# Atomic Seeds--POSEYS OF DDDOOOOOOM! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 1, 2017, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atomic-seeds-poseys-of-dddoooooom/778721 "2017-02-01T01:27:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atomic-seeds-poseys-of-dddoooooom/778721/1 "2017-02-01T01:27:56Z")
Atomic seeds were irradiated seeds, sold during the 50s-60s. The radiation caused mutations. These seed packets were available from science supply catalogs, & from the backs of some comic books. Were there health risks risks? Where are the plants now? Did they have any lasting impact on the flower/vegetable gene pool? Can you get them today? Any information, including personal reminiscences, is welcome. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atomic-seeds-poseys-of-dddoooooom/778721/2 "2017-02-01T01:35:00Z")
There’s certainly no radiation risk. With very rare exceptions that don’t apply here, just exposing something to radiation does not make it radioactive. And a lot of the varieties we know and love today were developed in this way. Take a bunch of seeds, expose them to some mutagen, and comb through the thousands of possible mutations for one or two with beneficial traits, then breed the heck out of those. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atomic-seeds-poseys-of-dddoooooom/778721/3 "2017-02-01T11:43:22Z")
There are also [space seeds](http://parkseed.com/seeds-in-space/a/13/). ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atomic-seeds-poseys-of-dddoooooom/778721/4 "2017-02-01T13:07:30Z")
_Thwip – Thwip!_ It’s Seed Man! The new Super-Hero as a student, he was bitten by a radioactive seed, and now has the abilities of seeds. He can helicopter around like a maple seed, drift on the winds like a milkweed seed. He can bore into the ground like an Erodium seed > **[This Seed Plants Itself By Corkscrewing Into The Earth](https://gizmodo.com/this-seed-plants-itself-by-corkscrewing-into-the-earth-1693175430)** > > Drill, baby, drill. He can poison you like many poisonous seeds, or grab onto your clothes with his burr hooks, like a Xanthium seed. Watch out for the Adventures of Seed Man, annoying lawbreakers and evildoers until they give up in frustration! ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atomic-seeds-poseys-of-dddoooooom/778721/5 "2017-02-01T13:30:29Z")
In addition to creating new plant hybrids, radiation has been used to map plant genomes and do other studies: [https://experts.umn.edu/en/publications/radiation-hybrids-a-valuable-tool-for-genetic-genomic-and-functio](https://experts.umn.edu/en/publications/radiation-hybrids-a-valuable-tool-for-genetic-genomic-and-functio) For some reason, radiation-induced hybrids have not gotten any significant opposition from the same people that attack the much more precise genetically modified hybrids as “unnatural” and “dangerous”. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atomic-seeds-poseys-of-dddoooooom/778721/6 "2017-02-01T13:43:12Z")
Well, Gilligan got super strength. Until they had to eat the soap. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atomic-seeds-poseys-of-dddoooooom/778721/7 "2017-02-01T13:49:20Z")
There is a risk in eating food grown from irradiated seeds: there could be a mutation that turned the edible part of the plant poisonous. Not hugely likely in plants that don’t have any known toxins anywhere, but possible. And more likely in plants that do have toxic parts already. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atomic-seeds-poseys-of-dddoooooom/778721/8 "2017-02-01T14:20:16Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > And a lot of the varieties we know and love today were developed in this way. Take a bunch of seeds, expose them to some mutagen, and comb through the thousands of possible mutations for one or two with beneficial traits, then breed the heck out of those. Not just flowers either; the popular Rio Red and Star Ruby grapefruit varieties were produced through this method of plant breeding as well. Same for Calrose rice, and a whole bunch of other commonly utilized food plant varieties, such as Golden Promise barley used extensively in the UK for whisky and beer production. [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/28/science/28crop.html](http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/28/science/28crop.html) ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atomic-seeds-poseys-of-dddoooooom/778721/9 "2017-02-01T14:33:23Z")
Do the irradiated seeds grow into mutants, or do the offspring of plants that were irradiated as seeds? ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atomic-seeds-poseys-of-dddoooooom/778721/10 "2017-02-01T14:40:19Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > For some reason, radiation-induced hybrids have not gotten any significant opposition from the same people that attack the much more precise genetically modified hybrids as “unnatural” and “dangerous”. In fact, there’s no prohibition against radiation-bred varieties bearing the label ‘organic’. So, your typical anti-GMO activist who’s vehemently opposed to organisms bearing a few precisely controlled genetic changes happily buys their organic produce bearing randomly introduced genetic changes all over the place. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atomic-seeds-poseys-of-dddoooooom/778721/11 "2017-02-01T16:29:51Z")
Ref the OP - More here: [Mutation breeding - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutation_breeding) . It’s a bog-standard tactic now. > [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Do the irradiated seeds grow into mutants, or do the offspring of plants that were irradiated as seeds? Not sure what you mean. If seeds are irradiated their DNA may change. If the DNA does change AND if they successfully grow into plants, then they will be (by definition) mutant plants. As will all the seeds they produce and all their offspring. etc. Recognizing that “mutant” is simply a way to say “different than some reference standard”. All plants and animals are constantly mutating in very minor ways. This totally natural process goes on all the time. Irradiating seeds in this way is simply intending to stir the genetic pot especially vigorously and hope something useful happens to fall out. It usually doesn’t, but once in awhile it does. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atomic-seeds-poseys-of-dddoooooom/778721/12 "2017-02-01T16:33:04Z")
