this post was submitted on 06 Feb 2025

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submitted 2 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

This hard, sugarless, unripe tomato sure is red though

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[–] [email protected] 29 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Isn't one argument against GMO that they could spread and outcompete other crops? In that case a terminator gene would even be a good thing?

[–] [email protected] 28 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

That's exactly why the original terminator gene was a joint USDA-ARS /delta-pine effort. The USDA-ARS was looking for ways to prevent GMO species from escaping and causing issues.

You know the shit that actually happened. For example -

Creeping Bentgrass

https://www.opb.org/news/article/gmo-grass-oregon-creeping-bent-scotts-monsanto/

Wheat -

https://www.nature.com/articles/499262a

Corn/teosinte

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0167880918301075

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

What about seedless watermelon

[–] [email protected] -4 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

That's treated with a chemical to keep it from making seeds.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

So, the same applies to seedless grapes?

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

They're often treated with hormones.

I sort of misspoke with regard to watermelons -

Seedless watermelons are created by crossing a regular watermelon with 22 chromosomes with one that's been chemically treated to have 44 chromosomes. The resulting hybrid has 33 chromosomes, making it sterile and seedless.

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[–] [email protected] 84 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

Finally. FINALLY. My ulcer grows every time I hear someone quote that list of evil things Monsanto does. Even though yes, they are evil.

[–] [email protected] 38 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Yea, they're evil enough with the pesticides, and the hostile takeover of farms. We don't need to make the genetic engineering they're doing, which is actually good work, to also be thrown under the bus

[–] [email protected] 25 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I would agree if they didn't use their non-sterile plants to take over small farms around their huge ones by suing for theft when farmers used part of the previous crop that had been pollinated with the Monsanto GM pollen. They didn't buy that genome so it was stolen... Fucking wankers.

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[–] [email protected] 40 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Also, most farmers use hybrid crops, which you already can't save, because they're hybrids. (You can save them, but they're not going to produce the same plants you get them from).

[–] [email protected] 22 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

Whether a plant species is hybridized has little effect on whether it grows true from seed or only via cuttings.

Wild maple trees for example do not grow true from seed.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Wild maple trees for example do not grow true from seed.

How do they reproduce?

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Sexual reproduction via flowers+seeds.

When self-fertilizing, the offspring are not identical.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago

Oh OK, that makes sense - you're talking about clones right? I thought you were saying that they don't even come out the same species 🤣

[–] [email protected] 20 points 2 weeks ago

Apples are a prime example.

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[+] [email protected] -22 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

Unfortunately terminator seeds very much are a thing North America.

https://cases.open.ubc.ca/monsanto-and-terminator-seeds/

[–] [email protected] 67 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Fortunately what you linked says nothing of the sort. You are in this meme

[–] [email protected] 44 points 2 weeks ago

I'm not a native English speaker but that sounds like it's talking about the potential harms of such terminator seeds and not saying they're in the market as of now.

[–] [email protected] 36 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

That entire page says "this would be a bad thing to exist". But it doesn't. There are no commercial terminator seeds.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Well, it says “this would be a bad thing to sell,” my read is that it exists and Monsanto owns the IP.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago

I'd say "that's the point" if this was put out by modern media...both sides are doing this to build engagement and support. That is, writing about something, but hiding the fact that it's nothing. They take a small fact that on its own is true...but is really quite unimportant to the larger question. They then build up on that one small fact and make it out to be a smoking gun.

They may even leave out completely relevant facts. Like in this article it says "Monsanto pledged to not commercialize the seed," but doesn't mention the UN COP8 moratorium on them.

But the other thing is....op posted this from a college website, possibly because they think it's an academic paper...but it's not. It's a summary of case studies in from their CONS200 "Foundations of conservation" program.

[–] [email protected] 238 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

They're not sterile, but they will sue you if they find you've been growing seeds from last year's crops.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 2 weeks ago

Why invent technology to control people when you can just use the law?

[–] [email protected] 76 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Or if your neighbours crops have germinated in your lands

[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I don't think they've successfully sued anyone for that. The few cases I saw last time I looked people were intentionally germinating or saving/selling seeds.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (4 children)

So uhh... hypothetically if one were to live next to a cornfield and acquire some seeds from said field cough somehow cough, would those purely hypothetical seeds grown in one's garden then constitute corn piracy?

Asking for a friend of course.

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[–] [email protected] 42 points 2 weeks ago

or if/when your neighbors pollen blows onto your crops and you grow from those seeds, and then they sue you for being a pirate of their IP

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