By the way, in case anyone is interested in researching this further, the title of this thread is a misnomer. You can find information by searching on "Genetically Modified Organisms", or "genetic engineering", or, more generally, "bioengineering".

Just found a fascinating paper, by the way, from the Union of Concerned Scientists. They filed a report with the US Dept. of Agriculture concerning a variety of squash developed by the Upjohn Company (makers of pharmaceuticals) which is resistant to certain viruses. The USDA issued a report saying there were no potential adverse environmental consequences from this type of squash, and it should be available commercially without limitation. The UCS pointed out that the USDA report was based on faulty logic and bad science, and simply ignored many studies, including some of the USDA's own reports, which said there were significant potential problems.

Unfortunately, this is the situation we're now in, as I alluded to above, where politics has co-opted science. When I was a high school biology student, we learned about the Russian biologist Lysenko, whose irrational genetic theories were championed by the Soviet government to such an extent that Soviet genetics research became the laughingstock of the world scientific community. We're getting close.

CarolC, thanks again for pointing this out again. I think there may have been something about this in the movie "Songcatcher". Has anybody seen it?

Aloha,
Mark