Allan- > Someone told me that INSULIN is or is derived from a GMO. Is that true? > The insulin is made, I believe, like the GMO Bt that is stuck in corn. It allows the manufacturer to get a patent and make money off a natural product. > Someone also told me that any plant bred by human selection, even if > the normal plant organs are involved is technically a GMO. > This is the argument university extension agents and high school ag teachers like to make when they aren't in the company of organic farmers, or so they think. They'll tell you spelt--or was it rye?--is GMO. I think it's unlikely that a bacterium would've mated with a grass or a fish with a tomato. People who say GMO's have been around forever are missing the point.
> Can someone fill me in, especially on the insulin thing? > I think the insulin thing is arguably a practical matter. Large, identical quantities of insulin can be made in the lab using GE techniques, whereas the old method which I thought involved pig insulin would be much slower. Kind of a toss-up... Insulin from factory-farmed pigs or genetic engineering. Susan
