Monday, September 20, 2010

Pear-Shaped Puffballs (Lycoperdon pyriforme)

So a company wants to market an animal whose genes have been altered to make it grow twice as fast as a traditional animal of that type. But not to worry about it getting out and decimating the native population - all of the animals are in a confined area and are bred female and sterile. Why does this all sound sorta familiar? The company in this case is Aquabounty and the animal is a salmon. Other companies are watching what the FDA will rule in this case. Genetically engineered pigs and cows are already in the works. Americans don't seem to mind much about eating altered vegetables & fruits. This, though, is another step beyond that - manipulating the genes of fellow creatures. The line from Jurassic Park keeps playing over in my mind, people "were so preoccupied w/ whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should."

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Is this for real? I checked my calendar and it wasn't April Fools Day.

Rebecca