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Genetically modified crops largely a failure, says consumer group

jay gw

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Group Claims Biotechs Don't Deliver on Promises
February 03, 2005 — By Paul Elias, Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO — The biotechnology industry has failed to deliver on promises to revolutionize agriculture with plants genetically engineered to be healthier, drought resistant and tastier, a consumer interest group said Wednesday.

The Washington D.C.-based Center for Science in the Public Interest reached the conclusion after analyzing publicly available data provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration.

"Despite glowing pronouncements from the agricultural biotechnology industry, the regulatory data suggests that the industry is stagnating, not thriving," report author Greg Jaffe said.

The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications, a nonprofit supporter of biotechnology, released a separate report last month showing that 8 million farmers in 17 countries grew engineered crops on 200 million acres last year. That represented a 20 percent increase in acreage from 2003.

In 1996, the first year genetically modified crops were commercially available, about 4.3 million acres were under biotechnology cultivation.

Nearly all the soy and cotton and half the corn in the United States is genetically engineered, but little else is.

The growth cited in the nonprofit's report was limited to soy, corn and cotton genetically engineered to resist weed killers and bugs. Those crops have been on the market for a decade.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest said drought resistance and other new traits desired by consumers or needed by Third World farmers have yet to be produced on a large scale.

http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=7058
 
And their failure to deliver on their promises has cost us what, exactly?


This sort of reminds me about ' cuts ' in programs, that were actually cuts in rate of growth...


So, so far they have failed to come up with something ,they hoped they could come up with.. Does this mean they should stop trying?

Ooops, wait! I actually read the article.. Surprise, surprise, there is another side to the story..

" ....Last year, for example, St. Louis-based Monsanto Co. announced it was shelving plans to commercialize genetically engineered wheat because of widespread public resistance, especially in Europe. ... "

Who'd a' thunk it?
 
The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications, a nonprofit supporter of biotechnology, released a separate report last month showing that 8 million farmers in 17 countries grew engineered crops on 200 million acres last year. That represented a 20 percent increase in acreage from 2003.

In 1996, the first year genetically modified crops were commercially available, about 4.3 million acres were under biotechnology cultivation.

Nearly all the soy and cotton and half the corn in the United States is genetically engineered, but little else is.
Click to expand...

So a per annum increase in acreage of 20% is symptomatic of stagnation?
 
Silly skeptic question: What OTHER factors may have been involved? Governments? Wars? Various economies?
 
WAS IT MODERN CROP? WAS IT NOT SUITABLY & SCIENTIFICALLY TESTED? IS THIS FAILURE RESEMBLES TO OTHER FAILURES?
 
Kumar said:
WAS IT MODERN CROP? WAS IT NOT SUITABLY & SCIENTIFICALLY TESTED? IS THIS FAILURE RESEMBLES TO OTHER FAILURES?
Click to expand...
Are you referring to the failure of homeopathy to come up with any convincing evidence that it works?

BTW, I think you need to press the key marked "Caps Lock."
 
By the standard applied by the Center for Science in the Public Interest then modern medicine might also be deemed a failure. For instance most experimental drug treatments don't make it to market, and I think most organ transplants can be troublesome. Of course this also presumes that science will stand absolutely still in the future, with absolutely no innovation and improvement of existing technologies.
 
Nearly all the soy and cotton and half the corn in the United States is genetically engineered, but little else is.
Click to expand...

Strange. The article doesn't go into alot of detail about why other kinds of crops haven't been developed, but resistance to them because of fear is one reason.

Brazilians had a hissy fit when GM crops were going to be introduced there. And Ethiopia or another African country said they would not accept food aid if the food was GM.

If people have irrational fears of GM crops then there's no incentive to develop them.
 
jay gw
Your last statement is just as valid, whether the fear is irrational or rational.
 
Nearly all the soy and cotton and half the corn in the United States is genetically engineered, but little else is.
Click to expand...

Actually...

In 2004, the percentage of U.S. soybeans planted in genetically engineered varieties again grew, accounting for 85 percent of all soy planted. This reflects an increase of 3.9 million acres and a total of 63.6 million acres of GM soy. The percentage of GM corn rose to 45 percent of all U.S. corn planted, with farmers planting 4.9 million acres more than in 2003 giving a total of 36.5 million acres of GM corn. For the first time in three years, total cotton acreage in the U.S. increased. The share of cotton which is GM – a total of 10.6 million acres – increased three percent from 2003 to 76 percent in 2004.
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2.gif


http://pewagbiotech.org/resources/factsheets/display.php3?FactsheetID=2

I don't know the accuracy but it seems about right.
 
jay gw said:
Strange. The article doesn't go into alot of detail about why other kinds of crops haven't been developed, but resistance to them because of fear is one reason.

