Download Moral and ethical issues in plant biotechnology. GMO food.

GMO FOOD
PLANT BIOTECHNOLOGY
TRANSGENIC PLANTS
FEARS
Worldwide GMO
Moral and ethical issues
in plant biotechnology
and
GMO food.
What are the moral and ethical concerns?
• Morality - refers to the concept of human ethics which pertains to
matters of good and evil—also referred to as "right or wrong", used
within three contexts: individual conscience; systems of principles
and judgments—sometimes called moral values—shared within a
cultural, religious, secular, humanist or philosophical community;
and codes of behavior or conduct. Personal morality defines and
distinguishes among right and wrong intentions, motivations or
actions, as these have been learned, engendered, or otherwise
developed within each individual.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morality
• Ethics - (from the Ancient Greek "ethikos", meaning "arising from
habit"), a major branch of philosophy, is the study of value or quality.
It covers the analysis and employment of concepts such as right,
wrong, good, evil, and responsibility. It is divided into three primary
areas: meta-ethics (the study of the concept of ethics), normative
ethics (the study of how to determine ethical values), and applied
ethics (the study of the use of ethical values).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethics
What are the moral concerns?
The moral concerns expressed about plant biotechnology
can be divided into two basic categories:
Intrinsic concerns
Extrinsic concerns
Biotechnology in general and
plant biotechnology in particular
can be thought to be intrinsically
wrong in itself
Biotechnology in general and
plant biotechnology in particular
can be thought to be extrinsically
wrong because of its consequences
Roger Straughan „Moral and ethical issues in plant biotechnology” Current opinion in Plant Biology 2000
Intrinsic concerns
 RELIGIOUS BASIS:
– modern biotechnology as a
blasphemy
A classic conception of the Christian God:
Detail of Sistine Chapel fresco Creation
- God has created a perfect, natural
of the Sun and Moon by 16th Century
painter Michelangelo.
order and scientists want to „improve”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God
that order by manipulating DNA- the
basic ingredient of all life
- crossing species boundaries
instituted by God is thought to be
sinful, boundaries between species
are sacred and immutable
is often viewed as like a force of nature
- modern biotechnology is trying to God
or rather as a consciousness which can be
displace the first Creator
manifest as a natural aspect. Both illuminating
light (pictured) and mysterious darkness are
canonical symbols for representing God.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God
Intrinsic concerns
 „INTERNAL FEELING”
- biotechnology is in some sense „unnatural”
What is „natural” and what is „unnatural”?
„Natural” means:
- Usual
- Normal
- Right
- Fitting
- Appropriate - Innate
- Spontaneous
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nature
„Unnatural” means:
- Artificial
- Man-made
- Breaching natural
species boundaries
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_intelligence
Does „natural” always mean good?
 many natural substances are
harmfull, e.g. some alkaloids
Opium smokers in an "opium den" in the
East End of London, 1874.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium
 Natural events such as
eathquakes, hurricanes, floods ect.
 Natural tendencies and reactions
such as jealousy and aggression
http://quitsmoking.about.com
http://www.nautilus.org.pl/ar
ticle.php?articles
 Natural organisms that can cause
pain, disease or even death
http://fakty.interia.pl/galerie/ciekawos
tki/rekin-ludojad,6039
Potential benefits of plant biotechnology
• Feed a hungry world and to start to redress the balance between the
food suplies available to rich and poor countries.
• Nutrition Malnutrition is common in third world countries where
impoverished peoples rely on a single crop such as rice for the main staple
of their diet. However, rice does not contain adequate amounts of all
necessary nutrients to prevent malnutrition. If rice could be genetically
engineered to contain additional vitamins and minerals, nutrient deficiencies
could be alleviated.
• Pest resistance Crop losses from insect pests can be staggering,
resulting in devastating financial loss for farmers and starvation in
developing countries. Farmers typically use many tons of chemical
pesticides annually. Consumers do not wish to eat food that has been
treated with pesticides because of potential health hazards, and run-off of
agricultural wastes from excessive use of pesticides and fertilizers can
poison the water supply and cause harm to the environment.
• Herbicide tolerance For some crops, it is not cost-effective to remove
weeds by physical means such as tilling, so farmers will often spray large
quantities of different herbicides (weed-killer) to destroy weeds, a timeconsuming and expensive process, that requires care so that the herbicide
doesn't harm the crop plant or the environment.
Potential benefits of plant biotechnology
• Disease resistance There are many viruses, fungi and bacteria that
cause plant diseases.
• Cold tolerance Unexpected frost can destroy sensitive seedlings.
• Drought tolerance/salinity tolerance As the world population
grows and more land is utilized for housing instead of food
production, farmers will need to grow crops in locations previously
unsuited for plant cultivation.
• Pharmaceuticals Medicines and vaccines often are costly to
produce and sometimes require special storage conditions not
readily available in third world countries.
• Phytoremediation Not all GM plants are grown as crops. Soil and
groundwater pollution continues to be a problem in all parts of the
world.
