From: Robert J. Bradbury (bradbury@aeiveos.com)
Date: Fri May 30 2003 - 19:43:27 MDT
On Fri, 30 May 2003, Party of Citizens wrote:
> Is it even a gene-mutation effect? I was trying to differentiate between
> gene mutations and gene splicing in genetic engineering. The latter has a
> number of success stories going for it. I don't know of any for the
> former. Do you?
"Golden rice" and most other GMO crops (or animals) are what
one could call "gene splicing" products. But all natural
breeding (think of the varieties of roses) are "gene mutation"
products. Most modern agricultural products are combinations
of "gene mutation" and "gene breeding" products. Gene breeding
could be viewed in some ways as a "natural" form of "gene splicing".
Humans have been selecting and breeding from both "natural" and
"generated" (using radiation) mutations for many many years
(the "natural" approach since the dawn of agriculture).
This is a major reason that scientists who really understand
genetics and the history of crop development view the GMO
crop debate as somewhat contrived.
Robert
P.S. A "Google" on "Golden rice" and daffodils provides some
interesting reading. The genes added to produce "golden rice"
are "natural" but somewhat foreign.
P.P.S. A good percentage of "natural" mutations are generated by "natural"
radiation (e.g. cosmic rays, radioactive potassium or UV radiation) so any
debates about the use of radiation to produce new types of crops is pretty
specious too.
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