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+--- Thread: Article Did you hear the story about the GMO that nearly destroyed the world? (/thread-15632.html)
Did you hear the story about the GMO that nearly destroyed the world? - C C - Mar 24, 2024
https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2024/03/22/hear-story-gmo-almost-destroyed-world/
INTRO: Once upon a time, way back in 1990, a German company modified the genetics of a bacterium so it could efficiently ferment plant waste, turning the material into ethanol. There was, the story goes, just one problem: the bacteria, Klebsiella planticola, “almost killed the world with booze,” according to an article on Cracked.
Earth Island Journal took a less sarcastic tack, quoting retired genetics professor and now environmental activist David Suzuki:
Geneticist David Suzuki understands that what took place was truly ominous. “The genetically engineered Klebsiella,” he says, “could have ended all plant life on this continent. The implications of this single case are nothing short of terrifying.”
Read the GLP’s profile of David Suzuki here.
This story has become an occasionally arising myth, with articles that appear every few years bolstering anti-GMO activists’ views that anything transgenic or otherwise modified is at least bad for your health, bad for the environment, or perhaps fatal.
Now, in the wake of a new federal law mandating labeling food containing GMOs, the myth has returned... (MORE - details)