Brazilians had a hissy fit when GM crops were going to be introduced there. And Ethiopia or another African country said they would not accept food aid if the food was GM.

If people have irrational fears of GM crops then there's no incentive to develop them.
Click to expand...

Almost all of South Africa's cotton is now GM.....

The African country was Zambia IIRC... they didnt want the food aid because they thought it was better to let people die of starvation rather than risk the EU barring any future food imports.

Some people have an irrational fear of Vaccines. Should we stop developing them?

Hells teeth man! some people have an irrational fear of aeroplanes. Should we stop developing them too!?

If people are so stupid and gullible that they believe everything that eco-nazis say and chose to disbelive the almost unanimous voice of the global scientific community does sthis mean the technology has failed or that people in general are crass, ignorant and scientifically illiterate?
 
As to drought resistance, here are a few papers published by a 3rd world university:

1: Collett H, Butowt R, Smith J, Farrant J, Illing N. Related Articles, Links
Photosynthetic genes are differentially transcribed during the dehydration-rehydration cycle in the resurrection plant, Xerophyta humilis.

J Exp Bot. 2003 Nov;54(392):2593-5. Epub 2003 Sep 09.
PMID: 12966044 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

2: Garwe D, Thomson JA, Mundree SG. Related Articles, Links
Molecular characterization of XVSAP1, a stress-responsive gene from the resurrection plant Xerophyta viscosa Baker.
J Exp Bot. 2003 Jan;54(381):191-201.

PMID: 12493847 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
3: Mowla SB, Thomson JA, Farrant JM, Mundree SG. Related Articles, Links
A novel stress-inducible antioxidant enzyme identified from the resurrection plant Xerophyta viscosa Baker.
Planta. 2002 Sep;215(5):716-26. Epub 2002 Jul 10.
PMID: 12244436 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

4: Whittaker A, Bochicchio A, Vazzana C, Lindsey G, Farrant J. Related Articles, Links
Changes in leaf hexokinase activity and metabolite levels in response to drying in the desiccation-tolerant species Sporobolus stapfianus and Xerophyta viscosa.
J Exp Bot. 2001 May;52(358):961-9.
PMID: 11432913 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

5: Mundree SG, Whittaker A, Thomson JA, Farrant JM. Related Articles, Links
An aldose reductase homolog from the resurrection plant Xerophyta viscosa Baker.
Planta. 2000 Oct;211(5):693-700.
PMID: 11089682 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
 
Heres afew more papers on drought resistance for you, Jay!

Want me to post more? Think the science is stagnating? Well do ya, punk?!

