I've been meaning to circle back to this. Protecting business plans is the entire point of IP law. An IP framework that doesn't allow companies to make money on GMO crops is one that won't ever yield you GMO crops. Which we are going to need like motherfuckers if half the climate change models are right.
How do Round Up Ready crops help agriculture in the shadow of climate change?
(Spoiler Alert: They don't)
Higher temperatures year round mean greater demand for resources. Weeds compete for resources, so it puts greater impetus on killing weeds.
Alternatively the GMOs designed to fight insects will see greater demand as less winter freezes mean more bugs in the spring/summer. The cricket population in Texas has become near biblical after warm winters.
Yeah, if a majority of our species could quite being one of the follow:
-A shortsighted asshole
-A self-centered asshole
-A apathetic asshole
-Some combination of those assholes
Then we would be able to get more public funding for research and work on developing stuff that big business isn't interested in because it doesn't let them make a killing (even if long term, that ends up being a bust).
I'll skip the IP stuff. I think we need to fix that, but that's its own thread.
Terminator genes are actually a horrible idea in most cases. Cross contamination is a huge concern and it's going to happen if the plant is question, is being grown to produce fruit or seeds for consumption. I'd argue it's horribly impractical for many of the annuals, that we don't need to flower, fruit or produce seeds for consumption because those are plants, that it's easier, or the only way, to grow them is from seed. So at some point, you have a great big field that is being encouraged to produce seeds, that have the terminator gene.
I mean for stuff, you could probably get it to work, so that the plant doesn't produce pollen. I don't know if farmers use seeds or seed potatoes, but that is one where it wouldn't be too detrimental to have the plants being infertile (I know for home growing, seed potatoes are preferred and stay true to the desired traits). It's the only annual I can think off of the top of my head, where you could mass produce the desired stock for mass production, without needing a field of flowing plants to produce seeds. Infertile Asparagus, rhubarb, artichoke and ginger, are some of the other plants I can think of where not being able to have huge fields producing seeds for them, wouldn't be a detriment. Generally, it takes a bit for perennials to do much from seed, where a root or crown division can get going quicker. Also to my knowledge, none those are grown their seeds or fruit.
Yeah, if a majority of our species could quite being one of the follow:
-A shortsighted asshole
-A self-centered asshole
-A apathetic asshole
-Some combination of those assholes
Then we would be able to get more public funding for research and work on developing stuff that big business isn't interested in because it doesn't let them make a killing (even if long term, that ends up being a bust).
I'll skip the IP stuff. I think we need to fix that, but that's its own thread.
Terminator genes are actually a horrible idea in most cases. Cross contamination is a huge concern and it's going to happen if the plant is question, is being grown to produce fruit or seeds for consumption. I'd argue it's horribly impractical for many of the annuals, that we don't need to flower, fruit or produce seeds for consumption because those are plants, that it's easier, or the only way, to grow them is from seed. So at some point, you have a great big field that is being encouraged to produce seeds, that have the terminator gene.
I mean for stuff, you could probably get it to work, so that the plant doesn't produce pollen. I don't know if farmers use seeds or seed potatoes, but that is one where it wouldn't be too detrimental to have the plants being infertile (I know for home growing, seed potatoes are preferred and stay true to the desired traits). It's the only annual I can think off of the top of my head, where you could mass produce the desired stock for mass production, without needing a field of flowing plants to produce seeds. Infertile Asparagus, rhubarb, artichoke and ginger, are some of the other plants I can think of where not being able to have huge fields producing seeds for them, wouldn't be a detriment. Generally, it takes a bit for perennials to do much from seed, where a root or crown division can get going quicker. Also to my knowledge, none those are grown their seeds or fruit.
The terminator gene is really only dangerous from this Cash Crop perspective, though. For obvious reasons, it can't exactly propagate itself out of control.
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Higher temperatures year round mean greater demand for resources. Weeds compete for resources, so it puts greater impetus on killing weeds.
Alternatively the GMOs designed to fight insects will see greater demand as less winter freezes mean more bugs in the spring/summer. The cricket population in Texas has become near biblical after warm winters.
Well, that's a problem for GMOs, because they create super weeds that are resistant to herbicides.
Couldn't anyone splice that into crops... Assuming it was only a handful of genes that could be isolated?
Or would that still be coveted by patent.
-A shortsighted asshole
-A self-centered asshole
-A apathetic asshole
-Some combination of those assholes
Then we would be able to get more public funding for research and work on developing stuff that big business isn't interested in because it doesn't let them make a killing (even if long term, that ends up being a bust).
I'll skip the IP stuff. I think we need to fix that, but that's its own thread.
Terminator genes are actually a horrible idea in most cases. Cross contamination is a huge concern and it's going to happen if the plant is question, is being grown to produce fruit or seeds for consumption. I'd argue it's horribly impractical for many of the annuals, that we don't need to flower, fruit or produce seeds for consumption because those are plants, that it's easier, or the only way, to grow them is from seed. So at some point, you have a great big field that is being encouraged to produce seeds, that have the terminator gene.
I mean for stuff, you could probably get it to work, so that the plant doesn't produce pollen. I don't know if farmers use seeds or seed potatoes, but that is one where it wouldn't be too detrimental to have the plants being infertile (I know for home growing, seed potatoes are preferred and stay true to the desired traits). It's the only annual I can think off of the top of my head, where you could mass produce the desired stock for mass production, without needing a field of flowing plants to produce seeds. Infertile Asparagus, rhubarb, artichoke and ginger, are some of the other plants I can think of where not being able to have huge fields producing seeds for them, wouldn't be a detriment. Generally, it takes a bit for perennials to do much from seed, where a root or crown division can get going quicker. Also to my knowledge, none those are grown their seeds or fruit.
battletag: Millin#1360
Nice chart to figure out how honest a news source is.
The terminator gene is really only dangerous from this Cash Crop perspective, though. For obvious reasons, it can't exactly propagate itself out of control.