Worst GM pollution: hands down, the Pontiac Aztek. Although it could have been the Chevy Vega.
Posted on 08/08/2005 5:53:14 PM PDT by blam
'Worst GM pollution incident' vanishes
By Roger Highfield, Science Editor
(Filed: 09/08/2005)
What was billed by the media as the world's worst incident of pollution by genetically-engineered crops, one that provoked a row among scientists, has vanished, says a study published today.
Four years ago, researchers reported finding cobs of genetically modified maize in Oaxaca, Mexico, suggesting that GM maize (corn) from the US had invaded a traditional maize variety.
In a country whose culture and identity are linked to maize - the crop was developed there thousands of years ago - the thought of GM varieties that could contaminate native plants was abhorrent.
Then the leading journal Nature disowned the paper that described the discovery by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley.
The paper had sparked a protest to Nature by 100 biologists and was disowned by the Mexican government after its scientists could not repeat the experiment. The anti-GM lobby portrayed the row as an attempt to discredit the research and as part of a biotech industry vendetta.
Now a two-year study published by Prof Allison Snow's team, of Ohio State University, in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, says genetically modified corn has not spread to native maize crops in southern Mexico.
The researchers gathered more than 153,000 seeds from 870 maize plants in 125 fields in Oaxaca, for the first survey of foreign "transgenes" in native varieties, and found no evidence of contamination. The finding surprised the researchers, said Prof Snow, because millions of tons of GM grain were imported from the US each year for processed food and animal feed.
Transgenes in Oaxaca before this study may not have survived, she said. Modern GM varieties may not be hardy in Oaxaca even if they could mate with local plants.
The genetic diversity of native maize was an important resource with great cultural significance. "If farmers think their highly revered native plants have been altered by transgenes, they might stop planting them."
This is why the opposition to GM crops is secretly funded by the petrochemical companies, which are protecting their fertilizer and pesticide markets. Pass it on.
Worst GM pollution: hands down, the Pontiac Aztek. Although it could have been the Chevy Vega.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but many types of commercially-grown plants would be largely non-viable in the wild because, via selective breeding, they have been refined to value yield over 'competitiveness'. In a cultivated field, there's no need for a crop to be able to crowd out weeds. But the wild is another story.
I have a hunch that when Jesus spoke the parable of letting weeds and grain grow together, not separating them at the harvest, the grains people were using were sufficiently hearty to grow reliably even in the presence of weeds. That would not be so true of many grain crops today. If one has the means to cultivate a field, a crop which yields more useful food will be superior to one that is more agressive against weeds. Absent such means, however, the more agressive plant would have definite advantages.
ok, so, illegal immigrants crossing the Rio Grande heading north = good.
illegal corn crossing the Rio Grande heading south = bad.
Since the illegal corn has come back to the USA, will Mexico take its illegal immigrants back?
Sigh...
I hate to spoil your day, but Jesus was NOT talking about farming... And if you thought he was, you totally missed the point.
| Matthew 13 |
| 24 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: 25 But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. 26 But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. 27 So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? 28 He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? 29 But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn. |
Yeah, well I was three paragaphs into the article before I figured out it was about gentically engineered crops. I think I got too much sun....
Breeding from nature is great. Frankenfood, the jury won't be all the way in for a few decades.
Well and so, unless a Frankencorn is at least discernable at harvest, people will worry.
I loved Vegas even though they were cranky as all get out.
Cottage Cheese, Tofu, Bread, Beer, Wine, cheese, ... These things all grow on trees? Or are they combinations of different biological entities that would never occur in nature. Combined by man and grown in unnatural ways, they are about as natural as a three piece suit.
The finding surprised the researchers, said Prof Snow, because millions of tons of GM grain were imported from the US each year for processed food and animal feed.
Um, it's food and animal feed. Not the same as seed..
Frankening of our food (GM from places other than breeding of the natural plant) is a very recent phenomenon. It might work just fine. It might create a ghastly pest.
Never had one, all my ecperience with them was second hand.
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