1: Narusaka Y, Narusaka M, Seki M, Umezawa T, Ishida J, Nakajima M, Enju A, Shinozaki K. Related Articles, Links
Crosstalk in the responses to abiotic and biotic stresses in Arabidopsis: analysis of gene expression in cytochrome P450 gene superfamily by cDNA microarray.
Plant Mol Biol. 2004 May;55(3):327-42.
PMID: 15604685 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
2: Umezawa T, Yoshida R, Maruyama K, Yamaguchi-Shinozaki K, Shinozaki K. Related Articles, Links
SRK2C, a SNF1-related protein kinase 2, improves drought tolerance by controlling stress-responsive gene expression in Arabidopsis thaliana.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2004 Dec 7;101(49):17306-11. Epub 2004 Nov 23.
PMID: 15561775 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
3: Qin F, Sakuma Y, Li J, Liu Q, Li YQ, Shinozaki K, Yamaguchi-Shinozaki K. Related Articles, Links
Cloning and functional analysis of a novel DREB1/CBF transcription factor involved in cold-responsive gene expression in Zea mays L.
Plant Cell Physiol. 2004 Aug;45(8):1042-52.
PMID: 15356330 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
4: Fujita M, Fujita Y, Maruyama K, Seki M, Hiratsu K, Ohme-Takagi M, Tran LS, Yamaguchi-Shinozaki K, Shinozaki K. Related Articles, Links
A dehydration-induced NAC protein, RD26, is involved in a novel ABA-dependent stress-signaling pathway.
Plant J. 2004 Sep;39(6):863-76.
PMID: 15341629 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
5: Sakamoto H, Maruyama K, Sakuma Y, Meshi T, Iwabuchi M, Shinozaki K, Yamaguchi-Shinozaki K. Related Articles, Links
Arabidopsis Cys2/His2-type zinc-finger proteins function as transcription repressors under drought, cold, and high-salinity stress conditions.
Plant Physiol. 2004 Sep;136(1):2734-46. Epub 2004 Aug 27.
PMID: 15333755 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
6: Tran LS, Nakashima K, Sakuma Y, Simpson SD, Fujita Y, Maruyama K, Fujita M, Seki M, Shinozaki K, Yamaguchi-Shinozaki K. Related Articles, Links
Isolation and functional analysis of Arabidopsis stress-inducible NAC transcription factors that bind to a drought-responsive cis-element in the early responsive to dehydration stress 1 promoter.
Plant Cell. 2004 Sep;16(9):2481-98. Epub 2004 Aug 19.
PMID: 15319476 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
7: Han SY, Kitahata N, Sekimata K, Saito T, Kobayashi M, Nakashima K, Yamaguchi-Shinozaki K, Shinozaki K, Yoshida S, Asami T. Related Articles, Links
A novel inhibitor of 9-cis-epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase in abscisic acid biosynthesis in higher plants.
Plant Physiol. 2004 Jul;135(3):1574-82. Epub 2004 Jul 09.
PMID: 15247398 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
8: Maruyama K, Sakuma Y, Kasuga M, Ito Y, Seki M, Goda H, Shimada Y, Yoshida S, Shinozaki K, Yamaguchi-Shinozaki K. Related Articles, Links
Identification of cold-inducible downstream genes of the Arabidopsis DREB1A/CBF3 transcriptional factor using two microarray systems.
Plant J. 2004 Jun;38(6):982-93.
PMID: 15165189 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
9: Chini A, Grant JJ, Seki M, Shinozaki K, Loake GJ. Related Articles, Links
Drought tolerance established by enhanced expression of the CC-NBS-LRR gene, ADR1, requires salicylic acid, EDS1 and ABI1.
Plant J. 2004 Jun;38(5):810-22.
PMID: 15144382 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
10: Kasuga M, Miura S, Shinozaki K, Yamaguchi-Shinozaki K. Related Articles, Links
A combination of the Arabidopsis DREB1A gene and stress-inducible rd29A promoter improved drought- and low-temperature stress tolerance in tobacco by gene transfer.
Plant Cell Physiol. 2004 Mar;45(3):346-50.
PMID: 15047884 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
11: Rabbani MA, Maruyama K, Abe H, Khan MA, Katsura K, Ito Y, Yoshiwara K, Seki M, Shinozaki K, Yamaguchi-Shinozaki K. Related Articles, Links
Monitoring expression profiles of rice genes under cold, drought, and high-salinity stresses and abscisic acid application using cDNA microarray and RNA gel-blot analyses.
Plant Physiol. 2003 Dec;133(4):1755-67. Epub 2003 Nov 26.
PMID: 14645724 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
12: Shinozaki K, Yamaguchi-Shinozaki K, Seki M. Related Articles, Links
Regulatory network of gene expression in the drought and cold stress responses.
Curr Opin Plant Biol. 2003 Oct;6(5):410-7. Review.
PMID: 12972040 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
13: Oono Y, Seki M, Nanjo T, Narusaka M, Fujita M, Satoh R, Satou M, Sakurai T, Ishida J, Akiyama K, Iida K, Maruyama K, Satoh S, Yamaguchi-Shinozaki K, Shinozaki K. Related Articles, Links
Monitoring expression profiles of Arabidopsis gene expression during rehydration process after dehydration using ca 7000 full-length cDNA microarray.
Plant J. 2003 Jun;34(6):868-87.
PMID: 12795706 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
14: Kimura M, Yamamoto YY, Seki M, Sakurai T, Sato M, Abe T, Yoshida S, Manabe K, Shinozaki K, Matsui M. Related Articles, Links
Identification of Arabidopsis genes regulated by high light-stress using cDNA microarray.
Photochem Photobiol. 2003 Feb;77(2):226-33.
PMID: 12785063 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
15: Seki M, Kamei A, Yamaguchi-Shinozaki K, Shinozaki K. Related Articles, Links
Molecular responses to drought, salinity and frost: common and different paths for plant protection.
Curr Opin Biotechnol. 2003 Apr;14(2):194-9. Review.
PMID: 12732320 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
16: Dubouzet JG, Sakuma Y, Ito Y, Kasuga M, Dubouzet EG, Miura S, Seki M, Shinozaki K, Yamaguchi-Shinozaki K. Related Articles, Links
OsDREB genes in rice, Oryza sativa L., encode transcription activators that function in drought-, high-salt- and cold-responsive gene expression.
Plant J. 2003 Feb;33(4):751-63.
PMID: 12609047 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
17: Abe H, Urao T, Ito T, Seki M, Shinozaki K, Yamaguchi-Shinozaki K. Related Articles, Links
Arabidopsis AtMYC2 (bHLH) and AtMYB2 (MYB) function as transcriptional activators in abscisic acid signaling.
Plant Cell. 2003 Jan;15(1):63-78.
PMID: 12509522 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
18: Seki M, Ishida J, Narusaka M, Fujita M, Nanjo T, Umezawa T, Kamiya A, Nakajima M, Enju A, Sakurai T, Satou M, Akiyama K, Yamaguchi-Shinozaki K, Carninci P, Kawai J, Hayashizaki Y, Shinozaki K. Related Articles, Links
Monitoring the expression pattern of around 7,000 Arabidopsis genes under ABA treatments using a full-length cDNA microarray.
Funct Integr Genomics. 2002 Nov;2(6):282-91. Epub 2002 Aug 21. Erratum in: Funct Integr Genomics. 2002 Nov;2(6):301.
PMID: 12444421 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
19: Seki M, Narusaka M, Ishida J, Nanjo T, Fujita M, Oono Y, Kamiya A, Nakajima M, Enju A, Sakurai T, Satou M, Akiyama K, Taji T, Yamaguchi-Shinozaki K, Carninci P, Kawai J, Hayashizaki Y, Shinozaki K. Related Articles, Links
Monitoring the expression profiles of 7000 Arabidopsis genes under drought, cold and high-salinity stresses using a full-length cDNA microarray.
Plant J. 2002 Aug;31(3):279-92.
PMID: 12164808 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
20: Osakabe Y, Miyata S, Urao T, Seki M, Shinozaki K, Yamaguchi-Shinozaki K. Related Articles, Links
Overexpression of Arabidopsis response regulators, ARR4/ATRR1/IBC7 and ARR8/ATRR3, alters cytokinin responses differentially in the shoot and in callus formation.
Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2002 May 3;293(2):806-15.
PMID: 12054542 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
 
