The Use of GM Crops in Developing Countries
Genetic modification
3.4 Genetic modification allows selected individual genes discovered in one organism to be inserted directly into another. This can be a related or unrelated species. Since the way particular genes function is similar in most organisms, genes or part of genes from one organism can generally be transferred to any other organism. The transferred gene is called the transgene. Genetic modification can be used to promote a desirable crop character or to suppress an undesirable trait. The technology is also sometimes called gene technology, recombinant DNA technology or genetic engineering. Practical and functional methods have now been developed to modify most of our major crops.
3.5 Regulatory provisions require that the actual transfer of genes into the selected organism must always take place in a laboratory under carefully controlled conditions. GM plants will later be grown in a special glasshouse, and then in fields under regulated conditions, before being grown commercially. Once transferred, transgenes behave like other genes and can be managed further in a conventional cross breeding programme.
3.6 However, the technology has given rise to several concerns. Some perceive the act of genetic modification as more ‘unnatural’ than processes applied in conventional plant breeding (see paragraphs 3.7-3.17).4 Critics also fear that genes introduced into GM plants grown in fields, whether for experimental or commercial purposes, might ‘escape’ into wild relatives of the plant, or to other organisms. There is concern that such events may be irreversible and uncontrollable.5 There are also questions about the effect of GM crops on human health (see paragraphs 4.43-4.47).6
Naturalness
3.7 Some people think intuitively that it cannot be right to change the ‘essence’ of natural objects like plants. Arguments about naturalness are complex, and raise many difficult issues. We addressed some of these in our 1999 Report, where we examined concerns which were based on commonly held views, or on philosophical, cultural or theological grounds (see paragraphs 1.32-1.40 of the 1999 Report). However, we wish to reconsider two areas in more detail. The first concerns the question of the relationship between conventional plant breeding and plant breeding that uses genetic modification: can it be said that the use of genetic modification is ‘unnatural’? The second concerns the question of what it means to transfer genes between species: are such procedures unacceptable because they violate natural boundaries?
Footnotes4 For a more abstract discussion of the issue of naturalness, see Alan Holland’s submission to the New Zealand Royal Commission on Genetic Modification. Available: http://www.gmcommission.govt.nz/pronto_pdf/save_animals_from_exploitation_safe/(WB%20IP%200085-Al%20Holland).pdf. Accessed on: 14 Oct 2003. See also Food Standards Agency (2002) Public Attitudes to GM: Debrief notes on qualitative research (London: FSA). Available: http://www.foodstandards.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/gmfocusgroupreport.pdf. Accessed on: 14 Oct 2003.
5 FAO Electronic Forum on Biotechnology in Food and Agriculture (2002) Background Document to Conference 7, 31 May – 6 July 2002. Gene flow from GM to non-GM populations in the crop, forestry, animal and fishery sectors (FAO UN). Available: http://www.fao.org/biotech/C7doc.htm. Accessed on: 14 Oct 2003; Independent Science Panel (2003) The Case for a GM-Free Sustainable World (London: ISP). See also paragraphs 4.28-4.42.
6 British Medical Association (1999) The Impact of Genetic Modification on Agriculture, Food and Health: An Interim Statement (London: BMA).