Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

FDA Approves First CRISPR Cows for Beef

modernfarmer.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 339 posts

Re: FDA Approves First CRISPR Cows for Beef

#61

Post by yywwbbn »

danielovichdk wrote: post #32
ekianjo wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We are too many people on the earth for the resources that we are naturally given. The same old rant that we hear for like 100 years now "when we reach 1 billion people everyone will starve", "peak oil is just around the corner (back in the 70s)", and all this kind of bullshit. Resources are plentiful as long as you are ingenious when it comes to harvesting them.

Who is polluting the world ? Why are we breeding cattle which has modified genes for not sweating ? You say resources are plentiful but apploud (?) modified cattle so they don't sweat, so they don't pollute and so we all can keep eating meat. You really don't see a flaw in that ? Of course we are too many people. Denying that is really naive.

And yet another the average person living in any developed country (also to a lesser but still significant degree in all of countries) is much better off, in almost every conceivable way, than his ancestors were when the total world population was only a few hundred million people.

If you’re primary concern is the welfare of humans (not saying it should be) rather than wildlife and natural ecosystems there almost no evidence which would suggest that an increase in global population results in a lower QoL for an average person.

Re: FDA Approves First CRISPR Cows for Beef

#62

Post by 0des »

koonsolo wrote: post #58
0des wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I respect your choice, and hope some day the work we see here can open doors to a lab grown alternative that eliminates the suffering so that you also can experience the joy of a ribeye, bone-in with a compound butter and runny egg.

I also eat meat, so not going to play the saint here. But it seems you have absolutely no remorse of what happens to those animals that end up on your plate. Or you do and try to cover it up by playing the tough guy. I try to cut back on meat as much as I can. I also enjoy some ribs, but I don't eat meat every day. And when I do, I try to stick with fish or poultry. I suggest you watch some slaughterhouse videos, so…

A psychopath? Who's the tough guy?

Re: FDA Approves First CRISPR Cows for Beef

#63

Post by koonsolo »

lonk wrote: post #34
mgerdts wrote: post #11

I first thought “oh great more GMOs to maximize corporate profits while making animals miserable. Then my hopes rose with this: > They were bred with climate change in mind So they’ve found a way to have happy cows that burp less methane? No? Shorter hair so their methane burb greenhouse doesn’t feel so hot? Oh. This probably just boils down to profits after all.

I wonder which one effectfull to climate change, people's total farts vs the total farts of cows in the world?

36% of all mammals today are humans 60% are livestock

So I guess you have the answer

Re: FDA Approves First CRISPR Cows for Beef

#64

Post by bigDinosaur »

Knufen wrote: post #60
bigDinosaur wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

if you have literally no concern about the suffering of animals, then it's a good thing. If you think that the suffering of animals outweighs people's preferences (not needs, you can thrive on a vegetarian diet) then this is absolutely not good. I'm happy to see high prices for beef, and would be happy if everyone was priced out of eating it. As second best, I'd be happy if people at least considered the suffering th…

This is probably gonna sound a bit dystopian, but would you eat beef if we eliminated suffering with CRISPR? I don't get to talk to a lot of vegetarians/vegans so honest question.

I don't know. My moral intitutions and reasoning fall apart if you remove suffering from the equation. By that logic it would also be okay to farm and eat humans if we eliminated their ability to suffer using CRISPR. What would you think of that? I don't even know where to start.

Re: FDA Approves First CRISPR Cows for Beef

#65

Post by koonsolo »

0des wrote: post #62
koonsolo wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also eat meat, so not going to play the saint here. But it seems you have absolutely no remorse of what happens to those animals that end up on your plate. Or you do and try to cover it up by playing the tough guy. I try to cut back on meat as much as I can. I also enjoy some ribs, but I don't eat meat every day. And when I do, I try to stick with fish or poultry. I suggest you watch some slaughterhouse videos, so…

A psychopath? Who's the tough guy?

So which one is it? Are you just PLAYING the role of a tough guy, or do you really have no remorse when watching that video?

