GMO Food for Thought

Farmers in North Carolina are growing a new type of rice that could be used to help young children in Third World countries (Biotech Company Planting Genetically Engineered Rice in North Carolina, Winston-Salem Journal, 7/16/05).

With approval of two permits from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Ventria Bioscience, a biotechnology company based in Sacramento, California, planted 75 acres of rice in North Carolina in June 2005 that has been genetically engineered to produce proteins found in human milk, saliva, and tears. The company explained that the proteins it will extract from the rice could eventually be used in a variety of foods such as granola bars, sports drinks, or even formula used to rehydrate infants in Third World countries in order to help them avoid death from diarrhea.

The rice has been planted on private land near the state-owned Tidewater Research Station, an agricultural research station in Plymouth, North Carolina. Researchers also use a nursery at the research station, less than a mile from the test site, to grow seed stock for new varieties of rice.

Environmentalists and food vendors, however, claim the rice poses a threat to other crops and to the human food chain. At least two scientists, according to published reports, wrote to the U.S. Department of Agriculture stating there is a remote possibility that pollen or disease from Ventria’s rice could contaminate rice grown in nearby areas and distributed to rice growers nationwide.

According to news articles, Ventria Bioscience said that the risks posed by the environmentalists are overstated and that the company is working to take every precaution to isolate its rice. The company built an 18-inch dike at the North Carolina test site to keep water in the field and a dedicated ditch that only provides water to the field. The water is also screened before leaving the test area to keep the rice from traveling. Once harvested, the rice would not enter the food supply as grain, but be pulverized into a powder.

Even researchers at North Carolina State University are getting involved in this project. These researchers are currently monitoring the project and are working to investigate many of the claims from environmentalists and the food industry that the rice crops could migrate, cross-pollinate with other plants, and contaminate the human food supply.

The Ventria rice project can offer much promise both now and in the future. The proteins grown in these rice crops could have a huge impact on the health and well-being of people around the world, especially young children. Growing proteins in rice can also be cost effective, costing a mere few cents per pound, rather than hundreds of dollars per ounce as they can cost now. For the farmers in North Carolina, this new project could offer new opportunities for economic growth. Despite worries from those opposed to this project, the demand for products grown from plants will continue as the acceptance of such products by the general public grows daily.

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A consortium of research institutions and universities are currently working together to study the impact of biotechnology on the general public.

The University of Tennessee, Virginia Tech, North Carolina State University, Virginia State University, and the International Rice Research Institute are among the institutions taking part in the “Participatory Assessment of Social and Economic Impacts of Biotechnology”, a four-year, collaborative research project funded by the Initiative for Future Agriculture and Food Systems (IFAFS) (Using Biotechnology to Improve the Yield and Quality of Rice, Southwest Farm Press, 7/20/05) that is focusing its efforts on the benefits of tobacco and rice.

According to the project, researchers chose to study tobacco because of extensive biotechnology studies currently underway regarding the use of the crop in creating new pharmaceuticals that could be used to replace currently expensive drugs that help in the treatment of a variety of diseases. Drugs for some devastating diseases, for example, could run over $100,000 per patient per year. Research shows that through biotechnology, tobacco may be able to product the same drugs at a fraction of the cost. Tobacco produces biomass very quickly, is a prolific seed producer, and yet can process complex proteins. Tobacco is also one of the easiest crops to genetically engineer and is not regulated as a food.

Researchers chose to use rice for the research project because it is the subject of one of the largest biotechnology programs in the world, with significant implications not only for United States producers, but producers and low income consumers throughout the developing world. Scientists predict that the world’s population will increase over the next 30 years, thereby increasing the demand for all crops. Rice would be in particular demand because it is a significant source of calories for half of the world and can be grown under a wide range of conditions from fertile, irrigated lowland plots to saline or drought-prone fields that are deficient in essential plant nutrients like zinc.

According to researchers, centuries of selective breeding by agriculturalists has resulted in a wide number of varieties that are adapted to the local growing conditions and the cooking preferences of each area. The traits that are bred into rice by plant breeders can then be transferred to these local varieties. Technologies for these genetically engineered rice crops including pest and insect resistance, disease and herbicide resistance, and nutritional enhancement are currently under development in the United States, Europe and Asia.

