Just a simple question.

Read the forum code of contact

Member for

11 years 5 months

Posts: 11,141

I think you will find that the genetic transformation methods for plants, agrobacterium being the favoured method, are neither botany nor chemistry but the research and applications cross fertilise a myriad of scientific sub-divisions such are the complexities of 21st century science.

What it is called matters little anyway - it is simply the current day application utilising the latest science of what man has been doing for 10,000 years. And it will continue regardless of the outdated concerns of a certain heir to a throne and his fellow travellers.

Member for

12 years 11 months

Posts: 6,535

I cannot with truth comment that I'm really bothered one way or another. I'm a strong believer and supporter of scientific research but, not uncritically. GM foods might prove to be the saviour of mankind but, they might not.

Some years ago, I was involved with Imperial College, London on the subject of the safe disposal of some quite nasty toxic waste material. What helped to make our case were the accelerated wear tests that were designed and used whereby we could show that the rate of leaching from an encapsulation medium was - if extrapolated over a long period from condensed experiments in the laboratory - controlled and progressive and did not exceed approved limits for discharge to the environment.

I mention this because if it were possible to devise some kind of accelerated use test for GM foods whereby we condensed say, fifty years of use into six months of laboratory trial, this might have the effect of increasing consumer confidence. How one would induce a mass of people to participate is another matter.

Member for

11 years 5 months

Posts: 11,141

My feeling is that since in one form or another the mutation of plants and crops both naturally and artificially has been with us for so long without people realising it, that it will continue and in another 10, 20 years will be the norm. It will certainly continue to enhance crop yields in the third and second worlds and in many well developed countries as well. And the availability of so called organic produce at inflated prices will also continue unless it becomes unsustainable.

Member for

16 years 2 months

Posts: 2,248

...the availability of so called organic produce at inflated prices will also continue unless it becomes unsustainable.

Which it potentially has in California due to recent drought and subsequent restrictions on the usage of water I believe.

Member for

13 years 5 months

Posts: 3,381

Why isn't anyone talking about population control?
It was a big topic in the 70s-80s..now you never hear of it.

Because population is a solved problem. In fact, fertility levels in most advanced societies -- and many that aren't so advanced -- are below replacement level. As for the rest, we know how to get there. Of course, it'll take some time for that to actually happen, and in any case we'll spend the next couple of centuries dealing with the growth we're already committed to, but from a big picture perspective it's not a complicated problem -- we're not going to go on multiplying like bacteria.