Mass Starvation via Genetic Engineering
Hello all; first post.
I know that most of the entries here are from actual dreams, but I saw a few that were from actual news stories. Well I have one that sounds like it came straight out of a Kurt Vonnegut novel (something like Cat’s Cradle)! But this comes from a nonfiction book by David Suzuki and Holly Dressel called From Naked Ape to Super Species.
A chilling example of just how risky things are getting ecologically happened just a few years ago, when a German biotech company engineered a bacterium to get rid of rotting crop wastes on farms. The bacterium was a common soil microorganism called Klebsiella planticula , and it brought an unexpected bonus. The engineered bacterium produced a by-product — ethanol — that can be used as a fuel that is far less polluting than gasoline. It seemed like a win-win creation — it would eliminate rotting wastes and decrease greenhouse-gas when ethanol was used instead of gas.The company applied to field test the bacterium in the United States, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) assigned the research to a small University, Oregon State. Labs routinely test organisms in sterile soil so the variables are under rigid control, but Michael Holmes, the doctoral student assigned to do the experiments, thought that testing in sterile soils didn’t make much sense. He decided to carry out the tests in different kinds of “living soils”, that is, ones with naturally occurring soil organisms in them. To his amazement, he found that every plant that was put into the soil with the engineered Klebsiella died.
Why did they die? Well most plants get their nourishment with the help of organisms called mycorrhysal fungi. The fungi live just below the surface of the soil and help make nutrients available to plant roots. When the genetically engineered Klebsiella was introduced into living soils, it interfered with with this process in a variety of ways, sometimes simply killing the fungi outright. And without mycorrhysal fungi in soils, no plants of any kind can survive. As Beth Burrows, the founder of the Edmonds Institute, and environmental think-tank near Seattle, Washington, says, “Without plants, you don’t get animals. And without animals, there are none of us either…. So if we add something into a soil that kills [mycorrhysae], we’re essentially cutting our own throats. And if we test in sterile soils, we’ll never know. Because there’s no mycorrhysal fungi in a sterile soil.”
It’s easy to forget that the living world is far more complex than we know. As Burrows says, “A funny thing happens on farmers’ fields. Those microorganisms move around. Birds land on soil, and they pick up all kinds of things from the surface. And they get up and they fly off, and they take what they touched with them. As do tractors. As do the feet of farmers. As do cars. As do particles, just dirt particles that fly into the air. You can’t contain it…. So if I decide I’m going to have Klebsiella in my fields, I’ve made a decision for my neighbour as well. And I might have made a decision for the guy in the next county. And if we get really good birds, I might have made a decision for all America.”
The genetically engineered Klebsiella could have ended all plant life on this continent. The implications of this single case are nothing short of terrifying. And there are literally thousands of independent biotech labs around the world, industriously developing new living creatures for commercial exploitation without adequate testing.
I was going to comment on this at the end, but I realized hey, what else can I say? It speaks for itself. In the back of the book, there are several references that Suzuki provides for further reading if anyones interested.
Author: Riao
August 14th, 2008 at 10:10 am in Background - Literature, Nature and Science, Our Fault
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December 17th, 2008 at 8:04 am
Genetically engineered bacteria produce useful substances, commonly referred to as, “Of recombinant DNA origin”.
This example relies on a closed system. The fungi useful to plants are able to survive a deep freeze, whereas many bacteria are killed by below freezing temperatures.
The author also infers that no countermeasure could be devised to combat the extinction of all animal life on earth.
That’s quite a stretch. 200 hundred years ago, if someone became infected with bacteria, he/she died.
The whole world didn’t die, but many people did. The black death of the 1340s A.D. was caused by microorganisms, although no one of that epoch was aware microorganisms existed.
Instead, the medical community performed its duty, to protect the collective human health trust, by explaining that the plague was caused by a planetary arrangement three years previous.
Using science, the physicians surmised that the arrangement of earth, mars, and jupiter had caused the earth to release poisonous vapors, once concealed underground.
The medical community was of one mind in prescribing preventative measures to the public:
Avoid sleeping during the day. Do not consume rain water. Avoid eating fish and cheese together. All poultry should be avoided. Think about wealth.
Today we view the medical technology of the 1300s with amusement. Yet, we view today’s medical technology with amazement.
700 years from now, every medical fact believed today will be false.
Nonfiction authors sell books, by engaging the public, many times using mystery, combined with hysteria.
God takes care of us. He Loves us; with an Everlasting Love. God will not allow His Beloved Children to cease existence.
When God is removed from perception of reality, medical technology results. In every generation there are hysterics, who prey upon human fear to make money.
The United States IS The Nation Under God. America protects the world from destruction. The USA is the wealthiest nation on earth, because it is The Christian Nation: The Bastian of freedom, liberty, and justice for all.
Those who would trade freedom for safety shall have neither. The human race could live in utter terror, except There IS God.
With God, all things are possible. When man limits himself to the primitive sensory channels of the human organism, and the intellect insufficient to create matter, he becomes laughing stock for The Sons of God.
Does anyone ever think “why” everything is predictable, except on earth. God put in place The Physical Laws of Nature, to govern the three dimensional reality.
These Laws are absolute. Mankind has no control over them. We have a choice to make: If mankind will not turn to Jesus Christ, for Atonement from sin, the human race will commit genocide against itself. This is according to The Will of God:
Every part of Creation refusing to do The Will of God, shall cease to exist.
If we turn to Jesus, we will know freedom from death. Caucasians have an Inheritance, of Absolute Power; A Gift From Their Almighty Father: Immortality, in Everlasting Paradise; seated as Judges over ALL.
The choice is this: Eternity in everlasting fire, OR, Eternity in Everlasting Paradise. Physical existence is a single breath, of life unending.
There is nothing between life and death, besides physical existence. I cannot die. I’m Immortal. And I have Absolute Power. I cannot be defeated, unless I commit sin, and subsequently fail to claim The Sacrifice of Jesus Christ as Atonement for my sin.
Sin IS death. Christ IS Life. But I did find the post interesting.