Genetic Modification of Cannabis

[- ezra -]

It is possible to manipulate the genetic structure of cannabis through genetic engineering techniques to enhance certain favourable traits. For example it may be possible to create a more potent strain, or a higher yielding one or to enhance the expression of genes which control trichome production, or terepine production. Or traits such a stretch could be manipulated, etc.

The purpose of this thread is to discuss opinions relating to the genetic manipulation of cannabis. Is it right to do this if one had the opportunity. Is the risk of "infecting" the genepool too great? Or is this an inevitable progression for cannabis breeding in the future?

 

[Ganico]

Man, there's already potent enough/fast enough plants, I don't see the real benefits. This would only really be of help to commercial growers IMO.

 

[Guest]

no objection here with "checking it out"..

research needs to be done, and much testing.. before it comes anywhere near being able to be commericalized tho

who knows what kinda bad things will come out of it, and those things should be assesed first, before anyone smokes it

including a monkey

bILL

 

[Tirs]

While we are farther from such incredible genetic engineering as suggested though some reactionaries would lead people to believe otherwise. (especially cannabis since its genome hasn't even been mapped yet to my knowledge) Genetic engineering has incredible potential and could become one of humanities greatest tools ever; everything from ending hereditary diseases to famine. There will be people who will come in here and say no to the idea, but these are people who are afraid of new technology mostly out of ignorance as there always inevitably is.

Infecting the genepool is not the right word, abuse fits better. It could be abused just as much as you can drive your car to work or run someone over with it. There is no reason genetic engineering should not proliferate into breeding cannabis because it could result in all around healthier, faster, more potent and just plain better plants. In many ways genetic engineering in cannabis began a long time ago when humans selectively breed for traits such as resin or vigor. What is GE except increasing the rate at which this occurs? It is simply a better means to an end.

 

[Daytripper]

While we are farther from such incredible genetic engineering as suggested though some reactionaries would lead people to believe otherwise. (especially cannabis since its genome hasn't even been mapped yet to my knowledge) Genetic engineering has incredible potential and could become one of humanities greatest tools ever; everything from ending hereditary diseases to famine. There will be people who will come in here and say no to the idea, but these are people who are afraid of new technology mostly out of ignorance as there always inevitably is.

Genetic engineering has the same potential as nuclear power plants when it comes to damage.


GE is a shortcut used by corporations lusting for money with no concern of the future.

Greedy shortsighted individuals promote the easy way the right way is less profitable.

There are currently better ways to utilize the full potential of the cannabis genome, anybody who thinks GE is the future is living in the past. I won't go there as it is to advanced for cannabis boards. I have little to zero tolerance for ignorance so I won't waste my time or yours.

Corporate genitic engineering of cannabis has already occured.

Get an education!

 

[Tirs]

You are exactly who I meant my friend. You come in here insult me and quickly leave. You bring nothing to the argument except vague unsubstantiated threats. Please enlighten us on your "advance knowledge" and I will show you my education. GE can surely be abused as I said but its possibilities are plentiful.

By your logic we should all be perfectly happy with our wonderful coal and oil plants (not owned by greedy corporations) and run away from GE in cannabis because it will cause terror as great as a nuclear explosion... Who sounds ignorant now?

 

[Tirs]

Corporate genitic engineering of cannabis has already occured.

Well you added that in after I started my response. Again any proof?

 

[pipeline]

If the GM cannabis were to have a competitive advantage over the native vegetation, it could spread (birds eating seed). Even if it were only female plants being grown, I dont think you could raise prices enough to recover the cost and still get people to buy it.

Non-transgenic cannabis can be almost too potent already, and it is a very hardy species so there is not a lot to improve upon. Besides, you can always just plant more to compensate.

 

[Daytripper]

Please enlighten us on your "advance knowledge" and I will show you my education....

....Well you added that in after I started my response. Again any proof?

I believe you just shot yourself in the foot.

Any proof of what ? Techiniques for gene recombination utilizing the full genetic potential of the genome?

Genetic engineering not being all that " the used car salesmen " aid it was?

Or G E cannabis?

If I have to prove anything to you it will show you are a common know nothing claiming to be a cannabis expert.

I will do that just to show what you reducational level really is if you ask me too, what are you going to do for me though?

 

[Tirs]

I believe you just shot yourself in the foot.

GE cannabis as you yourself said before.

Anyway you are acting like a real dickhead, to me at least. I never claimed to be expert, you are the one who said they had advanced knowledge, lets here it then.

If I have to prove anything to you it will show you are a common know nothing claiming to be a cannabis expert.
I will do that just to show what you reducational level really is if you ask me too, what are you going to do for me though?

Maybe I can teach you spelling/grammar and some manners?

 

[Tirs]

Hi pipeline, I agree right now that genetic engineering on cannabis won't happen due to monetary constraints but, I still believe it will be beneficial for us one day. It doesn't have to be something drastic either, something such as improving the vigor of notably unhardy cultivars such as blueberry so that it grew without its mutations etc.

 

[zamalito]

I'm all for mapping the cannabis genome making this knowledge public domain and using that to screen seeds for breeding potential however that's not genetic manipulation. Using genetic screening as a tool can produce results frequently even superior to gmo techniques. I'm totally against introducing unnaturally occurring traits into any gene pool as this can cause problems like terminator seed causing sterility that spreads across aspecies like a virus. We don't really have a full understand of how dna works and when we start cut and pasting unnaturally ocurring code into a dna sequence we take an unknown risk.

