Carry On My Wayward Gene 5

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1. 

   edarnold41 Posted 4:11 am
   02 Mar 2007

   'Frankenrice": NIMBYSo, let's see: the proteins produced by growing this rice could contribute to saving the lives of a couple of million sick Third-World children. On the other hand, some well-fed, healthy, educated Americans with PPO's have qualms that the pollen from this rice might contaminate the rice crops that aren't being grown in Kansas anyway.
   
   What to do, what to do?
   
   Oh, silly me: it's AGRIBIZ promoting a GENETICALLY ENGINEERED product, so let the kids die. Sorry, my knee-jerk circuits must have been malfunctioning...

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2. 

   nosmokes Posted 7:28 am
   02 Mar 2007

   human gene rice will save 3rd world babes huh?i seriously doubt that the planting of this untested, untried 'solution' is the best answer, or if it even makes it onto the the top 20 list. it definitely doesn't have a beat you can dance to. children with diarrhea in developing countries are usually getting it from bad water and the best answe is giving them clean water. since every single introduction of a GMO crop so far has led to increased usage of pesticides that will eventually befoul the water  this is no solution, simply another way of making money off of the those that can least afford to spare any more.please keep your high tech solutions to yourself.

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3. 

   Ivriniel Posted 3:55 am
   03 Mar 2007

   Rice in Kansas?Where's the water for that little venture going to come from?
   The Ogallala Aquifer is being drained at a 1000 times the recharge rate to grow wheat in Kansas, so now we're going to start growing crops that require periodic flooding?
   Ivriniel

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4. 

   cromike Posted 4:20 am
   06 Mar 2007

   Was the old version that bad?If the goal is to save lives around the world, why not start by feeding the hungry?  Any kind of rice will do for that.  
   
   I am not as opposed to genetic engineering as Bricolage seems to be.  I am not worried that scientists might create some kind of El Seed super plant-villian (see the cartoon, The Tick).  What worries me is that, by playing around with the nature of the stuff we need to exist (in this case our food), we are creating conditions that will aid in the evolution of super germs.  But then again, I am still glad that penicillin is used to save lives, even if it has made some of the germs more dangerous.
   
   <img src="http://www.thetick.ws/images/elseed.jpg" alt="El Seed">
   
   

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5. 

   cromike Posted 4:41 am
   06 Mar 2007

   AmenYes, this area was once called the Great American Desert.  And later, we called it the dust bowl.  Now we see it as the Nile River Valley!?  When did this happen?  Somehow my local weather station missed that one.

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