EPA-GMO corn little or no impact on Monarch Butterflies

[Patrick Foley]

Paul and other lepsters,

I think that genetic engineering of crops is an ancient and honorable human
undertaking. It contributes greatly to human welfare, and it is fun. I am speaking of
course, of the genetic engineering in the broad sense, including plant breeding and
the artificial selection of "sports" and also of target gene insertions.

As with everything that gets done in this universe, there are forseen and unforseen
consequences. Plant breeding and culture encouraged a big population buildup in the
early Holocene (I don't want to insult and inflame geologists by mentioning the
common names here). This led to the Parthenon and Virgil, but also to various
plagues, wars and famines, not to mention the Byzantine empire and other
dictatorships.

Contemporary genetic engineering has lots of problems. We know enough of pest control
to suspect that putting out a constant selective force (rather than targeted brutal
repressions) leads to pesticide resistance in most pests. We should have enough
foresight to recognize that taking the seeds out of the hands of farmers (as licenses
effectively do) is socially pernicious (where are the usual pro-militia voices on
this list about this loss of freedom? How would Thomas Jefferson have reacted to
Dupont or Monsanto controlling the genetic future of Monticello? We know -- he helped
found the University of Virginia). And when the next social calamity comes (war,
conquest, natural disasters on a global scale) who will supply the fragments of the
farmers their seeds? This is not an idle whimsy -- disasters always come.

I am in favor of genetic engineering, but I am not in favor of stupid avarice -- and
that is what I see in much of the field today.

Patrick Foley

Paul Cherubini wrote:

> Ron Gatrelle wrote:
>
> > Personally, I don't like genetically engineered anything.
> > Ron
>
> Hello Ron,
>
> I was wondering what your opinion is of the Biotech Industry
> argument that the increased yields made possible by GMO crops
> reduces the need to chop down wilderness in order to make room for
> crops?  Do you think this is a valid argument and desirable trade-off?
>
> Also, if geneticist Pat Foley is listening, I would be interested in his opinion.
> If I am not mistaken, I seem to remember Pat saying that yield improvements
> via GMO crops could even make it possible (theoretically) to take some
> existing Ag land out of production and restore it to wilderness.
>
> Paul Cherubini
>
>
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