GMO Food for Thought

Scientists and scholars at a recent symposium touted the benefits of genetically modified foods but recommended a food traceability system as a way to ease the public’s concerns over biotechnology and genetically modified foods (Experts tout Benefits of GM Foods, suggest New Labeling System, CheckBiotech, 9/22/05).

The panel of scholars and scientists from various parts of the world participated in the International Symposium for the Risk Management of Genetically Modified Organisms in Taiwan on September 21, 2005. During the symposium, the panel strongly advocated the often controversial of genetic modification and maintained that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) offer an effective way to produce better and more food to feed the world’s rapidly growing population.

Genetically modified organisms are organisms in which the genetic material – the DNA – has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally. Typically, genes are added to a plant’s DNA, which can produce proteins that add beneficial traits, such as herbicide tolerance or insect resistance, to the crop.

In many countries, genetically modified foods are grown in abundance. For example, in the symposium’s host city of Taiwan, genetically modified foods include papayas, soybeans, and tomatoes and currently, biotechnologists in that country are working on developing genetically modified bananas, watermelons, broccoli, and potatoes. Scientists in Taiwan are also looking into ways to genetically modify animals, including pigs, cattle, and various types of fish.

Symposium members stated that the development and use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) has become a global trend. GMOs do not violate the laws of nature, but are rather a means for protecting the environment because genetically modified products can reduce the use of herbicide and pesticides and therefore protect the environment from harmful chemicals, according to Dr. Allan McHughen, a professor from the University of California, Riverside and a participant in the symposium.

However, with the dramatic growth of the biotechnology and GMO industry in recent years, many people remain concerned about biotechnology and genetically modified products. Opponents of genetically modified foods claim that the process is dangerous and hazardous. According to the article, opponents claim that risks from these foods include the creation of mutant “superweeds” and “superpests”, an imbalance in nature, and a further widening of the disparity between rich and poor countries, as these nations may be unable to afford such technology. Opponents also say that by mixing genes from different foods, a risk of unknown food allergies may increase.

Participants in the symposium say that scientists and researchers need to do a better job communicating to the people in their countries about the benefits and the usefulness of this technology. Some suggested the need for a labeling system. In Taiwan, for example, a food traceability system is being piloted at eleven supermarkets in Taipei by the end of 2005. The system would allow consumers to scan bar code labels from which the consumer can learn the history of the product.

The benefits of genetically modified foods are great. As stated many times before, genetically modified foods can help feed an increasing population and make food resistant to harmful chemicals. Opposition to these products is still prevalent, but a traceability system may address these oppositions. Personally, I would not like to see a labeling system for genetically modified foods since so many products that have been genetically modified are already on the shelves and have been for a number of years. However, a system such as the one being piloted in Taiwan may catch on in other countries and could lead to greater acceptance of the genetically modified foods in society.

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The state of Missouri is taking on a greater role in the plant biotechnology industry.

A panel of nine state, industry, and academic leaders met for the first time earlier this month to discuss efforts to make Missouri a fertile place for new biotechnology companies (Blunt, Panel meet Today on Biotech Future, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 9/13/05).

Created by Missouri Governor Matt Blunt in April, the group is looking at ways in which Missouri can recruit firms to the state and help them grow this fast-moving industry. The panel is also considering whether the state needs a regulatory structure to govern the sometimes controversial planting of crops that have been genetically modified to produce proteins for use in polymers and drugs.

Governor Blunt is seeking recommendations from the panel by the end of 2005. According to reports, the group has not yet stated where Missouri should focus its efforts, but Blunt would like to see innovations that will help farmers add value to their crops. Ideally, the panel hopes the state will develop an environment where farmers can have information and raise concerns early, where processors can address the ways that foods and pharmaceutical crops will not mix, and where consumers can be educated through these efforts.

The state has also recently been involved in a project with Ventria Bioscience and Northwest Missouri State University to grow genetically modified rice that can be used to help individuals in developing countries.

In the St. Louis metropolitan area, a local university has also taken a leading role in biotechnology. Washington University recently invested $40 million of its endowment in St. Louis venture capital funds in an effort to support local biotechnology developments (Washington U. Investments aid Biotech Firms’ Growth, St. Louis Business Journal, 8/29/05). According to the university, it is investing in biotechnology for many reasons, including supporting and encouraging the development of new St. Louis science and technology companies.

Washington University has also formed a partnership to establish a yet-to-be-named nonprofit organization that will provide seed money for biotechnology researchers and scientists at the university (Washington U., Hartwell Team to invest in Biotech, St. Louis Business Journal, 9/12/05). Funding for the organization is coming from the Hartwell Foundation Corporation, a private family charity based in Falls Village, Connecticut. The organization is expected to have close ties to Washington University and will strive to fund innovative life sciences services and products.

