Comments on: Mad Japanese Scientists create real-life swamp thing.

Mad Japanese Scientists create real-life swamp thing.

greensweater — Thu, 24 Jan 2002 08:25:19 -0800

Mad Japanese Scientists create real-life swamp thing. "We removed the 'fattening' genes from pigs and replaced them with 'vitamin-enriched' genes from spinach!" I will not eat it in a box, I will not eat it with a fox...

By: SuperBreakout

SuperBreakout — Thu, 24 Jan 2002 08:39:06 -0800

That's not a pig. The chemicals made the spinach sentient and it assumed the form and identity of a pig.

By: piskycritters

piskycritters — Thu, 24 Jan 2002 09:08:53 -0800

I will not eat it in a box, I will not eat it IN a fox...

By: presto

presto — Thu, 24 Jan 2002 09:19:25 -0800

of course, this raises the question..... is the pig green?

By: BitterOldPunk

BitterOldPunk — Thu, 24 Jan 2002 10:46:00 -0800

I'm really more interested in spinach to which has been added pig genes. Pop it in the skillet, it makes its own grease! Mmmmmmmm. Pork fat.

By: revbrian

revbrian — Thu, 24 Jan 2002 10:51:42 -0800

So they removed the best part of the pork and put in spinach flavor!? I'll keep on having spinach on the side either blanched and drenched in butter or smothered in ranch dressing.

By: greensweater

greensweater — Thu, 24 Jan 2002 10:54:24 -0800

But seriously folks... this story is only a back-page blurblet, but putting forth the notion that (spinach genes + pig genes = nutritious pork) seems awfully silly, even irresponsible. Does Star Trek style pseudoscience pass as PR when the general public is too stupid to grasp the technology? Is this like the "wowee zowee" internet PR of the 90's but with a sinister 21st century twist? I mean, total cognitive dissonance here. Should I be outraged or should I just laugh? Is irony really dead? Does freak-ass, totally effed up, evil scientist hijinks like this bother anyone anymore?

By: malphigian

malphigian — Thu, 24 Jan 2002 11:03:24 -0800

Does freak-ass, totally effed up, evil scientist hijinks like this bother anyone anymore? How is this evil exactly? Or are you just goinging off on a "You can't play god man!" speech? I've got no problem with genetic engineering as long as it is heavily regulated, and all such produced foods are treated by the FDA as entirely new things (i.e. put through rigirous testing). We've got no details on this study, so I have no way to validate (or invalidate) their claim that they've managed to make pork "more healthy", but its certainly not impossible. The scientist involved did say "the significance of this success is more academic than practical".

By: quonsar

quonsar — Thu, 24 Jan 2002 11:15:37 -0800

Does freak-ass, totally effed up, evil scientist hijinks like this bother anyone anymore? yawn. green eggs. green ham. dr. seuss broke this ground years ago.

By: mariko

mariko — Thu, 24 Jan 2002 11:39:34 -0800

this is how it starts...innocuously, humorously. but pretty soon there will be nothing differentiating plant from animal, animal from machine...oh, god, i've seen too many bad sci-fi anime.

By: greensweater

greensweater — Thu, 24 Jan 2002 11:45:14 -0800

Don't get me wrong, I'm ALL FOR playing god. It's not the science that bothers me. The story just reminds me of that 16mm classroom film from '54, with the soap commercial plucked-violin soundtrack that talks about Our Friend the Atom. The real evil part is the corny spin on the story. "Making your food more nutritious! New and improved Pork!" Here's a story about drifting GM corn. Genes (I've read) are recursive formulas which interact in ways we have only begun to calculate. But what the hell! Headlong into the darkness!

By: starvingartist

starvingartist — Thu, 24 Jan 2002 12:40:22 -0800

Headlong into the darkness! That's a MeFi tagline, right there.

By: ParisParamus

ParisParamus — Thu, 24 Jan 2002 12:42:08 -0800

This is disturbing. Another reason to keep kosher/cacher, I say.

By: th3ph17

th3ph17 — Thu, 24 Jan 2002 13:32:54 -0800

so what if pig genes get put in chicken? or into spinach? kosher? vegetarian safe? mariko...i'm sort of picturing the pig exhibiting signs of the Akira effect or something, just...greener.

By: skyline

skyline — Thu, 24 Jan 2002 14:22:51 -0800

Goats with spider genes.

By: panopticon

panopticon — Thu, 24 Jan 2002 15:27:53 -0800

I never liked vegetables much anyway...

By: electro

electro — Thu, 24 Jan 2002 16:10:41 -0800

OMG, a diabolical conspiracy to make pork less yummy! And I thought the Japanese were our friends.

By: Budge

Budge — Fri, 25 Jan 2002 10:39:49 -0800

disgusting. Playing God IS a bad idea. Course I ate a GMO tomato--the "Ugly" tomato and broke out in hives all over my body.