genetically engineered organisms

[sleepygrlgreen]

A teacher at Montana State University, apparently frustrated with the regulatory bureaucracy that oversees the release of genetically engineered organisms into the environment, decided in June of 1987 to inject 14 American elm trees on the university's campus with a genetically modified strain of Pseudomonas syringae without waiting for the approval of the university's bio-safety committee or for federal approval from the US Environmental Protection Agency and NIH (National Institutes of Health). The teacher's intent was to show that the originally pathogenic P. syringae could be genetically altered in ways that would cause it to protect non-diseased trees from Dutch.eim disease.

His work has been criticised, labeled arrogant and irresonsible, but has also been praised by some. At the risk of losing his job, loss of grant funds, public censure, and possibly even criminal charges...what do you think of what this man did? Was it worth it? Ethical? Non-ethical?

[MyOrangeLetters]

i love genetic engineering and therapy. i think that you know, if god or whoever the creator, gave us the ability to mess with nature and its blueprints then let us do it. i mean we pollute waters and chop down trees. at least this dude is trying to help.
i think people just don't like the idea of changing genes because it can make dangerous lifeforms. or actually thats probably the only real threat . and disruption of the ecosystem probably. i don't know

[Sing to Me]

this reeks of "help me with my homework"

but anyway, it's a noble idea, but doing it in an incontrolled environment (aka a campus) is reckless.doing it in a lab, with no risk of letting it be released into an ecosystem, is much safer.

making any plant stronger runs the risk of making it so strong it overruns an area and royally screws the life there. and once plant life is screwed, animal life will shortly follow

[scitsofreaky]

Genetic engineering has great potential, but we must be careful because we are toying with things that we don't fully understand. i think what the researcher did was reckless, for the reasons sing stated.

[sleepygrlgreen]

this reeks of "help me with my homework"



heh. this was an assignment, but i handed it in already. i saw two sides to this story and i was curious to see how others felt about it. i want a career in genetics research so this stuff really interests me.

[sleepygrlgreen]

to sing to me and scitsofreaky, i see your point and i agree. it was reckless, but i also think that he must have felt that doing this was incredibly important. i don't think that he would go out of his way to do something that would be detrimental to the ecoysystem and at the same time risk everything he has.

from what i know though, i believe that he still works at the university.

[richter915]

I thought this thread was titled "genetically engineered orgasms"...now I see that it is not.

I can't believe you already have 510 posts on this shit dude...crazy.

[LoyalSubject]

I believe in genetic engineering, I think that everything should be maxed out to it's full potential. I meant I want to see alligators the size of whales and 10 foot tall people walking around.

[richter915]

I believe in genetic engineering, I think that everything should be maxed out to it's full potential. I meant I want to see alligators the size of whales and 10 foot tall people walking around.
well, that's easy...all we gotta do is bring back dinosaurs (which we know how to do thanks to Jurassic park) and clone Yao Ming...done and done.

[LoyalSubject]

Do you know how awesome it would be to have a pet T-Rex? You could make a Miniature T-Rex and he could eat the neighbors cat.

[aminorthreat55]

Dammit, I thought it said orgasms. I thought this would be entertaining to read, oh well.

[sleepygrlgreen]

sorry to disappoint you.

hmm...genetically engineered orgasms though.... that gives me an idea! :wink3:

[sleepygrlgreen]

Do you know how awesome it would be to have a pet T-Rex? You could make a Miniature T-Rex and he could eat the neighbors cat.

eat the neighbors cat and then you. he would need to undergo some serious training.

[LoyalSubject]

eat the neighbors cat and then you. he would need to undergo some serious training.
I know that. But it would be tiny, like 2 feet tall. Any animal can be trained but they all will lash out sometime or another. Like when Shamu tried to smash it's trainer.

[sleepygrlgreen]

I know that. But it would be tiny, like 2 feet tall. Any animal can be trained but they all will lash out sometime or another. Like when Shamu tried to smash it's trainer.

hah. when did that happen?

[infamous_alias]

That was over 15 years ago. Just out of curiosity, how are those trees doing now?

[sleepygrlgreen]

That was over 15 years ago. Just out of curiosity, how are those trees doing now?

Actually, I've been trying to find out. It's hard to find too much about this guy and what he's done. I'll post as soon as I found out though.

[Alan Rupp]

This is pretty interesting.

[noodledancer]

what he did was clearly reckless. 1 or 2 trees i could sort of understand as him being frustrated/impatient, but 14!? saving some trees on campus from dutch elm disease doesn't justify the potential threat to public health.

[richter915]

this kinda stuff is really bad for him and the science community...research is key and doing it recklessly means your work gets taken less seriously. He mighta stumbled upon something great but he should really have just waited for the approval from those above him.

[Alan Rupp]

what he did was clearly reckless. 1 or 2 trees i could sort of understand as him being frustrated/impatient, but 14!? saving some trees on campus from dutch elm disease doesn't justify the potential threat to public health.
Word up.
this kinda stuff is really bad for him and the science community...research is key and doing it recklessly means your work gets taken less seriously. He mighta stumbled upon something great but he should really have just waited for the approval from those above him.
I think the biggest thing about it isn't necessarily the fact that he was reckless with it and pissed on the scientific community, but it's that his data now officially means nothing.

For an experiment to have any validity, the results must be reproduceable, which these clearly aren't. And for that reason, his fantastic work (let's assume it is), is virtually meaningless because they could be regarded as documented anomalies, not scientific "fact".

[richter915]

Word up.

I think the biggest thing about it isn't necessarily the fact that he was reckless with it and pissed on the scientific community, but it's that his data now officially means nothing.

For an experiment to have any validity, the results must be reproduceable, which these clearly aren't. And for that reason, his fantastic work (let's assume it is), is virtually meaningless because they could be regarded as documented anomalies, not scientific "fact".
ya definitely...there's no substance to his work. It not only has to be reproducable, but reproducable in a controlled environment. Since he skipped that and went straight to nature...his "results" mean shit.

This guy's conclusions are no better than saying the Earth is 6000 years old.