[GPSCC-chat] 100% Gene Expression Is The Next Disaster On The GMO Front

[John Thielking]

Hello,

Things are going well for me in Eugene right now, if I don't include the
latest tidbits from the Eugene Facebook group "GMOs: Separating the Hybrid
Wheat from the rhetorical chaff".  Below I have included some tidbits
gleened from the discussion in that FB group. It doesn't look good for the
home team.

It all starts with an article published on the pbs web site, located here:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/next/evolution/crispr-gene-drives/

In this article the authors are saying that the developers of a new fangled
GMO technology are asking for input from stakeholders before they let their
latest GMO technology escape into the wild. Unfortunately, there doesn't
seem to be an easy way to give feedback. There is no comments section on
the pbs web site, no e-mail addresses for the authors and no specific
institute mentioned that is promoting this new technology.

Below I have pasted my comments about this article taken from my FB wall,
along with a link to an article that talks about a letter that over 800
scientists have signed onto asking for a 5 year moratorium on the
proliferation of GMOs.  I'm sure that these scientists would also object to
the 100% gene expression technique.

Comments from FB:

The people who want this and who want GMOs to proliferate think that this
latest technique, which will cause 100% gene expression in subsequent
generations instead of the current technology's 50% gene expression, is the
ultimate solution. While the believers of Organics and labeling/banning of
GMOs think that this technique is the ultimate problem, spelling disaster
for Organics if it ever gets out into the wild and spreads GMO traits in
the wild.

The proponents of GMOs say that if Organics get contaminated with GMO gene
expression (which they freely admit is possible through the mechanism of
transferring say BT expression from a GMO crop to wild weeds and then back
through the same mechanism in reverse to contaminate Organic crops) that
they can simply do the reverse engineering process that is mentioned in the
article and cancel out any proliferation of GMO traits in contaminated
Organic crops. Well I say, that's BS. The Organic crop would not be
genetically identical to the original after the contamination followed by
the reversal, because the reversal would leave the Organic crop with a 100%
expression of the "non-GMO" trait, something which up to that point had not
occurred in nature. So I'm so sorry, but you just can't have it both ways.
Either GMOs have to be banned worldwide or Organic crops will eventually
(after 20-30 years or more) become cross-contaminated with GMO traits
imported from wild weeds and the show will be over for the Organic movement.

And, by the way, that 20-30 year estimate assumes that the current 50% gene
expression technology is being used. If the 100% technique is used instead,
then the time frame shrinks to 10 years or less, worldwide.

Link to article about the 800 scientists (click on the "letter" link in the
article to see the letter and the series of reports put out by the
scientists).
http://www.getholistichealth.com/40153/800-scientists-demand-global-gmo-experiment-end/

Good luck!

Sincerely,

John Thielking

PS And a further slip down the GMO/label it ladder is revealed when
reviewing the discussion I had with people in the FB group (which can be
viewed by non members).  It seems that some of the label it crowd (myself
included) want to ban/destroy GMOs. But it is also true that the pro GMO
side appears to have a few people who are against labeling who also want to
destroy Organics. They are saying things like "some of the pesticides used
on Organic crops are more hazardous to bees than Roundup" and things like
that. It would be one thing if they were just being scientific like that
statement suggests and railing against Organics. But they also say "so
what" to the problem of cross contamination of Organics with GMO traits,
saying that the Organic crops can be made whole by reversing the genetic
engineering process that was mentioned above.
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