The Scientist; (link fixed!)
By 2001, Ug99 began appearing in fields in Kenya; in Ethiopia by 2003; Sudan and Yemen by 2006; and Iran a year later. It now plagues wheat plants in nine African and Middle Eastern countries. Should the pathogen establish a global presence, 90 percent of wheat varieties could succumb, with whole crops flopping over and rotting within weeks or months of infection. The annual global harvest of some 700 million tons of wheat would be decimated.
[…]
One way to hasten the development of a long-lasting stem rust-resistant wheat variety is to engineer plants’ DNA to carry resistance genes, creating what are known as genetically modified (GM) crops. But at many of the facilities that develop wheat varieties–primarily led by academic breeding groups, in contrast to the commercial domination of corn and soybean development–such transgenic approaches are taboo, as public opposition, regulatory expenses, and genetic complexity have kept wheat transgenics off the market. “We could do millions of things [with transgenics],” says Jorge Dubcovsky, a wheat geneticist and breeder at the University of California, Davis, “but we have our hands tied.”
Because people who use the word “denier” believe in something called “Frankenfood”.
No link: The Scientist;
Try this
Plus, the gluten haters will rub their hands with glee at a world wheat crop crash (until their meat supply runs out). As a bonus, flyover-country haters will dance a jig in celebration. Frankenfood is for cis-gendered heteronorms!
Several (6?) months ago, there was an article linked here (I think) that compared genomics favorably with cross breeding. Does that ring a bell with anyone? A link or citation would be much appreciated. Thanks.
I have seen what rust will do to wheat and oat crops and it is not pretty. I suspect that those who oppose the development of rust-resistant wheat are also supporters of various other anti-human activities, such as opposition to vaccines, etc.
What do you call wheat that hasn’t been genetically modified?
Grass.
We’ve been doing this for 10,000 years. These people are idiots.
Good old Eco-imperialism marches onward … usually over the dead bodies of those Third World inhabitants who have been “saved” by their enlightened, rich, Western and liberal benfactors.
Don’t tell anybody but when the liberal-socialist contingent of my extended family comes over for dinner I take great delight in serving them as much genomic food as possible. When they compliment me on how wonderful everything tastes I tell them it’s ‘organic’. Even my wife doesn’t know as she’s got some crazy idea that someone might be allergic to salmon genes in their potatoes. You can’t make this stuff up; when it comes to the left all logic is twisted and spun into an illogical emotional gumbo that makes no sense whatsoever.
That comment nails it.
The endgame IS the starvation of millions. That’s what socialism does.
Ken ( Kulak ) hit the bullseye. The goal of the greens is war on Western societies, not protecting he environment. They will not stop until they control all levers of power, at which point they will institute their totalitarian designs, as they put it, ” by ANY means necessary”. Obama’s building of a police state, and dictatorial behavior is not stupidity in action, it is the execution of a long held dream of liberal fascists.
Same crap in B.C. A company has been trying to bring a new apple – labeled ‘Arctic’ -to market. Its’ unique factor? The modification of a single gene that prevents it from rapidly turning brown, as most apples do.
Consumer ‘advocates’ have their panties in a knot, bleating without a shred of evidence that introducing it may lead to the destruction of the apple industry in this province. Producers are afraid to touch it because of the instant backlash from ‘organic activists’ who grab the ear of gullible, unquestioning media hacks.
Parents want their kids to eat more fruit, but how many apples are discarded by kids who find the brown face of cut apples to be unappetising.
These same folks would rather see whole regions of Douglas fir fall to the forest floor due to a fungal condition known as ‘root rot’, than have them ‘modified’ to resist the fungus. But we all know that cutting down trees and turning them into 2x4s and plywood is tantamount to crime, whereas having them fall and rot over 40 years is ‘sustainable’.
It isn’t about science, it’s about control.