Ah, but seedless watermelons cannot, without our help, survive, let alone
take over the habitat.  The Hale peach was a sport which an observant
orchardist spotted and perpetuated by grafting onto the same stock he'd
been using for years.

This seems to me a far cry from deliberate insertion of genes to produce
chemicals which the plant doesn't usually produce and which may or may not
exist in nature; or produce plants which are immune to the heavy artillery
we have come to depend on to eradicate "weeds."

Either one is capable of great harm if released capable of reproduction.
And if capable of crossing with other plants, we could find ourselves in
deep do.


On Fri, 19 May 2000, Lloyd Spear wrote:


> ... In discussing seedless watermelons and cucumbers Dave Green
> said "Parthenocarpy is a defect in the wild, but man has occasionally found
> a mutation with the defect, and maintained it for his own purposes. It is a
> defect because the plant now more or less needs man's aid to reproduce."

> Let's see, it seems to me that somehow a genetic modification occurred, that
> would have naturally died out, but humans have maintained it.  The
> watermelons have been around for 40 or more years.

---------------
Richard Yarnell, SHAMBLES WORKSHOPS | No gimmick we try, no "scientific"
Beavercreek, OR. Makers of fine     | fix we attempt, will save our planet
Wooden Canoes, The Stack(R) urban   | until we reduce the population. Let's
composter, fly tying benches        | leave our kids a decent place to live.