Genetic Engineering
http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/campaigns/genetic-engineering/ge-industry
Okay, I'm not quite sure I completely believe this "leaked report" thing. It seems that everyone has jumped on this bandwagon of the Bush administration "supressing reports". So, I will wait until the report is released before I put full judgement down..
The reason I was looking for information on genetic engineering is because it is one of the subjects we are covering in my class. I need to have a better understanding of it before I go and rant about bad chemicals in our food. My teacher said, "People use genetic engineering to make food bigger and better." Isn't that the fucking problem with a lot of things? There are different ways to genetically alter plants - you can use chemicals or you can just mess with the genes by removing or adding certain genes.. A case in point is adding the gene of a certain type of fish that lives and thrives in extremely cold conditions (the gene that makes them able to do this) and inserting it into a tobacco plant to make it more cold hardy. I'm not sure how or when they inserted the gene (embryo? zygote?), but that is pretty amazing. The problem with altering genes, as can be understood a little from reading the article on greenpeace.org, is that you don't know how the outcome will be for the species in the long run. Sometimes it can take up to 5 years just to get ONE result in breeding tests, too..
Okay, the geekiness must stop.
Wishing the best of luck and love with Jessica, her brother Jason and the rest of their family in dealing with their mother's death yesterday.
Okay, I'm not quite sure I completely believe this "leaked report" thing. It seems that everyone has jumped on this bandwagon of the Bush administration "supressing reports". So, I will wait until the report is released before I put full judgement down..
The reason I was looking for information on genetic engineering is because it is one of the subjects we are covering in my class. I need to have a better understanding of it before I go and rant about bad chemicals in our food. My teacher said, "People use genetic engineering to make food bigger and better." Isn't that the fucking problem with a lot of things? There are different ways to genetically alter plants - you can use chemicals or you can just mess with the genes by removing or adding certain genes.. A case in point is adding the gene of a certain type of fish that lives and thrives in extremely cold conditions (the gene that makes them able to do this) and inserting it into a tobacco plant to make it more cold hardy. I'm not sure how or when they inserted the gene (embryo? zygote?), but that is pretty amazing. The problem with altering genes, as can be understood a little from reading the article on greenpeace.org, is that you don't know how the outcome will be for the species in the long run. Sometimes it can take up to 5 years just to get ONE result in breeding tests, too..
Okay, the geekiness must stop.
Wishing the best of luck and love with Jessica, her brother Jason and the rest of their family in dealing with their mother's death yesterday.