Paul2032 said:Thanks Dave.......At the nursery that I was at today a number of different cultivars had non GMO written on the tags. Probably a marketing ploy to satisfy the minds of some suspicious buyers.
I agree with Dave. It's like labeling a can of Crisco "salt-free" or labeling a carton of cigarettes "low in saturated fats".
While technically
truish, Crisco never had salt and cigarettes have no fat of any kind.
Farmers have to sign many legal agreements now, before they CAN buy GMO seeds! Hobbyists CAN'T, yet.
I used to think selling seeds labelled "non-GMO" was a stupid trick but now I think they are smart to start doing that before there is any necessity. At least companies that might otherwise target the home market in a decade pr so will think:
"But we wouldn't be able to sell ANY through vendors that took the "Safe Seed Pledge".
(I wish local big-box stores would take a "non-invasive plant pledge"!
New GE techniques (CRISPR and to a lesser extent TALENS) have emerged that will make it MUCH easier and faster to move genes around withIN the same species. (The genetic results will be only those you COULD have gotten with conventional breeding, if you had 20-30 years and an unlimited budget.)
If the FDA rules that
only transgenic modifications need to obey the extensive testing requirements, we MAY soon start to see flowers or hobbyist-available seeds with just a few minor genetic tweaks. Such as an "Heirloom" tomato with only 2-3 genes added
from other tomato varieties - like disease resistance.
But that's for the future.
