The Worst Potential Genetic Nightmare?
wblank at gpu.srv.ualberta.ca
Fri Oct 31 15:09:00 EST 1997
Karl Roberts wrote:
> One of the most interesting genetically engineered organisms
> in my opinion is the oil-eating bacterium. Can you imagine what would
> happen if such an organism suddenly began to hydrolyze most forms of
> petroleum-containing products?
Living in a province with a very petroleum-dependant economy, one hears
paranoid rumors about tires of trucks which have been out to cleanup
sites disintegrating, asphault roads to these areas falling apart, and
the same trucks inoculating the entire highway system with bacteria
hungry for even just the crudest of oil products...
> K.J. Roberts, Ph.D.
As the infrastructure crumbles,
"Provided it lives with a normally constituted social group,
a monkey raised in a restricted laboratory environment differs
from a feral animal only in quantitative ways, such as the time
required to achieve normal sexual behavior."
-- E.O. Wilson, _Sociobiology_
It's all much appreciated. Out!
More information about the Microbio