Comments on: Comments on 20853

Post number 20853

djspicerack — Wed, 16 Oct 2002 14:17:27 -0800

It's New, It's Wonderful, it's....No Cry Onions! from the nature.com website, scientists have identified the enzyme that causes a "tickling" of your tear ducts, ergo the ensuing crying. More genetically altered food - how are we feeling about this?

By: joemaller

joemaller — Wed, 16 Oct 2002 14:21:27 -0800

No cry onions: douse with lime or lemon juice after chopping. Known side effects include added flavor and increased consumption of Vitamin C.

By: oflinkey

oflinkey — Wed, 16 Oct 2002 14:24:37 -0800

joemaller- But I cry *AS* I chop.

By: Resonance

Resonance — Wed, 16 Oct 2002 14:24:50 -0800

I for one have been growing increasingly concerned with the way maximum yield farming is heading. Granted, the richer nations now have an abundance of food - but a lot seems to happen behind the scenes. Does it make sense that some foods are genetically modified so that they become resistant to the super-pesticides that are now being sprayed onto them? If you ask me, the Organic movement should be taken seriously.

By: ParisParamus

ParisParamus — Wed, 16 Oct 2002 14:30:48 -0800

This is more scary corporate bs. I wish they would isolate the gene which makes me nauseous at the idea of genetically altering the food supply frivolously. And then give it to everyone.

By: soyjoy

soyjoy — Wed, 16 Oct 2002 14:30:50 -0800

It seems to me that onions making you cry is not a serious enough situation to warrant GM. I'd rather use one of the many known basic remedies (or my own personal one, which is to drink beer while chopping) than resort to tinkering with the basic building blocks of life on planet Earth. And before anyone launches into how hungry third-worlders need GM food, at least one credible UN official disagrees.

By: tolkhan

tolkhan — Wed, 16 Oct 2002 14:31:23 -0800

I use one of those little electric chopper things. No tears.

By: ParisParamus

ParisParamus — Wed, 16 Oct 2002 14:31:57 -0800

But really, in a culture that applauds bo-tox, etc., this is not surprising.

By: goneill

goneill — Wed, 16 Oct 2002 14:35:38 -0800

i run water over my hands while i'm chopping, (wet wet onions) I'll try your trick joemaller, or on preview: soyjoy's. True that Resonance, I try to only eat dumpstered food from organic grocery stores. (I do fail, a lot.)

By: Fupped Duck

Fupped Duck — Wed, 16 Oct 2002 14:37:15 -0800

Me, I'm waiting for the big discovery that will forever change life as we know it... There is an as-yet undiscovered enzyme that if included in the daily diet will cause your eyebrows to grow clear down to your knees. The enzyme is known as cousinitenase. This will also be the death knell of computer face recognition software (although they also need to invent a computer with a face) In a related story, Woman gives birth to her own twin red headed granddaughters who can feel your pain before you can Anyone remember when reading "What's New" in Popular Science Magazine was exciting instead of nauseating?

By: yhbc

yhbc — Wed, 16 Oct 2002 14:37:21 -0800

More genetically altered food - how are we feeling about this? Ever eaten a seedless watermelon?

By: anyasar

anyasar — Wed, 16 Oct 2002 14:49:04 -0800

Ever had a seedless watermelon (or a tearless onion) try to eat you? They are growing eyes.

By: meep

meep — Wed, 16 Oct 2002 14:51:51 -0800

Ever eaten a seedless watermelon? Yes, and it made me very sad. Watermelons are meant to be eaten in a way as to make a mess. You cannot make sufficient mess without seeds, which can be spit up to 66 feet plus. That's quite a radius for mess. All this GM stuff is making our food more boring.

