Is it unnatural to genetically engineer plants?

Author' note: This article is based on remarks made in February 1998 at the annual meeting of the Weed Science Society of America in Chicago. Those remarks were in turn based on an article, to be published in Spanish, titled “Es Antinatural la Manipulación Genética de los Animales?” The Spanish version will appear in the Proceedings of the Segundo Congreso Caribeno de Bioetica, University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez, March 1998. It addresses the question of the engineering of animals; the focus here is the engineering of plants. Whether one considers flora or fauna, the unnaturalness objection raises the same cluster of concerns. Consequently, an assessment of those concerns need not vary significantly in turning from animals to plants.