Re: the good fight

[Bob Hoffmann <escape@alt-escape.com>]

At 08:51 AM 12/17/1999 -0800, Travis Tonn wrote:

>     I don't understand the recent concerns over genetically altered plants
>that have superior traits to unmodified plants. ... So what are the concerns?

Here's just one concern.  Take a shellfish gene, put it into an ear of 
corn.  It may improve some traits in corn, but it may also kill my 
unwitting sister, who is allergic to shellfish.  There are documented cases 
of allergen proteins hopping from the donor species into the recipient 
species.  And yet genetic engineers claim that their products do not need 
to be tested or labeled because "we're doing the same thing that nature has 
been doing forever."

Here's another concern.  Genes apparently do migrate between different 
species naturally.  There is at least one documented case of a 
transplanting gene migrating to wild plants.  So if you are trying to 
create a "super wheat," you may be successful, but you could also 
unintentionally create a super weed.

There are plenty of other documented problems with genetic engineering.  I 
do not consider this technology to be "tinkering" with nature.  The issues 
& potential problems involved suggest that this is a much more radical 
alteration of the collective gene pool.




Bob Hoffmann
229 East C St., Suite B
Moscow, ID  83843  USA
Phone: (208) 883-0642
Fax: 1-800-683-3799
http://www.alt-escape.com