6-16 IAN Seed Banks

Genetic corruption. Is it possible that with all this genetic modification of a variety of crops, that we could ultimately end up tainting what we grow to the point of no return?

With all the genetic engineering going on these days, you know, the Roundup ready sugar beets, alfalfa, corn and I’m sure there’s going to be a whole lot more, is it possible that we could lose our ability to grow crops through some form of runaway genetic disaster? Before we predict doomsday, however, there is a safeguard system in place as described by Douglas Jones, Executive Director,  of the Center for Biotechnology. Here is: “There are seed banking organizations that save seed exactly for that purpose to be sure that we preserve a wide genetic pool not only in corn but a wide variety of other things and four weeks and cereal grains, it’s over in Aberdeen, Idaho. There is a genetic seed bank to preserve a wide variety of cereal grain, wheat and barley, and they pick varieties that may have fallen out of commercial use but they preserve seed samples in order to have that stock available for research or if a disease comes up that might have been other varieties were resistant to so they can go back and look at the genes within those old varieties, heritage varieties, native varieties.