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Originally Posted by Elphaba
I have a "mundane" biology question that maybe Ustwo can answer for me. One of the concerns mentioned in the review article is the possibility of natural cross-pollination between a gm and nongm plant. It would seem that the possibility of a new species is possible, but wouldn't it still be a self-limiting (one-year) plant?
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A little basic biology . . . . the "self-limiting" trait that Monsanto developed was just completely sterile seeds. They inserted a gene that prevents seeds from germinating, so that farmers couldn't use the seeds to start a new crop. As far as I know the seed crop could still be harvested and consumed, but it couldn't be used to plant a new crop. They called the gene "terminator" after the movie. But the public outcry was so deafening that they abandoned this practice.
On the cross pollination: yes crops can cross-pollinate, but only within the same species. So corn on adjacent fields might pollinate each other, or from a field to a ditch. There are some wild relatives of crops that can cross with them, but it is rare. When this happens, the genes of the two groups mix of course.
Is this a problem? No more so with GM crops than with traditionally bred crops. In fact you could argue that it is more of a problem with traditionally bred crops than with GM crops, because with GM only one gene is inserted but with traditionally bred crops hundreds are inserted.