Extrinsic concerns
“I DON’T WANT TO EAT GENES!”
http://images.scotsman.com/
2005/03/22/2203gmb.jpg
 SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONCERNS
 UNDESIRABLE CONSEQUENCES:
HUMAN HEALTH RISKS
ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS
http://www.mosnews.com/files/1511/food.jpg
Extrinsic concerns
 SOCIO-ECONOMIC EFFECTS
- Economic gap between the „developing” and the
„developed” countries can widen further
http://www.signsofthelastday.com/pic/poverty.jpg
http://www.wirednewyork.com/manhattan/skyline/new_york_skyline1.jpg
Extrinsic concerns
 UNDESIRABLE CONSEQUENCES
HUMAN HEALTH RISKS
- Unknown effects on human health
- Allergenicity
- Transfer of antibiotic resistance to
intestine bacterial flora or
pathogenic bacteria
http://www.rps.psu.edu/probing/graphics/food.gif
http://www.non-gm-farmers.com/images/
uploads/natural.JPG
GMO’s and human health
 Consumers need assurance that their food is safe and nutritious
 Risk analysis is a process consisting of
three components:
1. Risk assessment
- hazard identification
- hazard characterization
- exposure assessment
- risk characterization
http://www.ncbe.reading.ac.uk/NCBE/GMFOOD/issues.html
2. Risk menagement- the process of weighing policy alternatives in consultation
with all interested parties, considering risk assessment and other factors relevant
for the protection of consumers’ health and for the promotion of fair trade
practices as well as selection appropriate prevention and control options.
3. Risk communication- interactive exchange of information and opinions among
assessors, risk menagers, consumers, industry, academic community and other
interested parties.
 Foods are complex mixtures of compounds characterized by a wide variation in
composition and nutritional value so it is difficult to analyse all components
 Substantial equivalence - the goal is not to establish absolute
safety but to consider whether the GM food is as safe as its
traditional counterpart.
GMOs and allergens !
Genetic modification offers the opportunity to decrease or
eliminate the protein allergens that occur naturally in specific
food. But greater attension has been given to the potential
risks of genetic modification that may add allergens to the
food supply.
„Brazil nut allergens”
The possibility of transfering allergens with genetic engineering
came to light when the metionine producing gene from Brazil
nut was incorporated into soybean to
enhance its nutrient content. The consumption
of transgenic soybean could trigger an allergic
response the same as those triggered by Brazil
nuts. Pioneer Hi-bred company decided not to
release the transgenic soybean for sale.
http://www.ifr.ac.uk/Public/FoodInfoSheets/EDPbrazil.html
Allergenecity of food derived from
transgenic plants
• Traditional agriculture:
– allergenecity is not tested systematically
• Transgenic plants:
– source of the transgene is checked:
• allergenic – allergenecity of gene product is tested
• non-allergenic:
– comparison of amino acid sequence with known allergens
– testing the protein resistance to degradation by digestive
enzymes
– testing the protein for its thermal stability and stability in
acidic environment
James et al., Monographs in Allergy, 1996
Antibiotic resistance genes in
transgenic plants
• Methods for elimination of selection markers:
– elimination of marker genes by cotransformation
– elimination of marker genes by site-specific recombinase:
• Cre-lox system of E.coli P1 bacteriophage
recombinase
marker
transgene
transgene
marker
– elimination of marker genes by transposases:
• Ac/Ds system from maize
transposase
marker
transgene
transgene
marker
Hohn et al., Cur. Opinion Biotechnol., 2001
Extrinsic concerns
 UNDESIRABLE CONSEQUENCES
ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS
http://environment.unr.edu/images/1.jpg
• Exclusion of natural species by better adapted
varieties of transgenic plants
• Elimination of profitable insects by non-selective
action of toxins
• Disturbance in the alimentary (feeding) chain in
an ecosystem
• Uncontrolled rise of new varieties (viruses)
• Transgene escape, superweeds
GMO’s and the environment
Impact of introduced GMOs on
the environment can be
either ecological or genetic:
http://environment.unr.edu/images/1.jpg
1. Unintended effects on the dynamics of populations in the
receiving environment as a result of impacts on nontarget species (predation or competition, changes in
land use or farming practices)
2. Unintended effects on biogeochemistryimpacts on soil microbial populations
that regulate the flow of essential elements
http://www.rothamsted.ac.uk/aen/smbweb1/
images/Furrow200x280.jpg
3. Transfer of inserted genetic material to other
domesticated or native populations
- „gene flow”
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v422/n6928/images/422103b-i1.0.jpg
2. GMO’s and the environment
According to data provided by FAO, losses in the crop plants caused by
pests (European corn borer Ostrinia nubilalis, southwestern corn borer,
tobacco budworm, cotton bollworm, pink bollworm and the Colorado
potato beetle) are estimated to be 20-30%
Chemical pesticides:
- Expensive
- Contaminate environment
http://www.oisat.org/pests/insect_pests
- Toxic
/caterpillars_grubs/cotton_bollworm.html
- Wide spectrum of action- may act on many
other organisms, also those useful
- Quick formation of resistance http://www.bt.ucsd.edu/bt_history.html
http://cotton.crc.org.au/Publicat/Pest/transgen.htm
How does Bt-toxin work?
