[Pen-l] RE: Genetic Engineering and Invasive Species (Michael Perelman)

["Marshall Feldman" <marsh@xxxxxxx>]

Michael Perelman asked:
> my question is, do we have anything to learn from the experience with
> the introduction of invasive species?
> 

Michael,

In a word, "yes." Off hand, I can think of three roughly analogous examples:

1. The supposedly impossible spread of GMO corn to native corn in Mexico.
Ignacio Chapela at Berkeley has done lots on this:
http://www.mindfully.org/GE/2003/Ignacio-Chapela30jun03.htm.

2. The experience with Roundup (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roundup). This
is an herbicide designed to work with GMO plants. It was one of the most
extensively tested biotech products ever. Yet after all that testing and
once it went into widespread use, they found that it unintentionally and
detrimentally alters the ecosystems in which it is being used.

3. The film, "The Future of Food"
(http://www.thefutureoffood.com/synopsis.htm_ describes contamination of
family heirloom non-GMO seed by GMO seed. As trucks carrying GMO seed drove
by non-GMO farms, the wind occasionally blew the GMO seeds into the fields,
thereby mixing the two kinds of seeds. Since Monsanto holds the patent on
the GMO seed, it sued the non-GMO farmer who was illegally "using" the seed
that had blown onto his fields. The farmer not only lost is battle against
Monsanto, he had to destroy his own family heirloom seed because it was
impossible to distinguish the GMO-seed that may have been mixed in. The
Future of Food web site has links to bibliography and web pages.

Perhaps a more interesting question pertains to GMO drugs and other biotech
products released into relatively "closed" environments. We might, for
example, think of human growth hormone, which was rare and expensive before
genetic engineering. Now thanks to biotech we have relatively cheap HGH and
the accompanying scandals in major league baseball.

	Marsh Feldman

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