And PLEASE don’t be offended that I disagree with this guy.
‘Seedless’ anything is a GMO product. Grapes and Watermelon come to mind first.
Also:
“When you bite into a juicy watermelon slice or munch on a handful of seedless grapes, it’s easy to assume that these fruits have always existed in their current form. But the truth is that many of our favorite fruits and vegetables have been selectively bred, hybridized, and genetically modified by humans over thousands of years. From the earliest days of agriculture to modern genetic engineering techniques, people have been tinkering with plants to make them tastier, sturdier, and easier to grow.”
And:
“There is no research to suggest that the nutritional composition of man-made fruits and vegetables is any less than that of food that is ‘naturally occurring.’ When plants are selectively bred, whether for a desirable characteristic, like shape, size, or color, there is no evidence that there is a dramatic decrease in the nutritional quality of the food as a result of that crossing.”
https://www.tastingtable.com/1241034/types-of-produce-you-didnt-know-were-man-made/
I have been in The Biz for a long time and I am all about production and disease and insect tolerance. Well, not so much in THIS AWFUL growing season because NOTHING seemed to work, but in general. ;)
imho, crossing four grandparents of the same plant variety or same species of animal can happen naturally and man has done it purposefully. The end result though is that they’ll never create offspring that are the same so you have to keep doing the four way cross forever like they’ve been doing for decades with the Cornish Cross chicken. Seeing a chicken that can’t walk after a certain age is kinda gross too and is a species that could never survive on it’s own. Nature kills things like that.
Before the Cornish Cross, the Delaware chicken was on it’s way to being the official table bird and is a breed that can survive generation after generation. They quit improving the breed once the CC came out so they’re now bred as just another heavy dual purpose breed.
That’s all just breeding which is different than what scientists do with inserting a gene from an unrelated variety or species. Doesn’t mean it instantly becomes poison but it’s different and not something that happens in nature.
The bigger problem is dumping a gazillion gallons of Round Up on the ground year after year while we’re still discovering what all the microscopic life forms and micro-nutrients in the soil do.
You, Diana, and my Dad (Forestry Prof and professional forestry consultant) would agree a lot, there. Masters Degree in Forest Management, and PHD in Forest Genetics (with an emphasis on Walnut Tree improvement).
Or was it the other way around — earlier this a.m. my daughter lowered the hatchback of our Subie Outback JUST as I was rushing (wifey needed the car) to grab something out of the back of the car. The car is fine. Me, I seem to have a slight concussion, and my glasses are still not fitting quite right. :-(
Dad DID bemoan loss of species of any kind. (Loss of genetic material to create hybrids, loss of genetic material for research, etc.)