The first point about organic farming doesn’t make sense to me. Why the hell would you grow food next to poisonous plants? “Oh hey, how about some opium next to these tomatoes?” Or have I misunderstood?
Yes, you’ve misunderstood – the point is that not everything that’s natural is safe, and he goes on to list a number of natural but dangerous substances to illustrate.
No, no-one’s saying that people grow dangerous substances next to food. Professor Gibney is (I think) addressing the widespread misconception that natural = safe.
While organic might not mean more nutritious-it usually means grown without any nasty cancer causing pesticides etc and usually has much better flavour. I’m not an organic nut or anything but they are the two main reasons that would make me consider buying organic
“this technology involves the precision insertion of individual genes”. This is news to me.
Does Prof. Gibney provide proof for this assertion and if so could you give me details of the method(s) to do this because the last time I checked, this was one of the main problems of forcing in transgenic material to a host genome. I have heard of some new processes coming on stream that may indeed be possibly able to deliver insertion at predefined spits in the host genome but they do not seem to have gained acceptance. The earliest I can find seems to date from 2009 which is too late for crops being grown at the moment.
Hi Marita – I think that question would be best posed directly to Professor Gibney – he blogs at http://gibneyonfood.blogspot.ie/, you should be able to leave comments or questions there.
Thanks Jean but Prof. Gibney could quite correctly point out that the above review was written by you and not by him. Could you at least provide the relevant page numbers, so I can look it up myself?
Hi Marita – the above is not a review, as the piece clearly states – it’s a preview of ten areas covered in the book which was provided by Professor Gibney, so I’d still recommend that you bring your questions to him.
Hi Jean,
You were excited about this book in June. Just wondering if you (or anyone else) has actually read it and whether or not you agree with the stuff the author claims.
Monday 18 June, 2012 at 4:51 pm
The first point about organic farming doesn’t make sense to me. Why the hell would you grow food next to poisonous plants? “Oh hey, how about some opium next to these tomatoes?” Or have I misunderstood?
Monday 18 June, 2012 at 6:14 pm
Yes, you’ve misunderstood – the point is that not everything that’s natural is safe, and he goes on to list a number of natural but dangerous substances to illustrate.
Monday 18 June, 2012 at 6:45 pm
But then that wouldn’t apply to food, because no normal operation would grow dangerous substances next to food.
Monday 18 June, 2012 at 8:33 pm
No, no-one’s saying that people grow dangerous substances next to food. Professor Gibney is (I think) addressing the widespread misconception that natural = safe.
Tuesday 19 June, 2012 at 11:22 am
While organic might not mean more nutritious-it usually means grown without any nasty cancer causing pesticides etc and usually has much better flavour. I’m not an organic nut or anything but they are the two main reasons that would make me consider buying organic
Saturday 21 July, 2012 at 7:59 am
“this technology involves the precision insertion of individual genes”. This is news to me.
Does Prof. Gibney provide proof for this assertion and if so could you give me details of the method(s) to do this because the last time I checked, this was one of the main problems of forcing in transgenic material to a host genome. I have heard of some new processes coming on stream that may indeed be possibly able to deliver insertion at predefined spits in the host genome but they do not seem to have gained acceptance. The earliest I can find seems to date from 2009 which is too late for crops being grown at the moment.
Thanks.
Saturday 21 July, 2012 at 8:00 am
“spots”, sorry, not ‘spits’!
Saturday 21 July, 2012 at 4:29 pm
Hi Marita – I think that question would be best posed directly to Professor Gibney – he blogs at http://gibneyonfood.blogspot.ie/, you should be able to leave comments or questions there.
Sunday 22 July, 2012 at 9:35 am
Thanks Jean but Prof. Gibney could quite correctly point out that the above review was written by you and not by him. Could you at least provide the relevant page numbers, so I can look it up myself?
Monday 23 July, 2012 at 10:01 am
Hi Marita – the above is not a review, as the piece clearly states – it’s a preview of ten areas covered in the book which was provided by Professor Gibney, so I’d still recommend that you bring your questions to him.
Saturday 15 December, 2012 at 12:02 pm
Hi Jean,
You were excited about this book in June. Just wondering if you (or anyone else) has actually read it and whether or not you agree with the stuff the author claims.
Monday 17 December, 2012 at 3:09 pm
I’ve read it, it’s great, I’d recommend it. I’ve been really busy with work but hope to get a chance to post a review of it soon.