Yes. As I have said, I have no strong opinion on GMO safety. What bothers me is branding anti-GMO groups “anti-science.” This seems clearly inaccurate to me in regards to the major anti-GMO activist groups. “Real” scientists have been debating GMO safety for decades.
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Replying to @mbalter @thackerpd and
The safety of GE to introduce traits as compared to other breeding techniques isn't debated by "real" scientists. I agree that branding anti-science is counterproductive. A good chunk of their concerns are socioeconomic, rather than scientific, in nature.
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Replying to @ksenapathy @thackerpd and
2. As I’ve said I have no dog in the GMO debate but calling GE a “breeding technique” is introducing blatant propaganda into a scientific discussion. Here is where I think GMO critics have a very valid point.
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just curious, if genetic engineering is not a breeding technique, what is it? also curious how the term "breeding technique" is propaganda.
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For the first, ask Dr. Folta who also doesn’t like the term. For the second: It is a scientifically inaccurate description used by GMO advocates to argue their case.
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There are many different ways to modify a genome. Traditional breeding, marker assisted selection, chemical mutagenesis, cell fusion, rDNA technology, gene editing... if I needed a term for all of those together, breeding techniques seems a decent one.
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It’s hard to believe that anyone would make the argument that there is no real difference between classical plant breeding and the myriad of techniques used today to genetically engineer plants. It’s sophistry, and thus propaganda, whether deliberate or not.
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what falls in "classical plant breeding" and what does not? where do we draw the line?
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I think reasonable people would draw the line at classical plant breeding, as I have said. Anything else is not that.
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"Reasonable" people have drawn the lines all over the place. Mutagenesis is generally included with "classical", weirdly enough. What is a GMO? Depends on who you ask.https://www.biofortified.org/2015/11/regulate-define-gmo/ …
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Careful. Mr. Balter will soon be calling you a Monsanto shill. 
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