1. Insect eats Bt crystals and spores.
2. The toxin binds to specific receptors
in the gut and the insects stops eating.
3. The crystals cause the gut wall to
break down, allowing spores and
normal gut bacteria to enter the body.
4. The insect dies as spores and gut
bacteria proliferate in the body.
http://www.bt.ucsd.edu/how_bt_work.html
Bt-crops: safe or harmful?
• - Bt-plants are found to secrete Bt toxins into
soil root zones what may affect populations of
soil insects that do not eat crops.
• BUT:
• Bt breaks down readily in the environment. Bt
poses no threat to groundwater. Bt also breaks
down under the ultraviolet (UV) light of the sun.
http://www.rothamsted.ac.uk/aen/smbweb1/images/Furrow200x280.jpg
Bt-crops: safe or harmful?
- Monarch butterfly caterpillars have been reported
to be susceptible to the Cry1Ab protein found in
Bt-corn pollen. Hypothesis: pollen-covered
milkweeds found growing naturally next to Btcrops could be poisonous for Monarchs.
BUT:
• Bt can be toxic to Monarch larvae when
http://fohn.net/monarch-butterfly-pictures/monarchlaboratory exposure levels are high.
butterfly800x600.jpg
• Levels of Bt pollen measured on milkweed
leaves are well below effect levels.
• In practice, Bt pollen does move beyond a few
meters from a corn field.
• Some (<10%) of milkweed plants could be in a
location where pollen is present.
• Monarch larvae hatch and feed on the underside
of milkweed leaves.
• Monarch egg laying and pollen shed do not
http://www.kidzone.ws/animals/monarch_butterfly.htm
appear to have a tight overlap.
Bt-crops: safe or harmful?
Impact of Bt-crops on human health:
 Humans are not susceptible to Cry1Ab proteins because of
lack of specific receptors for these proteins.
 Lack of acute oral toxicity in mice: use of different types of
exposures. The results of the tests showed that the use of Bt does
not cause any negative effects. Lack of sequence similarities of
Cry1Ab protein to known protein toxins.
 Bt does not persist in the digestive systems of mammals: rapid
degradation with loss of insecticidal activity under conditions that
stimulate mammalian digestion.
 Lack of homology of Cry1Ab protein to known allergens.
”Transgene escape”
• Reduction of the potential for release:
– isolation distances
• depend on the pollination method (self, wind, insect)
– sexual incompatibility
– isolation in time (flowering season)
– male sterility
• Transgene monitoring:
– phenotype, e.g. flower color
– herbicide tolerance, antibiotic resistance
– molecular tests: enzymatic, Southern blotting, Northern
blotting, in situ hybridization, PCR
Rogers & Parkers, J. Exp. Bot., 1995
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v422/n6928/images/422103b-i1.0.jpg
Buffer zones for GMO crops
http://www.bt.ucsd.edu/crop_refuge.html
Transgenic plants – source of profits
or dangers?
AGRICULTURE
?
ENVIRONMENT
DANGERS
PROFITS
HEALTH CARE
ENVIRONMENT
PROTECTION
Questionnaire on GMO
1. Would you buy food product
if you know that it contains
genetically modified compounds?
?: 7.9%
definitely YES:
4.0%
2. Do you think that farmers
should have the possibility to grow
genetically modified plants?
rather YES:
13.5%
?: 13%
definitely
NOT:
42.7%
rather
NOT:
32.3%
No: 28%
Yes: 59%
Source: Polish Federation of Biotechnology
GMO
cartoons
http://images.indymedia.org/imc/ontario/gmo.jpg
http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/g/g_m_o_.asp
http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/g/g_m_o_.asp
http://www.non-gm-farmers.com/images/
uploads/natural.JPG
http://santostrading.com.au/images/foodmart.jpg
GMO seriously
• Raise public awareness
Education and information
Involvement in local, national and
international debates about GMO
http://www.ncbe.reading.ac.uk/NCBE/GMFOOD/archive.html
http://www.ncbe.reading.ac.uk/NCBE/GMFOOD/publications.html
References:
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Roger Straughan „Moral and ethical issues in plant biotechnology.”
Current Opinion in Plant Biotechnology 2000, 3:163-165
Richard B Flavell „Plant Biotechnology Moral dilemmas”
Current
Opinion in Plant Biotechnolgy 2000, 3: 143-146
Safety Assasment of YieldGard® Insect-Protected Corn Event MON810
Maria Klein, Małgorzata Madej „Rośliny i żywność genetycznie
modyfikowane”
„Is the battle over genetically modified foods finally over?” 2005,
Biotechnology Advances 23: 93-96
FAO ETHICS SERIES 1: Ethical issues in food and agriculture. Food
and agriculture organization of the united nations. Rome 2001
FAO ETHICS SERIES 2: Genetically modified organisms, consumers,
food safety and the environment. Food and agriculture organization of
the united nations. Rome 2001
http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/gmfood/overview.php
http://www.ncbe.reading.ac.uk/NCBE/GMFOOD
http://www.bt.ucsd.edu/bt_history.html