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Old 03-02-2005, 07:47 PM   #6
Schrodinger's Cat
Macavity
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: A Black Box
Posts: 157
Well - in the face of that -

I was merely going to add the comment that GE crops often result in monoculture. Instead of growing several different strains of rice, for example, the third world farmer grows only one - the latest and greatest GE species. That's nice until a pathogen outsmarts the scientists (yes, viruses are smarter than scientists as anyone who has the flu can attest).

If a disease sweeps through an agricultural crop where farmers are growing different strains, some varieties will prove more resistant than others and the entire food supply will not end up being wiped out. However, if you are growing only one variety of a grain and your neighbors are only growing that variety and, in fact, your entire country is growing that one same variety, you are pratically begging to become the center of attention for the next famine relief effort.
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