tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post8022785914331385644..comments2024-03-29T09:05:29.819-04:00Comments on Chemjobber: A brief history of Roundup Ready cropsChemjobberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15932113680515602275noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post-86711281369580940812015-08-27T19:54:01.384-04:002015-08-27T19:54:01.384-04:00If China isn't careful, the US will stop expor...If China isn't careful, the US will stop exporting manufacturing jobs to them.qvxbnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post-32434534019362246312015-08-27T18:16:20.658-04:002015-08-27T18:16:20.658-04:00That passage is derived from Dan Charles' book...That passage is derived from Dan Charles' book LORDS OF THE HARVEST: BIOTECH, BIG MONEY, AND THE FUTURE OF FOOD. The passage from his book (pp. 68-69) about the discovery of the Roundup Ready gene reads as follows:<br /><br />++<br /><br />Five hundred miles south of St. Louis, just west of New Orleans, lies Monsanto's Luling plant. It covers fifteen hundred acres along the Mississippi River. Along with massive chemical factories and waste ponds there are thick forests. The area is in fact registered as a Wildlife Habitat Council site.<br /><br />Luling manufactures glyphosate, millions of pounds of it. There are glyphosate residues in the ponds, in the mud at the bottom of the ponds, and in the soil alongside. Those residues exert a steady pressure on the population of microorganisms in the water and soil, eliminating those that are sensitive to glyphosate and selecting those that are less sensitive.<br /><br />By the early 1980s Roundup-tolerant bacteria were already there, flourishing despite the presence of herbicide residues. As part of their routine monitoring work, scientists from Monsanto's chemical waste division came to Luling and collected samples of the sludge. They were hoping to find bacteria that could use glyphosate as food, breaking it down into less harmful chemicals. They hoped such bacteria might help them clean up the environment.<br /><br />The samples sat in the waste cleanup division of Monsanto for years. Finally the genetic engineers heard about these collections and began studying them. One group of scientists was assigned to look for new forms of the target gene. And one day a scientist from that group came down the hall, walked into the offices of the people who led the Roundup tolerance program, and said, "Guess what? This thing is perfect."<br /><br />The new gene looked radically different from any target gene they'd seen before. But it performed its function in the plant cell and proved to tolerate Roundup far better than any gene the scientists had created in the laboratory. The long search for a Roundup tolerance gene was over.<br /><br />++<br /><br />Hope this helps—and thanks for reading!Ted Genowayshttp://tedgenoways.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post-54018120599214491552015-08-27T15:30:05.508-04:002015-08-27T15:30:05.508-04:00Monsanto always seemed to be a magnet for conspira...Monsanto always seemed to be a magnet for conspiracy theorists, and I always dismissed them as Food Babe chemophobic types. Looks like there's more to the story - the national security angle explains why there's so much government meddling in agriculture.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post-23389477921994337622015-08-27T14:44:24.933-04:002015-08-27T14:44:24.933-04:00Now someone please take the alien orange-brown alg...Now someone please take the alien orange-brown algae that grows on the walls of my base bath soak tank (1% KOH + 0.5% K3PO4 + liquid laundry detergent)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post-54828722688124901242015-08-27T13:29:30.114-04:002015-08-27T13:29:30.114-04:00I also heard a rumor that glyphosate is a rather s...I also heard a rumor that glyphosate is a rather slow killer and that the only reason Monsanto found it was due to a "lazy" employee. Lure has it that he inadvertently left out an assay over the weekend and came back to a surprising result. Apparently, this slow kill time caused a number of other companies to look over the compound for development. Serendipity indeed.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com