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A: FROM LAURIE A. IN CT
Gale Group has a wonderful database for exploring the pro's
and con's of controversial issues. It has several essays on
genetically engineered foods.
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A: FROM MENTOR NORRIE ROBBINS
IN CA
I know it sounds pretty cool—genetically modifying plants
so that humans
can show they are in charge and can bend plants to their will.
This is the
classic thought process of the Anglo-Saxon/Judeo/Christians.
However, this
is not the thought process of native peoples who understand
that humans
coevolved with the plants (for the past 195,000 years).
My ethnobotany teacher, a Kumeyaay Indian traditional healer
(botanist/MD), teaches that we took care of the plants and
the plants took
care of us. Now we are telling the plants: you are no longer
good enough
for us. Will the plants turn their chemicals against us and
say: you are
no longer good enough for us? To the Native American way of
thinking, we
respect the plants because they are our relatives. So when
we pick them,
we tell them our intent, ask their permission, and say a prayer
for them
afterwards.
When we genetically modify a plant, the change reverberates
through the
entire ecosystem. It changes the relationship between the
plant and its
viruses/bacteria/fungi, its internal and external insect populations,
its
bird/bat/insect pollinators, its soil/water/air, its relationship
with
other plants, and its eaters including the insects/animals/humans.
If the
modification enters the genetic make-up of the plant, then
it will affect
all the generations into the future, all the future generations
of
viruses, bacteria, fungi, insects, plants, animals, and humanoids.
People
are making decisions to do this for what reason? To get a
tougher skin on
its fruit so it travels better in a box? But the plant has
a soft skin so
animals can easily bite into it and carry its seeds to new
places. To get
the plant to make medicine for people? But the plant already
makes the
medicine for the people. To kill the insects that eat it?
But we are
genetically related to the insects and share at least 95%
of our genes.
Let’s change the argument to discuss what is needed,
as opposed to what is
not needed. What are the technical fields that require human
brains to fix
or change? I see water, trash, and energy problems that need
solving
because our species has overpopulated the Earth. The water
of the entire
Earth is no longer safe for animals to drink—not the
ocean, not the ground
water, not the surface water. Hundreds of soluble compounds
that harm
animals are found in each milliliter of water. Trash covers
the surface of
the Earth and is being deposited in rivers, lakes, and oceans,
thereby
entering the permanent sedimentary record. Envision this future:
humans
living on trash dumps, eating food that has been genetically
modified to
extract nutrients from trash dumps. Or envision this future:
genetically
modifying bacteria to break trash such as styrofoam, plastic,
paper, or
aluminum back down to their original components or to components
that
won’t kill off other species. Of course, this would be
unbelievably
difficult to accomplish because one would need to create a
whole series of
species to handle specific conditions depending whether they
are attacking
trash on the open surface, in freshwater or seawater where
there is sun
and oxygen, or in underground environments where there is
oxygen, little
oxygen, or no oxygen. Now, that’s a future field worth
considering.
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