The most common transgenic crops in use:

• Herbicide resistant plants (Roundup Ready)

Weeds are killed but crop plants survive.

(In U.S., about 80% of soybeans were GMO in 2003)

• Insect resistant plants (BT)

Express a bacterial protein that is toxic to insects

(In U.S., about 40% of maize and

75% of cotton were GMO in 2003)

Insect resistance engineered via BT…

Bacillus thuringiensis---A spore-forming bacterium, covered with a crystalline protein.

Crystals break down in alkaline conditions inside an insect midgut-and form pores in insect membranes

European corn borer inside a corn stalk

21 years

29 years

27 years

Vitamin A (trans-retinol) deficiency:

In Southeast Asia, approximately 5 million children develop xeropthalmia (impaired vision) each year.

0.25 mil eventually go blind

correlated with diarrhea, respiratory diseases, measles

According to UNICEF, Vitamin A supplements could prevent 1- to 2-million childhood deaths per year

From Ye, et al., (2000) Science, 287:303

control

Some other uses for transgenic plants…….

•Production of edible vaccines

•Wine without the hangover?---reduction of bioamines to lessen chance of headaches associated with wine drinking

•Caffeine-free coffee? Specifically shutdown caffeine production in the plant

•Hay-fever treatment by rice consumption

MGKGEELFTGVVPILVELDGDVNGHKFSVSGEGEGDATYGKLTLKFICTTGKLPVPWPTLVTTFSYGVQCFSRYPDHMKRHDFFKSAMPEGYVQERTIFFKDDGNYKTRAEVKFEGDTLVNRIELKGIDFKEDGNILGHKLEYNYNSHNVYIMADKQKNGIKVNFKIRHNIEDGSVQLADHYQQNTPIGDGPVLLPDNHYLSTQSALSKDPNEKRDHMVLLEFVTAAGITHGMDELYK*

1 ccatggatgggtaagggagaggaacttttcactg gagttgtcccaatcttggttgagctcgacg 61 gtgacgtcaa tggacacaag ttttccgtct caggagaggg tgaaggtgat gcaacctacg 121 gaaagttgac ccttaagttc atctgcacta ctggaaaact ccctgttcct tggccaacat 181 tggtgaccac tttctcttac ggtgttcaat gcttctcacg ttacccagac catatgaagc 241 gtcatgactt tttcaagtcc gccatgcccg agggttatgt gcaagagcgt actatcttct 301 tcaaggacga cggaaactac aagacacgtg ccgaagtcaa gttcgaaggt gacaccttgg 361 tgaacagaat cgagttgaag ggtatcgatt tcaaggagga cggaaacatt cttggacaca 421 agcttgagta caactacaac tcacacaatg tgtacatcat ggctgacaag cagaagaacg 481 gaatcaaggt taacttcaaa atccgtcaca acattgagga tggaagcgtt cagttggctg 541 atcactacca acagaatact ccaattggcg atggccctgt gcttttgcca gacaaccact 601 acttgtccac ccaatctgcc ctttccaaag atcccaacga aaagagagac cacatggtct 661 tgcttgagtt tgtgaccgct gctggcatta cccacggcat ggatgagttg tacaagtaag 721 gatccaaagctagc

NcoI site

NheI site

Proteinsequence

Nucleotidesequence

Stopcodon

Sequence encoding Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP)

Start codon (Met)

Limits of biotechnology…?

Mice expressing GFP…

Bacteria with coded messages...

Potential uses for transgenic animals• Aquaculture

Increased growth via hormone gene insertion

From the July, 2004 issue of Scientific American

Gene Doping“Gene therapy for restoring muscle lost to age or disease is poised to enter the clinic, but elite athletes are eyeing it to enhance performance Can it be long before gene doping changes the nature of sport? “

Belgian blue cattle – with a “double-muscle” mutation that produces an altered form of myostatin

Taken from http://www.whybiotech.com/ , an industry sponsored website

      

                                                                                                                      

    

      

Biotech Holds “Enormous Promise” for Developing World, says U.N.

Support for agricultural biotechnology…

Activists dumped 4 tons of soybeans on Downing St. at the home of British Prime Minister Tony Blair after he said bioengineered food was safe to eat

Opposition to agricultural biotechnology…

Two kinds of objections to GMOsTwo kinds of objections to GMOs

1. ExtrinsicThe potential harms of The potential harms of GMOs outweigh the GMOs outweigh the potential benefitspotential benefits. . GMOs are too risky.GMOs are too risky.

2. IntrinsicGMOs are GMOs are

unnatural and ought not unnatural and ought not to be pursued, even if the to be pursued, even if the benefits outweigh the benefits outweigh the harms. harms. Playing God.Playing God.

(slide from Gary Comstock)

Issues in Plant Biotechnology

• ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS

• FOOD SAFETY

• ETHICAL ISSUES

• GOVERNMENT/BUSINESS ISSUES

• Increased high-input monocultures• Does this technology encourage increased chemical

use?• Effects on non-target organisms and wildlife • Development of “Superbugs” & “Superweeds”• Release of transgenic plants (or animals) into the wild• Added pressure and ability to farm marginal lands• Will cause an overall loss of genetic diversity• Spread of antibiotic resistance genes

Environmental ConcernsEnvironmental Concerns

Ethics of Food IssuesFood Issues– Do people have a right to know what

they are eating?• Can consumers demand labels on

everything containing GM ingredients?• Allergy issues? • Can foods with animal genes inserted into

them still be considered strictly vegetables and eaten as such? (Moral and religious concerns)

• Is it okay to express human genes in plants for medical use? For consumption?

ARE GMO PLANTS SAFE?

Philippines Saudi ArabiaJapan RussiaSouth Korea MexicoIndonesia New Zealand Israel TaiwanCzech Republic Norway 15 countries of the European Union

In the U.S. The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) has ruled that a food should be labeled as a product of biotechnology only if changed in some significant way. There is no mandatory labeling required. GMO foods fit the criteria of

“SUBSTANTIAL EQUIVALENCE”

Mandatory laws require labeling of GMO products in:

LABELING CONCERNS

•Several counties in California will vote in November whether to allow or ban growth of any GMO crops

•Increased dependence on chemical and seed companies• Use of land in developing countries for testing ad genetic “theft” from developing countries

• Is the U.S. trying to force GMOs on a hungry world? Or is Europe practicing a “new colonialism”?

United States vs. EU

GOVERNMENT/BUSINESS ISSUES

Food Aid Denied to Starving PopulationNovember 5, 2002 By Lisa Schlein

Geneva - “The government of Zambia has asked the United Nations World Food Program to remove thousands of tons of genetically modified food that had been donated to the country. The demand follows a decision last week by the government to refuse donations of so-called GM food. The World Food Program says the Zambian government has told the agency to empty its warehouses and take all food which has been genetically modified out of the country”.

(According to ActionAid, southern Africa's worst maize shortage in living memory meant that by March 2003, over 14 million people in Angola, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe faced serious food shortages)

U.S. Consumer Views

1. Knowledge of GMOs remains low

2. Opposition has softened in past few years

3. Consumers look to FDA for safety assessment

4. GM plants are more accepted than GM animals

5. GM use for medical/safety is more accepted

based on (9/15/03) Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology Survey

(available at www.pewagbiotech.org)