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[Photo Galleries ][Polls Discussion ] Posted by Mogli on July 03, 2003 at 14:49:49: In Reply to: Fellow Luddites posted by Ned Lud on July 03, 2003 at 14:20:37: Who bond? Any relation to James? Now he was a hitek European if there ever was one. Presumably Bond has been shaken and stirred by Monsanto or its ilk who are suffering because Europe has shut off a huge part of its market for GM crops? One of Monsanto's most successful GM modification crops is one where they have implanted a gene to make the plant resistant to Roundup (the Monsanto glyphosate product) which is a highly effective (and generally regarded as being quite environmentally friendly) herbicide. So they want to put a gene into maize, wheat etc which makes these food crops resistant to their own herbicide. This allows the big prairie farmers to spray Roundup on food crops and weeds alike knowing that the food crop will not be killed by the herbicide. It's clever but there is a known phenomenon whereby the implanted genes can 'jump' from one plant to another - viruses can transmit genetic material accidentally as well as the more deliberate controlled way that they are used to splice genes from one species into another. The danger of course is that the end result is Roundup resistant buttercups, bindweed, or think of any other hard to get rid of weed. But that's just one form of GM crop. There are loads more - frost resistant strawberries - they have a gene that produces a sort of antifreeze so that they don't go mushy in frost. But the sky is the limit so we could have crops that have genes for medicines spliced in - insulin producing beetroot say or viagra carrots or antibiotic lettuce......
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