To comment on Garth's position on the transgenic plants.  I'm not an
expert on the subject but I do work with people trying to create these
modified plants.  I'm also a person with alergies so the subject is a
matter of survival.
 
><<There is mention of the possibility that people may be allergic to
>GMO's. Basically if a thing contains protein it is perfectly
>possible to be allergic to it. It is also perfectly possible to
become desensitized to that allergy.>>
 
Yes, but only if you come in contact with small quantities in frequent
>doses.  This is not necessarily the scenario in transformed plants.
>
><<DNA codes largely for protein structures. If for instance one takes a
>bit of DNA from some funny south american tree and slaps it into a
>tomato to confer resistance to a fungus, there is no reason why this
>will damage a person. We eat hundreds of similar substances and have
>bacteria and yeasts producing similar things in out stomach in
kilogram quantities over our lives.>>
 
The problem with transgenic plants is that the process does not just
slap any DNA into the transformed plant.  To be successful, the
transformed plant must produce the foreign protien so that the
resistance will be transfered.  If a person consummed the protien from
the tree and experienced an allergic reaction I believe there is a high
probability that the person would experience an allergic reaction when
they consummed the transformed tomato.  On the positive side though,
although not possible now, it seems very likely, someday,  that the
tranformation could be limited to vulnerable parts of the plant and
turned off in the parts we consume.
>
><<Likewise if a bee collects some pollen from a transgenic (plant which
>contains DNA from another source other than it's own kind and
>parents) plant and comes back to the hive and digests it, that
>transgenic DNA will be digested just like any other chunk of DNA and
>used to make new bees. IT is a bit like stealing the plans for a
>bomb, printing it out and cutting out all the letters. If you then
>use those letters to write a love letter one is no longer
transmitting the knowledge about how to build the same type of bomb.>>
 
As I pointed out above, I would still have questions about how safe
pollen is when collected from transformed plants.  It would depend on
how the resistance is conferred.  On the other hand, I'd feel perfectly
safe eating honey from transformed plants since it is just a mix of
>sugars and water collected from the plants
>
<<Garth Cambray           Camdini Apiaries>>
 
 
Lisa Keeler
 
>