Self terminating seeds?
September 19, 2011 1:17 PM Subscribe
Daughter (grade 11) is researching self terminating seeds. Not "natural" hybrids, but actual technological termination. Please help her (and myself) find credible citations about this technology.
We found tons of OMG Monsanto and Terminator technology which is very unhelpful and both of us would prefer a proper source that this technology exists and is in use today?
We found tons of OMG Monsanto and Terminator technology which is very unhelpful and both of us would prefer a proper source that this technology exists and is in use today?
both of us would prefer a proper source that this technology exists and is in use today?
The problem with that idea is that the technology simply isn't in use today, at least not commercially. Monsanto, the company that owns the fundamental patent on the technology, does not use it, preferring instead to use contractual agreements and patent infringement suits. As you point out, it is also inherent in the nature of hybrid crops not to breed true. As a result, there hasn't been much interest in commercializing terminator technology, especially since it has been banned in a few major agricultural markets already (e.g. India, Brazil) and, as a kind of genetically modified plant, would be so heavily regulated in the EU that it's unlikely that it would be worth the effort there.
posted by jedicus at 1:34 PM on September 19, 2011
The problem with that idea is that the technology simply isn't in use today, at least not commercially. Monsanto, the company that owns the fundamental patent on the technology, does not use it, preferring instead to use contractual agreements and patent infringement suits. As you point out, it is also inherent in the nature of hybrid crops not to breed true. As a result, there hasn't been much interest in commercializing terminator technology, especially since it has been banned in a few major agricultural markets already (e.g. India, Brazil) and, as a kind of genetically modified plant, would be so heavily regulated in the EU that it's unlikely that it would be worth the effort there.
posted by jedicus at 1:34 PM on September 19, 2011
Response by poster: We have actually made our own hybrids in our large garden so we are very well aware of plants (and chickens) not "breeding true". She tends to be very skeptical of Wikipedia as a source for her research (though that is where she started and led to me asking this question). If anyone know of even academic studies would be fine.
BTW this all came about by a documentary that she watched and was very skeptical about... making Daddygroweler proud.
posted by mrgroweler at 1:41 PM on September 19, 2011
BTW this all came about by a documentary that she watched and was very skeptical about... making Daddygroweler proud.
posted by mrgroweler at 1:41 PM on September 19, 2011
Check out this article from the Ecologist, from 1998. It gets referenced as a seminal article on the topic, but judge for yourself. I was going to memail you the text, but it looks like the text of it is online.
Terminator Technology: the threat to world food security. Pat Roy Mooney and Ricarda A. Steinbrecher. The Ecologist. 28.5 (September-October 1998) p276.
The bios get cut though, so here are those:
Dr. Ricarda A. Steinbrecher is a geneticist and biologist. She is coordinating the Test Tube Harvest Campaign of the Women's Environmental Network, is Science Director of the Genetics Forum, UK and is biotechnology advisor to many non-governmental organisations.
Pat Roy Mooney has worked for more than 30 years with civil society organisations on international trade and development issues related to agriculture and biodiversity and is the author of several books on the subject. He lives in Winnipeg, Canada, where he is Executive Director of RAFI.
BTW this all came about by a documentary that she watched and was very skeptical about
Food Inc? I know I saw things like this in either that, or one of the other food-chain documentaries.
posted by cashman at 1:44 PM on September 19, 2011
Terminator Technology: the threat to world food security. Pat Roy Mooney and Ricarda A. Steinbrecher. The Ecologist. 28.5 (September-October 1998) p276.
The bios get cut though, so here are those:
Dr. Ricarda A. Steinbrecher is a geneticist and biologist. She is coordinating the Test Tube Harvest Campaign of the Women's Environmental Network, is Science Director of the Genetics Forum, UK and is biotechnology advisor to many non-governmental organisations.
Pat Roy Mooney has worked for more than 30 years with civil society organisations on international trade and development issues related to agriculture and biodiversity and is the author of several books on the subject. He lives in Winnipeg, Canada, where he is Executive Director of RAFI.
BTW this all came about by a documentary that she watched and was very skeptical about
Food Inc? I know I saw things like this in either that, or one of the other food-chain documentaries.
posted by cashman at 1:44 PM on September 19, 2011
The documentary may have been The World According to Monsanto (a preview on the National Film Board of Canada's website); I seem to remember there being something in that about terminator seeds. There is also a book, which may have leads to further sources.
posted by urbanlenny at 2:05 PM on September 19, 2011
posted by urbanlenny at 2:05 PM on September 19, 2011
Response by poster: I haven't seen The world according to Monsanto myself but being NFB it is very likely this is what she watched. Cashman Thanks we will read it together.
posted by mrgroweler at 4:53 PM on September 19, 2011
posted by mrgroweler at 4:53 PM on September 19, 2011
I worked at Monsanto when the technology was first developled. A large part of the idea was that if you had a crop of plants which couldn't breed, they also couldn't pass genes to related plants in the area, which everyone was freaking out about.
Then people freaked out about the terminator gene.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 8:57 PM on September 19, 2011 [2 favorites]
Then people freaked out about the terminator gene.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 8:57 PM on September 19, 2011 [2 favorites]
This thread is closed to new comments.
The gist of the current situation is that this technology does exist, but it is not used anywhere commercially. The thing that's often misunderstood is that if you were to plant the seeds of most commercial hybrid crops that are sold, you are not going to end up with the same type of seed anyway. The genetics that are prized are (to dumb it down a bit) often recessive and not expressed when not properly bred. In other words, you can plant corn that you harvested, but you're not going to be getting the same results.
Outside of publications mentioning the technology or academic studies, you likely won't find "proof" but it does exist.
posted by mikeh at 1:29 PM on September 19, 2011