8 ms·

I'm curious what sort of realistic disaster scenario you think might occur due to cross-species gene transfer (and for that matter, purely synthetic genes) in G

by bascule 14y ago

I'm curious what sort of realistic disaster scenario you think might occur due to cross-species gene transfer (and for that matter, purely synthetic genes) in GMOs, and how the existing safeguards are inadequate against it. Normally I'm against FUD, but please, go nuts, so long as there's a reasonable chance of it occurring (i.e. we're not talking about a mad scientist who wants to create man-eating plants)

Ygg2 14y ago
Their seeds are known to mingle with domestic corn varieties creating corn that is unusable for consumption. That to me seems like a legit reason to be careful around them. Basically if you a corn farmer, have people around you start planting Monsanto Corn, you have two options: change to Monsanto or switch professions.
DanBC 14y ago
Weed-killer resistance transfers to a weed, helping boost it to invasive species? Some mutation makes crop more vulnerable to a particular plant virus, destroying 80% of that crop in EU or US? A huge multinational wants to include "TERMINATOR GENES" in their crops to make sure the cropped seed cannot grow; environmentalists freak out at the name and oppose that; the multinational doesn't include that gene but now inspect the fields of people on the route of seed delivery and if they find any gene-manipulated crop (which is probable from wind-blown seed) they sue the farmer into oblivion.
- cpeterso 14y ago
  > Some mutation makes crop more vulnerable to a particular plant virus, destroying 80% of that crop in EU or US? This is already a risk because industrial agriculture is optimized for monocrops.
  - graeme 14y ago
    This is like arguing that it's ok to build houses that won't resist hurricanes, because they're already vulnerable to fire. GMO risks present an additional risk over already problematic agricultural practices.
- minikomi 14y ago
  > Weed-killer resistance transfers to a weed, helping boost it to invasive species? Cannot happen. If inter-plant gene transfer was that simple, it would already be an agricultural practice. A weed-killer resistant species becoming a weed is something to consider though. > Some mutation makes crop more vulnerable to a particular plant virus, destroying 80% of that crop in EU or US? No. A vulnerable crop would not have a chance to become 80% of the crop share before dying out.
  - DanBC 14y ago
    > No. A vulnerable crop would not have a chance to become 80% of the crop share before dying out. 80% is sci-fi hyperbole. But it's easy to see that monoculture could still be as much of a problem with GMO as without it. Dutch Elm disease managed to kill 40% of Elm trees in Europe during the first big outbreak, and at least 66% in the UK during the second outbreak. (Maybe 25 million trees out of maybe 30 million trees in the UK). Irish potato famine was caused by potato blight. About half the world's crop of bananas is destroyed each year because of disease caused by monoculture growing.
celiac 14y ago
A protein is added that adversely affects the gut. Think gluten.
kjackson2012 14y ago
300,000 Indian farmers have committed suicide in the past 15 years because of the monopoly that GMO companies have over seeds with patents. What used to be previously free now costs farmers a huge amount of money with promises of great returns. However, in the past few years, these GMO crops have had tremendous crop failures, and have instead bankrupted the farmers that used them. Hundreds of thousands of farmers taken advantage of by a monopolistic GMO company and ruins the lives of countless families sounds like a real-life disaster scenario to me. http://www.newstatesman.com/world-affairs/2012/11/why-are-indian-farmers-committing-suicide-over-their-debts http://www.newstatesman.com/world-affairs/2012/11/why-are-in...
manicdee 14y ago
Extensive use of Roundup Ready crops leads to evolution of weeds that are resistant to glyphosate. How do you prepare fields for cropping if all the weeds are resistant to herbicides? Use stronger herbicides? How is this not an environmental disaster? What happens when altering the gene of a wheat plant to make it resistant to rust ends up adding a cumulative poison (e.g. a protein or prion associated with the rust resistance) causing the body to leech calcium from bones? Over 30 years we figure the gene was safe, then comes a 100 year long epidemic of brittle bones due to the rust gene being forgotten and no un modified wheat being available to breed clean strains from. Or leaving the food chain entirely: what about living in a world where you are not allowed to grow food plants in your own backyard and collect the seeds yourself to provide for next year's crop? Why do we have to increase the food supply to feed an ever-expanding population?

by bascule 14y ago

Ygg2 14y ago

Their seeds are known to mingle with domestic corn varieties creating corn that is unusable for consumption. That to me seems like a legit reason to be careful around them. Basically if you a corn farmer, have people around you start planting Monsanto Corn, you have two options: change to Monsanto or switch professions.

