Posted on 11/20/2006 12:35:22 PM PST by Zakeet
WASHINGTON Cotton, for thousands of years one of the most important crops for clothing and shelter, might also become a source of food.
A chemical called gossypol makes cottonseed inedible for humans, though some of it is used in feed for cattle, which are less affected by the toxin.
Now, researchers at Texas A&M University have genetically modified cotton to produce seeds with little or no gossypol.
It's a step they say could help provide valuable protein to millions of people. Their findings are reported in Tuesday's issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Keerti Rathore of the university's Institute for Plant Genomics and Biotechnology, said the modified plants continue to have gossypol in their stems and leaves where it helps resist insects, but the chemical is significantly reduced in the seed.
Worldwide, 44 million tons of cottonseed is produced annually. It is grown in 80 countries and the seeds are 23 percent protein, Rathore said.
They are pressed for oil, and in the United States about half of the remaining meal goes into animal feed, he explained.
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
The article talks about eating cotton seed, not cotton lint.
Word Hunger is conqured from a production standpoint. We produce more then enough food to feed everyone. It's a distribution problem. I don't see how edible cotton will fix that.
Having to eat one's shirt after losing a bet will become easier.
This reminded me of Milo's chocolate covered cotton from the book Catch-22.
IIRC, cotton strips the soil of nutrients and needs lots of ferticlizer for other crops after it. So while you are growing food, you are killing the growth value for crops.
There you go!!
I was thinking more in terms of new and improved edible panties.
Implied several places through the type of research, amount of work, number of researchers, their level of involvement, and length of time required to produce the new veggie. One Aggie source can be found here.
Real Americans go to A&M.
The question is, WHY?
That's why the peanut was invented.
Feel free to eat mine. Gig 'em!
http://www.f22major.com/Photos/Military/Air%20Force/Fighters/F-16%20Viper/F-16%20Viper/Kyle%20Field.html
Kyle Field Photos
On November 26, 1999, the Texas A&M Aggies and the University of Texas Longhorns squared away in their annual post-Thanksgiving Day game. However, this game was different. It was 8 days after the tragic Bonfire collapse which killed 12 students and injured 27 others. As a tribute to these students, four former Aggies from the 457 Fighter Squadron, the "Spads" based in Forth Worth, Texas, made a flyby of Texas A&M's Kyle Field, where the game was being held, in the "missing man" formation. This is an old tradition of the air forces that is held as a memorial to fallen comrades. A four-ship formation will fly over the spot where people are gathered to remember their friends and comrades-in-arms, and just as they are the over the observers, the #3 man in the formation will pull up suddenly and the other 3 aircraft will continue on their course. This creates a hole or "missing man" in the formation, honoring the fallen. These photos, viewed from the #3 aircraft as he is pulling up, capture the entire field and audience, and make a vivid demonstration of the feelings of the Aggies after this terrible incident.
Let them eat cotton.
Yea but can you chicken fry it?
BTHOtu
Milo Minderbender was right...... we're all members of the corporation and now we're rich!!!
I'm going to go tell Yosarrian, Arfy and Major Major.....
ya beat me..... ya bastid...hahahahahaha.... I'm off to Egypt to get our share of the profits.
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