SC - OT - For Our Inverted Friends in Lochac

[Huette von Ahrens]

Corwyn skrev:

>If it's "naturally" modified I can be pretty certain that the genes it has
>started out as something remotely like the same species. Fish genes in
>veggies I can do without, and depending on the species, anybody who keeps
>seriously kosher or halal can do without too.

Corwyn, I'm not singling you out, I'm responding to your post because it's
the most recent of those on this topic.

Why are you folks so against genetic modification? When you're talking about
a gene, you're talking about a very small molecule or bundle of molecules
which happens to have come from another species than the original. You are
talking about something like a molecule of water, or of air, and complaining
that it may once have been breathed or drunk by Adolf Hitler. I've got news
for you- if you are super strict kosher or hahal, you might just as well
quit breathing, eating and drinking, because almost every molecule you're
ingesting has at one point or another been ingested and probably part of a
lot of other species, those kosher or halal, and those not. The only
difference between a gene and any other molecule is that it's a bit bigger
than many others, and comes conveniently packaged for transference of
certain set characteristics.

In fact, depending where it is placed in a chain, it might very well do
different things in different areas of the chromosome.

A gene is not a protein, either- it is simply the instruction booklet for
the formation of proteins. Complaining about a gene makes about as much
sense as banning the English letters P,I, and G because the make up the
letters of a word which in its entirety and physical manifestation
represents something non-Kosher or non-halal.

Phlip

Nolo disputare, volo somniare et contendere, et iterum somniare.

phlip at morganco.net

Philippa Farrour
Caer Frig
Southeastern Ohio

"All things are poisons.  It is simply the dose that distinguishes between a
poison and a remedy." -Paracelsus

"Oats -- a grain which in England sustains the horses, and in
Scotland, the men." -- Johnson

"It was pleasant to me to find that 'oats,' the 'food of horses,' were
so much used as the food of the people in Johnson's own town." --
Boswell

"And where will you find such horses, and such men?" -- Anonymous