Re: FDA Approves First CRISPR Cows for Beef

#66

Post by kmlx »

danielovichdk wrote: post #36
histriosum wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if we were to accept that fact as stated (I don't, but let's assume we do..) What are you proposing, exactly? It sounds like "address the real problem" here means you are suggesting killing people off. That definitely doesn't seem like a good answer. China tried the one child policy, and it didn't turn out very well. The second order effects were pretty awful, and will be felt for generations. What would you sug…

Based on how we exploit our resources and the amount of people that are wealthy enough to live a good-standard life, we are definitely too many people on earth. Of course I don't suggest killing people, why would you even suggest such a thing ? I suggest people start to educate themselves and eachother. Instead of having kids, adopt. Instead of eating meat 5 days a week, eat it twice. Start using a bike and not a car…

> Based on how we exploit our resources and the amount of people that are wealthy enough to live a good-standard life, we are definitely too many people on earth.

hi. you would be surprised to find out this is a myth that started in the 70s. it has been disproven time after time, decade after decade. and still people fall for it :)

Re: FDA Approves First CRISPR Cows for Beef

#67

Post by kmlx »

bigDinosaur wrote: post #33
0des wrote: post #25

This might be an unpopular opinion here but if this puts more beef on the table or at a lesser price, bring it on. I love beef. I want more people to have access to good quality beef at a competitive price. The pandemic for me saw meat in general double in price on average. I can't in good faith consume corn, tomatoes, tobacco, or even broccoli while saying I don't support GMO. It is not the same but it also is not a…

if you have literally no concern about the suffering of animals, then it's a good thing. If you think that the suffering of animals outweighs people's preferences (not needs, you can thrive on a vegetarian diet) then this is absolutely not good. I'm happy to see high prices for beef, and would be happy if everyone was priced out of eating it. As second best, I'd be happy if people at least considered the suffering th…

> you can thrive on a vegetarian diet

as long as you take vitamins B12, D and some iron, you should be fine.

but having been meat eaters for 2.4 million years will be hard to shake off.

if anything eating beef will increase in the future as more and more people rise to the “middle class”. we should probably take this into consideration and it’s implications, no matter how you feel about the subject.

Re: FDA Approves First CRISPR Cows for Beef

#68

Post by kmlx »

viswd wrote: post #5

More patented life and another food product I plan to avoid. I wonder if the average consumer will be as disgusted and turned off by the idea of eating genetically modfied meat as I am.

> I wonder if the average consumer will be as disgusted and turned off by the idea of eating genetically modfied meat as I am.

quite the contrary. i think this should be celebrated as a great achievement and will happily eat it if it’s delicious :P

Re: FDA Approves First CRISPR Cows for Beef

#70

Post by bigDinosaur »

kmlx wrote: post #67
bigDinosaur wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

if you have literally no concern about the suffering of animals, then it's a good thing. If you think that the suffering of animals outweighs people's preferences (not needs, you can thrive on a vegetarian diet) then this is absolutely not good. I'm happy to see high prices for beef, and would be happy if everyone was priced out of eating it. As second best, I'd be happy if people at least considered the suffering th…

> you can thrive on a vegetarian diet as long as you take vitamins B12, D and some iron, you should be fine. but having been meat eaters for 2.4 million years will be hard to shake off. if anything eating beef will increase in the future as more and more people rise to the “middle class”. we should probably take this into consideration and it’s implications, no matter how you feel about the subject.

People bring this up, but like, is eating dog okay? Even if you say yes, is factory farming them okay? Is eating human okay? No - just because we may have had meat in our diet for millions of years doesn't mean we have to choose the most advanced life to factory farm and eat. We certainly have more reservations against eating certain kinds of meat than can be explained purely from an evolutionary perspective - and that aspect should be expanded to cover more species. Plenty of Westerners will be outraged when the Japanese slaughter a whale but seem fine with the immense suffering in the farms in their own country. I don't think this can be reconciled if people knew just what actually went on.

I'll note that personally I don't shame people for eating meat - that's just not a nice way to live and leads to immense resentment. I do think people are making the wrong choice here though.

Post reply on HN