According to

http://www.natural-law-party.org.uk/UKmanifesto/geneticengineering0.htm#dangers

Dangers of genetically engineered foods

What are the dangers?

Given the huge complexity of genetic coding, even in very simple organisms such as bacteria, no one can possibly predict the effects of introducing new genes into any organism or plant.

*
Unexpected production of new toxins and allergens in foods

*
Increased use of chemicals on crops, resulting in increased contamination of our water supply and food
*
The creation of herbicide-resistant weeds

*
The spread of diseases across species barriers

*
Loss of bio-diversity in crops

*
Increased sickness and suffering for genetically engineered animals

*
The disturbance of ecological balance
 
Originally posted by jay gw:
Given the huge complexity of genetic coding, even in very simple organisms such as bacteria, no one can possibly predict the effects of introducing new genes into any organism or plant.
Click to expand...

Ah yes, the pleiotropic effect. This isn't specific to GM, nor is it a novel concept. Agriculture has involved the introduction of new genes into plants and organisms for millenia. Can't say I've been savaged by giant mutant sheep lately, have you? Any friends and relatives consumed by man eating wheat?

Unexpected production of new toxins and allergens in foods
Click to expand...

Google "Lenape potato + psoralens".

Increased use of chemicals on crops, resulting in increased contamination of our water supply and food
Click to expand...

Evidence?

The creation of herbicide-resistant weeds
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How? Reduction in herbicide use, with a resultant reduction in herbicide resistance in weeds, is one of the benefits of GM.

The spread of diseases across species barriers
Click to expand...

By what mechanism?

Increased sickness and suffering for genetically engineered animals
Click to expand...

