Is there anything you'd like to ask from a GMO specialist (doing an interview)?

[Kuko 4000]

I'm doing an in-depth interview with an adjunct professor who's been teaching plant breeding and genetics since the 1970's in the University of Helsinki. The format is video, target is YouTube, and I'm hoping to include translations in English.

We don't have time limitations so I can basically ask everything I can think of. The point of this video report is to make the basic science of gene technology more familiar to the overall public, to address all or most of the misunderstandings and fears that I can think of that are related to GMO's and also to map out the real problems / risks and benefits of the technology.

If you have any thoughts or worries at all about GMO's, this would be a good place to share them. I try my best to include ALL of the questions or worries you might have, from the simplest to the more complicated, the more variation in the questions, the better.

Thanks in advance, I hope you too will find this interesting.

[BenBurch]

What GMO crop adaptions address the effects on climate change on food productivity?

[Kuko 4000]

Thanks Ben! Keep em coming!

[Myriad]

"Are there GMO developments whose general use would be significantly beneficial to the public interest or to the environment, that are not permitted to be used for reasons you consider irrational?"

If so, please discuss examples -- what expected benefits are going unrealized, and why? And is it just a matter of waiting a few more years for further testing to get those benefits, or is progress on some fronts stalled indefinitely?

Respectfully,
Myriad

[macdoc]

Not sure how to phrase this...

Would like to see a comparison between the open source computing community versus proprietary

and what if any parallels exist in the GM community...
ie University non proprietary work on GM versus say Monsanto

what are the issues and realities of open source GM versus for profit proprietary

( looking at it ....it somewhat relates to Myriad's point )

[!Kaggen]

What percentage of the total agricultural research funding (private and public) is spent world wide on GMO related research?
What percentage of agricultural production is dependent exclusively on breeding and genetics?
Are the percentages above similar?
If not why not?

[soylent]

Genetic diversity reduces the risk of common mode failures. Such as crop failures over large geographical regions due to some novel plant virus or pest.

To what degree is GM crops technologically, economically and politically compatible with a high degree of genetic diversity? What prevents taking a hundred different strains of soybeans and introducing the same genetic modification, e.g. round-up resistance or draught resistance, to all of them?

[quadraginta]

This may relate in some fashion to macdoc's question.

The issues with patent law, and the inadvertent cross pollination of related strains seems to have a a potential for misuse, especially when the financial resources of large corporations are devoted to legal tactics. I think evidence of this is already turning up in the courtrooms. How are the patent wars going to go, and what can be done to reduce collateral damage, such as a farmer whose seed crop gets cross pollinated by an engineered strain? Is he a thief for growing from it? What if he doesn't want the engineered characteristics? Can he sue for damages?

[Jorghnassen]

Could he give some insight into the successes and failures of GMOs up to now. What particular GM crops have worked and why? Which other crops have not worked as expected? To what degree GMOs have fared compared to the promises and expectation (yields, pesticide usage, etc). And please, provide hard data or references, not vague assertions.

ETA: how hard is it to actually create a viable GMO, from the beginning (i.e. starting with how to identify the desired/appropriate gene in a foreign organism)?

I'm asking this last one as the process of inserting a given gene in the target crop has been explained to the public, but the process prior to that not so much. I remember reading a while ago that developping new GMOs is just pretty much as expensive as developping new crops through conventional breeding, so the molecular recombinant approach probably does involve more trial and errors than the proponents would like to admit, just at a different stage than in conventional breeding.

[!Kaggen]

What percentage of the total agricultural research funding (private and public) is spent world wide on GMO related research?
What percentage of agricultural production is dependent exclusively on breeding and genetics?
Are the percentages above similar?
If not why not?

Just to clarify.
I am interested in establishing if the amount of money spent on GMO research is justified by comparing this figure as a percentage of the total amount of money spent on agricultural research with what we understand to be the influence on agricultural production due to genetics alone.

[quadraginta]

What percentage of the total agricultural research funding (private and public) is spent world wide on GMO related research?
What percentage of agricultural production is dependent exclusively on breeding and genetics?
Are the percentages above similar?
If not why not?

Just to clarify.
I am interested in establishing if the amount of money spent on GMO research is justified by comparing this figure as a percentage of the total amount of money spent on agricultural research with what we understand to be the influence on agricultural production due to genetics alone.


I almost thought I understood what you were asking ... until you clarified it.

[!Kaggen]

I almost thought I understood what you were asking ... until you clarified it.

What can I say its complicated......

short version- I am jealous of all the money being thrown at GMO research I want some thrown my way :(

[The Central Scrutinizer]

I'm doing an in-depth interview with an adjunct professor who's been teaching plant breeding and genetics since the 1970's in the University of Helsinki. The format is video, target is YouTube, and I'm hoping to include translations in English.

We don't have time limitations so I can basically ask everything I can think of. The point of this video report is to make the basic science of gene technology more familiar to the overall public, to address all or most of the misunderstandings and fears that I can think of that are related to GMO's and also to map out the real problems / risks and benefits of the technology.

