Lloyd Spear wrote:

> I am one of those who think much hysteria is evident in all the opposition
> to GM crops.  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.

I agree, but I disagree with the direction GM has been going in recent years.
As I understand it, with very limited knowledge, companies can now patent a line
of plants by incorporating foreign genes into the "normal" genetic structure.
The example I heard (on the radio) was incorporation of swine DNA fragments into
crop plants, with the express purpose of creating a patentable product, not
because the new strain had better qualities.  Has anyone else heard of this
approach ??
-- John
-----------------------------------------------------------
John F. Edwards
Biological Lab. Technician
"Feral Bee Tracker and AHB Identifier"
Carl Hayden Bee Research Center
Agricultural Research Service - USDA
2000 E. Allen Road
Tucson, Arizona 85719

32.27495 N
110.9402 W
http://198.22.133.109/
http://gears.tucson.ars.ag.gov/home/edwards/edwards.html