CountryPlans Forum

   

   No need for condoms – GE corn can do the job.

   Having a population problem, is no longer a problem.  Just feed them some genetically engineered corn.

   Quoting from the article -
   "This corn is the same corn that according to a study by the Austrian government leads to infertility in the females of the rats that it was tested upon."

So... popcorn and sex?

...unless you are over endowed... 

...don't take the bowl under the covers... [waiting]

As far as I know, there is no such thing as non-genetically engineered corn anywhere and hasn't been for over 200 years at least. Virtually all food crops have hybridized for many years just like roses and dogs and cats and humans.  Eat, drink & be merry-----the world is a dangerous place---no one has ever made it out of here alive yet.

GM foods are very different from hybrids and genetically selected foods.  Genetically modified foods have only been around since the mapping of the genome and DNA technology in the 1990's.  What they do is take a DNA molecule from one plant (tomato) and splice it into another plant (corn).  The problem can be that they many genes control more than one function in a plant.  When splicing DNA across different species of organisms, this could switch on dormant genes in the modified organism.  This is what people fear as there could be unintended consequences. 

One of the problems is that it is not an exact science.  The normal process is splice the DNA, grow the plants and see what happens.  It could be like lead paint or asbestos, we won't know the consequences for years.

Quote from: rwanders on January 14, 2009, 03:19:22 AM
As far as I know, there is no such thing as non-genetically engineered corn anywhere and hasn't been for over 200 years at least. Virtually all food crops have hybridized for many years just like roses and dogs and cats and humans.  Eat, drink & be merry-----the world is a dangerous place---no one has ever made it out of here alive yet.

There are a few old strains that have been cultivated from the same seeds used when the country was settled. They are hard to find and a little pricey, but once you get your first crop, you have them.....since they are self pollinating, you can keep them away from other strains.

I planted some last year in my 3 sisters project, that came from Jamestown. If your neighbor plants a Frankencorn crop......................burn it ;D

I really wonder if those heirloom seeds are still pure.  ???  Especially after you grow and save seeds for a generation or two.

My reasoning comes from a news story I read earlier this year. Chili is a big crop in southern NM. There are specific strains for specific heat levels. These are hybrids. Over the years the seed people have to make adjustments to the seed stock as the characteristics of the seeds slowly change as the seed crops are slightly 'polluted' by pollen blown in from adjacent areas from plants with higher or lower scoville ratings.

We've used heirloom tomato plants - seems like they mix over time with the cherry tomatoes; also the broccoli/cauliflower & another cruciferous vegetable I can't remember right now - sometimes used as an ornamental plant - have crossed.

Squirl, you are right about the GM seeds - that's why I'm really leery of them, although we don't know what's what anymore due to the deception in labeling.  Soybeans are a big GM crop - everyone got on the bandwagon for soy milk, oil etc. 

Over a 100,000 males (heads of households) in India have committed suicide after their GM crops did not do as well as advertised & they didn't have enough money to buy new seed.  I was talking to one of the Indian doc & he said it is very sad - the reason they commit suicide is that the gov't/creditors can't come after the family & take their farms/land away then per their laws.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/7806322/The-GM-Genocide-Thousands-of-Indian-Farmers-Are-Committing-s
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5207412505897358694

It is sad about the suicides. There is an upside and a downside to the GM crops.  They can't always replant the seeds.  The main issue to the companies that make GM crops is the intellectual property rights.  So to control the intellectual property rights they make the seeds infertile for the second generation.  This way people have to go back and buy more and no one can't copy their work.

That's certainly not the only problem, though.   Corn is a wind pollinated plant, so the GM pollen is capable of pollinating non-GM crops, and then down the road somewhere where a farmer growing heirlooms has been saving his seed, he can be sued for growing a patented GM crop.  How can people patent life which they cannot create?  I don't get how that is do-able, but, worse yet, it is virtually impossible to protect your own crops from GM crops, particularly where corn is concerned as most varieties are open-pollinated.  And, what of the poor guy down the road that ends up with the GM crop he didn't intend to have and then suffers infertility as a result?