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Joe, I am far from convinced that even human vaccines are harmless
and working. Take for instance the flu vaccine. In an average year
2.6% of the population may get the flu. Vaccinated people have a 1.4%
chance to get the flu. So at best it seems that flu vaccination may
protect an extra one % of the population at great cost. And if you
look carefully then you will find that all the studies in favor of
vaccination are sponsored by the vaccine producers. Many other
studies find that vaccines give no extra protection at all or may
cause a disease worse than the one vaccinated against. Shingles were
almost exclusively the problem of elderly people but as soon as the
vaccine against chicken pox came on the market even children now get
shingles. Gardasil to me is too foul for words but it makes it
obvious what drives this : profit.
I also am not sure that plants have an immune system that is anywhere
the same as that found in mammals. It is possible that plants
produce more phytochemicals as a reaction to a pathogen challenge but
I have never found that quantified. I have instead found many more
complex ecological responses in plant diseases I have studied not as
a scientist but as a farmer. I suspect that plants may exude a sort
of attractant to organisms that eat the disease that threatens them.
(definitely potato blight, clubroot in crucifers and onion rot) One
can get easily rid of these diseases completely by creating
ecological conditions that suppress the disease. I would suggest that
this is also the reason that compost tea works. And if fire blight
were a problem to me I would first try to compost infected plant
parts and make a compost tea from this going on past experience.
Further, even if Harpin actually works as advertised now, does this
not train plants eventually not to react to the real treat rather
instead of the opposite? Producing a phytochemical is always
expensive for the plant and if it is forced to do that continuously
when there is no real treat it might soon stop to react even when
eventually the real treat shows up. If on the other hand there exists
an organism that naturally fights fire blight and that is attracted
by Harpin then this may soon become extinct since it finds nothing to
eat when it arrives.
I have other questions. Is the harpin protein identical to the one
produced by fire blight? That is not completely obvious to me.
John
Thanks Margaret and all others responding to my question. I find
that those selling Harpen as an organic pesticide tend to very
misleading regarding the fact that the commercial product is
produced by a transgene in E coli. An example of such a pitch is
given below. Also its use in organic production is a slippery slope
and the GM harpen products are looming and these will likely be
used as a wedge to allow USDA to declare transgenic crops to be
organic? Bothell, Washington-based Eden Bioscience has developed
the pesticide alternative they've dubbed Messenger—a product that
works on plants much the same way that a vaccine protects humans
from disease.Utilizing harpin, a naturally occurring protein first
discovered at Cornell University, Messenger—which received EPA
approval in 2000—activates a plant's natural defense and growth
systems. Eden says Messenger's harpin technology provides broad
protection against disease and reduces damage caused by pests.
This, claims Eden, leads to improved plant growth, crop yield and
quality. Even though the EPA classifies Messenger as a biochemical
pesticide, growers can be assured they are being ecologically
conscious when they use Messenger. That's because the harpin
protein in Messenger is virtually nontoxic. In addition, the plant
never actually absorbs the protein.
http://www.albrightseed.com/newtechnology.htm cheers, joe cummins
Important: EMPLOY is a natural product, but is not certified USDA
Organic and may not be used as part of a USDA Organic agriculture
program. On 11/25/2011 8:05 AM, Margaret Lauterbach wrote:
At 03:50 AM 11/25/2011, you wrote:
Check out the fact sheet at
http://www.epa.gov/oppbppd1/biopesticides/ingredients/factsheets/factsheet_006477.htm
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