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market-farming - Re: Bio Tech Corn

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  • From: "Del Williams" <delannw AT dlogue.net>
  • To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Bio Tech Corn
  • Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2001 07:24:58 -0500


Hybridization has been going on for century's. It is a natural process that
occurs even without human intervention. There is nothing natural or even
essentially desirable about genetically modified crops. Corporate and
academic scientists know far less about genetic structure than can be
imagined. If they did, there would be far fewer failures in the development
of genetically modified seeds. U.S. and Canadian farmers are basically
financing these companies efforts and as if these farmers can afford to be
giving any more of their money away.

In much of the press, the process is described in simple terms. It is not
simple. Furthermore, they are messing around with plant genetic structures
that they do not fully understand either. Why are some aspects of genetic
structure "turned on" in the resulting plant while others are "suppressed"?
What features of the plant's genetic structure appear to be dormant - but
are in fact waiting to be expressed under specific conditions? They don't
know. And neither do the producers who are planting the seed.

The development of plants with favorable qualities like pest resistance,
taste, nutritional quality, etc. is surely worth pursuing. These are not
the goals of these companies. Remember the GMO tomato that was developed to
have a 3 week + shelf life. They marketed it as a gourmet tomato but it
tasted terrible. In the end, who are the consumers and what do they want?
GMO developers could care less.

What kind of a manufacturer or producer would buy inputs (parts or whatever)
that have no immediate, long-range or apparently desirable qualities for
their customers? Well, one group of such producers are farmers who buy and
plant GMOs.







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