re: #310 Russkilitlover

As I understand, genetically modified seeds can’t reproduce.

They can reproduce without any trouble. You may be confusing this with the long-standing practice seed companies employ of producing F-1 hybrids for sale to the public.

Briefly, two distinct genetic lines of a crop plant are produced, each containing sets of recessive genes that, when combined together, produce a double-recessive offspring that exhibits those traits in abundance. So you get, for example, a gigantic tomato. But if you plant the seeds from that tomato, the particular complementary combination of recessive genes isn’t available, and it’s offspring will not live up to their parent’s prodigious qualities. They will, in fact, generally suck badly. So if you want those giant tomatoes again, you’re forced to buy the seed from the company that produced them again.

This has been going on since at least WWII, and was a key component of the Green Revolution. It doesn’t require genetic engineering to pull off; until very recently, all such plants were produced using traditional horticultural breeding techniques. You can do the same thing, of course, by directly tinkering with the genes, but it isn’t necessary. And when F-1 hybridization isn’t being pursued, the genetically engineered plants produce offspring just like ordinary plants do.