By: Dark Messiah

Dark Messiah — Wed, 16 Oct 2002 14:53:29 -0800

I fear no onion. I'm a cook by trade. If I'm crying while I chop, then I'm not chopping fast enough, and I get whipped accordingly. ;)

By: jonmc

jonmc — Wed, 16 Oct 2002 14:56:04 -0800

I'm picturing a jingle.... [bob marley] No Onion, No Cry, No...Onion..No Cry [/marley]

By: Secret Life of Gravy

Secret Life of Gravy — Wed, 16 Oct 2002 14:57:28 -0800

It's not exactly what the world has been crying out for It is probably little known outside gardening circles, but what the (gardening) world has been crying out for for decades is a true blue rose. Roses are the favorite flower, blue is the favorite color of a large percentage of those who concern themselves with flowers. Anybody who can combine the two will make an enormous fortune. Unfortunately the Rose family does not carry the true anthocyanin pigment, so the closest the crossbreeders have come is a pale lavender. It will be up to the genetic scientist (most likely working for Jackson & Perkins) to create the true blue rose.

By: JohnR

JohnR — Wed, 16 Oct 2002 15:00:48 -0800

Eating an apple in the Garden of Eden can give you knowledge. Flatworms seem to be influenced by ingesting "smart food". I know when I eat anything fresh (venison,lobster) it has the ability to make me high. GM foods must have an influence, we just don't know what it is/will be.

By: JohnR

JohnR — Wed, 16 Oct 2002 15:04:51 -0800

Umm...That link didn't work. Try this one. Flatworms

By: mr_roboto

mr_roboto — Wed, 16 Oct 2002 15:08:09 -0800

Ever eaten a seedless watermelon? I'm pretty sure that seedless watermelons were developed via good old-fashined breeding and hybridization.

By: dagny

dagny — Wed, 16 Oct 2002 15:15:37 -0800

how are we feeling about this? more importantly, what are we thinking about this? (pet peeve)

By: sophist

sophist — Wed, 16 Oct 2002 15:18:45 -0800

Human beings have always been most successful when we follow our wanton disregard for the way things were "meant to be". Inventing tools, building flying contraptions, playing rock music, splitting atoms, if there is a line we will cross it, and i think we are better off for it. With the increase of possibilities comes an increase in responsibility, and this is where we must be careful. If you take a look at evolution, however, you will see that these precious "basic building blocks of life on planet Earth" are ever changing, mutating on their own. We do the same thing today by breeding certain varieties of plants or animals with others to increase desired traits. Going straight to the building blocks seems to be the next logical step.

By: Danelope

Danelope — Wed, 16 Oct 2002 15:34:57 -0800

I'm pretty sure that seedless watermelons were developed via good old-fashined breeding and hybridization. So, rather than eliminating undesirable genetic traits via fast and straightforward means of genetic modification, we should do so by selective breeding and hybridization, a process that takes decades (if not centuries) to accomplish. Also, instead of using high-speed Internet access, all of us should revert to 2400 baud modems. Abacuses rather than calculators. And we should only use wood fires to cook our food, rather than those newfangled ovens and microwaves. Welcome to the future, ladies and gentlemen.

By: moonbiter

moonbiter — Wed, 16 Oct 2002 15:35:13 -0800

how are we feeling about this I feel happy about this. I think it's great.

By: Hildago

Hildago — Wed, 16 Oct 2002 15:46:26 -0800

Things that bother me: 1. The haunting knowledge of my own mortality 2. That I will be forgotten forever soon after I am dead 3. That the universe is vast and tosses us uncaringly as though we were leaves 4. That there is no justice this side of heaven, and that there is probably no heaven 5. That real understanding is impossible between two people 6. ~~That onions have this weird enzyme that makes you cry when you chop them~~

By: Blubble

Blubble — Wed, 16 Oct 2002 15:50:01 -0800

Catching a buzz off of food is a neat trick.

