From: Barbara Lamar (shabrika@juno.com)
Date: Sat Nov 04 2000 - 19:38:26 MST
> This is a bit strange considering that you are already consume
> animal
> based products from animals fed foods quite saturated with
> pesticides.
No, actually for the most part I don't. Because of severe drought, I've
recently had to buy more of my food than I normally would, but I've made
a point to purchase vegetables and grains grown without pesticides and to
either eat animals I've raised myself (although I find it difficult to
kill the goats, I don't at all mind killing fish and chickens) or beef
raised on pesticide free pastures. Likewise, the cow's milk I buy is from
clean pastures, and the cows are not routinely given antibiotics and are
never given bovine growth hormone.
> The point of modifying a plant genetically to produce its own
> pesticide
> is that it produces just enough (and if possible of a happier
> chemical)
> for its needs.
If you can point me to the source on which you're basing the above
statement I'd be interested in reading it. I'm not aware that any testing
has been done to determine what is "just enough."
This results in much lower concentration of
> pesticides
> than non-genetic means like spraying crops.
Again, I'd be interesting in taking a look at your source.
>The latter is a shotgun
> approach and likely to result in much higher health risks and
> accidental
> contamination of nearby lifeforms.
To the best of my knowledge, there have been at least a couple of
unexpected cases of cross pollination with related wild species. I don't
buy the idea that the genetic approach is less likely to result in
contamination.
> Exactly. Old style pesticide use is much more dangerous. However,
> some
> kind of pesticides must be used to have effective crop yields.
Again, I'd be interested to see your source for this statement. It
certainly does not match with my experience or the experience of many
other gardeners and farmers I know. To the contrary, as far as I know,
yields obtained through "conventional" agricultural methods have been
decreasing. Pests tend to become resistant to pesticides, which means
more and more have to be used. I would expect the same thing to happen
with the GM corn after a certain number of generations.
Please note that I am not against the GM crops in general. But I'm not at
all pleased with the direction most of the applications are going. It
strikes me as quite strange that people who claim to want long and
healthy lives would not be more concerned about the quality of food they
eat. I agree that mildly poisoned food is better than no food at all.
But why not strive for the healthiest food possible.
I recently came across a suggested agricultural application of fractal
robots which caught my attention. IMO THIS is the way to deal with
pests. I'll try to find it and post it to the list.
Barbara
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