If you have any thoughts or worries at all about GMO's, this would be a good place to share them. I try my best to include ALL of the questions or worries you might have, from the simplest to the more complicated, the more variation in the questions, the better.

Thanks in advance, I hope you too will find this interesting.

Ask him if he's ever met an anti-GMO nut who knows even the basics of science.

[The Central Scrutinizer]

What percentage of agricultural production is dependent exclusively on breeding and genetics?

100%

[!Kaggen]

What percentage of agricultural production is dependent exclusively on breeding and genetics?

100%

Oh dear.

Start explaining how these do not effect agricultural production.

Farmer.
Soil.
Climate.
Water.
Ecology.
Economy.
Entomology.
Microbiology.
Geology.



Ask him if he's ever met an anti-GMO nut who knows even the basics ~ snip

[Safe-Keeper]

I'd ask him about the patent stuff, too. The number one complaint against GMO's, apart from imagined health risks and spiritual/religious issues, is the idea that cross-pollination would occur, and that the owner of the patented food would all of a sudden own the food on the neighbouring crops as well.

This sounds downright bizarre (and is of course a bit of a red herring as it doesn't have anything to do with GMO's themselves, but rather with patent laws) Is there any truth to this at all? Have there been court cases, and if yes, how did they turn out? If this is a legitimate issue, how soon can laws to be changed?

[Kuko 4000]

Good stuff, thanks everyone :)

If you have any further questions, suggestions or ideas please keep them coming, we start shooting in about a week from now.

[DC]

Is GMO comparable with traditional breeding, like alot GMO fans keep saying?
Where does the expert see the big diference, when there is any.

[Kuko 4000]

DC, I see you have very strong views on this issue, could you list your concerns one by one in this thread? The more the merrier, thanks!

[macdoc]

Will GM and organic ever start to support each other?

[Without Rights]

Since specific genes are responsible for multiple functions, some of which are unknown, how can you be sure manipulating a gene to perform a desired function doesn't also alter the gene in an undesirable way?

[DC]

DC, I see you have very strong views on this issue, could you list your concerns one by one in this thread? The more the merrier, thanks!

main concern is. new products are not tested long enough for their impact on the ecosystem.

[gabeygoat]

what's so wrong with labeling GMO stuff as such? is it so wrong to allow the consumer the choice (whether rational or not?)

[Mark6]

what's so wrong with labeling GMO stuff as such? is it so wrong to allow the consumer the choice (whether rational or not?)
And have you stopped beating your wife yet?

Unless the professor Kuko4000 is interviewing is on record opposing GMO labeling, this is a loaded question.

[Safe-Keeper]

what's so wrong with labeling GMO stuff as such? No clue. They're labelled in Europe, I think (I haven't seen any such labelling in Norway, but then again, I'm not actively looking for it, either).

[Tapio]

Hi there Kuko brew!

From what I've gathered, the guy you're going to interview has had a lot of experience working with politicians (at least in the European Comission).

I'd be interested in hearing what his experience has been with these people. To be more precise, what is his view on how much influence both big corporation funding and/or organic fanatics and their demands on the use of the precautionary principle have regarding final decision making. Perhaps a combination of the two? What else? All his views on the subject of who/what is actually leading the pens on papers would be valued.

Thanks, you're doing a great job! :)

[Kuko 4000]

UPDATE:

We had a very productive practice run a couple of weeks ago, and now we have two dates sealed at the end of this month for the actual interview. It's looking good!

I would appreciate any comments, questions, concerns you have on this issue. Any links to anti-GMO sites are welcome too, especially sites that have specific claims regarding GMO's, not just the usual wishy washy talk. I'm trying to map out as many of the worries people have towards GMO's that I can, and see what the latest science has to say about it.

When the videos are done, I will send them to 2 or 3 other leading Finnish universities to check and re-check, if there's wrong or incomplete information we will correct it, if not, it's ready for online. I will try to include english subtitles as well.

[Kuko 4000]

Bump!

...and clarification, you don't have to agree with the worry or the question, I'm trying to collect questions and worries that people in general have about GMOS's so that I can ask what the experts think of them.

[Kuko 4000]

We start shooting on thursday, thanks for the comments and suggestions so far. Anyone else?

[!Kaggen]

Last minute questions.

How does a genetic engineer quantify the influence of "epigenetic inheritance" in the organism being engineered?

How does a genetic engineer define an organism?

Since genetic expression can be influenced by the environment of the DNA, what does a genetic engineer define as the environment of the DNA? Is it the the surrounding cell, the organs, the organism, the ecosystem, the earth, the solar system or the universe? In this context how does a genetic engineer quantify the influence of the environment on gene expression?

[Eos of the Eons]

Since specific genes are responsible for multiple functions, some of which are unknown, how can you be sure manipulating a gene to perform a desired function doesn't also alter the gene in an undesirable way?

More precisely than the old slow way of planting seed from one plant with the desired traits and hoping the traits show up in more of its offspring. You don't know if the trait only grows naturally in offspring that won't grow as well in cooler temperatures than the offspring without it, for instance. When isolating one trait instead of playing with the entire gene pool, you can control for things like that.