Stephen Howard wrote:
On Wed, 14 May 2003 02:56:56 GMT, wrote:
Thanks for all of your responses, pro and con. All responses to my
questions help me compile useful statistics.
I will respond to some of your questions and comments.
First, many of your comments seem to come from a perspective of belief in
traditional farming practices, combined with fear and distrust of scientific
agriculture. I would point out that, at one time all of these old
technologies were new and untested. Selection and mass planting of
cultivars has generally been benign, but there are examples of traditional
crop plants that have had negative ecological effects. The near extinction
of wild relatives of rice due to gene flow from crops in Taiwan is an
example.
Secondly, several responders have stated that genetically modified plants
will lead to ecological disaster. On what basis is this alarm raised? The
primary ecological effect of GM plants to date has been the decreased
pollution with pesticides of groundwater under BT cotton fields. Please
document your accusations.
There you go then - if it's possible for mankind to make a right royal
screw-up by simply "pick 'n mixing" natural varieties, how much
greater is the potential for disaster by forcibly fooling about at the
genetic level.
Clearly there are many interactions that we do not yet understand.
That there may be no documentary evidence of ecological disasters with
regard to genetic modifications as yet doesn't preclude the potential
for an incident.
Whom do we trust - x million years of evolution, or some geezer in a
lab clutching a degree?
Hear hear!
Several good points raised. There are plus and minuses.. I do not
think that GM is required for effective food production.. There have
been MANY negative cases on ecology.. Problems with natural polinators
are just one effect. Escaped 'GE' plants that are resistant to
herbicides are another.
I have mixed grounds on GE for medical purposes. Morally I personally
live on a knife edge when it comes to criticising companies with a
questionable representative such as Novartis (a very large agropharm
chem company), Pfizer, Roche, Sandoz etc as I rely on several of their
products to stay alive. if they didn't exisit in the medical world,. I
would be wormfood.
That said their drive for profit is at times hard to believe.
Just my 2 cents
//
JW