Re: [CH] Cloning Capsiacin

Charles P Demas (cpd@world.std.com)
Sun, 20 Feb 2000 19:29:59 -0500 (EST) 

On Sun, 20 Feb 2000, Oatmeal Jack wrote:

> Pete,
> 
> I am not talking about putting a cows gene into a hab, just boosting 
> something the hab is already producing on its own.  As I understand it the 
> Red Savina is a "mutant" of some orange habs.  Somebody noticed it, picked 
> it, planted its seeds and patented it to make money.  Did they do any 
> testing to see if the mutated Red Savinas were harmful to the 
> environment?  Could the genes that mutated eventually lead to problems with 
> other closely related plants?   If by changing the expression of just one 
> gene in a hab, without adding foreign DNA, you could make it produce 10 
> times the heat what would be the harm.  If you found the same mutation in 
> your garden you would be happy and rich, but if a person does it in a lab 
> all of a sudden the Earth is threatened?

There's a difference in the amount of change that occurs with a mutation
and what one gets by gene splicing.  

When you cross a horse and a donkey, you get a mule.  A fine animal, but 
sterile.  I think it's sterile for a reason, because it isn't supposed 
to continue to propagate.

When man has introduced plants or animals into new environments in the 
past, it has often been disasterous.  Killer bees were an attempt to
improve honey production through cross-breeding, IIRC.

I'm concerned that in the hurry to get products to market that all 
the ramifications of what might happen will not be adequately evaluated.

We saw things overlooked in the Challenger disaster and it cost seven
people their lives.  That was a failure of the reporting system 
combined with MBA's trying to make themselves look good.

Genetically modified foods, while well intended, have a potential to
do very disasterous things if not fully evaluated.

I don't want to find out that some MBA's slipped up and didn't properly
report something, or disallowed some testing, and later find that out food
chain has had the equivalent of "Thallidamide babies" becoming a dominant
trait. 


Chuck Demas
Needham, Mass.

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