Genetically Modified Food and Ethics.

To my mind there are lots of situations where ethics comes up in science. I was brought up to believe that you had to have a strong opinion on one side or the other of things, but as I have gotten older I have found that the most comfortable place for me is increasingly, right in the middle.



Below are some excerpts from an article on a new form of corn in Africa. One side might say, this is great, It will relieve famine and starvation. This of course is a good thing! The other side may say it is unethical to be involved in tampering with the genetics of food since it is such a new field and there may be long term ramifications we can't even start to think of now. I agree completely with this side too!

So that leaves me squarely in the middle and agreeing with both sides at the same time!

I think many times scientists need to do a lot of soul searching so that if the worst case scenario ever comes up they can honestly say they did what they thought was best. Even then they can end up doing a 180 degree turn sometimes.

Robert Oppeinheimer was a leader in the building of the first atomic bomb. After he saw the destruction it could cause he ended up being the leader in the movement to ban further production of them forever!

The information below on GM corn could be a great thing. If someone is literally starving and you are involved in producing something that will feed them and keep them alive that must be good! But if after a few years or decades if they or their offspring come up to you with malformations in their bodies or minds and ask you how you could do such a monstrous thing, that is bad! Also there is the proven possibility that loosing a created species can have devastation consequences on native flora and fauna that may not show up for years.

And a lot of times we just don't know what the long term effects are going to be until the long term has passed into history.

I find my spot squarely in the middle is the most comfortable place I can find sometimes, but that doesn't mean that there are not times when my heart goes out and aches for those on one or both sides of an issue.



The research, published in Plant Biotechnology Journal says that The first all-African genetically modified crop plant with resistance to the severe maize streak virus (MSV), which seriously reduces the continent's maize yield, has been developed by scientists from the University of Cape Town and PANNAR PTY Ltd, a South African seed company.

It also said that this represents a significant advance in African agricultural biotechnology, and will play an important role in alleviating Africa's food shortages and famine.

Dr Dionne Shepherd, lead researcher said "We have created an MSV-resistant maize variety by genetic engineering, using an approach known as pathogen-derived resistance. This means that a gene from the viral pathogen is used to protect the plant from that pathogen. We mutated a viral gene that under normal circumstances produces a protein that is essential for the virus to replicate itself and inserted it into the maize plant's genome, creating genetically modified maize. When the virus infects one of these transgenic maize plants, it displays a significant delay in symptom development, a decrease in symptom severity and higher survival rates than non-transgenic plants."

The next stage of the research involves field trials to ensure that the transformed crop is digestible, that the protein is not an allergen and that it will be ecologically friendly to other organisms within the environment. Following the results of these trials, the crop will be monitored over a number of growing seasons before it is made accessible to local farmers.

Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Thank you,

Dave Briggs