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Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!!
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To: Krowbar who wrote (38498)5/24/1999 6:14:00 AM
From: Chuzzlewit  Read Replies (3) of 108807
 
Okay, I can't stand it any more:
Nature genetically engineers plants all of the time. It's called natural selection.

No, the processes are very different. Natural selection depends upon the survival and fecundity of naturally occurring phenotypes under natural conditions. Genetic engineering depends upon the creation of and nurturing of a specific genotype that the geneticist decides is valuable. This should not be confused with artificial selection, which is the result of selective breeding to establish naturally occurring allotypes that the breeder wishes to encourage. For example, breeds of dogs arose as the result of artificial selection, but this is different from genetic engineering, where foreign genes are inserted into an organism.

For example, genetic engineering can insert the gene of human proinsulin into a bacterium allowing for the commercial production of human insulin. Neither natural selection nor artificial selection could ever result in the creation of such an organism. The use of pesticides has resulted in the existence of DDT resistance in flies through natural selection. Ditto the existence of antibiotic resistant bacteria. In the case of corn, the gene for Bt toxin was transferred from a bacterium, Bacillus thuringienensis to corn.

The real problem is the release of engineered organisms into the environment. The existence of the Bt toxin in corn pollen is such an example, because the action of the toxin is not specific. The issue may not restricted to the potential danger to the monarch butterfly. It might exist for other species of ecologically important organisms which could cause major shifts in the ecosystem -- shifts which have unknown and potentially untoward consequences.

TTFN,
CTC
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