"There was a close call during the 1990's when a German biotech company created a genetically modified root bacterium called K. planticola that was supposed to increase the rate at which plant life decomposed into ethanol. What it nearly did is eradicate every plant on Earth. Cracked have a decent (and funny) article on it."
From what I understand, while it's true that there wasn't sufficient testing around it, the odds of it eradicating all plant life was actually slim-to-none. Thanks to the way bacteria go around sharing their DNA with one another the odds are incredibly high that such a bacteria has already existed and, for some reason or another, failed to turn the entire earth's multicellular plant life into vodka. Also such a species would likely have either burned itself out on plants vulnerable to it for much the same reason incredibly fatal diseases tend to be limited in their spread, or stopped being so effective once plant species adapted to the threat even if it WAS that dangerous.
"There was a close call during the 1990's when a German biotech company created a genetically modified root bacterium called K. planticola that was supposed to increase the rate at which plant life decomposed into ethanol. What it nearly did is eradicate every plant on Earth. Cracked have a decent (and funny) article on it."
From what I understand, while it's true that there wasn't sufficient testing around it, the odds of it eradicating all plant life was actually slim-to-none. Thanks to the way bacteria go around sharing their DNA with one another the odds are incredibly high that such a bacteria has already existed and, for some reason or another, failed to turn the entire earth's multicellular plant life into vodka. Also such a species would likely have either burned itself out on plants vulnerable to it for much the same reason incredibly fatal diseases tend to be limited in their spread, or stopped being so effective once plant species adapted to the threat even if it WAS that dangerous.
Kick the world, break your foot.