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GM 'Super-Banana' Could Prevent Blindness


Still Waters

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Genetically modified bananas from Australia could stop thousands of Ugandan children from going blind and dying from Vitamin A deficiencies.

The genetically modified 'super-banana', which has increased levels of vitamin A, has been engineered by researchers at the Queensland University of Technology.

https://uk.news.yaho...35.html#cdd01xB

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The fruit, grown near Innisfail, about 90km south of Cairns, is now on its way to Iowa State University in the US for further trials at a cost of $10 million, funded by the Gates Foundation.

https://uk.news.yaho...35.html#5ryPGmi

HOW MUCH? They could built decent housing with running water and sanitation with that.

Not forgetting a few condoms.

Edited by freetoroam
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The fruit, grown near Innisfail, about 90km south of Cairns, is now on its way to Iowa State University in the US for further trials at a cost of $10 million, funded by the Gates Foundation.

https://uk.news.yaho...35.html#5ryPGmi

HOW MUCH? They could built decent housing with running water and sanitation with that.

Not forgetting a few condoms.

Or you know, providing a easy growing crop that answers nutritional needs. There's that too.

Not much point in having housing if you can't survive to use said housing.

Why not just hand out multivitamins tablets?

Multivitamins can't be planted and grown and reproduce, and can't be manufactured using the technology available to these people.

Making a replenishable resource that can be handled by the people that need has better benefits.

I also recall reading that supplements aren't the best way to get your needed vitamins and minerals.

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Or you know, providing a easy growing crop that answers nutritional needs. There's that too.

Not much point in having housing if you can't survive to use said housing.

Multivitamins can't be planted and grown and reproduce, and can't be manufactured using the technology available to these people.

Making a replenishable resource that can be handled by the people that need has better benefits.

I also recall reading that supplements aren't the best way to get your needed vitamins and minerals.

They built Las Vegas in the desert, surely after all the money which has been given to Africa they could have found a way to get water to some of those areas. Oil pipes get built, why not water?

When you have this kind of researching,then why can you not have it in areas where there are humans living and in need of help?

It is possible to grow plants on Martian soil, researchers in the Netherlands have found.

In an experiment conducted over a period of 50 days, at least 14 plant species, including food plants, were grown on artificial Martian and lunar soil provided by Nasa, according to Xinhua.

About 4,200 seeds were planted in 840 pots stuffed with an imitation of Mars and Moon regolith, unconsolidated surface sand of the respective planets

http://www.ibtimes.c...rs-find-1432658

Edited by freetoroam
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Cool. Next time tell Bill Gates to hire Nasa.

To pipe in water you have to have to pump it from somewhere else.

Martian soil and the Moon's soil are mineral rich. They don't have like here on earth the process which make use of those minerals. It's much easier to adapt a already existing crop than trying to introduce a new one that will likely require more maintenance in its new environment. As to your point about the money sent to Africa. Africa is a continent, filled with countries. Some of which we help, some of which we don't, and some of which don't need or don't want our help.

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Or you know, providing a easy growing crop that answers nutritional needs. There's that too.

Not much point in having housing if you can't survive to use said housing.

Multivitamins can't be planted and grown and reproduce, and can't be manufactured using the technology available to these people.

Making a replenishable resource that can be handled by the people that need has better benefits.

I also recall reading that supplements aren't the best way to get your needed vitamins and minerals.

Why should I trust a monkey's opinion when the topic is bananas?

I demand a neutral expert to set me straight!

Edited by Eldorado
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what, a GM thread, and no-one's turned up shouting 'stop playing god' or 'GM food is the work of satan'??

maybe there's hope for humanity yet....

:-)

.

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This is all well and good but there is a serious fungal disease problem that is destroying banana crops in several areas of the world, at least some of the more commonly grown table bananas. It would be a shame to get a culture dependent on a crop for nutrition only to have it disappear. Hopefully they can breed some resistance into these crops as well.

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what, a GM thread, and no-one's turned up shouting 'stop playing god' or 'GM food is the work of satan'??

maybe there's hope for humanity yet....

:-)

.

I'm not a geneticist, but I think the concern voiced by people is that when you make new strains of plants or animals using gene splicing, as opposed to hybridization (breeding) you MAY end up with novel proteins and other substances our bodies were not designed to break down. And it's not just putting genes or bits of genes from one plant into another, we have put the genes of bacteria and animals into plants, something impossible with normal breeding techniques. Any perceived health risks may be a bunch of hooey or it may not; we don't yet know what multiple decades of consumption of these products may do; they are relatively new parts of the human diet. It could be completely harmless, it could lead to cancer, it could merely lead to indigestion as the body copes with something new or in the case of these bananas it can provide an essential nutrient. I think only time will tell. I do know that at some cancer centers they recommend as much organic, non-GMO food for their patient's diets as possible. I assume they have good reasons for this.

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what, a GM thread, and no-one's turned up shouting 'stop playing god' or 'GM food is the work of satan'??

maybe there's hope for humanity yet....

:-)

.

That is what I am waiting for also. :tu:

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Why not just hand out multivitamins tablets?

Because it would be seen as a conspiracy to sterilise Africa through secret ingredient sterilisation tablets rather than improving health...

what, a GM thread, and no-one's turned up shouting 'stop playing god' or 'GM food is the work of satan'??

maybe there's hope for humanity yet....

:-)

.

Its late, and we have to digest the sterilisation conspiracy first.

Anyway, I though Banana's had been sentenced to death due to reliance on a certain strain/breed and they were on there way out. Its a roller-coaster ride being a banana...

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Oh Great ! Another Super Hero Movie to make !post-9259-0-42653900-1403138429_thumb.pn

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just what we need. to increase the population of earth by saving millions

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Or they could just give them a bit of polar bear liver, apparently that is so full of Vitamin A it could kill you if you ate the whole thing.

http://weirdestfacts...-could-kill-you

Now we just need to figure out how to breed polar bears in Uganda. Ok, maybe the banana idea would be better :w00t:

Edited by Razer
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they are relatively new parts of the human diet.

Please. We've been genetically modifying our food since the first day we learned to grow it.

what, a GM thread, and no-one's turned up shouting 'stop playing god' or 'GM food is the work of satan'??

maybe there's hope for humanity yet....

:-)

.

This is about the time Simbi jumps in...

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'Super banana' may be the most epic phrase ever uttered by man.

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I play the "super banana" card, and all my Lands flip back to normal and my monsters all get a +1 to the Power.

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Forgive the simplicity of my answer but....wouldn't it be easier to just give them a vitamin supplement?

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