GMO Food for Thought

Researchers and scientists want the public to know that genetically modified crops don’t harm humans. In fact, genetically modified foods can actually help.

That was the message conveyed by a panel of five researchers and scientists from the University of Nebraska who took part in a citizen forum on genetically modified foods on August 20, 2005 (Fears of Genetically Modified Crops are Unfounded, Panel Says, Lincoln Journal Star, 8/21/05).

The citizen forum was sponsored by Leadership Lincoln and the University of Nebraska Public Policy Center. It consisted of fifty randomly selected Lincoln and Lancaster County residents who were asked to read up on the topic of biotechnology and genetically modified foods and then come to the forum to discuss the subject with the University of Nebraska panel.

The citizens who participated in the forum included individuals from all walks of life, including individuals who gave little thought to genetically modified foods until asked to participate in the forum and farmers who already raise genetically modified crops.

According to the University of Nebraska Public Policy Center, sixty percent of the total acres of corn and ninety-two percent of soybeans planted in Nebraska in 2004 were genetically modified. In 2003, genetically modified crops accounted for twenty-five percent of the cultivated acreage worldwide, according to the center.

The panel of researchers and scientists explained to the forum participants that genetically modified plants have gone through a much more rigorous testing process than foods that have not been genetically modified. Eating products made with genetically modified crops is not a risky venture, despite fears such scientific tinkering can generate. The panel explained that because a person’s body breaks down foods, any problems with such foods would happen quickly, not over the long term.

“There is no example of anyone in the world being hurt of becoming sick, no documented case,“ explained Michael Fromm, director of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Center for Biotechnology during the citizen forum. “It’s one thing to worry about it, but it helps to put it against that fact...the record is actually perfect.”

The biggest danger, according to the panel’s scientists and researchers, is taking a gene from a highly allergenic food such as peanuts and putting it into another food. It is a practice that is highly regulated, according to the panel.

Labeling genetically modified food would be a costly proposition to both manufactures and consumers, as such labeling would force companies to use only genetically modified or non-modified food in their products because of the costs of ensuring there is no contamination during processing, according to the panel.

This citizen forum, in my opinion, is a great step toward acceptance of biotechnology and genetically modified foods. Such opportunities open up the door for people who know little or nothing about biotechnology to learn more. It also gives farmers and those involved in producing genetically modified foods to share information on the benefits and the safety of such foods with others, allowing the participants to make an informed decision on the subject. I hope that more citizens’ forums like this one in Nebraska can be held in more towns across the United States. It could lead to a stronger acceptance of genetically modified foods by a greater part of the public in the future.

Posted by AC Baumer at 3:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

Farmers in northwestern Missouri are participating in a project to grow genetically engineered rice plants that can be used to help people in developing countries (Can Gene Altered Rice Rescue the Farm Belt? The New York Times, 8/16/05).

This rice project is being backed by Ventria Bioscience, a biotechnology company that also has conducted a similar crop project in North Carolina with approval from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which I discussed in one of my previous postings (“New Type of Rice to Help Third World Countries”, 7/29/05). The project has also received the support of the state of Missouri as well as support from a local university, Northwest Missouri State University, the company’s academic partner in the project.

The twelve different varieties of genetically engineered rice that Ventria Bioscience has planted are being grown on four test plots in Missouri a few miles from a rice-seed-screening research center in the town. Those involved with the project hope to use the genetically engineered rice plants to produce the proteins lactoferrin and lysomzyme, which are found in human breast milk, human saliva, and tears. Ventria Bioscience plans to convert the proteins into a powder form and use the proteins in granola bars and drinks to help infants and others in developing countries around the world. Once Ventria decides where it will grow rice in Missouri, the company will apply for a permit from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a process that is expected to take two to three months.

The Missouri project, as with the Ventria project in North Carolina, has run into opposition. Environmental groups contend that the genetically-altered rice could contaminate regular rice crops, either by migrant birds carrying the genetically engineered rice seeds into wild areas or through storms and floods carrying the seeds into other areas through the water. This, they claim, could pose a health risk to consumers.

Ventria Bioscience and Northwest Missouri State University stated they can control any contamination that the genetically engineered rice could possibly bring, according to news reports. Both organizations also say that the risks posed by the project are minimal when balanced against the potential for the special rice to help cut the cost of drugs and save lives.

Even beer maker Anheuser-Busch raised some concerns over the rice project. When Ventria was first considering Missouri as a place to grow its rice, it spoke with Anheuser-Busch, which uses Missouri rice in its beer. Anheuser-Busch initially did not raise any opposition to the project. When Ventria tried to plant rice in southern Missouri this past spring, Anheuser-Busch threatened not to but any rice grown in the state. The company was afraid of a consumer backlash if people thought the gene-altered rice could end up in their bottles of beer.

The two companies reached an agreement in April of this year. Ventria agreed not to grow its genetically-engineered rice within 120 miles of commercial rice crops, which allows Anheuser-Busch to continue to purchase rice grown and processed in Missouri.

