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How save is it to plant modified plants? My biggest concern was always, that the plants would spread in to the wild and displace native vegetation. Or do we al
by anotheryou 10y ago
How save is it to plant modified plants? My biggest concern was always, that the plants would spread in to the wild and displace native vegetation.
Or do we already have some commonly used dead man switch so the plants can only survive with additional chemicals put on to the fields?
- deadowl 10y agoThis already happens without GMOs, e.g. Africanized bees. Meanwhile, having a dead man switch would turn GMO-based food systems into a potential weapon (i.e. don't mess with us or we'll put your country into a famine).
- anotheryou 10y agoExactly, so probably we don't want more of it, no? And the bees might be an invasive species, but they have no superpowers. I'm not sure how wide the biological niche of a GMO plant can get. For the dead man switch: maybe the activator could be something simple and well known, just not so common in normal surface soil. But I don't even know how big this risk is...
- collyw 10y agoGM opponents made the same criticism, then they came up with the terminator gene. But GM opponents criticize that because no seeds come from it.
- anotheryou 10y agoAh,i see. Well all valid points I guess. Better than GM plants running loose, but if no seeds come from it and it's "closed-source" you are at the mercy of the supplier for the next year.