What are the dangers of replacing old varieties with new varieties using biotechnology?

Answer 1

Opinions on dangers of biotechnology

• There is a risk of narrowing the genetic pool so plants then become weaker over time. It can increase dependence on artificial fertilizers and pesticides. Some technology prevents plants from forming new embryos in the seed. Farmers and gardeners become reliant on large multinational companies because the seeds cannot be naturally produced from year to year but must be re-purchased each season. Also, we do not know the long-term effects on plants and the food chain using new technologies, whilst the old varieties, and especially open-pollinated ones, have served mankind well over many years.

• Farmers do not become dependent on the "evil" seed companies. when one spends many years and money to develop a new variety one wants to protect its knowledge. What they do is sell F1 hybrid seeds. the seed company cultivates two parent plant lines whose offspring is the seed of the desired variety so that it the farmer collects the seeds from the field (just like you can use the seeds from a tomato or pepper you buy at the supermarket) he can still grow a tomato it just won't be the specific variety because its parents are not the "right" parent plants grown by the seed company. It would be silly of the farmer to do so because he will get an uneven field with lower quality fruit. Absolutely nothing prevents a farmer from using open varieties they are just not as good as the hybrid ones so a smart farmer will buy good quality seeds from the seed company to get better yields. No farmer in the modern world in his right mind would grow "garden variety" vegetables simply because he would go bankrupt. it is true that agriculture as a whole reduces the genetic pool used, it does not however reduce the natural genetic variation in fact when a breeder goes looking for disease immunity genes for breeding he goes back to the wild types to look for it and since new varieties are released each year one can claim the genetic pool is increased. when one breeds a new variety there are many things he needs to consider, such as the ability to grow the plant properly and sell the fruit the consumer likes, most breeders will focus on virus immunities as they are almost impossible to get rid of in the field as opposed to fungal disease which can be dealt with so if he has to choose between a variety which will be immune to say TMWV (tomato wilting virus) but will require treatment for pesticides on a variety which needs less fertilizer but is susceptible to viruses he will go for the first one. bear in mind, a plant more resistant to pests can be poisonous to human as wild tomato, peppers and potatoes are- which do you prefer the poison genetically inside the fruit or in a washable form outside?
• Just because something has "served mankind for many years" is no excuse for blocking progress and development. As for the effect on the environment, the best thing for the environment is to reduce the human population to less than a billion would you press the button that kills the other 6 billion? Human population and the farming that supports it is ALL bad for the environment. new technology and scientific progress are the only way to REDUCE our bad effects on the environment.