DanBC 14y ago

Weed-killer resistance transfers to a weed, helping boost it to invasive species? Some mutation makes crop more vulnerable to a particular plant virus, destroying 80% of that crop in EU or US? A huge multinational wants to include "TERMINATOR GENES" in their crops to make sure the cropped seed cannot grow; environmentalists freak out at the name and oppose that; the multinational doesn't include that gene but now inspect the fields of people on the route of seed delivery and if they find any gene-manipulated crop (which is probable from wind-blown seed) they sue the farmer into oblivion.

cpeterso 14y ago
> Some mutation makes crop more vulnerable to a particular plant virus, destroying 80% of that crop in EU or US? This is already a risk because industrial agriculture is optimized for monocrops.
- graeme 14y ago
  This is like arguing that it's ok to build houses that won't resist hurricanes, because they're already vulnerable to fire. GMO risks present an additional risk over already problematic agricultural practices.
minikomi 14y ago
> Weed-killer resistance transfers to a weed, helping boost it to invasive species? Cannot happen. If inter-plant gene transfer was that simple, it would already be an agricultural practice. A weed-killer resistant species becoming a weed is something to consider though. > Some mutation makes crop more vulnerable to a particular plant virus, destroying 80% of that crop in EU or US? No. A vulnerable crop would not have a chance to become 80% of the crop share before dying out.
- DanBC 14y ago
  > No. A vulnerable crop would not have a chance to become 80% of the crop share before dying out. 80% is sci-fi hyperbole. But it's easy to see that monoculture could still be as much of a problem with GMO as without it. Dutch Elm disease managed to kill 40% of Elm trees in Europe during the first big outbreak, and at least 66% in the UK during the second outbreak. (Maybe 25 million trees out of maybe 30 million trees in the UK). Irish potato famine was caused by potato blight. About half the world's crop of bananas is destroyed each year because of disease caused by monoculture growing.

celiac 14y ago

A protein is added that adversely affects the gut. Think gluten.

kjackson2012 14y ago

300,000 Indian farmers have committed suicide in the past 15 years because of the monopoly that GMO companies have over seeds with patents. What used to be previously free now costs farmers a huge amount of money with promises of great returns. However, in the past few years, these GMO crops have had tremendous crop failures, and have instead bankrupted the farmers that used them. Hundreds of thousands of farmers taken advantage of by a monopolistic GMO company and ruins the lives of countless families sounds like a real-life disaster scenario to me. http://www.newstatesman.com/world-affairs/2012/11/why-are-indian-farmers-committing-suicide-over-their-debts http://www.newstatesman.com/world-affairs/2012/11/why-are-in...

manicdee 14y ago

Extensive use of Roundup Ready crops leads to evolution of weeds that are resistant to glyphosate. How do you prepare fields for cropping if all the weeds are resistant to herbicides? Use stronger herbicides? How is this not an environmental disaster? What happens when altering the gene of a wheat plant to make it resistant to rust ends up adding a cumulative poison (e.g. a protein or prion associated with the rust resistance) causing the body to leech calcium from bones? Over 30 years we figure the gene was safe, then comes a 100 year long epidemic of brittle bones due to the rust gene being forgotten and no un modified wheat being available to breed clean strains from. Or leaving the food chain entirely: what about living in a world where you are not allowed to grow food plants in your own backyard and collect the seeds yourself to provide for next year's crop? Why do we have to increase the food supply to feed an ever-expanding population?