Report: Seeds tainted by altered DNA

[UpInArms]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2001863826_ndig24.html

WASHINGTON — Much of the U.S. supply of ordinary crop seeds has become contaminated with strands of engineered DNA, suggesting that current methods for segregating gene-altered seed plants from traditional varieties are failing, according to a pilot study released yesterday.

More than two-thirds of the 36 conventional corn-, soy- and canola-seed batches tested contained traces of DNA from genetically engineered crop varieties in lab tests commissioned by the Union of Concerned Scientists, a Washington-based advocacy group.

...more...

[htuttle]

1. Yes, and that means Monsanto now owns it all due to their patent

All your food belongs to us.

Here's just one account of this sort of thing happening. Monsanto GM seeds blew from a neighbor's field into this fellow's, so Monsanto sued him for 'theft' of their patented seeds:
http://www.uea.ac.uk/~j013/wipout/essays/0904schmeiser.htm
http://www.percyschmeiser.com/

There are other stories like this.

[Ripley]

2. It's not like this was unforseen.

Just like all of the other possible bad scenarios that "alarmists" said could happen -- when will these appear?

1. Super insects resistant to engineered crops.
2. Disease mutation that can wipe-out and entire crops nationwide.
3. Unknown health problems with combinations of DNA.
4. Loss of "clean" seeds.
5. Economic disaster...the rest of the world doesn't want our Frankenfood.

[drthais]

3. and I don't want it either

we only plant organic seed
readily available these days...

you are correct
farmers are not allowed to collect seed
from GMO crops
but must purchase new seed each season

and, also correct:
it's getting more difficult
to keep from having cross-contamination.

I have read stories that say
that Monsanto (et al)
has tried to sue farmers on adjoining farms
because THEIR crops had been cross pollinated
and so now Monsanto says seed from THAT crop is also theirs

jeez

[SpiralHawk]

4. And it's not like this wasn't well known by the GMO corps

They knew damn well this would happen.

When the plant and animal life of our Earth has all assumed MUTANT form, the Big AG and Big Chem and Big "Bio" will own the patents.

[Lisa]

16. um -- how could a biotech company fail to understand "pollination"?

This is a concept that most 12-year-olds have covered in school! And yet, corporations like Monsanto are disingenuous enough to overlook the fact that a lot of species spread their genes via wind and insect dispersal.

As my students say, "Duh!"

[loftycity]

5. I've heard and read that these DNA crops develop

a strange fungus at the roots and the plants wither away. The Corn Corp was very affected.
It's a gaffe in their New World Order for Food. Wish them luck trying to figure this one out. Fungus has been around a long time...it knows how to survive..

[treepig]

6. these gmo threads are always a fascinating source of new information

such as "Fungus has been around longer than any life form"

i'm quite intriqued as to your source for this factoid that turns the generally-accepted prokaryote origin of life on its head - could you kindly share?

[loftycity]

7. Edited and I did read about it on the BBC World site..n/t

[treepig]

8. well, that's disappointing

hopefully there'll be some more resignations at the bbc over this latest debacle . . . can't they get anything correct?

[yellowcanine]

9. I too would like to know more about this fungus on corn

Can you provide a link to this? I am an agronomist and I must confess I have never heard of this fungus attacking gmo corn. Are you thinking of the Southern Corn Blight that was a problem in the 1970s as a result of susceptibility in the Texas male-sterile cytoplasm used to develop hybrids? That was certainly a plant breeding problem but had nothing to do with gmo technology as that wasn't used until the 1990s.

[twilight]

10. Someone was writing here the other re: canola

This person stated he/she believed is was the reason for developing acid-reflux disease. Anyone know more about this?

Is buying organic canola oil nothing but a hoax?

:dem :kick:

[ElsewheresDaughter]

11. heirloom seeds...organic and NON hybrid links here

these are my sourses for the seeds i use

www.terraedibles.ca
www.seedstrust.com
www.heirloomseeds.com
www.victoryseeds.com
www.heirloomtomatoes.bizland.com/

Your best source for heirloom vegetable seeds, heirloom flower seeds and heirloom herb seeds. ... The best source for heirloom vegetable, flower and herb seeds. ... sells non-hybrid vegetable, flower, and herb seeds. Some certified organic seeds


the best:
www.terrsedibles.com ALL are open-pollinated and organically certtified

[OneBlueSky]

12. you last link doesn't seem to work . . . n/t

.

[Lisa]

15. oh, and the Seed Savers Exchange ...

I use the Canadian equivalent, Seeds of Diversity
www.seeds.ca


Terra Edibles rocks! Great customer service. Here on Vancouver Island, I use "Two Wings Farm" and "Full Circle Seeds" -- they both said they'll have websites up shortly.

[dfong63]

13. so how long will it be before the headlines say,

"humans tainted by altered DNA"?

[treepig]

14. it's doubtful there'll be any such headlines

and if there are, they'll not be appropriate for the LBN forum since it's rather old news by now that the human genome is "tainted" with a few dozen bacterial genes.

from SCIENCE magazine:

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/292/5523/1848

GENOMICS:
Enhanced: Are There Bugs in Our Genome?

The claim for lateral gene transfer from bacteria into vertebrates (as exemplified by our own species' genome) was based on similarity searches . Such searches involve screening vertebrate genomes for sequences that are very similar to bacterial genes but are absent from other eukaryotic genomes. Genes shared by vertebrates and bacteria that are not found in other eukaryotes are considered to be probable bacteria-to-vertebrate transfers (BVTs). The 113 to 223 BVTs in question have significant similarity to bacterial sequences but no "comparable similarity" to genes in other completed eukaryotic genomes (1).

. . . after removing possible BVTs that are more similar to genes in eukaryotic genomes for which only partial sequences are available, the number of possible BVTs drops to 114 and 68 for the Ensembl and Celera proteomes, respectively.

Another factor yielding false BVTs is differences in evolutionary rates among different vertebrate and nonvertebrate lineages. Salzberg et al. investigated the effect of differing evolutionary rates by relaxing the similarity criteria for inclusion of nonvertebrate homologs. Again, they found a reduction in the number of BVTs to 74 (Ensembl) and 56 (Celera). After additional trimming of the data--removing two mitochondrial genes, searching a further curated version of the Ensembl data, checking for annotation errors, and comparing the two data sets--the authors calculated the final number of possible BVTs to be 41 (Ensembl) or 46 (Celera).

So, the original description of 223 BVTs is probably overenthusiastic. But even 41 (or 46) BVTs is sufficient cause for excitement.

god knows i'm pretty damn excited to have at least three dozen bacterial genes . . .