GM maize's vitamin boost

GM maize’s vitamin boost

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8020925.stm

Nanoparticle in gene therapy to treat cancer

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-04/foas-fdn040509.php

GNTIS note: many clinical trial that have success in animals fail in humans. This is early-stage research and although is fascinating stuff has a long road to travel before potential success. Regardless of the outcomes it will build on the knowledge toward successfully treating cancer and other disease.

Why not clone a human?

OK I personally don’t believe that we should clone humans for moral, scientific and practical reasons. The practical reason is simply because I can’t see the point. Why do we need to clone a human? But apparently a lot of people can see a point and are lining up to be implanted, despite the high risk. And if the recent articles about the “rogue doctor” attempting to clone deceased children is any indication then cloned ankle biters will be running around sooner rather than later – see link to one article below. That is, there is no real technical reason why we can’t clone humans. We have done it we other mammals and there are only relatively minor technical obstacles to overcome to achieve it in humans. It will just take time and a lot of money.

Leaving aside the moral/ethical reasons for a moment — I will approach these aspects in more detail in the next GNTIS’ Ethical Question — why do all these women or couples want to have a cloned child? The article in The Independent suggests the mother wanting to clone her deceased child wanted desperately to replace her child. I assume she was counselled that the cloned child would be a completely different person and likely even look a bit different because of different womb conditions. I wonder for the other couples if, for them, it just an extension of IVF, morbid curiosity, fame/celebrity status….?

It keeps my job interesting, anyway.

(A little disclaimer here: My views are not necessarily those of the GNTIS)

Study identifies genes that protect against aging

Eureka Alert, Uni of Liverpool: Study identifies genes that protect against aging

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-04/uol-sig042009.php

Fertility expert: 'I can clone a human being'

Fertility Expert: ‘I can clone a human being’ http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/fertility-expert-i-can-clone-a-human-being-1672095.html

GM foods: getting students to ask the right questions

I have just returned from a science teacher conference in Adelaide – lovely bunch of people. I ran a professional development workshop for them about GM foods and some of the questions that cropped up were relevent to the last post I made, so I thought I would post an article I wrote for a few science teacher publications that might help. It is written for the science teacher, especially the bit at the bottom explaining a classroom activity to teach this stuff, but it might also give some context for everyone else out there, and hopefully some food for thought.

GM foods: getting students to ask the right questions

Unwanted, untested and unsafe, or solving the looming world food shortage. Genetically modified foods have aroused polarised views among society, and for students trying to construct an informed argument on this topic, these predominant views can obscure their ability to ask the right questions.

Secondary students set assignments about GM foods nearly always focus on these unbalanced viewpoints. This is not a bad thing, but they need to also ask the questions that will allow them to penetrate beneath these sometimes extreme opinions.

Students that contact us at the Gene and NanoTechnology Information Service for information on GM foods nearly all ask the following questions: are GM foods safe; what are the advantages and disadvantages of GM foods; and what are the long-term effects of GM foods? And a concern that is always expressed is that GM crops are unnatural.

Case-by-case

In the first instance, students need to apply these questions on a case-by-case basis. That is, to a single GM crop in a specific environment. This is because each GM crop has been created by a different technology, bringing with it risks and benefits specific to that crop in that environment.

Framing student questions

Equally important, though, are the ethical questions. If a student asks if GM crops are safe, apart from the need to rephrase the question by asking is this GM crop safe, the student needs to define what they mean by safe. How safe does something have to be before they will eat it? What do we know about the safety of a GM food and how does this compare to the known risks of other foods we most likely eat, for example, potatoes, fatty foods, salt, sugar, or acrylamides, which are potential carcinogens found in baked and fried foods such as meats, cakes, roasted nuts and any starchy or high carbohydrate food.

Related to this is the issue of long-term effects. Does their long-term mean 5 years, one generation or 10 generations? Are the long-term consequences of eating conventional foods known? The answer to this and for GM foods is no, but in this context, how do the risks of conventional foods compare those of GM foods.

If a student says that GM crops are unnatural, what do they mean by unnatural, and does unnatural mean it is bad. What are the conventional ways of producing crops and would they be defined as natural or unnatural — or even safe? For example, students should investigate two common and long-used breeding techniques: mutagenesis and embryo rescue, and compare these to the techniques to create a GM crop. (See link to PNAS paper below about how mutagenesis can casue greater expression of untargeted genes than GM technologies.)

So, the overall question is what are the potential risks and benefits of a GM food and are those risks acceptable when compared with the benefits. A secondary question might be when do the risks become acceptable and why? The answers will be different for each person.

More student stuff and class activities

GM food is a complex topic and the issues are far wider than described here. This article has focused only on the main questions asked by students.

Other questions that a student might consider are the following:

Is the chosen crop grown for research purposes or is it grown commercially?
What is the crop used for, for example, food, medicine, or clothing? Does the crop’s purpose influence its acceptability?

When assessing the benefits, a student might also think about who benefits from the crop and how do the benefits influence the acceptability or not of the crop when weighed against the risks.

Class activity

Find a few examples of GM crops, include existing and those in the research pipeline.

Clear some space in the classroom so there is a corridor from one end to the other. This space will be your morality line. One end is where people stand if they find a GM crop completely acceptable. The other end is where they stand if they find it completely unacceptable. Or they can position themselves anywhere along the line. With each GM crop example, get your students to position themselves on the line anywhere between acceptable or unacceptable. You should find their position will change depending on the crop and its potential uses. Their reasoning for their position makes an interesting debate. As these are largely ethical issues there is generally no right or wrong answer. The exercise gets students to think about risk, risk assessment and risk acceptability, and how and why these will differ with each person. It gets them to critically analyse other opinions or evidence and reflect on their own opinions.

More info on mutagenesis and embryo rescue

Scoles, G. University of Saskatchewan

http://www.gmo-compass.org/eng/glossary/

http://www.pnas.org/content/105/9/3640.full

Jason Major

Manager

GNTIS

GM crop banter is harming the right to informed choice

I continually see on blogs and comments posted to news stories lists of scientific research proving that GM crops are harmful to human health and the environment – the most recent being a Perth News article on maps details for GM crop trials – see comments at bottom

There are a couple of points to make here.

First is that many of the research articles mentioning sterility, organ damage or other scary stuff are not scientifically robust, or peer-reviewed, and are anomalies when compared against other similar research.

This doesn’t mean such adverse findings should be disregarded. Indeed they should be rigorously assessed. But, any findings making it to the media – or even peer-reviewed journals – need to be assessed in the context of other research.

A second point relates to the persistent claim that there is a lack of proper scientific research into the safety of GM crops and food. I have a load of peer-reviewed journals on this topic in the GNTIS office and David Tribe has compiled on his blog a good list of independent and peer-reviewed research articles on the safety of GM foods:

There are fact sheets on the GNTIS web site as well – www.gntis.edu.au

So, it sounds like I am an advocate for GM crops. I aren’t, but I am trying to make the point that there is a lot of misinformation out there, usually the same old stuff over and over. This misinformation can come from both sides of the debate. So, be sceptical about the hype and fear mongering, try to find more detailed information to provide context and this will help you decide whether you find the risks of a particular GM crop acceptable or not. If you are like the most people I chat to or run workshops for on this topic, you will have different views or levels of acceptability for different GM crops.

Jason Major

Manager, GNTIS