@USER if that was the case then how comes we are yet to see kenyans growing feathers,horns or tails despite our attchment to kuku and nyama choma. the one thing we have to understand is that we do not eat genes our digestive systems only sees carbohydrates, vitamins, protein and the likes not genes! and upon digestion the said products are broken down to produce energy for the body. You body does not care wheather u eat ugali, chapati, githeri etc these are all broken down to carbon in the end to generate enrgy. Having said that DNA either from plants or animals is the same wheather it comes from pigs (incidentally it used to make the insulin used for diabetes patients), cows, maiz,e sorghum bacteria it is the same.
@ majimaji GM (GENETIC MODIFICATION)is aimed at imparting some traits to the plant. Naturally this occurs through fertilization and thats why you borrow some characteristics from your father and mother. However for this to occur the two species must be sexually compatible and thats why a dog and cat cant transfer traits among themselves since they cant mate. GM now offers an alternative where it is possible to transfer this traits among species that are not related or sexually compatible. It depends on what characteristics you may want to introduce. There is no ambiquity in this process since only a particular gene of interest will be introduced and assayed for in this whole process. Thus like the case of what the minister is talking about the gm maize has been modified to be resistant to a maize pest which means the farmer will not be required to spray the crop hence less inputs required. by doing so you have put the pestcides manufacturers (who are from europe) out of business and thus they will fight to ensure that their marketshare is not taken. The battle surrounding GM debate is a trade issues we are only being used as pawns in this. So when we hear of GM crop the first thing we should ask is which characeristics have been introduced and are they benefecial.Some gm plants are pest resistance and disease resistance others like soybeanare used to make the now popular liquid cooking oil in our supermarket that has less saturated fatts and is chorestrol free! The GM crop once grown can be able to cross pollinate to other related crops and transfer the said traits in this case if the maize has pest resistance it may be possible to pollinate with other maize crops and impart that characteristic (which is a good thing).
@elder gm cannot result in crop failures infact u need it to preceise develop crops that are drought tolerant. let me give u an example. All the charracteristics we have either color, yield, height everything are coded by a particular gene (they do not occur randomly), sorghum is known to be more drought resistant than other crops eg maize. if the genes responsible for drought torelance in sorghum were identified (and they have) then using gm technology this genes sourced form sorghum can be transfered to maize and consequently have the maize growing well in area such as ukambani. This cannot happen through fertilization since maize and sorghum cannot cross pollinnate. habari ndiyo hiyo
One's first step in wisdom is to question everything - and one's last is to come to terms with everything