By: mr_roboto

mr_roboto — Wed, 16 Oct 2002 15:50:48 -0800

So, rather than eliminating undesirable genetic traits via fast and straightforward means of genetic modification, we should do so by selective breeding and hybridization, a process that takes decades (if not centuries) to accomplish. Jeez; I wasn't making a value judgement: I just used "good old-fashioned" as a cute colloquialism. There are probably some applications for which selective breeding and hybridization are superior. For example, getting seedless varieties of plants typically involves the hybridization of two viably reproducing varieties to get the unviable seedless variety, like horse+jackass=mule. Genetic engineering doesn't help you too much here, since there's no germ line. Selective breeding is also useful for introducing completely novel traits (natural selection, after all, is an excellent mechanism for producing novel traits). It's also much cheaper, more accessible to farmers, and, frankly, it has a pretty solidly proven track record. Technology gives us many tools, but the development of new tools does not eliminate entirely the utility of the old tools. It is wise to use the best tool for the job at hand, rather than to be dazzled by the shiny appeal of a new technology.

By: Blubble

Blubble — Wed, 16 Oct 2002 16:01:17 -0800

I'm not wild about genetically modified food. I think that they are mostly safe. However, if they can take away an enzyme that makes you tear up, what if they accidentally create one that erodes your stomach lining, damages your liver or makes you dick fall off? Seriously, the history of scientific development has been understandably filled with mistakes and unintended consequences. How much faith do you place in the chemists at ADM, Dow, DuPont, etc. While I'm not an organic food nut, I prefer relatively natural things to more artificial ones. I prefer sugar over aspartame or sacharine, butter over margarine, and grease over Olestra.

By: freebird

freebird — Wed, 16 Oct 2002 16:37:50 -0800

Leaving aside all the obvious moral/technical/etc issues, it seems there's still one big question. Inasmuch as the 'tear' effect of onions seems related to their gustatory qualities, I want to know: How Do they Taste?

By: rushmc

rushmc — Wed, 16 Oct 2002 17:01:18 -0800

more importantly, what are we thinking about this? Hear, hear, dagny! Metafilter: I cry *AS* I chop.

By: ParisParamus

ParisParamus — Wed, 16 Oct 2002 18:13:38 -0800

Next week: sweet garlic.

By: litlnemo

litlnemo — Wed, 16 Oct 2002 19:36:52 -0800

A weird thing I've noticed is that contact lenses seem to protect me from getting onion tears. I only wear a lens in one eye (the other eye is "lazy" and there's no point in bothering to correct it), and when I chop onions, the lensless eye waters and stings like crazy, and the other one is fine. So I often chop onions with one eye closed, which is awfully goofy-looking. I suppose putting on contacts just to avoid the onion tears is a bit extreme, though.

By: Hildago

Hildago — Wed, 16 Oct 2002 19:50:30 -0800

litlnemo -- yep, that's a bit extreme. There are good reasons for getting contact lenses, though, such as looking like an ALIEN VAMPIRE!

By: litlnemo

litlnemo — Wed, 16 Oct 2002 21:21:53 -0800

Why on earth do they have a bloodshot eyes contact lens? Couldn't you get that effect just as easily by, um, chopping onions? The flames are cool, though. And the glow in the dark ones. The MIA ones are rather lame (nice cause, poor application).

By: Eyegore

Eyegore — Wed, 16 Oct 2002 22:42:23 -0800

I think the act of cutting onions sends microscopic drops of stinging liquid flying at your eyeballs, which makes you tear up. If you close your eyes, or use a good enough shield like the ones you're supposed to wear when cutting wood, you avoid the effect completely. Hildago's six things post was funny. :)

By: edlundart

edlundart — Wed, 16 Oct 2002 23:22:32 -0800

Why is it so bad to cry? Do we really need a remedy for that? Just cry.

By: backOfYourMind

backOfYourMind — Thu, 17 Oct 2002 05:27:47 -0800

The thing that boggles me here is that scientists would spend countless hours finding out how to make a 'no more tears' onion when, jeez, it's not that big a deal. I chopped an onion into my pasta sauce tonight, cried a bit, thought no more about it...is this worth millions of dollars of R&D research to prevent or am I a hopeless luddite?

By: tolkhan

tolkhan — Thu, 17 Oct 2002 07:10:11 -0800

Before I got hip with electricity and bought my Chopomatic, when chopping onions, I wore my chem lab goggles.