This is one article that has me turning the idea over again: http://news.discovery.com/earth/gm-plant-canola-wild.html . We do not always know the long term results of GM.

Or as a programmer friend of mine put it: “As a programmer, experience has shown me that altering a part of a process can have negative effects at a distant part of that process. In any system of interrelated programs, output from program A is input to programs B, G, X, and Z. The…ir output is input to several other programs. In my career I’ve occasionally received late night calls because an innocent change to program B has caused a crash in some program four iterations down the processing line. Even with good documentation and programming practices, a minor change can activate a flaw in a not-do-robust program elsewhere in a data processing microcosm. Arrogant programming pretty much guarantees disaster.

Businesses use systems of thousands of programs to manage their data. It can get very complicated, but with access to the source code and time spent in study and testing, programmers can know for certain that their changes will not cause problems. This is a goal nearly unachievable in genetic engineering. I submit that the complication of a business process compares to the complication of nature as a the simplicity of a mechanical calculator compares to complication of the space shuttle. Man should only be “programing” nature in scenarios where we can ABSOLUTELY CONTROL the RANGE of EFFECT. Anything else is arrogant. The subject of this linked story is arrogance confirmed.”

My main objection to this kind of food, kashrut considerations apart, is the fact that our bodies were not made to handle GM food, which this is. Yes, and thank you for opening my mind to the presence of GM rennet in yellow cheese. I now realize that I’d best avoid “gvina tzehuva” and spend my money on the real thing.

Orthodox Judaism has made it very clear that proteins produced by genetically engineered bacteria, yeast, or plants are not considered animal proteins even when the gene that encodes the protein originally derived from an animal source. This is why you see Kosher certificates on yellow-cheeses made with genetically engineered rennet

While the gelatin in question will have the same sequence of amino acids as the original animal one, the gene itself is actually quite different, due to the universal genetic code having slight “dialect” preferences, and the gene was re-synthesized by machine to have it contain the preferences of the yeast. Also, the part of the gene that controls the levels of expression was changed to that of yeast. Thus what you have is a yeast gene producing an animal-equivalent protein.

Thus, this is far less cannibalistic than licking a sore, swallowing your saliva, or French kissing (all cases where human proteins are ingested), and is far more healthful. Thus, the article is just a case of journalistic populism and hysteria-mongering, quite unbecoming of Green Prophet.

Genetic engineering has much to offer the environment – both human (as in this case) as well as agricultural and natural.

The human mind is like a parachute – best used while open.

Secondly, I don’t know if this was posted on Treehugger. I scan a number of online journals for topics of interest to our readers. In any case, Green Prophet often quotes from other sources, Treehugger among them.