Inoculated Mind on Making breeding illegal:
[I]f “Changing the basic structure of the sacred Hawaiian taro plant†is made illegal … then they are basically legislating that natural genetic recombination, outcrossing, etc, does not change the genetic structure of taro.
Note the interesting use of the word “sacred†repeatedly when describing the ‘need’ to ‘protect’ the plant from genetic engineering. Yay for misusing religion for political purposes. The obvious counter-argument is that not allowing researchers to defend Taro against future diseases violates the sanctity of the holy plant.
Over to you, descendents of the sacred taro.