"Jurassic World" and the Dinosaurs at the USDA
        
            By Rachel Smolker, 
                Truthout
             | 06. 22. 2015
        
                    
                                    
                    
                                                                                                                                    
                                                                            
                              
    
  
  
    
  
          
  
      
    
             
  Untitled Document 
  
The new movie Jurassic World offers more than a few lessons   relevant to the state of our world. There is the obvious point about   scientists bringing back to life genetically engineered dinosaurs with   no real concern for the havoc they may wreak. Then there is the very   clear link to real-world "de-extinction" scientists who seriously aim to   bring back mastodons and passenger pigeons, while others are finding   ever more potent means to mess around with the code of life to   manufacture completely new organisms through synthetic biology.
 
  There are also the dinosaur-like regulations of the US Department of   Agriculture (USDA), developed way back in the 1980s before many of the   new biotechnologies were even conceived. Those regulations are in   desperate need of an overhaul if they are ever to protect the public   from the onslaught of dangerous and unpredictable impacts that   necessarily accompany the derailing of billions of years of evolution   for the purpose of corporate profit-making.
 
  Right now in fact, the USDA is in the process of evaluating and   overhauling these antiquated regulations, a process that should...
 
 
  
 
    
    
  
   
                        
                                                                                
                 
                                                    
                            
                                  
    
  
  
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