Diving into The Gene Pool Without Swimming Lessons: A Few Thoughts From Jeffrey Hollender

[Guest guest]

Diving Into The Gene Pool Without Swimming Lessons: A Few Thoughts From Jeffrey

Hollender, President

 

http://63.108.92.132/page.asp?id=1392#2

 

 

Ever since Mary Shelley first spun her immortal 19th century yarn about Dr.

Frankenstein, the mad scientist archetype has maintained an honored place in the

Western mythos. From Dr. Jekyll in his London lair to Dr. Moreau on his tortured

tropical isle, the specter of fellow human beings tampering to pernicious effect

with the elemental forces of nature has been the stuff of some very bad dreams

indeed. But what if such experimentation nightmares were real? And what if we

were all in the test tube?

 

It’s a story that’s hard to swallow even as far-fetched science fiction: a

civilization that figures out how to manipulate the genetic codes of life in an

unrestrained technological leap that unleashes some very weird science upon an

unsuspecting public. No, this is not a scenario ripped from the latest Michael

Crichton novel. This is a true-life tale unfolding right now in laboratories and

fields around the world. And it’s my very unsettled feeling that when it comes

to the genetically modified organisms this new science is creating, we’re moving

way too fast for our own good.

 

DNA, of course, is the blueprint for life, the instruction manual by which

nature creates everything from wildflowers to people. Until recently humanity

hasn’t had the ability to do much except watch it do its mysterious work. But

recent advances in technology and know-how have changed that. Now we not only

know which genes do what in an ever growing number of life forms, we know how to

alter those genes or replace them entirely with altogether new ones.

 

I won’t go into the hard science of the process, but suffice it to say that with

the right equipment and a little trial and error, one can pretty much take any

gene responsible for any trait and insert it into the DNA of any other organism

one might wish to possess that trait as well. The result embodies the spooky

premise of countless B-grade horror movies: The achievement of the power to

create living organisms that have never existed before.

 

For the most part, these new organisms have hardly seemed the stuff of

nightmares, and some have been perceived as downright warm and fuzzy. Tomatoes

that can resist frost. Potatoes that better fight disease. Rice that has more

vitamins. Given such theoretically helpful attributes, the media in the U.S.

hasn’t yet paid much attention to the story of genetically modified organisms

(GMOs) and instead has largely d to the biotech industry’s line that

such research is good for all mankind. But like any mad science spiraling out of

control, there’s far more to the story than vegetable vitality.

 

Tougher tomatoes are just the tip of the iceberg. By mixing in genes from other

species, and even moving them from plant to animal and vice versa, scientists

are creating (or trying to create) plants that make their own pesticides,

animals that glow in the dark, and, frighteningly, a new category of crops

called " pharmafoods " - plants that manufacture drugs and chemicals within their

cells. I am not making this up. They’ve stuck chicken genes in apples, human

genes in corn, mouse genes in potatoes, jelly fish genes in house cats, and cow

genes in soybeans. Now they’re even trying to create life itself; according to

recent reports, scientists J. Craig Venter and Hamilton O. Smith intend to try

to assemble a completely man-made cell from scratch. This artificial cell would

contain the minimum number of genes needed for survival. Once brought to life,

the scientists hope their cell will begin to self-replicate and form a

Frankensteinian colony of microscopic life forms unlike any that ever existed.

 

There are so many things wrong with these and countless other experiments, that

it’s hard to know where to begin. But let’s try to make the briefest of lists

and highlight the primary perils GMO science potentially presents:

 

 

In just a few short years of GMO science, countless incidents of so-called

" genetic drift " have been recorded. Genetic drift means that the inserted or

altered genes move from their host species into wild relatives or non-GMO

cultivated species. From there they can go anywhere with horrifying

consequences. Imagine, for example, what might happen if a gene to force rice to

make a chemotherapy drug escaped and began to contaminate the world’s supply of

this vital grain. How do you reel something like that back in? You can’t. Which

makes genetic drift a dangerous new form of pollution, and one that government

is doing little to stop.

 

Genetic drift can also contaminate the wild gene stocks needed to revitalize

agricultural crops with new traits better able to resist emerging disease and

pest threats. In essence, wild varieties of human-cultivated plants together

comprise an ancient " gene bank " which contains thousands of different

characteristics spread out among countless sub-species. When a crop becomes

imperiled by a new threat like a virus or a fungus, scientists track down a wild

relative with the genetic ability to resist this threat. By crossbreeding this

relative with cultivated varieties, they’re able to create a brand new, stronger

plant better able to survive. If this vital wild genetic heritage were to be

corrupted by escaped genetic pollution from GM plants, the consequences would be

unimaginable.

 

GMOs could create superweeds and superpests. Nature depends on a system of

natural checks and balances to keep things like bugs and weeds in check. But if

plants engineered to resist pests and diseases let their new genes loose in the

environment, wild " superspecies " might be created with a mutated ability to

overcome all natural and human obstacles. Weeds that take over. Bacteria that

resist all drugs. Unstoppable insect swarms. These are just a few of the

possibilities.

 

GM foods can contain lower levels of key nutrients and cause health problems.

Allergic reactions to alien proteins inserted into new foods (genes are made of

proteins) and increased cancer risks are just some of the possible outcomes. For

example, if you’re allergic to peanuts and a peanut gene is inserted into corn,

you could then be at risk when you eat this new kind of corn. Especially if you

weren’t aware it contained peanut proteins. Such foods are fundamentally

altered. And no one can say what might come from eating them.

 

 

 

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