Re: OT : Happy Star Wars Day

Malachias Invictus wrote:
"Madkaugh" <madkaugh@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:1147927956.587751.202280@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I have some empathy for the 'genetic engineering is dangerous' aspect
of the message. Not in the cloning dinos sense, but frankenfood is
scary.

Why?

He's undoubtedly poorly educated. Frankenfood isn't scary, it's pure corporate greed. Monsanto effectivly gets to own all the arible land in the world without ever paying a cent for it. Clever, really.


Disaster scenario, just for fun ...

GE 101: Take a common virus, feed it some genes you want in a new plant, infect a common bacteria with said virus, infect target plant with said bacteria. New code is spliced somewhat randomly into the target, in much the same place that said common virus always picks up and drops it's splices. That plant's seeds will grow to do random things with the new gene, some of which are the desired effect; take those ones and mass produce.

GE 201: Oh, right, out in the real world, that same common virus and bacteria pick up the new splice and transfer it to surrounding plant life, like weeds. So we now have super-weeds. OK, more slightly annoying than super at this point, but *all* the genes we release this way will get into the weeds.
GE 202: You can't really make plants immune to disease and pests, because the diseases and pests mutate too. Nevermind, nothing like a short-term fix to make the company a lot of money.

GE 301: Oh, right, out in the real world, some of the genes that have never existed on mass like that before are producing a very low level of a chemical that soil bacteria can't break down that upsets some of them. We now have infertile ground where GE crops have been grown.
GE 302: The ground's not screwed permanently, it's just so out of whack that the bacteria and fungus that plants rely on to feed can't keep their numbers up anymore. Eventually /something/ will break down the toxins.

GE 308: We need to keep check of the cancer rates, new chemicals are often bad for people that way.

GE 401: Life isn't clever, it's random, and if we keep throwing new genes into the wild like this we will eventually produce a weed that can't be easily killed and in turn makes the soil infertile.

GE 501: GE cannot solve the problem given in 401.


Thanks for playing, good luck with mars.

--
tussock

Aspie at work, sorry in advance.
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Genetically modified foods and intestinal bacteria
    ... > likely to move from food to bacteria than are "natural" genes. ... > little I know of how "engineered" genes are inserted into food plant ... (If you are wondering how to genetically engineer Agrobacterium, ...
    (sci.bio.evolution)
  • Re: Can there be a mathematical proof of evolution?
    ... no valid hierarchy of bacteria. ... E.coli can uptake genes from ... HGTs show up like an infected thumb sticking out ... Eventually "critter 1" has been rewritten. ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Infection through subterfuge
    ... Researchers reveal how Lyme disease bacteria hide from immune systems ... is caused by ticks harbouring a type of bacteria called Borellia. ... the expression of two genes, OstE and Crasp1. ...
    (sci.med.diseases.lyme)
  • Re: Lets have some "Useless" math (that cant be an opinion)...
    ... from a common ancestor that was not either a bacteria, ... corrupting of the genetic informations! ... tell if a new species has more or less "information" than it's parent ... Moreover the antisense DNA strand of the four nylon genes lacks any ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: One celled organisms acting as a swarm?
    ... Upon receiving this signal, some bacteria ... differential benefit to those bacterial cells that commit suicide. ... species that emits quinolone. ... carry the genes from place to place, ...
    (sci.bio.evolution)