Posted on

New Frontiers in Genetic Engineering

I was browsing some older posts from Matt’s blog, and I came across this.

In fact this is something I’ve known for a while, and coincidentally sent Matt an email about the other day, but I’ve never posted here on the subject.

It’s just a fact, the science of genetic engineering (GE) is quickly moving out of the laboratory and into the home.  Not just in our ability to buy products that are themselves a result of GE, but also in our own ability to make GE organisms.

Already, if you have a well equiped home, it’s possible to do an awful lot.  The cost of this equipment is within the budgets of many people, it’s only getting cheaper and it’s accuracy increasing.

The amount of publicly available data that can assist GE is also increasing at a dramatic rate; including things like decoded genomes and cataloges of marker genes (a fancy term that just means genes with a known trait).  All of this applies to plants, microorganisms, animals and even humans.

So while the debate now often centers on the latest Roundup ready gene Monsanto inserted into our soybeans, tomorrow it could be the latest accident caused by a teenager or the mess intentionally caused by someone knowledgeable.

I often compare GE to abortions.  I don’t really think it makes sense for anyone to be for or against abortions.  An abortion is just a medical procedure.  You can argue if it’s immoral, talk about it in terms of legal or illegal, safe or unsafe, early or late, but you can never deny the existence of the procedure itself.

This is really where we are now with GE.  It doesn’t make sense to call it good or bad.  The genie is out of the bottle.  Now it’s time to start learning as much as possible as quickly as possible about the science, and to focus honestly and diligently on what the real risks are.

In the meantime, this crap doesn’t belong in our food or the environment, until we’ve had a chance to honestly research and learn more about it!

Posted on

Special Tours of Kew Gardens, Near London, UK

As part of the 250th anniversary celebrations of Kew gardens, special tours are being arranged!

Included in these tours are the Behind-the-Scenes series, offering a rare glimpse at the goings on outside the usual public areas.  Did you know for example that they do DNA sequencing to determine plant genus, classify pollen for the police or they are doing research into anti-oxident HIV treatments intended to benefit the people of South Africa?

I think this is a great opportunity for those people who live in the area, or plan to visit.  Be sure to book in advance if appropriate, as most of the tours are first come first served and are filling up.

Posted on

New Hawaii Aspartame Resolution

Last year I made a series of posts about Hawaii’s move to ban the artificial sweetener aspartame in the state.  While this didn’t pass last year, a new resolution has been put forward, Hawaii HCR 128, calling on the FDA themselves to revoke their approval of aspartame and remove it from the US market.

The text of the resolution is a little tedious, but quite an extraordinary read!  I hope anyone who reads this blog and is a regular consumer of aspartame will read it and give some serious thought to what they’re doing to their bodies.

No less extraordinary is the list of cosponsors of the measure:

  • Angus McKelvey: Economic Revitalization, Business, & Military Affairs (Chair)
  • Maile Shimabukuoro: Hawaiian Affairs (Vice-Chair)
  • Karen Awana: Transportation (Vice-Chair)
  • Della Au Belatti, J.D.: Member Health, Judiciary
  • Tom Brower: Human Services (Vice-Chair)
  • Jerry Chang: Higher Education (Chair)
  • Corrine Ching: Member, Environmental Protection, Higher Education
  • Denny Coffman: Energy & Environmental Protection (Vice-Chair)
  • Cindy Evans: Member, Economic Revitalization, Business, & Military Affairs
  • Faye Hanohano: Public Safety (Chair)
  • Sharon Har: Interim Task Force on Smart Growth (Chair)
  • Ken Ito: Water, Land, & Ocean Resources (Chair)
  • Michael Y. Magaoay: Member, Interim Task Force on Standards of Conduct
  • Joey Manahan: Tourism, Culture, & International Affairs (Chair)
  • Hermina Morita: Energy & Environmental Protection (Chair)
  • Mark Nakashima: Higher Education (Vice-Chair)
  • Scott Nishimoto: Health (Vice-Chair)
  • Roland Sagum III: Member, Finance
  • Roy Takumi: Education (Chair)
  • Glenn Wakai Consumer Protection & Commerce (Vice-Chair)
  • Ryan Yamane: Health (Chair)

Details of the measure and it’s current status can be found on the Hawaiian Legislature webpage (type HCR128 into the search box), and there is an RSS feed if you want to follow the progress of this measure.

First the measure has to clear the Health Commitee, and will then be referred to the Finance Committee.

Posted on

New Issue of GRAIN

Okay, this isn’t really a stop the presses headline, but since there are a lot of new readers here who may never have heard of GRAIN maybe this is a good time to introduce them.

In their words:

GRAIN is an international non-governmental organisation which promotes the sustainable management and use of agricultural biodiversity based on people’s control over genetic resources and local knowledge.

Since in many cases there’s a fine line between farming and gardening, and many of the issues addressed by GRAIN are relavent for home heirloom gardeners too.  It might be worth having a look at the latest issue of their magazine Seedling if you haven’t seen it before.