New gene technology bill is concerning

[C_T_Russell]

But where are the greens kicking up about all of this?
I think they secretly support it because they want to use genetic engineering to save the climate.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

The Greens are not always a single hive mind. Nor are those of us who support them.

I have concerns about ge, especially in the hands of corporate criminals like Monsanto. But I also know genes are modified in nature and laboratories with incredibly beneficial results. Evolution is genetic engineering. New medical breakthroughs come from gene modification.

It isn't a simple yes no issue. Bit like being woke...

[C_T_Russell]

I too think GE has its place, especially within medicine.
A classic example is insulin production.
But the biggest concern is around patents and big corporations such as Monsanto controlling the food supply.

[harm_less]

I too think GE has its place, especially within medicine.
A classic example is insulin production.
But the biggest concern is around patents and big corporations such as Monsanto controlling the food supply.

The biggest concern with allowing GE organisms to be released outside the laboratory is that they are self replicating, and potentially further evolving, novel lifeforms. We should be well aware of the dangers in doing so considering the environmental damage other introduced organisms are till exacting on our country's unique environment (e.g. possums, rabbits, caulerpa, gorse, etc, etc.). Genie out of the bottle!!

The GE proponents really struggle to get any proven benefits on the organisms they have released worldwide, primarily 'round-up ready' soya or 'golden' rice so the pitfalls far outweigh any advantages our farmers are likely to gain from them, with a real risk of cancelling the marketing advantages we do gain from GE free and certified Organic statuses.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

And on the other hand gene tailored cancer treatments are saving lives, albeit at enormous cost. It is a conundrum, for sure.

[harm_less]

And on the other hand gene tailored cancer treatments are saving lives, albeit at enormous cost. It is a conundrum, for sure.

Medical applications are often rolled out in support of the technology but that is a very different case to release of GE organisms into the wider environment. Medical use is laboratory contained and isn't self replicating, outside of the host individual, so doesn't pose the same threat to our environment that GE plants and animals do. Using medical GE as an excuse to release organisms into the 'wild' is nothing more than a smoke screen by the biotech community.

[Lilith7]

And on the other hand gene tailored cancer treatments are saving lives, albeit at enormous cost. It is a conundrum, for sure.

Two sides of the same coin. I think its something which we probably don't yet know enough about so proceeding with caution makes sense.

I watched Fight for the wild last night & it clearly shows how much damage some predators we imported before we knew better have done, with some species becoming extinct. Only recently did we start to realise the damage done & set about trying to save those species in danger of extinction.


It can take quite a while before we know everything we need to about the possible effects something might have on our environment & ourselves.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

And on the other hand gene tailored cancer treatments are saving lives, albeit at enormous cost. It is a conundrum, for sure.

Medical applications are often rolled out in support of the technology but that is a very different case to release of GE organisms into the wider environment. Medical use is laboratory contained and isn't self replicating, outside of the host individual, so doesn't pose the same threat to our environment that GE plants and animals do. Using medical GE as an excuse to release organisms into the 'wild' is nothing more than a smoke screen by the biotech community.

It is only recently science has shown us that pregnant women exchange dna with the child they carry, and in the process change their own dna. Having come to understand through that parenting process that those babies we carry are actually not mini me's but someone entirely new, someone we might not have anticipated creating, the idea of sharing their dna has implications I, and I think most of us have never had to consider.

We alter the world simply by existing. I think we definitely need guard rails, but we may have to accept that we cannot save our world from ourselves.

Fortunately though, I do believe it has the power to recover, and become something new, once we have passed away.

[zqwerty]

It's in the bible "within us are the seeds of our own destruction".

[Lilith7]

It's in the bible "within us are the seeds of our own destruction".

Well...I suppose we could look at perhaps converting say, for example, politicians into fertiliser to help grow crops to feed the entire world.


They must be useful for something...

[Oh_hunnihunni]

The dire wolf is back?

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/.../519716623

[Lilith7]

Yes I saw that on FB, very cute creatures but who knows what mught come of it - or might come nest.

There's almost certainly some idiot somewhere who would be daft enough to bring back dinosaurs...

[Praktica]

Dinosaurs are still here - in your garden...on your dinner table...

[Oh_hunnihunni]

Not on mine they're not. I'm having a ham salad sandwich. With maybe oven chips on the side. If I can be bothered.

We'll see...