The Ventria rice project in Missouri offers much promise. The proteins grown in these rice plants can have an impact on the health and well-being of humans around the world, especially young children and infants. For the state of Missouri, the project may reverse the long decline in the area’s farm economy. For the farmers, the project can offer a more stable income that does not rely on government subsidies. Despite the opposition and concerns raised by environmental groups, the need for products produced from genetically modified plants and the acceptance by consumers will continue to grow.

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Genetically modified plants are being used by researchers in an effort to speed up the absorption of an element that both humans and animals need daily.

Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley have genetically modified an Indian mustard plant so that it soaks up the element selenium from the soil approximately four times faster than wild Indian mustard plants (Plant Studied for Soaking Skills, Fresno Bee, 8/3/05).

The University of California at Berkeley researchers conducted a series of field trials using the genetically modified Indian mustard plants at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s research services facility in Parlier, California. Indian mustard was used because it is particularly popular with researchers as a decontaminant because it can break down the selenium, which exists in the soil in the form of a salt, to a gas called dimethyl selenide, which then dissipates into the air. In wild Indian mustard plants, the process take time whereas genetically modified plants the process is much faster.

Selenium is a naturally occurring element that both humans and animals need on a daily basis. Selenium is good when it is consumed in the right amounts – 70 to 100 parts per billion a day for humans and 50-300 parts per billion per day for animals – either a deficit of an overdose of the chemical can cause toxicity or deformities, according to the researchers.

In animals, a deficiency in selenium could cause white muscle disease and reproductive problems while an overdose can cause blind staggers, a disease that makes animals’ movements unsteady. For humans, selenium is an important building block for antioxidants in the body but too much of the element can lead to nail and hair loss in people.

Berkeley researchers said that commercial use of the genetically modified mustard plants is a long way off, but they hope their field trials using the genetically modified Indian mustard plants in absorbing contaminants and elements will get more researchers and scientists interested in the option.

The use of genetically modified plants to absorb contaminants and elements from the soil is not a new concept, but it is one that is met with much concern and objection. The fear of genetically modified plants pollinating natural and unaltered plants remains the largest concern among those against the technology. However, continued research on this use of genetically modified plants can lead to other developments in genetically modified foods and possibly greater acceptance of the technology by researchers, scientists, and the public.

Posted by AC Baumer at 7:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Biotechnologists are relying on an unusual source to create genetically modified (GM) potatoes and to protect these and other crops from a variety of diseases - frogs.

What? Did I say frogs?

Sounds bizarre or even impossible, right? I thought the same thing when I first read about this work. But researchers in Canada are making the use of this unique source possible.

Researchers at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada have inserted a modified frog gene into potato plants in order to make them produce a chemical identical to the one that South American frogs excrete from their skin. The chemical works to protect these potato plants and other crops from a wide range of diseases (GM Potato uses Frog Gene to resist Pathogens, Science and Development Network, 7/28/05). These genetically modified (GM) potatoes showed resistance to infection by a broad range of disease-causing fungi and bacteria, including bacteria responsible for diseases such as dry rot, late blight, and pink rot, according to the researchers’ findings published in the June 2005 edition of the journal Theoretical and Applied Genetics.

Different species of frog produce different sets of chemicals, including some called dermaseptins, from their skin depending on the environment the frog inhabits. The chemicals the frogs produce help protect them from bacteria and other “pathogens”. The most potent dermaseptin, known as B1, has been isolated from the skin of tree frogs that inhabit the rainforests in South America, where hot and humid conditions provide the ideal environment for fungi and bacteria to thrive.

According to their research, the University of Victoria team showed that a synthetic version of dermaseptin B1 inhibited the growth of an unusual “broad range” of fungi that cause plant diseases, as well as a certain type of bacteria that causes blackleg in potato plants in the field and soft rut of tubers in storage. The researchers genetically modified the potatoes to produce the chemical and exposed the genetically modified (GM) plants to the same organisms. The inserted gene gave an “unusually broad spectrum and powerful resistance to infection”, according to the biotechnologists’ findings in Theoretical and Applied Genetics.

Bacterial infections can cause heavy losses to potato crops, according to researchers. In recent years, the standard approach to protect these crops has been to spray the crops with pesticides. However, spraying crops with pesticides can be damaging to the environment and to the farmers’ health, as well as encourages the bacteria to develop pesticide resistance. The researchers said that because their GM potatoes could resist so many types of disease-causing organisms, the same gene could be used to protect other crops, including wheat, barley, and sugar.

The researchers said that preliminary results of studies to show the safety of dermaseptin B1 were positive and that the GM plants showed no negative effects of having been genetically modified. Researchers are currently working to test if B1 is toxic to people and animals, as well as study whether the chemical gets broken down or builds up in the body.

The use of frogs to develop this chemical to create GM potatoes that are resistant to bacteria and diseases, as strange as it may sound, may be a good thing. To be able to create crops that will rely less on pesticides could help the environment, which may appease some of those who oppose the use of biotechnology. As the researchers continue to study the chemical uses, it will be interesting to see how this all progresses. The possibilities this technology could bring are endless.

Posted by AC Baumer at 8:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)