From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,60e2922351e0e780 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2003-11-20 16:00:53 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news2.google.com!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeed.media.kyoto-u.ac.jp!newsfeed.mesh.ad.jp!in.100proofnews.com!in.100proofnews.com!opentransit.net!newsfeed.news2me.com!elnk-nf2-pas!newsfeed.earthlink.net!stamper.news.pas.earthlink.net!newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net.POSTED!a6202946!not-for-mail From: Jeffrey Carter Organization: jrcarter commercial-at acm [period | full stop] org User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win98; en-US; rv:1.4) Gecko/20030624 X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: OT: Nuclear Waste (Was Re-Marketing Ada) References: <3FB22125.1040807@noplace.com> <3FB3751D.5090809@noplace.com> <1069092089.51926@master.nyc.kbcfp.com> <1069341262.907029@master.nyc.kbcfp.com> <2ZudnTAS4uD62yCiRVn-tw@comcast.com> In-Reply-To: <2ZudnTAS4uD62yCiRVn-tw@comcast.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Message-ID: Date: Fri, 21 Nov 2003 00:00:51 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 63.184.16.65 X-Complaints-To: abuse@earthlink.net X-Trace: newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net 1069372851 63.184.16.65 (Thu, 20 Nov 2003 16:00:51 PST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 20 Nov 2003 16:00:51 PST Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:2776 Date: 2003-11-21T00:00:51+00:00 List-Id: Robert I. Eachus wrote: > > But what you have in Genetically Modified foods is a choice between > products that have been developed by billions of years of blind > evolution, including random mutations caused both by transcription > errors and viruses, or products where a company took an existing food > product, and the virus tools for modifying the genetic structure, and > created a new version. This version was then subjected to testing. Much of the "natural" food that people eat has been genetically modified using a technique called selective breeding. Take the large-breasted turkey that millions of Americans will eat on Nov 27. This started out as a wild, small-breasted bird. Through selective breeding this has been turned into a domesticated, large-breasted bird. These changes breed true, so it is clear that these are genetic changes. The difference between selective breeding and the direct manipulation of genetic material that most people think "genetically modified" means is that selective breeding is slow and haphazard, while more modern techniques are fast and direct. Turkeys are hardly the only example. Wheat started out as a wild grass with a couple of grains per stalk, but thousands of years of genetic modification has produced the plant we consider wheat today. It's impossible to buy wheat that has not been genetically modified. Maize used to produce a couple of small ears with small, widely spaced kernels. Pigs used to be smaller and skinnier. Cows used to give much less milk. I've been eating genetically modified food my whole life, and so have most, if not all, of the people reading c.l.a. -- Jeff Carter "I blow my nose on you." Monty Python & the Holy Grail 03