Bio technology

[The Gaffer]

Bumping this topic up because it came up in another thread, and I thought it'd be worth revisiting.

The UK has just finished the first extensive trials on the environmental impact of GM foods. Note, firstly, that this research focused on a relatively narrow question:

The farm-scale evaluations (FSEs) looked at how GM herbicide-tolerant (GMHT) crops might affect farmland weeds and insects, both of them important food sources for wild creatures. The GMHT crops can be sprayed with a particular weedkiller and still prosper while "pest" plants in the field are killed.

Some insects, such as bees (in beet crops) and butterflies (in beet and rape), were found more frequently in and around the conventional crops because there were more weeds to provide food and cover. In contrast, growing GM maize was better for many groups of wildlife than conventional maize.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3197480.stm

At the same time, the Government has concluded that there is little short-term economic benefit to be had from them.

Report of Government Assessment

Does any of this change your mind about GM crops? Or is GM something about which your opinions are "fixed in stone"?

[Sheeana]

Ah, this was a good thread. *wipes away tears*

Anyway, our GE moratorium finishes today (I think.) Stupid middle-class protestors will be out making last minute protests, and setting fires to things, no doubt.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/SC0309/S00059.htm
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PO0309/S00058.htm

I think they have perfectly valid concerns (see my thoughts on this at the beginning of the thread under BeardofPants), BUT, cutting out biotechnology completely is just nuts.

[The Gaffer]

Yeah, those stories pretty much accord with what I think. As more and more research appears, we're finding out (surprise, surprise) that we know f-all about the broader implications of GM crops.

Not all GE technologies are the same, of couse, but the signs are that they're going to be used to benefit the manufacturers before the farmers or consumers.

Since it's already been taken on board in the US, I can see a trade war brewing over it.

NZ would be mad to discard the "GM free" brand ID at a time like this.

[Sheeana]

Originally posted by The Gaffer

NZ would be mad to discard the "GM free" brand ID at a time like this.

Yeah, but given that NZ's entire industry revolves around exports, I think they'd be pretty mad to write it off completely. ANYWAY, with the end of the moratorium, it just means that we'll be allowed tightly controlled experiments in LABS ONLY, not that we'll be unleashing it upon the unsuspecting public.

[afro-elf]

check out

www.betterhumans.com

and transhumanism

[Valandil]

Ah... the Numenorean Condition!

[The Gaffer]

Thanks for the link.

Transhumanism:

The intellectual and cultural movement that affirms the possibility and desirability of fundamentally improving the human condition through applied reason, especially by developing and making widely available technologies to eliminate aging and greatly enhance human intellectual, physical, and psychological capacities.

No problem with that per se, but of course, the devil is in the detail. Have you read Iain Banks' novels about The Culture?

As gene research progresses, its pace slows. We mapped the genome, but the details of how it all works seems to be more complicated than was expected.

There's a political aspect to this too: raise expectations to get funding.