cut and paste

Scientists "cut and paste" a gene from another organism into a plant's DNA to give it a new characteristic. This can be to increase yield or to allow the plant to exist in a more hostile environment than normal. Pro-GM scientists say this means cheaper more plentiful food but opponents argue we do not know the consequences of meddling with nature However, modern GM is controversial because critics say the modified crops could "escape" and cross with wild plants, with unknown consequences. They also argue that more chemicals are used on some GM fields which may have a negative impact on other plants and wildlife. And while no study has found GM food to be harmful to humans, opponents say it is too soon to be sure.

Seeds of some genetically modified crops can endure in soil for at least 10 years, scientists have discovered.
Researchers in Sweden examined a field planted with experimental oilseed rape a decade ago, and found transgenic specimens were still growing there. This was despite intensive efforts in the intervening years to remove seeds.
"We were surprised, very surprised," Tina D'Hertefeldt from Lund University told BBC News. "We knew that volunteers had been detected earlier, but we thought they'd all have gone by now." for two years, inspectors looked specifically for volunteer plants and killed them. But even so, 15 plants had sprung up 10 years later carrying the genes that scientists had originally inserted into their experimental rape

"It means that if farmers want to swap [from growing GM rape] to conventional varieties, they will have to wait for a number of years." (yeh, a whole bunch of number of years)

Rapeseed – in Canadian, canola - is the fourth most commonly grown GM crop in the world, after soya beans, maize and cotton. calculated recently that more than one million square kilometres of land across the world are now dedicated to growing GM plants.

"Despite the best efforts by the researchers to eliminate GM oilseed rape, it appears that once it is planted, it is virtually impossible to prevent GM contamination of future crops," she said.
"This study confirms that GM crops are difficult to confine," Professor Mark Westoby, a plant ecologist from Macquarie University in Australia, said. "We should assume that GM organisms cannot be confined, and ask instead what will become of them when they escape."

Science wins again
They certainly look like the good guys ! All we need to do is to wait for the formal scientific assurance that indeedy, when GM ‘stuff’ escapes the results will all be benign and certainly there will be NO harm what ever to humans !

But why all the surprise ? ? Once again the farmer – who is outstanding in his field – has been decades ahead of the Experts. In our own garden, two years after we moved in we had poppies growing. Not that we planted them. Life is so inveterate and tenacious – once God wound it up and got it going it just keeps on going and going … you mess with it, it bites back !

legit crook

“ Under the microscope the round bundles of cells look like any other three-day-old embryos. In fact they are hybrids - part-human, part-animal.

It (research center) acted ahead of the passing of new legislation which will specifically allow the creation of hybrid embryos so as not to hold back research. The bill setting out the new legislation is not due to be debated in the House of Commons until next month.

So what possible justification can scientists offer for doing what the Catholic Church has branded "experiments of Frankenstein proportion"?

The hybrid embryos are purely for research and would never be allowed to develop beyond 14 days when they are still smaller than a pinhead. "This is licensed work which has been carefully evaluated. This is a process in a dish, and we are dealing with a clump of cells which would never go on to develop. It's a laboratory process and these embryos would never be implanted into anyone.” (we are supposed to believe this guy ? ? ?)

Professor John Burn from Newcastle University says the research is entirely ethical. "

I should reallllllllllly like to know how John can think to justify the use of the word “ethical”. I should realllllllllly like to know ! ! ! Far a I can see he has NO basis what ever to use that word except his own inflated ego.

It is OK to act before it is lawfull – ‘so as not to hold back research’. What kind of justification is that ? ? ? So I will rob a bank because my family needs food and the government hasn’t gotten around to passing a bill yet to say that it is OK if I do rob a bank when my family is starving. HA ! Seeeems to me I have seen this sort of thing happening over and over. The homo group here and there thought nothing of doing illegal things in order to push their agenda. Morgantiler went ahead and performed abortions when it was illegal, what is this waiting around till the government catches up ?? Sort of like Howard. Put the movie away and advertise like mad till the censorship review board catches up and says that it is OK. Yeh, Yeh, he didn’t actualllllly SHOW the movie …. Push the limit ! ! ! It is ok for the homo group to violently assault those who are standing for what the law says is right BUT as soon as the law reneges even a tiny little fraction it is NOT OK for what is now the opposition, to even THINK of forming a rally in the name of reason and goodness and decency.