Tom Yates writes:

> So, is this claimed generally as a hoax now, or is it considered
> a bonafide report?  Ethier way it is way to scary to contemplate.
>  Imagine 30 years from now, these plantimals being grown in people's
> gardens.....straight from the garden to the barbeque.......

I can tell you as the person who wrote the report that it was intended
to
be a bit disturbing even as a dead-giveaway hoax (as it was
published),
even as a comedy piece. Part of the objective was to get people
thinking
about where genetic engineering might be taking us, even if what is
contained in the report may be too "far out" to come true. What issues
do
we need to be grappling with, practical, moral/ethical, real-world
compromises, etc.? It doesn't seem like most people are thinking much
about
that yet in very knitty-gritty fashion.

The fact that what's in the report is disturbing (maybe almost "real,"
or
potentially real) to people is also what made it so tempting to
consider
releasing as a hoax to see what would happen if people *did* take it
seriously. But the conclusion was arrived at that if it was posted as
a
serious article, it would violate the ethic on Beyond Veg not to
release
intentional misinformation or misrepresent things and violate trust.

A difficult temptation to resist, because ideas for good urban legends
like
this don't come around that often. (I confess that these ideas
somehow,
inexplicably, sprang from my own noggin, even if one person I showed a
preview copy to did call the "plantimals" concept downright *sick*!
:^) )
One trusted individual I've consulted before on decisions like this
gave
the opinion this could have been a pretty harmful hoax in terms of
time/salary costs lost by genetics firms and USDA/FDA/etc. public
officials
having to respond to the nuisance of countless worried or angry phone
callers, letter-writers, etc.

Ah well, if it gets people to think about where "the genetic
imperative" is
taking us--and LAUGH of course, about those applesteaks taking over
the
market, not to mention the gruesome specter of plantimals!--it will
have
accomplished its objective.

--Ward Nicholson <[log in to unmask]>