01-07-2010, 02:09 PM
Perhaps some clarification would be needed on the GMO issue. It's been a source of confusion in the past.
A "GMO" crop as registered/recognized by the USDA or FDA means the crop has been modified by "recombinant DNA procedures" in an elective disclosure process under very narrowly defined guidelines. Meaning, a company has the choice to register or not. When a crop is registered as GMO that's what it means. It has a patent gene created by these processes. Obviously there's no weed that qualifies as GMO by this definition. There's many strains of corn that do, or soybeans, as a counter example, and they dominate the food industry.
A GMO organism from a scientific point of view--not an official point of view--means an organism that has had its DNA modified by some means. A common means since the late 50's was radiation mutagenisis by exposure to cobalt-50. Many many crops were modified by this cruder method, but these are not "officially" recognized as GMO crops, (or the hardcore anti-GMO crowd, for some reason) though they are indeed GMO in fact by the scientific definition. Whether you care or not is up to you. It's important to make that distinction, as it can confuse people. Use of such GMO crops is completely ubiquitous and some of them are even certified organic, or so I understand.
As I understand it, even the USDA definition is under review to expand the definition. You can splice genes from wheat to wheat with a gene gun but must report if you spice genes from wheat to shrimp or some such. I haven't followed that closely lately, but it's worth a look.
I bring this up to hope to avoid a bit of needless definition conflict.
http://sensiblesimplicity.lefora.com/
A "GMO" crop as registered/recognized by the USDA or FDA means the crop has been modified by "recombinant DNA procedures" in an elective disclosure process under very narrowly defined guidelines. Meaning, a company has the choice to register or not. When a crop is registered as GMO that's what it means. It has a patent gene created by these processes. Obviously there's no weed that qualifies as GMO by this definition. There's many strains of corn that do, or soybeans, as a counter example, and they dominate the food industry.
A GMO organism from a scientific point of view--not an official point of view--means an organism that has had its DNA modified by some means. A common means since the late 50's was radiation mutagenisis by exposure to cobalt-50. Many many crops were modified by this cruder method, but these are not "officially" recognized as GMO crops, (or the hardcore anti-GMO crowd, for some reason) though they are indeed GMO in fact by the scientific definition. Whether you care or not is up to you. It's important to make that distinction, as it can confuse people. Use of such GMO crops is completely ubiquitous and some of them are even certified organic, or so I understand.
As I understand it, even the USDA definition is under review to expand the definition. You can splice genes from wheat to wheat with a gene gun but must report if you spice genes from wheat to shrimp or some such. I haven't followed that closely lately, but it's worth a look.
I bring this up to hope to avoid a bit of needless definition conflict.
http://sensiblesimplicity.lefora.com/