 

[zamalito]

Here's an article about genome mapping and using this to screen for new traits already ocurring in landrace genetics to produce results previously unobtainable with the less natural more intrusive gmo techniques. These guys actually bred a variety of corn that turns red when it needs watering reducing unnecesary water consumption in areas where water resources are already strained. Thes guys didn't do any genetic engineering to produce this seed and are all for making plant genomes public domain.

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.05/food.html

 

[stashsecrets]

The cloning of humans is on most of the lists of things to worry about from Science, along with behaviour control, genetic engineering, transplanted heads, computer poetry and the unrestrained growth of plastic flowers.
Lewis Thomas (1913 - 1993)

 

[subfloral]

Genetic engineering has the same potential as nuclear power plants when it comes to damage.


GE is a shortcut used by corporations lusting for money with no concern of the future.

Greedy shortsighted individuals promote the easy way the right way is less profitable.

There are currently better ways to utilize the full potential of the cannabis genome, anybody who thinks GE is the future is living in the past. I won't go there as it is to advanced for cannabis boards. I have little to zero tolerance for ignorance so I won't waste my time or yours.

Corporate genitic engineering of cannabis has already occured.

Get an education!

wow! where did this guy come from... for somebody with so much "advanced" knowledge, he sure didn't know what he was talking about.... those lusting corporations huh? i know some people who would be extremely offended by what you just said... there is alot of potential in GM, although i think it would be more likely of use in pest and disease resistance than potency... our genetic modification (oh wait! cause that's exactly what selective breeding is isn't it) has already acheived plenty in the way of potency and yield... and who is living in the past!? seriously... maybe somebody else here needs a real education... wow! greedy shortsighted individuals... hahaha.... man... i guess i shouldn't get worked up over this, but wow... whenever you start talking about GE or the environment, it's always these same type of people who like to use those pet phrases to say absolutely nothing... corporations main objective is to make a profit... if they don't their shareholders can and should hold them responsible... what needs to change is public attitude and awareness of the truth of what is happening.... look into what happened after the Exxon Valdez incident... public opinion can be pretty strong... people need to become more informed about situations before they decide to start hurling insults at people... it gets us nowhere and only makes the ones hurling the insults incredible.

 

[- ezra -]

The cloning of humans is on most of the lists of things to worry about from Science, along with behaviour control, genetic engineering, transplanted heads, computer poetry and the unrestrained growth of plastic flowers.
Lewis Thomas (1913 - 1993)

thats a great quote

 

[zamalito]

For once I believe me and daytripper are saying the same thing. You're absolutely right. It's a shortcut to genome mapping that's done purely out of greed plain and simple. It has enormous potential for disaster.

 

[Tirs]

zamalito are you talking about GE in general or in this specific instance?

Like subfloral said there are people out there that this could have life changing implication for or already does. Sure GE can be abused and introduce undesirable genes but no ones talking about Dick and Jane with their home genetic engineering kit. Done under proper controlled circumstances it has great potential for good.

Surely you would not tell someone who is able to receive HGH injections of HGH produced by GE bacteria that GE is purely for greed? Especially not when the alternative is drawn from possibly diseased cadavers at a much much higher price.

That being said if you are talking about GE in cannabis I can understand but disagree. People who come out and denounce GE outright though are denying a lot of sick people hope and dimming the hope that we can eliminate hereditary diseases in the future. There is no greed in that.

 

[Ganico]

This may sound harsh or fucked up, but nature has a way of balancing itself out (when left to it's own devices) disease,famine,etc in many cases are the results of overpopulation, it gets too crowded and nature thins out the herd. At the rate we're going at we got like 100 years left on this earth, last thing we need is more people,especially more people living even longer. That's not gonna help anything.

But people with a genetic weakness for "insert illness here" are more likely to suffer from that illness than someone with a high immunity to it, the latter person has more chances of survival, right? Over time, the latter person's genes will remain while the other person's dies out, left to nature's devices anyway.

We're already playing god enough as it is.

And I'm not gonna say "at least in my opinion anyway" or anything like that, cause if you're seriously for GE you're a true fool and in the end are honestly a detriment to our very existence, plain and simple.

 

[gnosis]

Of course there are lot of issues raised by the worldwide dominance of human specie. But for me technologies are part of the solution, not of the problem. As I see it, and I will say it bluntly (for clarity):

Human have always altered nature in a way to fit (*) their needs with the technology they have, and hence the sucess of our specie. With a technology from 40.000 years ago we couldn't sustain 1/100 of the actual population. Not only we grow in numbers, but we find the ways to optimize the ressources at our disposal, like energy, in a extraordinarily efficient way (I'm not at all a trendy energy pessimist). Why would we stop now ? there are issues to solve and dangers to avoid, of course GE like all technologies isn't white magic, but a strong need for the future of human expansion. For GE weed my stance is wait and see. I think that cannabis is a rather "clever" plant from the start, which then has been pretty well engenired by longtime human selection, and that it will not be easy to make it even better. But why not trying.


(*)

Wheat: Cultivation and repeated harvesting and sowing of the grains of wild grasses led to the selection of mutant forms with tough ears which remained attached to the ear during the harvest process, and larger grains. (Selection for these traits is an important part of crop domestication). Because of the loss of seed dispersal mechanisms, domesticated wheats cannot survive in the wild. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat

Dogs: A few basic breed types have evolved gradually during the domesticated dog's relationship with man over the last 10,000 or more years, but most modern breeds are of relatively recent derivation. Many of these are the product of a deliberate process of artificial selection. Because of this, some breeds are highly specialized, and there is extraordinary morphological diversity across different breeds. Despite these differences, dogs are able to distinguish dogs from other kinds of animal. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogs