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GM foodfight
Here's how I see it, dealing primarily with row crops.
First, the positives. 1. From what we know of the emerging science, science is capable (or will be capable) of engineering the production of almost any organic molecule. 2. Resistance to herbicides can be introduced to plants. 3. Insect anti-feedant chemicals can be introduced into any plant genome. 4. The nutritional value, pest resistance, pesticide resistance, and productivity of GM plants are all subject to manipulation for the betterment of humanity. 5. These qualities can be introduced at a scale that allows for capitalistic return on investment. On the negative side. 1. Industrial ag has reduced the genetic variability of the 7 primary food crops to a very small number of lines. As GM increases, genetic diversity will decrease as farmers who use these crops out-compete traditional farm seed sources. 2. How much genetic manipulation is necessary for a patent? I don't know, but I can imagine that a small number of genes is patentable. What happens when those gene sequences, though outcrossing, get into wild stock? 3. Crops of industrial ag have hybrid breakdown in the F2 and F3 generations through recombination. This has resulted in dramatic decreases in production in 3rd world farms where seed is collected from one crop and planted in the next. Starvation has resulted from hybrid breakdown in some few countries. This will result will increase dramatically if recessive, deleterious genes are introduced to the genome to prevent holding seed from year to year. My opinion: Patenting life is wrong. Therefore, deriving profit from patented life is wrong. What do you think? Bot |
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I did that until about 2-3 decades ago. Since then I chose to MoveOn to a fermenter and homebrewing beer.
If weed was legal I'd probably grow my own. In my experience there is absolutely nothing wrong with it except you can lose your house, family, career, savings and freedom. I think the gov should get out of people's lives. I also think they should get out of the GM racket and let the market run its course instead of acting as enforcers in a protections racket. B |
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Bot, I'm not surprised to see this thread this morning!
Patenting life is wrong - I agree with that. There's something that just doesn't seem right about it. I certainly also agree with the thoughts expressed about America's #1 cash crop. About the gov regulating the GM industry - I don't know enough about this to have a strong opinion either way, but aren't there some dangers inherent in GM crops? Not so much via human consumption but to insects. I remember reading something about a certain type of GM corn that monarch butterflies ate and then subsequently died. I'm a pretty avid gardener and I know that if certain insect species were to be killed off or seriously reduced in number, it could have wide-ranging ramifications. GM foods have a lot of potential for good but some potential for bad, too. Isn't some regulation warranted?
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Ralph 1985 300D Turbo, CA model 248,650 miles and counting... |
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01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke 99 E300 Turbodiesel 91 Vette with 383 motor 05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI 06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI 03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red 03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow 04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler 11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow |
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Free market systems have proven remarkably effective, but I'm not sure such a system is the best thing in this case.
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Ralph 1985 300D Turbo, CA model 248,650 miles and counting... |
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01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke 99 E300 Turbodiesel 91 Vette with 383 motor 05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI 06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI 03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red 03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow 04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler 11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow |
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Money rules. Read a story about a farmer that had been saving and refining his seed stash for years. When Monsanto came into his area with some FrankenCorn it's pollen mixed with his crop. The Monsanto Corn needs to be bought yearly from them as saved seed won't germinate and took over his his crop creating another new customer.
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89 300E 79 240D 72 Westy 63 Bug sunroof 85 Jeep CJ7 86 Chevy 6.2l diesel PU "The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane." Marcus Aurelius |
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And in this case, non-GM food (or food modified in the traditional ways, at any rate) has been working just fine since the dawn of time.
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Ralph 1985 300D Turbo, CA model 248,650 miles and counting... |
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Ralph 1985 300D Turbo, CA model 248,650 miles and counting... |
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Yes it has. However, a lot of things have been done the traditional way since the dawn of time too. Times change and so do things. That is kinda like saying "My father was a carpenter and his father before him and so on for 10 generations. Therefore I will be a carpenter too."
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01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke 99 E300 Turbodiesel 91 Vette with 383 motor 05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI 06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI 03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red 03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow 04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler 11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow |
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To me, the greatest threat of GM plants is lowering the genetic diversity of the food crops. Back in the 1960's a highly productive hybrid maize was introduced. It produced so abundantly that for the next several years farmers around the USA planted that particular hybrid to the exclusion of others. Well, it turned out that a little known pathogen was able to take advantage of that particular hybrid and virtually wiped-out that hybrid corn crop throughout the USA. Southern Corn Blight. By lowering the genetic diversity in crop plants we risk the same phenomenon of line-breeding seen in animals like hip displasia, etc. Humanity is dependent on 7 grains, each of which is increasingly subjected to line breeding and now, GM breeding. This means that the major food source of the planet is exhibiting increasing dependence on human culture for its survival. That okay, just so long as we don't screw-up. B |
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I will say it again, though, enticing researchers to make advances may not be the most important thing here. In fact, it could lead to the kind of gene pool narrowing that Bot alluded to in the initial post. In that way it may be similar to diabetes research. I know that many people feel the pharmaceutical industry has no incentive to find a cure, as it's more profitable to come out with new medications and devices every once in a while.
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Ralph 1985 300D Turbo, CA model 248,650 miles and counting... |
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Ralph 1985 300D Turbo, CA model 248,650 miles and counting... |
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Speaking of monarch butterflies, remember when destruction of the forest habitat in Mexico was going to cause extinction of the monarch? Again, the wackoes and their lackies in the press overstated the potential for disaster and failed to note the lack of disaster when it didn't occur. I'm not saying that the monarch habitat wasn't worth saving, far from that. I am increasingly preservationist as I see habitat destruction and the loss of genetic diversity as twin rails running our train to hell in a handbasket (gawd, I love mixing metaphors!). I just don't like abuse of science to engineer desired outcomes. |
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Yes, as a society we have an awfully short attention....what was I talking about again?
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Ralph 1985 300D Turbo, CA model 248,650 miles and counting... |
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