tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7603499.post8993936971968989004..comments2023-11-30T03:44:34.585-05:00Comments on Opinions Nobody Asked For: Goodbye, Mr. BorlaugJeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11683622475941901572noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7603499.post-56697044031945922192009-09-15T10:23:58.464-04:002009-09-15T10:23:58.464-04:00You know, I have started to emit this strange gree...You know, I have started to emit this strange green glow...Mikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06383789548221247888noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7603499.post-3136828849658975762009-09-14T17:20:03.116-04:002009-09-14T17:20:03.116-04:00Wow, I had never heard of that before. Seems like ...Wow, I had never heard of that before. Seems like it's been going on for a while, too - even longer than precision genetic engineering. Fascinating stuff, there.<br /><br />It's a lot safer than it sounds, too. The irradiation occurs in the breeding stage of strain development, but the crops are then bred and planted the old-fashioned way, so the stuff that actually ends up on your plate probably has never seen a gamma ray... but yeah, I'm definitely surprised this hasn't led to a radioactive food panic in the West.Jeffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11683622475941901572noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7603499.post-88812930351244403762009-09-14T16:46:09.265-04:002009-09-14T16:46:09.265-04:00And to be clear, I don't think creating new st...And to be clear, I don't think creating new strains by either method is something we should be afraid of. Just that if people freak out about tampering with nature, irradiation is a much more random, imprecise way of doing it.Jacob Grierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15585762363488856198noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7603499.post-75632895752587505612009-09-14T16:44:26.243-04:002009-09-14T16:44:26.243-04:00There's that, but it's also used to induce...There's that, but it's also used to induce mutations and create new strains of crops. See here for example:<br />http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/28/science/28crop.htmlJacob Grierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15585762363488856198noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7603499.post-31831579586646429512009-09-14T15:52:43.210-04:002009-09-14T15:52:43.210-04:00As I understand it, irradiation is done generally ...As I understand it, irradiation is done generally on meat that has already been killed, as well as on herbs and spices that have already been picked. The goal is to kill bacteria and other pathogens that would normally require pasteurization or cooking. Which means the panic over irradiated food would be even sillier than a panic over GMOs in my opinion - it doesn't make the food radioactive, which it what could really harm the consumer, and the dead meat/plant cells aren't gonna mutate, being dead and all.Jeffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11683622475941901572noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7603499.post-85152855528427389642009-09-14T14:48:03.349-04:002009-09-14T14:48:03.349-04:00Great post, Jeff. An additional point about plant-...Great post, Jeff. An additional point about plant-breeding is that if GMOs are scary, many conventional crops produced by irradiation should be even scarier. With genetic engineering we basically know what we're doing. With irradiation we're just blasting a seed with radiation to see what random mutations show up. Yet hardly anyone knows about irradiation and everyone freaks out about GM.Jacob Grierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15585762363488856198noreply@blogger.com