GMOs and Grafting Are Not the Same

I began reading the article “UNH Professor and graduate student find GMO advancements through melons”, and, immediately, I assumed it related to GMOs. That’s usually what one surmises when reading GMO in the headline. However, I read further and realized the article is, in fact, about grafting. How could the writer so nonchalantly equate grafting to genetic modification?  GMOS and grafting are not the same, and here we have another example of why the controversy continues.

Grafting is the process of growing two individual plants then fusing them together, once they reach seedling stage. It is a man-made manipulation, it’s true, but it’s no more invasive or intrusive than traditional plant breeding. 

On the other side of the coin, we have genetic modification. GMO technology is done in a high-tech laboratory, where scientists splice actual genes from certain organisms and transfer them to another organism (often transmitted through viruses).  This is plant manipulation on the molecular level, usually transferring just one gene. We don’t know how these spliced genes behave in the human body, once consumed.

Grafting Melons

Grafting Melons — Grafting is not GMO

That being said, let’s look at one advantage GRAFTING might be giving farmers in New Hampshire. A UNH professor, Brent Loy, and graduate student, Janel Martin seemed to find a way to enhance the melon.

Autumn is a hard time for plants, especially melons. Once Old Man Winter begins blowing his frosty breath down on Earth, melon vines have a chance of succumbing to Sudden Wilt, which damages the plant so that it cannot be harvested. Sudden Wilt is terrible for farmers, who cannot make profit from the affected fruits.

So how has grafting improved the melon?

By agriculturalists implanting melon genes into the rootstock of disease-resistant squash, melons are able to flourish even in the temperatures in which they were once unable to survive. They even seemed to do better than before.

This should translate to higher yields and bigger profits for the farmers.

To read more on the differences between grafting and GMOs, go to http://www.ezrasorganics.com/2012/05/30/genetic-modification-vs-grafting-a-world-of-difference/

To read the melon article, written by Stephanie Mazejka, in its entirety, go to http://www.tnhdigital.com/unh-professor-and-graduate-student-find-gmo-advancements-through-melons/

Author: renezimbelman

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