Traditionally Crossbred VS Genetically Modified

Genetically modified chestnut trees are helping the near extinct American chestnut ready for a comeback. The tree has been genetically modified to survive a deadly fungus and its seeds have fungus resistant genes. The fungus originally appeared and began its deadly rampage in the 1900s from chestnut trees imported from Asia. The American Chestnut Research and Restoration Project spent 20 years trying to save the native species. Using biotechnology a wheat gene has been added to the new trees and several other strains of the same gene are improving the chestnut’s fungus resistance. Their goal is to plant these trees in the wild (outside currently permitted plots in the near future.

A parallel project begun in the 1970s by the American Chestnut Foundation is working to produce a fungus resistant chestnut tree by crossing American and Chinese chestnuts. Over several generations the Chinese component is bred out. Their latest generation is 94 percent American chestnut and has similar resistance to the Chinese species.

I have read a lot about how mistrusted genetically modified foods are in Europe and this country too. The plight of the American chestnut and these two different tactics for saving it has made the difference between genetic modification and traditional cross breeding in plants easier for me to understand. Both seem to attempt to speed up evolution, traditional crossbreeding by humanized natural selection and genetic modification by even less natural mutantized selection. This is why I have come to believe in gardening and growing my own food and eating organic food whenever possible.