I would not have noticed this topic, except for a discussion with George today. But George's point about junk science is highlighted by common statements often made about "genetically modified crops" (No offense intended to JWMINNESOTA).
Just about by definition, a crop IS a genetically modified organism. Mankind has been modifying plants and animals since thier hunter-gathering days. Creating a "round up ready: crop is just doing what breeders have done for centuries, but now being able to create and select at the DNA level. In fact, more is known about these genes and their effects than is known about changes made in the 70 and 80's's by the old fashioned methods. These GMO plants are better studied, more controlled and better understood than any of the traditional varieties. But fear created by the lack of understanding of the technology has lead to Frankenstein stories. It takes 3-5 years of development time and 5 years of multinational studiesand multi-millions of dollarsto get a "round up ready gene approved. We have a VERY BROAD spectrum of knowledge around these new genes and how they react to the environement around them (soil, other plants and insects).
With traditional breeding - if you brought in a flower color gene, you were actually crossing in the DNA for that chromosome plus unknown neighboring DNA that you have no idea what it does, unless you see something obvious and then you select away from it. With today's technology, you can create and add a gene for roundup resistance and actually look at the DNA sequence to make sure you have what exactly what you want and that nothing else is attached to it that you can't see out in the field or garden.
This is probably more than most want to know or hear - so it is Friday afternoon and I plan to head to a wine tasting and then start a new batch of my own tomorrow. Enough said............
