
Atomic Veggies: The Other Type of GMO - slaskow
http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/atomic-veggies-the-other-kind-of-gmo
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arca_vorago
This is a fascinating idea I hadn't heard of before. Given that my main
trepidation with GMO is the lack of long term testing, I'm wondering
scientifically if naturally mutated dna via radiation is safer long term than
our relatively primitive (but quickly improving) methods for direct
modification. Gold guns are so destructive.

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mojoe
I would bet that mutated plants created via this "atomic" method are
statistically much safer than GMO plants, in the sense that it's much more
likely to have unintended consequences with GMO plants. For instance, when BT
(Bacillus Thuringiensis) genes were first added to corn for their insecticidal
properties, nobody realized that large numbers of monarch butterflies would be
killed by corn pollen, but it happened. This type of consequence would be very
unlikely with induced-mutation plants.

On the flip side, you can generally get much more pronounced results with
GMOs. It's like the difference between a bow and arrow and a machine gun --
the machine gun is more effective, but easier to kill yourself with.

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schoen
A different piece about this topic on HN two months ago:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9408350](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9408350)

