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Unless they are breeding wheat to devour other species I don't see how biodiversity is an issue.
Several reasons. One is that engineered species can escape the confines of the farm, and so we can get an "introduced species" problem. I've heard that this is a big worry among those who worry about engineered salmon.
Another is that farmers in other countries are often coerced into using certain varieties of seed and other farming methods by the companies that have interests in these things-- chemical companies, agribusiness, and so on. And just as often, it is not foreign farms, but our corporations operating farms in foreign countries. It goes beyond the mere greed that Chi mentions. Andean varieties, for example, are not disappearing just because Andean farmers are greedy. Much of the "free trade" agreements you hear so much about are geared to the interests of agribusiness and chemical companies-- "opening markets" to their products and so on. The result is a decline in biodiversity.
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You could argue that if the wheat population becomes very homogenous, and a disease entered the environment to which it was susceptible, large crops of wheat could be wiped out very quickly.
Yes, that is exactly right.
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Farming mass fields of wheat is already changing the state of nature quite a bit, I'm not sure what other damage you could do, you know, once you cut down all the trees and flush out all the indigenous animals so you can till acre after acre of land.
You're right. Agriculture even in its pre-industrial form has done massive harm to environments. Ever wonder why these "cradle of civilization" kinds of places tend to be deserts? Well, they didn't used to be!
But the idea is to slow the harm down, not accelerate it. GM products arguably (not inevitably or in all cases) have the potential to accelerate it.
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If species are already needing human crops to survive...
No, I said wild rice, which was native to the Chesapeake Bay region and until recently supported huge wildlife populations. It's an example of how an escaped or introduced species like phragmites can resonate up the food chain.
I agree that this should be the legal doctrine, but I'm afraid it's not. So there's something to be wary of.
Like I said, I'd eat carrots with eyeballs growing on them. I'm not against GMO per se. I just think we need to give the consequences utmost consideration, and this stuff about the strongest genes doesn't come close.
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