Who do they think they are! GM crops wikileak

[gregorach]

Yeah, but it's still a GE technique, and a lot of people won't look past that... Personally, I'm of the opinion that being pro- or anti-GM is like being pro- or ant-steel - it's just a technology, which can be used for good or ill. If anything, focussing on the technology itself distracts from the real problems of vertically-integrated corporate control of the food system, which all substantially pre-date GM technology.

It's not the tool that matters, it's how you use it.

[greenorelse]

It's not the tool that matters, it's how you use it.

Precisely. That was my point in asking for proof that GE actually works.

[gregorach]

It's not the tool that matters, it's how you use it.

Precisely. That was my point in asking for proof that GE actually works.

Well, it "works" in that it definitely does allow the introduction of novel traits. Whether introducing those novel traits is actually a good idea is a rather different and more complicated question... Personally, I'm of the opinion that engineered Bt toxin production is probably preferable to the current commercial alternative of large-scale insecticide spraying, and that it may have a role to play in properly-designed integrated pest management systems - but it's not permaculture. But then again, if we're going to wait for the entire world to adopt permaculture, we're going to be waiting for a very long time... Is it better to ameliorate the worst aspects of a bad system in the knowledge that such actions may help to perpetuate and extend that system, or to hold out for perfection no matter how much additional damage is done in the meantime? I don't know, and I'm not convinced that anybody else does either.

[oldjerry]

Yeah, but it's still a GE technique, and a lot of people won't look past that... Personally, I'm of the opinion that being pro- or anti-GM is like being pro- or ant-steel - it's just a technology, which can be used for good or ill. If anything, focussing on the technology itself distracts from the real problems of vertically-integrated corporate control of the food system, which all substantially pre-date GM technology.

It's not the tool that matters, it's how you use it.

Well the difference is this: Given the research costs,GM wouldn't be on the radar if there wasn't at least an immense profit (and I would argue an overiding control opportunity ) for 1 or 2 multi-nationals.
Scientists since time immemorial have hidden behind 'I just do the research, it's nothing to do with me what people do with the results'.......