Scientists and researchers hope this project will provide policy makers and the general public with information on the benefits, costs, risks, and tradeoffs associated with biotechnology research. Despite concerns over the possible negative impact of genetically engineered crops, the “Participatory Assessment of Social and Economic Impacts of Biotechnology” project could open up the door to other similar collaborations between universities and research institutions in order to further biotechnology research and acceptance of genetically-modified organisms and foods by the public in the future.

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Farmers and agricultural-based companies are getting support in the use of biotechnology and genetically-modified organisms from a unique technology. Satellite technology developed by NASA is being used to help these food producers distinguish between genetically modified (GM) crops and non-GM crops (How to Distinguish GM Crops from Space, Food Navigator USA, 7/5/05), which could ultimately lead to a greater acceptance of biotechnology and genetically-modified foods and products.

This fascinating technology developed by NASA is called hyperspectral imaging. This technology and its applications were developed by the Institute for Technology Development at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. Hyperspectral imaging uses a special camera to cut one snapshot into 120 color specific images. Each image shows a unique characteristic not visible to the naked eye.

In recent months, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been working with NASA to use this technology to ensure that appropriate management procedures are being used to avoid the development of resistance in corn pest populations, which could severely limit the continued use of these new varieties of corn.

With over 25 million acres of corn planted this year, it is physically and economically impossible for scientists and researchers to sample each corn acre. Hyperspectral imaging has been providing a proactive monitoring system to inform the food producer of the pest resistance development. In their research, the EPA uses a hyperspectral camera mounted onboard a small aircraft. The aircraft typically flies about 8,000 feet above the terrain, taking shots of the same sites every ten days during the growing season. All of the images are then put into a computer system, where data-mining techniques are used to extract knowledge about the corn plants. Early use of this technology has provided farmers and food producers with the ability to efficiently distinguish between genetically modified corn and non-GM corn by their unique characteristics and identify and warn food producers of pest infestation conditions.

This technology offers so much promise to scientists and to food producers focusing on biotechnology and genetically-modified food production. Hyperspectral imaging can be used to provide a food producer with vital information on the health of an acre of crops, information on whether a section of crops needs to be irrigated, or whether a section of crops is being attacked by pests. This technology can also be used to track the status of weeds among growing crops and even test the nutrients in a particular crop’s soil. This application can also help scientists learn about changes in crops in order to improve on the creation of future seeds and technologies.

Posted by AC Baumer at 4:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

As a grant researcher for a large university, I have seen a variety of interesting and exciting projects in need of support. Much of this funding is needed to explore and expand on the benefits that biotechnology brings to medicine, science, and agriculture. It amazes me, however, that so much time and money is still being spent on a growing list of studies (WHO Study Confirms GM Foods are Safe, Canadian Press, 6/23/05) just to prove what responsible researchers and scientists already know. The use of biotechnology itself as a tool to create new medicines or to improve and enhance the nutritional value of food is safe.

Using biotechnology to create new medicines or to improve the nutritional value of food simply uses what is found in nature to address the vital needs we face in our growing and ever-changing world. Biotechnology can improve the quality and diversity of the foods that people around the world purchase and consume almost daily, which can lead to better nutrition and improved health for all humans. Such foods and products have essentially posed no risks to the public’s health and well-being. Even the World Health Organization (WHO) study clearly stated that genetically modified (GM) foods currently available on the international market have “passed risk assessments and are not likely to, nor have been shown to, present risks for human health.”

In my work, I have seen first hand many innovative research projects that clearly demonstrate the benefits of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and the exciting potential for our planet that scientists, researchers, and academics want and need to further explore. While certain special interest groups and organizations demand that scientists and researchers slow down the progress, use less effective and outdated tools, and spend millions of dollars on research studies just to reconfirm the safety of biotechnology, new and exciting research in the development of improved treatments for diseases and ways to produce abundant crops of food without using chemicals or efforts to produce such crops in poor soil in a number of countries around the world are left without any type of funding or support.

If the public demanded the same type of confirmation regarding the safety and benefits of other technologies that are commonplace in our world today, we would be living without electricity, vaccines for childhood diseases, or even automobiles; but at least the average person would only be living until the age of 45.

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