops.

[Goldfinger]

Could you say GM is like 'selective breeding' in animals?

Like when you have something good like a bull, from good breeding stock (family tree/history), you then find a cow/heifer that look's like it'll produce good calfs, again looking at it's family tree/history.

Would you class this as 'modification'?

I'm positive I saw something on the lines of this ages ago I think on Countryfile.

[joyfull]

no - selective breeding is to breed the characteristics that you want in a species by mating good examples of the same species together until you have perfected this, whereas GM is by introducing a different species into the mix to get the characteristics you want.

[Goldfinger]

Oh, right Joyful.

Anyway, these days, I wouldn't trust factories these days, you can't say that somewhere down the line, some GM will slip through the net.

Would it be too expensive to build a totally separate factory for handling and producing GM free products? 

[joyfull]

organic feeds are GM free, but you will find most quality feed whether organic or not will be gm free - just read the ingredients.

[mumofstig]

no - selective breeding is to breed the characteristics that you want in a species by mating good examples of the same species together until you have perfected this, whereas GM is by introducing a different species into the mix to get the characteristics you want.

The EU includes selective breeding in it's definition of genetic engineering 

Genetic engineering: The manipulation of an organism's genetic endowment by
introducing or eliminating specific genes through modern
molecular biology techniques. A broad definition of genetic
engineering also includes selective breeding and other means of artificial selection

http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/publi/gmo/gmo.pdf  (p42)
I don't mind genetic engineering whether through breeding or in the lab,  within the same species, but don't like them adding in bits from elsewhere 

[joyfull]

My information comes from an American site see here and explains it as:-

What "Genetically Modified" Means

For a long time, humans have selectively chosen and bred plants or animals with desirable traits, such as sweeter fruits or better disease resistance. This process involves breeding several varieties within the same species and seeing which of the offspring carry the desired traits, so it may take a few generations to produce an offspring with all the favored traits. With genetic modification, a specific gene exhibiting a certain trait is transferred directly from one organism (plant, animal, or bacterium) into another, and the transfer can occur between completely different species. Research on genetic modification has also looked at ways to enhance the nutritional content of a particular crop, such as increasing the Vitamin A content in rice.

So it depends on which site you choose to read 

[mumofstig]

So it depends on which site you choose to read 

I know joy 

just thought I'd show how truly stupid the EU directorate rules are 

[joyfull]

I think we are all in agreement with that