Sen Ruderman, where is the proof

[peteadams]

"Nowhere within the definition was a natural exposure to solar radiation considered an artificial act and is indeed a natural act."

Geochem was not referring to the sun, but rather to "mutation breeding," a type of mutagenic plant breeding which includes exposing seed to radiation or chemicals. According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutation_breeding):

quote:

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From 1930–2007 more than 2540 mutagenic plant varietals have been released[1] that have been derived either as direct mutants (70%) or from their progeny (30%).[2] Crop plants account for 75% of released mutagenic species with the remaining 25% ornamentals or decorative plants.[3]

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Of course the sun also provides much radiation to the Earth as does the rest of the universe in the form of gamma ray and other particles, so over history any number of mutations, good and bad, have occurred to plants as the result of this universal radiation. On that basis one supposes then that Okole Puka would have to consider mutagenic breeding "natural" also.

One point that is often overlooked is the great precision and predictability of insertions of well-identified single genes by GE techniques versus the sheer randomness of traditional gene altering through pollination. If you want to produce many, many indifferent or inferior plant offspring in a quest to discover altered genes that produce a desirable plant, use traditional pollination techniques.