On 8/12/06, Yoshie Furuhashi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
On 8/12/06, Leigh Meyers <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> What would I want GMOs for?
For the same reason that human beings have engaged in breeding and
cross-breeding before the invention of GM?
Point well taken. But cross-breeding and recombinant DNA are not even close to being the same thing. Radically new technologies can amplify old threats to qualitatively new levels. As an analogy, you might be legitimately concerned about government spying on Internet browsing habits, is it comparable to the government monitoring your postal mail in the old days?
The specific reason I was objecting to the previous post about biotech in Cuba is that several quotes in that article were lies, similar to what you might hear from Monsanto.
For example:
----
Cuban GM crops are grown in special
greenhouses that completely sealed from environment so
that no genetically modified material can escape to
the outside.
This is some ignorant BS. On what basis is Dr Borretto making this bold assertion that "no genetically modified material can escape to the outside". Does his greenhouse have an artificial atmosphere? Water supplies? Soil? Do they sterilize workers before they enter and leave the greenhouse?
With all due respect to him, I don't think he knows what he is talking about (his alleged academic credentials notwithstanding).
You bring up the analogy of nuclear power. What if the proponents of nuclear power were to make some similarly irresponsible statements: "radioactive waste stored in asbestos containers is completely safe for humans".
You may be right that GM cannot be stopped. Perhaps at least we can try and stop the misinformation, lies and deception?
And Dr Boretto has this to say about transgenic fish:
"In other words, we can now manufacture an enzyme that
can be given to normal fish that will make them
perform like the genetically modified ones. So here we
have used GM to make non GM organisms perform better..."
He wants to make fish "perform better"!! Words like this should being a chill to anyone reading them. Our friendly doctor here wants to *improve* living things. He and all of us may be in for a nasty shock.
-raghu.