How exactly?

The disturbance of ecological balance
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Ditto.

From the Natural Law Party(?) link:
"Genetically engineered products carry more risks than traditional foods. The process of genetic engineering can introduce dangerous new allergens and fatal toxins into foods that were previously naturally safe. Already, one genetically engineered soybean was found to cause severe allergic reactions, and bacteria genetically engineered to produce large amounts of the food supplement tryptophan have produced toxic contaminants that killed 37 people and permanently disabled 1,500 more in the USA. (Refs: Nordlee, J.A. et al (1996) The New England Journal of Medicine 688; Mayeno, A.N. et al (1994) Tibtech 12:364.)"
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One genetically engineered soybean strain was indeed found to have allergenicic properties. However the Natural Law Party don't tell us the whole story.

"The only documented case where a human allergen was introduced into a food component by genetic engineering occurred when attempts were made to improve the nutritional quality of soybeans using a brazil nut protein, the methionine-rich 2S albumin. Allergies to the brazil nut have been documented (Arshad et al., 1991), and while still in precommercial development, testing of these new soybeans for allergenicity was conducted in university and industrial laboratories. It was found that serum from people allergic to Brazil nuts also reacted to the new soybean (Nordlee et al., 1996). Once this was discovered, further development of the new soybean variety was halted and it was never marketed. This work led to the identification of the major protein associated with Brazil nut allergy, which was previously unknown (Nordlee et al., 1996).
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As for the tryptophan claim:

"Substantial public concern about the safety of BD products was raised in 1989 when a number of cases of eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome (EMS) were reported among users of the amino acid tryptophan as a dietary supplement. By mid-1993, 37 deaths had been attributed to this outbreak (Mayeno and Gleich, 1994). The development of the syndrome appeared among users of some batches of the supplement after a change in the manufacturing process that included the use of a new genetically modified microorganism in the fermentation. However, concomitant with this change were additional alterations in certain filtration and purification steps used previously in the manufacturing process. The exact cause of the outbreak and the nature of the toxic impurity have not been established with certainty. Thus, it is not possible to determine whether the change in purification, the genetic engineering of the organism, or some other factor or factors were to blame (Mayeno and Gleich, 1994). A subsequent investigation revealed that cases of EMS also occurred among consumers of tryptophan before the GM organism was introduced into the manufacturing process, although at a lower incidence. Thus, the genetic modifications might have caused an increase in the level of the agent that was responsible for tryptophan-associated EMS, but it did not create a novel toxicant (Sullivan et al., 1996).
Click to expand...

So the case isn't as clear cut as the Natural Law Party claims.

Hands up whoever's heard of Herb Boyer?

Once the post-Xmas credit card hangover is cleared, I'm going to search Amazon for this book.
 
Is it not true that we may find adversites, confusions etc. by substance to which we are not adaped or habitual? Does our system takes/needed some time for it? Whether this can be the result of every or most of newly introduced things? The basic essence may lie in "balance" or "nature's balance". If our desire & introductions causes excesses/unnaturality--we may have to tap accordingly, but it may take some time to be habitual or adapted to them & till then, we may face some adversities. It may be alike,

modern lifestyle, environment, introductions>> more mental stress>>more gastric acid secretion etc.>>more hunger>> more tapping of food, unnaturals etc.>>diabetes/IR, hypetentions etc.

Probably, we may become habitual/adapted to this diabetes, hypertentions etc.
 
Originally posted by Kumar:
modern lifestyle, environment, introductions>> more mental stress
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Why of course, the famines, plagues, wars and witchunts of yester-year were a mere picnic compared to modern-day horrors such as not getting a seat on the bus and queing for U2 tickets.

Whether this can be the result of every or most of newly introduced things?
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I reckon it is. "Newly introduced things" such as soap, pharmaceuticals, pasteurisation, fertilizers and potable water mean that the most horrific the average human being will have to deal with is the fact that there's insufficient seating on public transport, due to the marked absence of famines, plagues, wars and witchunts.
 
Are we loosing physical excercises, natural substance to which we are habitual & adapted due to all these moderns & luxuaries?What will happen to "natural selection", "survival of fittest" etc. if all good & bad, stong or weak, fit or unfit will carry on.Those things might have kept us here for so long--may be more balanced state. Let us see/assess now & future. Why we are going towards organicly grown foods etc..
 
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