Re: Food for thought

**"eczekalski" e*@gaias-gift.com**

But Miranda, there is not really _a_ "terminator gene".  That's a gross
oversimplification that doesn't help us understand the problem or the
opportunities.  

There are multiple technologies to prevent the reuse of seeds, or quoted
from an FAO document: "Biotechnology-based switch mechanisms to restrict the
unauthorized use of genetic material..."
http://www.fao.org/WAICENT/FAOINFO/AGRICULT/AGP/AGPS/PGR/ITWG/pdf/P1W7E.pdf

Also, a couple of years ago this came up on list that I was on and I
couldn't find good references that the transfer of genetic material through
pollination had been shown.  

Today I decided to look again.  And, for example, the sources that I could
find don't seem to show that DNA was changed by pollination in the Percy
Schmeiser case.  The articles that I read say the court left it open to
seeds drifting or the possibility that he used Monsanto seed from a
non-approved source.  

Maybe you could share a better source?

Esther Czekalski

-----Original Message-----
From: gardenwriters-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org
[g*@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Miranda Smith
Sent: Tuesday, January 31, 2006 1:17 PM
To: Garden Writers -- GWL -- The Garden Writers Forum
Subject: Re: [GWL] Food for thought

eczekalski wrote:

>I believe that the best course of action is to try to truly understand the
>risks and decide on courses of actions that control them appropriately and
>ethically.  Some genetic modifications may have little risk and others may
>be insane to introduce into the wild.  Using technology ethically is damn
>hard but technology is not all bad or all good.  To me, with genetic
>modification of food crops, that means more testing, more accurate and
>careful interpretation of the results and careful representation of what is
>known and what is not to the public.  
>  
>

That's what I am saying: we have no idea what the terminator gene can do 
and should not be releasing it. If it migrates in the same fashion as 
the round-up modification has been shown to do, it could cause havoc.

Miranda Smith

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