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ruzuzu commented on the word gene gun
"In 1998, Michael Pollan wrote an article for The New York Times Magazine entitled "Playing God in the Garden," which examined the genetically modified potato owned by the Monsanto corporation. . . . Pollan admits that Monsanto was remarkably open and generous, giving him access to scientists, laboratories, executives, customers, and potato seeds.
Pollan's visits to the Monsanto laboratory are revealing. Who knew that gene splicing was so crude? A Monsanto employee tells Pollan how a "gene gun" splices foreign genes into a plant. Writes Pollan, "The gun here is not a metaphor: A .22 shell is used to fire stainless-steel projectiles dipped in a DNA solution at a stem or leaf of the target plant. If all goes well, some of the DNA will pierce the wall of some of the cells' nuclei and elbow its way into the double helix: a bully breaking into a line dance.""
- from "No small potatoes. - All Over Creation - The Botany of Desire - book review" in The Progressive, March, 2003, by Elizabeth DiNovella, as seen here.
June 13, 2010