Xref: kermit uk.environment.conservation:52336 uk.rec.gardening:169340 uk.rec.natural-history:17809 alt.animals.ethics.vegetarian:137305 alt.animals.rights.promotion:14478 uk.business.agricultu131335

In article ,
"pearl" wrote:


snip list of misrepresented results.

Superviruses: Viral promoters are invasive agents used by genetic engineers
to trick a cell into accepting and integrating an alien gene into the cell's
own DNA. Some scientists predict that releasing viral promoters into the
gene pool could lead to the creation of superviruses and novel infectious
diseases for organisms at every level of life -- from bacteria to humans.

These people are very good are doing Cassandra impressions but are less
able to point to mechanisms by which this might come about. A promoter
is not magical, there is nothing about it that makes it more likely than
any random piece of dna to be incorporated into anything. There is
nothing in them that makes it likely they will be incorporated intact.
The genomes of 'higher' plants and animals are riddled with endogenous
retroviruses in various states of decay. If the doommongers are correct
in their guesses of probability the boundaries between different species
would be so porous all life would have collapsed into an amorphous blob
as soon as it started to differentiate. If you have a mechanism by which
this can happen many people would be glad to hear from you. Apart from
anything else it could have major technology uses.

These are just some of the dangers that are discernible in the premature
marketing of genetically engineered products. The biotech industry is eager
to point to their so-called successes while keeping their failures under raps.

No, they are a jaundiced and biased spin on some aspects of a technology
that has and does provide us with many very useful products. From the
enzymes in your washing powder to the latest pharmaceuticals. You also
write as though the discovery of some of these is a tragedy. they are
examples of checks and balances working. If noone was looking we
wouldn't even know about these things.

Again this is an argument for proper, informed rules and regulations,
not wholesale banning. Because the govt. drove the farm scale trials
through they now have a sound basis in international law to limit GM
crops in this country. The anti brigade would have denied them this by
ripping it all up, denied us the science we need to make an informed
choice. Why? because they didn't want us to make an informed choice.
They wanted us to make the choice based on fear and superstition. You
may want to live your life this way, I don't.

peter

--
Peter Ashby
School of Life Sciences, University of Dundee, Scotland
To assume that I speak for the University of Dundee is to be deluded.
Reverse the Spam and remove to email me.