15 Jun 2003
Squeezing Melons

I've really tried to avoid linking to the Times, because in a couple of weeks or so they'll start charging for the article, but this is too good to pass up... I'm just not sure where to categorize it.

I could put it under 'Patently Copywronged' - it's just wrong to patent a plant, I don't care how you got it - breeding , genetic engineering, whatever, patenting a living being is a crime against nature in and of itself.

But it's really more of a sad social commentary: we're so used to "having it our way" that when Nature delivers a good thing in a package that's too big (or too small) or first instinct is to change the packaging, even if that means breeding a strain that has no hope of survival without our intervention (seedless plants, sexless fish, etc.).

This reminds me of the Square Tomato. Part legend, part truth, all wrong.

Fresh From Consumer Polls, It's Minimelon. In search of fatter profits, growers are shrinking the watermelon to cantaloupe size. By David Barboza. [New York Times: NYT HomePage]

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