Genetic engineering (GMO) is NOT an extension of conventional plant breeding.

[booley]

88. How long would it take to breed a glow in the dark cat?

To me that question always sums it up

In genetic engineering, making things glow is elementary. In fact it's one of the most common forms of engineering because it's used to see if the rest of new genes took or not.

But I am thinking regardless of how much you try, it would be new to impossible to selectively breed a glow in the dark animal or plant that didn't' have the gene in it' s make up to begin with.

Now look, I am not actually against genetic engineering. It holds great promise and as a guy with friends with various genetic ailments I actually look forward to the day when practical human gene therapy is a reality.

But it also has all these risks (like any technology) and we can't' just polarize over this issue the way we seem to be doing with one side against anything GMO and the other side going in the opposite direction and calling anybody who voices a concern as some kind of luddite.

We have already royally screwed over ourselves because we didn't make reasonable choices about how we use technology (like climate change, antibiotic resistance.. should I go on?)

But to make those choices we have to understand the actual science. Not what just the people making billions off of this say.

And yes while I greatly respect Neil Degrasse Tyson the fact is he isn't' a biologist. It's not his field. It's ridiculous to think he has to know everything and anything and never be wrong.