Transgenes found in wild corn

[n2doc]

21 February 2009

NOW it's official: genes from genetically modified corn have escaped into wild varieties in rural Mexico. A new study resolves a long-running controversy over the spread of GM genes and suggests that detecting such escapes may be tougher than previously thought.

In 2001, when biologists David Quist and Ignacio Chapela reported finding transgenes from GM corn in traditional varieties in Oaxaca, Mexico, they faced a barrage of criticism over their techniques. Nature, which had published the research, eventually disowned their paper, while a second study by different researchers failed to back up their findings.

But now, Elena Alvarez-Buylla of the National Autonomous University in Mexico City and her team have backed Quist and Chapela's claim. They found transgenes in about 1 per cent of nearly 2000 samples they took from the region (Molecular Ecology, vol 18, p 750).

"They are out there, but it's hit-and-miss," says Paul Gepts of the University of California, Davis, a co-author of the new study. The escaped transgenes are common in a few fields and absent in others, he says, so gene-monitoring efforts must sample as broadly as possible.

What's more, not every detection method - or laboratory - identified every sample containing transgenes. Monitors should use many methods to avoid false negatives, says Gepts.

more:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126964.200-transgenes-found-in-wild-corn.html

[sakabatou]

1. So are we fucked?

[izquierdista]

3. No

There's really no such thing as "wild" corn. Zea mays has been so transformed by humans that it is symbiotic and cannot live on its own. All GM has done is to speed up the tinkering process by a thousandfold mostly for the benefit of Monsanto.

The faulty thinking lies with those who think pollen from GM corn will stay in the cornfield and not be carried off by the wind. It's time that genetic modification be disallowed as "intellectual property" (going back to no patents on living organisms) and the government engage in more oversight of the process for the benefit of all, not just Monsanto. I'm can't wait until someone figures out how to turn off the pollen genes in ragweed and swap them for genes to make tasty strawberries.

[ret5hd]

4. So, at what speed would fish genes (for example) have ended up in corn...

without Monsanto's help?

My guess is never.

[izquierdista]

6. Your guess is creationist

It uses the same logic they use when they argue that something would have never happened had it not been for the intervention of the "Divine Watchmaker".

[ret5hd]

7. Let me know when you want to hazard a guess.

:rofl:

[Mojorabbit]

2. This is one of the

things I worry about the most. I only plant heirloom seeds. I worry that something will go wrong with these GM plants cross contaminating native regional plants and devastate the world's food supply as they are increasingly used all over the world.

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. Yep. A lot of people worry about that and with good reason.

[SpiralHawk]

8. Damn good reason - mutant corporate corn & other life forms are

republicon-brained materialism run amuck, and will lead to Massive Future Problemas.