The Knowledge Centre

Genetic Engineering May Be A Slice Of Life Or Frankenfood'
(Summary)

According to the Houston Chronicle, scientists are now envisioning the full potential of genetic engineering. Currently the technology has been helping farmers to ward off pests, control weeds, and prevent rot, but now scientists are aiming to make drugs more affordable, medicines easier to dispense, and food more nutritious.

"It's only the beginning," declares David Radin, co-founder of CropTech Corp., a small Blacksburg biotech company experimenting with tobacco plants. "In the end, the benefits will be overwhelmingly apparent." Proponents of genetic engineering say this technology may be mankind's best hope for feeding a population expected to top 9 billion by 2050. Even President Jimmy Carter once said that "Responsible biotechnology is not the enemy; starvation is."

Human societies have been tinkering with Mother Nature since the beginnings of agriculture, selectively breeding and cross-breeding over many generations to produce crops with more desirable traits. But the fact that we have the ability to inject foreign, genetic material -- sometimes even animal DNA -- into long-domesticated plants represents a quantum leap forward.

Researchers have dubbed tobacco as the "white rat" of genetic engineering since the crop isn't that finicky. CropTech is borrowing genetic material from humans and then inserting it into tobacco plants. "Tobacco secretes a protein when the plant is chopped or shredded. That behavior is a tobacco plant's way to defend itself against a chomping insect. But because of CropTech's tinkering, the plant releases a protein that can be used to make drugs to prevent blood clots or fight ovarian or breast cancer. " According to CropTech's Chief Executive Brandon Price, "It could be the plant that causes cancer could end up curing cancer."