On 03/30/99, Albert Henderson <noblestation[_at_]compuserve.com> wrote:
>
> The following news release indicates that it is possible for
> seed companies to produce a product that thwarts farmers'
> tradition of keeping each year's product for planting.
I think the threat is a good deal greater than even the news release suggests. My (admittedly limited) understanding of plant genetics is that plants in the wild are capable of exchanging genetic material, even between species. The mechanism is that plant viruses can assimilate genetic material from a host, and transplant it into another plant. If the "Terminator" gene spreads from commercial crops to wild plants, it could sterilize the planet of most, if not all, plant life.
Let me assure you that I'm not a doomsday conspiracy nut. I am not a plant biologist, and I would be happy for someone to explain to me why this nightmare scenario is pure science fiction and could not actually happen. But I have not yet received any such assurances, and given my limited understanding, it seems unnervingly plausible to me. How ironic it would be if we avoided nuclear annihilation only to starve ourselves into extinction because of patented plants.
Tyler T. Ochoa
Associate Professor
Whittier Law School
<tochoa[_at_]law.whittier.edu>
Received on Wed Mar 31 1999 - 20:19:18 GMT
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