We are the world?

[Jim Mason]

>Actually, the firewalls between species are extremely poor, at best, in
bacteria --- current estimates are that bacterial genomes have turned over
their genes about five times already, taking in genes from the environment
and using them.

Well, if it's good enough for bacteria, then it's good enough for me!
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>Of course, one can always argue that these "racial barriers" should not be
breached, but simply look at the 1930's-40's to see what happens if one is
too strict about THAT viewpoint.

Hmmm - let's see - if I question the willy-nilly application of
gene-splicing then I am a Nazi sympathizer?  I detect a little bombast here,
and more than a little faulty logic.
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>One wonders what the view of extremes "greens" would be regarding hybrid
corn in the 1930's.

I understand some Christian sects avoid seedless fruit of any kind as an
abomination against the passage in Genesis regarding "each producing after
its own kind" or somesuch.  For my part, and I think this is something even
Bruce would agree with, homegrown tomatoes taste a WHOLE lot better than the
square (for more space-efficient packing), thick-skinned (so they can be
picked mechanically) tomatoes in the grocery store!
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Jim Mason, Naturalist
jmason at ink.org
(316) 683-5499 x103
Great Plains Nature Center
6232 E. 29th St. N.
Wichita, KS 67220-2200
http://www.gpnc.org