permaculture

[Jack Rowe <jackrowe@compuserve.com>]

Good post, John!

Re: >>it seems far less likely that anyone would intentionally produce such
a plant [with herbicide resistance] and producing it by "accident" would be
extremely unlikely.<<

We do produce pesticide-resistant plants 'accidentally' (are there any
'accidents'?... see quote below), by natural breeding processes -- and
mighty effectively. This is the originating reason behind the gene-splicing
work to artificially breed herbicide resistance into plants of commercial
value -- because the weeds previously controlled by Roundup et al have
developed great resistance to these toxins (too bad the same can't be said
for most of the rest of us). Our food and fiber plants lag behind in
adaptation because they do not enjoy the genetic variability -- and
therefore adaptability -- of wild plants... so we 'need' to breed our food
plants to accept more poisons without dying. Gene-splicing in turn is
needed because we've trashed the genetic variability of our food plants so
far that natural selection fails them.

A genetically-diverse plant population (or insects, bacteria, etc) will
adapt rapidly to ANY non-lethal influence, because there will be
individuals with existing traits and/or mutations which allow them to
survive and adapt. Successive generations move toward coexistence with the
non-lethal influence. In the process, genetic material associated with
plants which don't survive is simply lost. Non-lethal influences include
weather patterns, cultural techniques, and any poison applications with
less than a 100% kill rate... basically, all poison applications are less
than 100% effective, making all poison use part of an especially insidious
breeding program).

This statement definition from Ambrose Bierce's "Devil's Dictionary"
relates to why I put 'accidentally' in quote marks above:

"Accident: An inevitable event occuring due to the action of immutable
natural laws"... 

Jack