The Great GM Debate

Laura Murphy

Should we allow the DNA of an organism to be changed? It’s a contentious topic and one that’s open to scandal and sensationalism from both sides. But, for me, it comes down to costs vs benefits and having faith in humanity.

For some, its humans attempting to play god and reeking havoc with nature’s design, for others it’s a golden opportunity to improve the world. But, how different are GM organisms to conventional ones? GM advocates argue that by adding genes to an organism we are just speeding up the process of selective breeding that farmers have been doing for centuries. For example, over the centuries farmers have selectively bred cows so that those today have genes for high milk production. Exactly the same result could have been achieved by genetic modification but, it would have been done in one step rather than taking hundreds of years. This argument only works for moving genes between the same species of course, adding a jelly fish gene to wheat could never have happened by selective breeding!

So, sometimes GM and non GM organisms are not as different as the media would have us believe. It is also a matter of spin: we are always being warned of the dangers of genetically modifying food, but, whenever gene therapy- (the treatment of people with genetic diseases by replacing the faulty gene) is mentioned it is welcomed as a miracle cure, even though it is essentially genetically modifying humans!

But, spin and propaganda aside, genetic modification certainly carries risk. It is true that the long term effects of eating GM crops are not known. All we can say is that no health problems have been found so far. Another concern is our ability to control GM organisms once they are released into the wild. Genes can move in between varieties of the same species so GM crops could potentially contaminate organic varieties although the evidence is not strong for this.

Many of the potential dangers of GM technology depend on what it is used for. Some people are suggesting that crops could be genetically modified to contain pesticides to decrease pest damage. However, these toxins would also be toxic to wildlife and so could decrease biodiversity. In the future it may be possible to genetically modify animals reared for meat (to produce more muscle and less fat for example), but, what effects will this have on animal welfare? If we are looking at the extreme this technology could probably be used to engineer “super viruses” to be used as bio-weapons in warfare.

However, GM is a vastly wide ranging technology which could also bring amazing benefits for humanity and improve the lives of people around the world. For example, work is underway on genetically modifying a banana so that it contains the vaccine for Hepatitis B, a virus that infects twenty million people a year. This would allow vaccines to be distributed to remote parts developing countries in a cheap, reliable way that does not require refrigeration. GM technology could also help to solve the world food crisis by engineering crops to have greater nutritional value or to produce two harvests a year rather than one. Climate change is likely to cause large scale drought in many countries and so crops modified to be drought-resistant could save thousands of lives in the developing world.

So it seems that both amazing benefits and terrible destruction could come from the use of GM technology. For me, the difference is nothing to do with the technology but everything to do with responsibility. Obviously the GM industry would have to be tightly controlled so that destructive and exploitative products were not developed. But, to look and the potentially harmful outcome of GM and decided to ban the technology, is like throwing the baby out with the bath water. There are so many amazing advances that GM could bring, that to put a blanket ban on the technology is bordering on recklessness. With a responsible attitude and tight control I believe it is possible for GM technology to make only a positive contribution to the world.

For more information on GM please visit: http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/gm/index.htm