[QUOTE=LSLGuy;19968281If the DNA does change AND if they successfully grow into plants, then they will be (by definition) mutant plants. As will all the seeds they produce and all their offspring. etc. [/QUOTE] Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![lazybratsche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@lazybratsche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lazybratsche)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atomic-seeds-poseys-of-dddoooooom/778721/13 "2017-02-01T16:38:32Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Do the irradiated seeds grow into mutants, or do the offspring of plants that were irradiated as seeds? The seeds themselves will contain a random assortment of mutations in every cell. Some of those cells will end up as the ancestors of a particular seed, and their mutations will be passed on. Other cells will never directly contribute their genetic material to a seed, but they will divide and form the cells that make up the rest of the plant. In the end, the adult plant will have a mosaic of different mutations, but most of the mutations will not be passed on to the next generation. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atomic-seeds-poseys-of-dddoooooom/778721/14 "2017-02-01T16:53:15Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Do the irradiated seeds grow into mutants, or do the offspring of plants that were irradiated as seeds? I just noticed your username. Is there anything \*else \*you’d care to share with us? … Audrey? ---
**Author:** ![Evan\_Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atomic-seeds-poseys-of-dddoooooom/778721/15 "2017-02-01T17:22:18Z")
In reality anti-GMO people were the same people who strictly opposed irradiation for food 10 years ago. It is untrue to suggest they like one but not the other. Besides had those seeds of the '60s increased, say, dementia in the American people, the effects would be evident right now. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atomic-seeds-poseys-of-dddoooooom/778721/16 "2017-02-01T17:48:49Z")
I recall visiting Oak Ridge in the 1960s and being shown a piece of fish wrapped in plastic foil and irradiated. It would keep on the shelf indefinitely. I expected to find it on store shelves when I got home. Apparently consumers were terrified of having their food messed with. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atomic-seeds-poseys-of-dddoooooom/778721/17 "2017-02-01T17:59:29Z")
When I was in high school we had a lecturer who came in and talked about food irradiation. He said that irradiation affected the flavor of foods, making it duller and “flatter”, then made a joke about them selling such food to high school cafeterias And this was from a _proponent_ of irradiation. The Wikipedia article on Food Irradiation backs him up, to some degree. > **[Food irradiation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_irradiation)** > > Food irradiation (sometimes radurization or radurisation) is the process of exposing food and food packaging to ionizing radiation, such as from gamma rays, x-rays, or electron beams. Food irradiation improves food safety and extends product shelf life (preservation) by effectively destroying organisms responsible for spoilage and foodborne illness, inhibits sprouting or ripening, and is a means of controlling insects and invasive pests. > In the US, consumer perception of foods treated with irr... Other sites either see extreme changes in taste ( [http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/files/food\_irradiation\_gross\_failure.pdf](http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/files/food_irradiation_gross_failure.pdf) and [Irradiated Meat: Safer But Tastes A Little 'Off'](http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/news/20030709/irradiated-meat-safer-little-off#1) ) or none ( [http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Suppliers2/Irradiation-kills-pathogens-not-taste-according-to-study](http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Suppliers2/Irradiation-kills-pathogens-not-taste-according-to-study) ), depending, I suspect, on what side of the issue the authors are on. But there’s a case that it’s not necessarily consumer jumpiness about irradiation, but something at more of a gut level. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atomic-seeds-poseys-of-dddoooooom/778721/18 "2017-02-01T18:06:00Z")
Thanks, CalMeacham. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atomic-seeds-poseys-of-dddoooooom/778721/19 "2017-02-01T18:06:24Z")
I was a youth in 4-H in the 1960’s and recall getting a packet of civil defense stuff, like the pamphlet [In Time of Emergency](https://archive.org/details/intimeofemergenc15158gut) (a uplifting read!), basic first-aid kit lists, and several packages of irradiated seeds. You were to do this as a 4-H project, growing the irradiated seeds next to normal seeds to compare the growth and yield. We didn’t actually do that, since it was the wrong time of year (and they might have had expiration dates). No, we didn’t eat the seeds either. In the same line, at a flea market I found a [irradiated dime](https://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/medalsmementoes/dimes.htm) in an metal enclosure for the Oak Ridge Lab (Tennessee). The half-life was so short they didn’t really have any radiation left in them; they were made as souvenirs. It seems like both the seeds and dimes were part of “life is normal in the atomic age” propaganda from the 1950’s and early 1960’s. ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atomic-seeds-poseys-of-dddoooooom/778721/20 "2017-02-01T18:16:23Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > There are also [space seeds](http://parkseed.com/seeds-in-space/a/13/). Most commonly found on Ceti Alpha V. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atomic-seeds-poseys-of-dddoooooom/778721.md?page=2)