Re: [RC] Shoot the Clones - NOT! - Barbara McCrary
I live in a county that is the cutting edge of
everything fanatical, especially if it relates to the environment. In a
county where medical marijuana is not only allowed but embraced, many folks get
nearly hysterical if you mention genetically modified food. I can't even
buy seed for our garden without realizing that those seeds have undergone some
sort of genetic engineering to make the crop more bug- and disease-resistant,
faster growing and more tasty. Take corn for example...the old variety had
to be cooked and eaten within 1/2 hour of picking in order for it to taste
half-decent. Imagine what it tasted like if you bought it from the store
and it had been in cold storage for a week. Now, through science, we have
a white variety of corn that is so sweet and delicious, that even if you bought
it from the store and kept it in your refrigerator a week or so, it STILL tastes
sweet and delicious. I can't get upset about genetically modified
food...really I can't. Maybe I'm missing something? I also suspect
that if the world is going to be able to feed its multitudes, some science will
have to come into play. Of course, maybe that's the purpose of being
anti-genetically-modified food....a huge shortage, starving people, reduced
population. As long as the anti-**** folks have plenty to eat, it's going
to be fine, for them, anyway.
(Oops, Barbara, the cynic in you is
showing...)
Barbara
Ever the farmer and rancher
Sorry, this has little, if anything, to do with
endurance riding, but the topic got started somehow. Oh, yes, we were
talking about cloning horses.
In a message dated 3/31/2006 5:19:32 P.M. Mountain Standard Time, bartson@xxxxxxx writes:
The danger of
Pandora’s box being, in this case, humankind
controlling & manipulating the basic genetic material -that which is the
life of the breed.Like I said,
exploring science is not wrong, but allowing it to permeate into the
breeding pot without due consideration and the test of time is just plain
against my common sense.
Pandora's Box?
Genetic engineering is and will continue to be integral in feeding
mankind...cause it's efficient...the same is true in other facets of human
existence. It just is...it's in the food most of you eat every
day. Just because it has to do with "horses" now, OH GOSH, THE
HORROR.
I'm not sure I agree with it, but that's how it is.
How many of the Anti-clone Bunch, upon being given a clone of Rio,
Secretariat, Your-Favorite-Horse-You-Had-To-Put-Down, would shake their
head and say, "No thanks, anyway, I don't believe in cloning...it's just not
ethical."
Not me. Give me the horse, and I will try to find a way to sleep at
night.
I don't agree with cloning, but as is common with so much in this
country, I certainly would accept a clone of my first real endurance
horse and find a way to delude myself when facing the bigger picture of what
is right, what is wrong.
Can "cloning" of horses just be a more efficient way of reproduction than
the study of pedigrees, the reading of the color genetics offered by UC-Davis,
the collection of semen (of a stud we've never truly seen in person) into an
artificial vagina, the mixing of a semen extender, the insertion into an
Artificial Insemination Transport Device, the flying of that semen across the
country, the vet with the straw and the baggy full of stallion, the drugging
of the mare ("roofie-for-the-hoofie"), locating that cervix-thingy, and the
depositing of the stallion-by-proxy?
WHO is responsible for the drawing of "The Line"....public opinion can
not, and has not saved the lives of thousands of Americans throughout history,
up to the present day. What could it possibly accomplish regarding
HORSES? Genetic engineering, cloning, is about MONEY...after all,
this IS America.
I have enough cash for a six-pack and some cheese enchiladas...and just
maybe, I'll find some nice little place, along the highway outta town that has
a jukebox and a cold Bud....that would be a Budweiser, King of Beers, made
with genetically-engineered barley and hops.
