This link has been bookmarked by 1 people . It was first bookmarked on 15 Sep 2007, by eyal matsliah.
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15 Sep 07
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The new botany aligns the development of plants with their economic, not evolutionary, success: survival not of the fittest but of the fattest. High-yield, open-pollinated seeds abound; the new crops were created not because they're productive but because they're patentable. Their economic value is oriented not toward helping subsistence farmers to feed themselves but toward feeding more livestock for the already overfed rich. Most worryingly, the transformation of plant genetics is being accelerated from the measured pace of biological evolution to the speed of next quarter's earnings report. Such haste makes it impossible to foresee and forestall: Unintended consequences appear only later, when they may not be fixable, because novel lifeforms aren't recallable.
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Traditional agronomy transfers genes between plants whose kinship lets > them interbreed. The new botany mechanically transfers genes between organisms > that can never mate naturally: An antifreeze gene from a fish becomes part > of a strawberry. Such patchwork, done by people who've seldom studied > evolutionary > biology and ecology, uses so-called "genetic engineering" - a double misnomer. > It moves genes but is not about genetics. "Engineering" implies understanding > of the causal mechanisms that link actions to effects, but nobody understands > the mechanisms by which genes, interacting with each other and the environment, > express traits. Transgenic manipulation inserts foreign genes into random > locations in a plant's DNA to see what happens. That's not engineering; > it's the industrialization of life by people with a narrow understanding > of it. >
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The new botany aligns the development of plants with their economic, not > evolutionary, success: survival not of the fittest but of the fattest. > High-yield, open-pollinated seeds abound; the new crops were created not > because they're productive but because they're patentable. Their economic > value is oriented not toward helping subsistence farmers to feed themselves > but toward feeding more livestock for the already overfed rich. Most > worryingly, the transformation of plant genetics > is being accelerated from the measured pace of biological evolution to > the speed of next quarter's earnings report. Such haste makes it impossible > to foresee and forestall: Unintended consequences appear only later, when > they may not be fixable, because novel lifeforms aren't recallable. >
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The USDA has already approved about 50 genetically engineered crops for unlimited release; US researchers have tested about 4,500 more. Over half the world's soybeans and a third of the corn now contain genes spliced in from other forms of life. You've probably eaten some lately - unwittingly.
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The USDA has already approved > about 50 genetically engineered crops for unlimited release; US researchers > have tested about 4,500 more. Over half the world's soybeans and a third > of the corn now contain genes spliced in from other forms of life. You've > probably eaten some lately - unwittingly. >
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Traditional agronomy transfers genes between plants whose kinship lets them interbreed. The new botany mechanically transfers genes between organisms that can never mate naturally: An antifreeze gene from a fish becomes part of a strawberry. Such patchwork, done by people who've seldom studied evolutionary biology and ecology, uses so-called "genetic engineering" - a double misnomer. It moves genes but is not about genetics. "Engineering" implies understanding of the causal mechanisms that link actions to effects, but nobody understands the mechanisms by which genes, interacting with each other and the environment, express traits. Transgenic manipulation inserts foreign genes into random locations in a plant's DNA to see what happens. That's not engineering; it's the industrialization of life by people with a narrow understanding of it.
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