There isn't anything inherently "unnatural" about genetic modification of plants. There is evidence of transspecies genetic mixing out in the wild and viruses seem to be one of the main candidates for moving chunks of genome #1 into genome #2. Combine that with the natural variation that occurs through breeding and genetic drift and there is the potential for a lot of relatively substantial change in an species genome. The big difference is that we are discussing doing it on purpose, not randomly, and at a much faster rate than would likely occur naturally. In theory, the fact that we are doing these things on purpose would make for a greater likelihood of beneficial outcomes as most mutations are deleterious. The reality, of course, is that humans usually have fairly short term thinking and we aren't very good at thinking 100 generations (plant generations or human generations) down the line. We also have a tendency to do short sighted things like substantially reduce the amount of genetic variety in a crop species by trying to maximize the *here and now* without thinking about the fact that conditions won't be the same in 50 years. Found a variety of that plant that is especially productive when pollinated by bees? Awesome! Lets plant it everywhere! Oh shit, a parasite has hit bee colonies and they've collapsed and now your monoculture is fucked. Good thing we still have flies and beetles to pollinate. What, the variety of that plant that is pollinated by flies isn't grown anywhere anymore? Well shit.
Bt corn crops are pest resistant. In an attempt to not disturb the natural balance too much, farmers planting Bt corn are required to also plant buffer crops of non-Bt corn to give the pests something to eat. Which is at least a reasonably sensible idea. Except that fully 25% of the Bt corn crops out there don't actually follow through and plant the buffer crops, rendering the whole "environmental balance" bit moot. I'm cautiously in favor of genetically modified crops. But I think that in order to have them really work out for us, we are going to have to display more caution, foresight, planning and self restraint than we are generally wont to do. Until then, yeah, I support local agriculture using non-invasive farming methods that discourage mono-cultures, encourage free pollinating seeds (not hybrids that can't reproduce), and utilize good crop rotation practices. I'm also steadfastly against the ability to patent a gene line. Cheers, Judah On Mon, Apr 12, 2010 at 4:06 PM, Medic <hofme...@gmail.com> wrote: > > I feel that we could go far enough with just cross breeding. I don't see why > we need to modify our food on a genetic level. I understand that farming is > a for profit endeavour and it's getting harder and harder for farmers to > compete, but there's got to be a way to make natural farming profitable. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Want to reach the ColdFusion community with something they want? Let them know on the House of Fusion mailing lists Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:315710 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
