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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Transgenic technology (was: Grapple)

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  • From: Betty Mayfield <bmayfield@opusnet.com>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Transgenic technology (was: Grapple)
  • Date: Tue, 07 Apr 2009 14:59:30 -0700

To the list,

This is part of a long involved message, but I believe I am replying to Matt's forwarding of Alex's comment on a message from Kevin. The comment is quoted here:

" I understand that many people are concerned about introducing genes from 
one organism into another...personally, I am not.  It is a judgenment 
call, and on that point, I am content to disagree."

I agree that it is a judgement call, but that is possible only if we are provided with all the information with which to make that call.  A couple of years ago there was an initiative put on the Oregon ballot that would require foods containing genetically modified ingredients to carry that information on the label. A poll taken when it was first introduced was highly in favor of the initiative.

But then "Big Agriculture" and "Big Groceries" got in to the act and campaigned against it, spending what was a record amount of money for a state campaign. They said requiring such a line on a label would cause a lot of grocery stores to go broke and would be unfair to the food products industry. As a result of this deluge of advertising, the initiative was defeated.

Now I can go into a grocery and pick up a can of pop and read on the label if is has sugar and/or caffeine or not. And I can pick up a can of soup and read how much salt it has. But if they were required to add a line to labels stating whether genetically-modified or not, it would allegedly cause a financial disaster.

Betty Mayfield

At 03:30 AM 4/7/2009, Matt wrote:
A  judgment, based on infections that are totally preventable, somehow justifies "scientific" experiments on a bumbling, brainwashed public? Thaaankyou, very much mr scientist.
  I'm so glad I don't understand you!
  matt,peace

--- On Mon, 4/6/09, abb7@Lehigh.EDU <abb7@Lehigh.EDU> wrote:

From: abb7@Lehigh.EDU <abb7@Lehigh.EDU>
Subject: [NAFEX] Transgenic technology (was: Grapple)
To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
Date: Monday, April 6, 2009, 11:10 PM


-----Inline Attachment Follows-----

> From: Kevin Moore <aleguy33@yahoo.com >
> Subject: Re: [NAFEX] nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
> To: North American Fruit Explorers < nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
> Message-ID: < 590577.91256.qm@web46008.mail.sp1.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> I couldn't disagree more! Selective breeding is essentially making 
> use of a >natural process to our benefit. (Usually.) Transgenics has 
> two major flaws: It >is moving genes from animals, fungi and viruses 
> into plant material which could >never have gotten those genes in a 
> natural manner.

Many transgenic plants are made using the bacterium Agrobacterium 
tumefaciens, which makes its living inserting its DNA into the genomes 
of various plants.  Nonetheless, it is used to make transgenics that 
would not have existed without the intervention of the researcher.  I 
understand that many people are concerned about introducing genes from 
one organism into another...personally, I am not.  It is a judgenment 
call, and on that point, I am content to disagree.

> It also puts those genes in >a separate package that is not 
> integrated into the >plants' chromosomes and is >subject to migrate 
> into cells in the intestinal >tract of anything that eats >those 
> plants.

This is a misunderstanding of transgenics.  The introduced genes are 
in fact integrated directly into a chromosome, usually in the nucleus, 
but sometimes in the chloroplast.  They replicate and segregate right 
along with the rest of the DNA.  This is the only way introduced 
genetic material can be maintained in the plant.  Anything not 
integrated into a chromosome is lost.  AFAIK, the introduced genes are 
no more likely to migrate into cells in the intestinal tract than any 
other gene we eat.  If you can point me to evidence that indicates 
otherwise, I'd be very interested, especially in the mechanism.  
Documentation of horizontal gene transfer from ingested food would be 
a huge story in the field of genetics and evolution, but I've heard 
nothing of it.

> I would say transgenics is a disaster waiting to happen, except 
> several rather >major disasters have already happened. There are 
> very sound scientific reasons >as well as cultural ones for such 
> plants to have been banned in Europe.

"Major disaster" is hyperbole IMHO...how many people have died from 
eating transgenic food compared to the number of deaths from 
contaminated spinach and peanuts and other instances of food 
poisoning?  I agree that transgenic technology has its own set of 
problems, just like any other technology.  Unfortunately, the loudest 
protests often do their own cause a disservice when they are based on 
misinformation.

Alex

>> From: abb7@Lehigh.EDU
>> Sent: Apr 5, 2009 8:51 PM
>>> To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
>>> Subject: [NAFEX] nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
>>> Message: 2
>>> Date: Sun, 5 Apr 2009 09:55:08 -0700 (PDT)
>>> From: Kevin Moore <aleguy33@yahoo.com >
>>> Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Grapple
>>> To: North American Fruit Explorers < nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
>>> Message-ID: < 469850.16321.qm@web46015.mail.sp1.yahoo.com>
>>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>>>
>>> It sounds really horrible! I wonder who's brainchild that was. I
>>> remember tasting >one of the first GM tomatoes that was touted as
>>> the future because it had this >really long shelf life. It tasted
>>> like gasoline! I still don't understand what is >so wrong with our
>>> natural produce that "they" keep wanting to mess with it.

>> Does grafting and countless generations of selective breeding not
>> count as "messing with it"?  Most of the fruit trees we grow are not
>> really "natural"...  Transgenic technology is just another tool to
>> introduce new characteristics to the plants.

Alex


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