Interest in biotechnology is not new in the “Show-Me State”. Missouri, and particularly the St. Louis metropolitan area, is home to several leading life sciences and agricultural biotechnology companies and organizations and is referred to as the heart of the BioBelt, a world-class center for plant and life sciences research, investment and business opportunity. Missouri has embraced the need for biotechnology and these projects by the state and Washington University will help Missouri move forward in its efforts to help emerging companies and the new technologies that these researchers and scientists can offer to society.

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In my line of work as a university grant researcher, I have seen a number of research projects involving efforts to develop alternative food sources for impoverished nations. That’s why I was interested in learning of this critical need in Asia, especially in the countries of Bangladesh, India, China, and Pakistan. The answer to this issue may be as simple as developing genetically modified foods though biotechnology (Biotechnology for Food Security and Poverty Alleviation, Checkbiotech, 9/8/05).

Biotechnology, broadly defined, involves techniques that use living organisms or part of the organisms to make or modify products to improve plants or animals or to develop microorganisms for a specific use. During the 1970s, scientists developed a new method for precisely making a recombination of some portions of deoxyribonucleic acid or DNA, the bio chemical material in all living cells that govern inherited characteristics and for transferring portions of DNA from one organism to another. This technique is known as DNA technology or biotechnology.

According to the article, science and technology have underpinned the economic and social gains in Asia over the past 30 years. Between 1970 and 1995, cereal production is Asia doubled and caloric availability increased 24 percent. Although the population of Asia has grown by one billion people, overall food production in the region has also increased, largely due in part to cultivation of high yielding varieties from plant breeding. In the next 25 years, according to the article’s author, the population of Asia is expected to increase from three billion to almost four and a half billion people, and therefore the need for food is predicted to increase by 40 percent from the present level of 650 million tons.

The author of the article states that fulfilling the need for more food will have to be achieved with less work, water, and available land. The author further states that biotechnology can contribute to this need if scientists can develop technologies to increase the quality and yields of food crops and the technologies are adopted by small farmers. With the current trend in population and food production in Asia, the author suggests there is likely to be a large gap between production and demand by 2025.

The need to provide food to developing countries is greater now more than ever. As populations increase in these countries, there is a shortage in available land as well as in available food to feed all the people. There has to be an efficient and safe way to help researchers, scientists, and farmers produce better foods to respond to these needs. Biotechnology is one of the best solutions. Used with other technologies, biotechnology and the foods that the technology can develop certainly serve as a powerful tool in the fight against poverty.

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Researchers at the University of Tennessee have discovered a plant gene marker that may revolutionize genetically modified crops (UT Researchers studying Genetically Modified Crops, Memphis Business Journal, 8/22/05).

The researchers, Mentewab Ayalew, a plant scientist at the University of Tennessee, and Neal Stewart, the Racheff Chair of Excellence in Plant Molecular Genetics at the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture, found a plant-based genetic marker that shows resistance to specific antibiotics. Their findings are published in the September 2005 issue of Nature Biotechnology, a peer review journal.

Since the 1980s, researchers have been pairing genes for desirable plant traits with bacterial markers and inserting them into target plants. According to research, genetically modifying plants usually has a rather low success rate as researchers need to be able to select plants which have successfully absorbed the introduced gene from those which have not. Traditionally, this has been done by giving, alongside the desired gene, a gene which makes the plants resistant to an antibiotic. Growing the plants in soil containing the antibiotic provides an easy way to sort them. Those plants that have not absorbed the introduced genetic material will be poisoned by the antibiotic. The antibiotic gene is referred to as the “marker” because it “marks out” the successes from the failures.

According to the findings, the researchers at the University of Tennessee used a gene in their study from a plant, Arabidopsis thaliana, the most widely investigated plant in science. The researchers then inserted the gene into a tobacco plant. The inserted gene increased the production of a protein called an ATP binding cassette (ABC) and made the plants kanamycin-resistant.

Most genetically modified plants already contain a gene for antibiotic resistance, but concerns and fears have been raised that the antibiotic resistant gene could transfer to bacteria, making them immune to common drugs. There are also fears that an increase in antibiotic resistance in bacteria could lead to some human health risks.

The researchers say that because their genetic marker originates from a plant, it is highly unlikely that any horizontal gene transfer would result in antibiotic resistant bacteria.

The development of this new gene marker for genetically modified plants and crops is a great step toward the acceptance of such products. Although there have been concerns over the safety of genetically modified crops among the chief objections to their production and sale, I believe the discovery will add some influence to the debate over genetically modified foods. This new discovery could also be of value to researchers around the world as they develop new technologies in the ever-changing world of biotechnology.

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