Sen Ruderman, where is the proof

[OpenD]

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Originally posted by Permie
As I've mentioned, I am not anti GMO. I just want the proper research done on every single new variety just like every single new medication has to go through rigorous testing.

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I defer to the wisdom of Dr. Gonsalvez, who developed UH SunUp, the original ring spot virus resistant papaya that saved the industry while working as a researcher at Cornell university. He said (paraphrased) all I did was flip a couple of genetic switches to allow the papaya to use its own immune system to inoculate itself against the virus. It was a papaya before, it's still a papaya.

And 20 years later it is still a papaya.

Now, stop and think of a several much bigger changes that have occurred in our food supply involving more substantial genetic alteration, although not man-made. The navel orange was a spontaneous change that happened to one specific tree in Riverside, California many years ago. Nobody knows what caused it, possibly a random gamma ray passing through a single seed and altering it, and thus changing major characteristics of the fruit. But did anyone regard it as dangerous? No, they regarded it as luscious, and stood in line to obtain it.

Same thing happened with the Hass avocado in Long Beach, California in the 1920s. Apparently a spontaneous sport found in his hobby orchard by a postal carrier named Hass, it has become the dominant variety in domestic production. Was anyone scared of it? Dis it need to be tested for three generations to determine if it was safe? No. People just found it to be delicious, and bought it, and ate it.

But when scientific researchers emulate the sport variation... but deliberately, instead of waiting around for some chance gamma ray to roll the genetic dice... they are pilloried. Sorry, wait... did I tell you about the Loganberry?

Irony of irony to me, the folks who are pushing the scary-scary agenda all venerate Big Herbal, which is essentially a mirror twin of Big Pharma, but on the rough side, without standards and regulation to assure safety and efficacy.

The SunUp was a papaya before. It's still a papaya. Why can't people just accept that? 20 years later, why can't people just accept that?