Re: [Marxism] Is Cuba really turning to GM crops?

[sabocat59@xxxxxxx]

This is somewhat old news but the answer is yes.  

Greg McDonald

https://prod.biotech.indymedia.org/es/2004/06/2995.shtml


Dr Carlos Borretto of Cuba’s agricultural biotechnology centre went to great 
lengths to explain the nature of Cuba’s genetic engineering project. Obviously 
acutely aware of the controversy that surrounds GM crops in the UK, he was 
emphatic: “Public confidence is high in our biotechnology and we not wan to 
lose that support from our people. You can be sure that before anything we do 
is released into the environment it will be safe.” Dr Borretto showed slides of 
the way in which Cuban GM crops are tested. Unlike in the UK where open fields 
are used, Cuban GM crops are grown in special greenhouses that completely 
sealed from environment so that no genetically modified material can escape to 
the outside. In addition, Cuba’s approach to GM is different from that which 
has been taken by the big multinationals. Cuba is not interested in patenting 
the plants so that they can control the sale of seeds. Instead, Dr Borretto’s 
institute is dedicated to producing strains of Cuba’s staple products that are 
truly resistant to diseases and whose performance in terms of yields is 
enhanced. The work already done has produced a GM strain of tobacco that is 
resistant to blue mould, but ironically this has not been accepted. “When we 
told the big tobacco buyers of our product they turned it down because cigar 
lovers would not buy cigars made form a GM plant!,” said Dr Borretto, “I find 
this position somewhat strange, given the known dangers of smoking tobacco, 
that people should be concerned at the risk of GM!” Cuba also has GM potatoes, 
rice and maize under trial. But most exciting is the development of tobacco 
plants that produce human monoclonal antibodies in their leaves. Currently, all 
the monoclonal antibodies that are manufactured in the world come from 
specially bred mice. It takes a hundred thousand mice to produce on kilo of 
antibody material. However with the new plant production the possibility will 
be to produce much more material much more quickly in a way that is more animal 
friendly. And what of Cuba’s famous transgenic fish? Dr Borretto explains: “We 
produced a transgenic tilapia, a type of edible freshwater fish, that grows 
twice as fast and sues less food. We genetically modified its stomach to be 
more efficient in absorbing nutrients from food. We have had this fish for 8 
years now, and the story has been around the world that we are already eating 
this fish and selling it to the population. But this is absolutely untrue, the 
fish has not escaped the laboratory and we have no intention of marketing it. 
That would be a public relations disaster! We don’t want to be the first to 
release a transgenic fish into the world!” However, the fish could yet yield a 
reward for Cuba. The research has discovered how the new fish absorbs nutrients 
more efficiently and Cuban scientists have now isolated the enzyme that 
triggers the effect. “In other words, we can now manufacture an enzyme that can 
be given to normal fish that will make them perform like the genetically 
modified ones. So here we have used GM to make non GM organisms perform better. 
This is very exciting.” Exciting just about sums up what is a tremendous 
achievement for a Third World country. The overall impression received was that 
perhaps the US opposition to Cuba’s science is really rooted in envy. For it is 
clear that the only danger Cuba poses to the US is in the field of competition 
in the marketplace 
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