In order for me to be able to leave a comment you need to enable ‘anonymous’ commenting. I don’t have a login for any of the commercial services necessary to be allowed to comment on your blog.

Since you don’t publish an email address you can be reached at, there are probably others like me who have no real way of contacting you.

As Matt pointed out in his original post, companies such as Monsanto are subject to considerable scrutiny when they engage in breeding new GE crops. Amateurs are not. That sounds like the victory of David over the Goliath of Big Government, but it is perhaps a little optimistic to hope that some elements of the populace will be able to control themselves in a responsible manner. As is usual, technological advances are way ahead of legislation.

Creating a cold tolerant squash by inserting genes from Ecballium into Cucurbita might be pretty harmless and would help growers in marginal climates. Sounds like a worthy objective, whether or not you approve or disapprove of GE. Maybe an amateur could come up with that.

I might not not feel quite so happy about a maverick plant breeder trying to develop, say, a crystal meth synthesizing alga, to be grown in the privacy of his bedroom fish tank. I have no idea whether it’s possible, but I bet someone, right now, is at least thinking about it.
Any tool, in the hands of an idiot, is potentially harmful. We live in interesting times.