All I know is that we can’t even modify software without introducing bugs. And software runs on machines that humans themselves designed! For any machine on the planet there are people that understand it completely. 100%.
With genetic engineering, we are in essence modifying software. The big difference is that the “machine” the software runs on is either the product of tens of millions of years of evolution or God (take your pick, it doesn’t really matter here) and NO ONE understands completely how it works. Yes we know the basic structure of DNA, yes we know how it is used to produce proteins in the cell, and we are learning more every day. However our knowledge is far from complete.
And the way that new genes into are introduced into organisms with GM technology is very crude. There is no telling what other genes are coming along for the ride or what their effects might be.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for genetic engineering. I just think it should be done the way our ancestors have been doing it for oh, the last 10,000 years or so. Selective breeding allows the biological “machines” to work the way they’re designed, and genes get combined through the miracle of sexual reproduction, not the crude blast of a gene gun. Without good old fashioned genetic engineering via selective breeding, none of our modern foods or domesticated animal breeds would exist. Of course selective breeding can’t be patented and it works slowly, so it is of no use to Big Ag.
