Download PDF - SEARCA Biotechnology Information Center

January – March 2005 BIO LIFE
31
with biotech crops—for the past nearly 20 years—and the
findings all show the benefits outweighing any potential (because
none has been discovered) risk. The biotech crops that
are more pest-resistant have in fact greatly reduced the risk of
chemical poisoning that has occurred in some places where
pesticides were not used prudently.
In Western Europe, where the biotech protest movement is
very strong, the European Commission concluded, after an
analysis of scientific evidence from 81 research projects, that:
“The use of more precise technology and the greater regulatory
scrutiny probably make [biotech crops] even safer than conventional
plants and foods.”
WHAT IS A ‘GM’ CROP
The biggest debate in biotechnology has centered the past
few years on such terms as “GMO” and “GM crops,” or genetically
modified organisms or crops.
In reality, all crops are really “genetically modified” from their
original wild state by various processes of domestication,
selection and controlled breeding over long periods of time.
A GM or transgenic crop is one where such natural modification
is hastened by a deliberate scientific process. A GM crop
contains a gene(s) that has been artificially inserted, instead of
the plant acquiring it through pollination. The inserted gene
(known as the transgene) may come from another unrelated
plant, or from a completely different species.
WHY ARE ‘GM’ CROPS MADE
Plant breeders have been exchanging genes between plants
to produce offspring with desired traits; but this crossbreeding
has been limited to exchanges between closely related or the
same species—which takes a long time to produce the desired
results or changes in features.
With GM technology, scientists can bring together in one
plant the useful genes of a diverse range of living sources, not
just within the crop species or closely related plants. This
speeds up the work of producing superior plant varieties.
The use of the so-called “first-generation” GM crops has
yielded significant benefits thus far, primarily, as stated above, in
terms of bigger produce, lower farm costs and higher farm profit,
and an improvement in the environment. Now, the “secondgeneration”
GM crops have the additional advantage of being
infused with nutritive qualities that address the dietary deficiencies
of people. Examples of such crops are potatoes with higher
starch content; rice enriched with iron and vitamin A; and edible
vaccines in maize and potatoes.
AREN’T THERE RISKS IN USING ‘GM’ CROPS
All emerging technologies and scientific developments carry
risks, among them: (1) the possibility transgenes will escape
from cultivated crops into wild relatives; or (2) the peril of
unintentional introduction of allergens into food; or of (3) pests
becoming resistant, through time, to the toxins produced by
GM crops.
However, legislation and regulatory institutions dictate
processes that entail careful review of applications to precisely
avoid or reduce these risks. The technology innovators (i.e.,
scientists), the producers and the government has the obligation
to ensure the safety of novel food and drugs for people and their
benign impact on the environment.