Tuesday 31 October, 2000
Reducing The Risks Of GM Crops
A committee of experts, set up to advise the British government on the safety of genetically modified crops, says biotech companies could make their products a lot safer by adopting the latest technologies.
The Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment, known as ACRE, has issued a set of guidelines on how companies might use new advances in plant science. Whilst the recommendations are unlikely to be enforced by law, they could have a significant impact on the production of GM crops as Corinne Podger, of BBC Science, reports.
The report
Controversy surrounding genetically modified produce is not new. Campaigners against GM crops and foods say these products could cause all kinds of nightmare scenarios - unstoppable superweeds, fatal allergic reactions to GM foods, and the unknown threat to nearby wildlife and biodiversity.
But ACRE spokesman Brian Johnson has told the British magazine New Scientist that the committee doesn't regard genetically modified crops as being unsafe. Instead, he says, the committee has included a set of guidelines in its latest report, to help biotech firms reduce the risks associated with GM crops and plants even further, placing special emphasis on any threats they might pose to biodiversity.
Guidelines
The report, entitled Guidance on Best Practice in the Design of Genetically Modified Crops, covers three main areas of concern.
First, it encourages GM manufacturers to engineer plants so that they aren't genetically compatible with wild plants living nearby, to minimise the chances of unusual genes crossing into native species. Several instances of such gene flow have already occurred in Britain, including a case of sugar beet that was accidentally endowed with genetic resistance to two different herbicides.
At present, the main method of preventing gene flow is to have a “buffer zone” between GM crops and nearby plants, but this has been found not to be completely effective. The report suggests a number of alternatives to the buffer zone, including engineering plants that cannot interbreed with nearby species, or which don’t produce viable pollen or flowers.
| 'The guidelines aim to help biotech firms reduce the risks associated with GM crops and plants, placing special emphasis on any threats they might pose to biodiversity' |
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ACRE’s second recommendation is that plants should be tampered with as little as possible, and only the minimum amount of DNA required should be added to create the desired improvement to a crop or plant. The report especially discourages the use of antibiotic resistance genes. Researchers often use these genes as a “label” for other novel genes. With many antibiotics already being rendered ineffective through overuse, the guidelines suggest their unnecessary use in GM crops should be discarded.
Finally, to avoid the potential of GM crops to cause dangerous allergic reactions when consumed, ACRE recommends that genes should only be added to a plan where and when they are needed. If foreign proteins are not expressed in the part of a plant used for food, there’s little chance they might cause an allergic reaction when eaten by humans.
Welcome response
Biotech companies such as Monsanto have welcomed the report. Monsanto spokesman Tony Combes told the New Scientist:
'As a leading player, we are looking at the feasibility and potential benefits of the technologies mentioned.'
ACRE spokesman Mark Bailey says he hopes British and international biotech firms will decide to adopt the guidelines. He says there are no plans to change British law to force companies to incorporate new technologies as they’re developed.
But if the biotech industry resists such improvements, Brian Johnson says it may become increasingly difficult for them to get new products approved.
|  |  | | | Are GM foods dangerous? |  |
| | There are two main fears about GM food technology. One is that it will make people ill and the other is that it will damage the Earth's fragile eco-system. However, the scientific evidence on these two issues is inconclusive.
The health fear is that modified genes can spread from GM crops to other, 'natural' species of plant through cross-pollination and can even move into animals and humans.
Most GM plants are created using sections of DNA, often derived from bacteria and viruses, which are able to move easily between one organism and another. If they can move to modify one plant, they may move again and modify another - or even pass into animals and humans.
The ecological fear is that the large amounts of weed killer used on crops bred to resist chemicals, or the pesticides bred into the plants themselves, could cause immense damage to the environment.
In defence Alex Woodfall, spokesman for the biotech giant Monsanto has commented:
‘The idea that the public are being used as guinea pigs in some huge genetic experiment couldn't be further from the truth. No GM food gets manufactured until it has been approved by seven different scientific committees and four different Government departments (in the US).’ |
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