GMW: Let them eat GM cottonseed!

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GMW: " Let them eat GM cottonseed! "

" GM WATCH " <info

Tue, 21 Nov 2006 11:46:34 GMT

 

 

 

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http://www.gmwatch.org

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GM WATCH COMMENT: Here's the gene-bashers' latest wheeze for feeding

the poor and hungry: take the unwanted toxic by-product of a toxic

industry, cottonseeds, manipulate the genes so that the toxins are at " a

level that is considered safe for

human consumption " , and get the poor to eat the result!!!

 

Or here's a different notion. Why not set aside a proportion of land

currently used to grow cash crops for export and give it back to the

people to farm by sustainable methods, to feed themselves. It's known

that

farmers can easily be schooled in low-input, organic and permaculture

methods, that can be used to vastly increase the yield and variety of

crops grown on a given piece of ground in the developing world over

against any high-input expensive intensively managed system.

http://www.members.tripod.com/~ngin/article2.htm

http://www.biotech-info.net/ordinary_miracle.html

 

But of course, that would put land and food back

in the hands of farmers - the very last thing the biotech industry

wants.

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GM COTTONSEEDS COULD FEED WORLD'S STARVING MILLIONS

Jonathan Leake, Science Editor

The Sunday Times, November 19 2006

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2460161.html

 

SCIENTISTS have genetically modified the cotton plant's naturally toxic

seeds to turn them into a potential food source for millions of people.

 

Researchers have found a way of reducing gossypol, a powerful toxin in

the seeds, to a negligible level that allows them to be consumed by

humans. At present they are thrown away or fed to cows.

 

Dr Keerti Rathore, a plant technologist at Texas Agricultural

Experiment Station, which carried out the research, said enough cotton

was

already planted worldwide to supply the protein needs of 500m people.

 

" The exciting finding is that we have been able to reduce gossypol to a

level that is considered safe for human consumption, " said Rathore,

whose findings will appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of

Sciences.

 

Further field and safety trials are needed but if successful the

technique could turn out to be the " killer application " that

supporters of GM

technology have long hoped for. They believe environmentalists would

find it hard to object to a crop with the potential to reduce world

hunger on such a scale.

 

Gossypol is not just toxic but is also a powerful natural male

contraceptive. The sperm of men who eat foods containing gossypol become

deactivated.

 

Cotton plants secrete the toxin into their stems, leaves and seeds

because it affects pests in the same way, inhibiting their breeding and

reducing their numbers.

 

Rathore and his colleagues got round this problem using a relatively

new technique known as RNA interference, or RNAi, to suppress one of the

key genes involved in producing gossypol. " Very few people realise that

for every pound of cotton fibre the plant produces 1.6lb of seed, " said

Rathore.

 

" Overall, the world produces 44m tons of cottonseed each year

containing about 22% high-quality protein. "

 

Scientists have created cotton plants without gossypol before, through

conventional breeding techniques, but they were attacked by pests.

Rathore's method strips gossypol from the seeds only, leaving the rest of

the plant protected.

 

For farmers there will be a potential surge in the value of a crop that

can be sold for food as well as clothing. Environmentalists, however,

remain sceptical. They point to similar claims made for crops such as

golden rice, which was genetically engineered to contain vitamin A. It

subsequently emerged that people would need to eat huge amounts to gain

any benefit.

 

Sue Mayer, the director of GeneWatch UK, urged caution. " Poverty and

hunger are complex problems caused by bad government, poor economies and

war, " she said. " It is not just a matter of finding a new wonder

plant. "

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" Low-tech 'sustainable agriculture,' shunning chemicals in favour of

natural pest control and

fertiliser, is pushing up crop yields on poor farms across the world,

often by 70 per cent or more...

The findings will make sobering reading for people convinced that only

genetically modified crops

can feed the planet's hungry in the 21st century... A new science-based

revolution is gaining strength built on real research into what works

best on the small farms where a billion or more of the world's hungry

live and work... It is time for the major agricultural research centres

and their funding agencies to join the revolution. " - New Scientist

editorial, February 3 2001

 

 

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