Conservation Corner: November 15, 1999

Biotechnology: The Newest Tool For The Environment
by James L. Cummins

The year was 1984. I hated crossing the campus of Mississippi State University for my early morning Genetics class. "Chicken" Thomas was the professor. He often called me "Billy," which was my father's brother from Forest, Mississippi. It was there, and in Mrs. Gray's 8th grade science class at Coleman Junior High School, that I learned of the Austrian priest and botanist, Gregor Mendel, and his breeding research on peas. This mid-1800's research became the foundation for modern genetics.

Almost 150 years later, and not too far from Austria, a coalition of environmental activists, including Greenpeace, want an international moratorium on crops that have been changed by altering DNA or adding genes from other species. Roundup Ready soybeans and Bt corn (Bacillus thurengiensis, a toxin produced by a natural bacteria that kills the larvae of moths) are two such examples.

This must be a Luddite's dream. If the world's scientists are not sure there is a market for new technology, it won't be developed. And progress stops. Yet, there is no reason to stop. In 1987 the National Academy of Sciences concluded that there was "no evidence that unique hazards exist" as a result of new transgeneic techniques. In 1989, the National Research Council concluded that "no conceptual distinction exists between genetic modification of plants and microorganisms by classical methods or by molecular techniques that modify DNA and transfer genes." In 1999, Britain's leading scientific journal, Nature, editorialized that there is "...no substantial evidence that [genetically modified] foods are inherently more dangerous than conventional foods just because they have been produced using novel techniques." In a starving world with a rapidly increasing population, it is our duty to feed the hungry. If production of food and fiber are not improved, we have but one alternative - putting more land under plow. Earlier this year, in an article in Technology, Indur Goklany stated that in order to meet the increased demand for food, an additional 1.2 billion acres of farmland would be needed if yields remain as they presently are. Farmers in developing countries may have to clear rain forests and habitat for threatened and endangered species in order to feed themselves. Smaller vehicles are not as safe as larger ones. But we as a country have made that trade out to reduce costs - costs to our pocketbook and to our environment. Like cars, U.S. grown genetically modified crops may pose new risks, including economic risks to countries that compete with U.S. agriculture. But they hold much potential to improve the well being of the human species as well as the wild ones.

"Don't be stupid."

James L. Cummins is Executive Director of the Mississippi Fish and Wildlife Foundation in Stoneville, Mississippi. Known as "Wildlife Mississippi," the Foundation is a non-profit, conservation organization founded to conserve, restore and enhance fish, wildlife and plant resources throughout Mississippi.