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Re: Glickman and Biotech



In Article <56v2g7$r5o@news.ibm.net.il>, joshua@cimatron.co.il wrote:
>Yes - and the same family of plants that gives us tomatoes also gives
>us deadly nightshade and other poisonous compounds. What do you know -
>I'll bet those compounds are also made of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen,
>and oxygen....they're still poisonous, though.

...as well as being a source of medicine. (Digitoxin is a poison, but it has
been used by heart patients for a long time.) 

>Apparently changing one or two genes CAN have great consequences.

So wouldn't changing hundreds of genes have potentially greater consequences?

>Exactly what is the effect of the spliced gene? How is the gene for
>tender breasts expressed throughout the chicken we will eat? How will
>the gene for pesticide resistance be expressed in the pollen, fruit,
>and root exudates of the plant? What substances will a gene clipped
>from ocean alga produce in a completely different environment like a
>fish or chicken? How will those substances interact with the existing
>chemical soup?
>
>How will they interact with the chemical soup of those who eat the GE
>foodstuff?

One might ask the same question of every new cultivar. What happens when we
introduce a new sunflower, produced by conventional breeding, with a darker
shade of yellow? In most such cases, it is impractical to even monitor all
of the genes which have been modified, let alone analyze all of their
potential 'interactions'.
Tracy


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