Latin Amer Govts May OK G.M. Foods


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OK to Gene Tinkering, Despite Potential Misuse

By Silvio Hernandez

PANAMA CITY, Jun 8 (IPS) - Latin American experts meeting here
defended the use of genetically engineered seeds as a means of
boosting crop yields, despite potential ethical and health
problems arising from the misuse of genetic technology.

Oscar Grau of Argentina, Gustavo de la Riva of Cuba, and Julio
Yau from Panama, all experts in genetics, fielded questions about
genetically-modified seeds at the seventh International Symposium
organised by the Latin American Network of Biological Sciences
last week in the Panamanian capital.

Grau acknowledged that the major profits and significant market
generated by genetically altered plants and seeds, along with
''the brisk business enjoyed by scandal sheets publishing articles
about this technology,'' had triggered increased public concern.

He also admitted that when plant genetics research began,
experts had no idea what they were doing.

''It was like taking shots at the plant's DNA, hitting it in
three or 50 different places and choosing one that looked good,''
said Grau. ''We had no idea of what we would be able to do with
the plant, or even that the transformation of genes could be
harmful.''

However, he said that researchers now knew what they were doing
with genetic engineering. ''We know which genes we are introducing
into the plant and how many, we know what information is encoded
in the gene, in what part of the plant it is located, and what the
gene produces.

''It's true that this may create problems,'' but in the balance
of what was done before and what geneticists are doing now, ''we
know that we are working carefully and that we're not doing things
without knowing what is going on,'' he added.

Grau stated, nevertheless, that ''the key point'' was not
whether the technology should be used, but ''the ethical questions
that society is going to have to define'' about its use.

''The (genetic) changes they are making may be good or bad,
they may be used for purposes of war or for control, and that's
where it becomes important that decisions are made by a society
that doesn't want these things to be used in harmful ways.''

He also said he agreed with the use of gene therapy for
treating a person suffering from a genetic disease.

But when it comes to ''creating a person who is more blonde,
who is taller, has a specific eye color and is more intelligent,
society will have to make decisions about what may and may not be
done,'' Grau remarked.

Consumers, ecologists, and the International Union of Food
Workers (IUF) questioned the marketing of genetically engineered
plants and seeds and their potential impact on human and
environmental health during a conference held in Montevideo,
Uruguay last October.

At that meeting, Sebastian Pinheiro, a Brazilian health and
environmental advisor to the IUF, pointed out that the effects of
genetically altered plants on the evolutionary process were still
unknown.

''When genetically manipulated bacteria or pollen escape, there
is no way of bringing them back, the environment will never be the
same,'' argued Pinheiro. ''It's not like petroleum, which you can
see. You can't see this - and its effects are completely out of
our control.''

De la Riva agreed with such arguments at this week's
conference, saying that genetically engineered seeds that are
capable of spreading pollen to native plants must be controlled,
and that ''we must ensure that these seeds have been approved and
certified in their countries of origin.''

However, De la Riva also said that all sectors involved ''must
take their work seriously without falling for the claims made by
people in the European green parties.'' They can say what they
want, he said, because ''in Europe people aren't going hungry, but
we have to work hard to feed ourselves.

''We have food supply problems that are so serious that we
don't have the luxury of responding to those claims,'' he
maintained, adding that the interests of transnational
corporations were one thing, while the need of poor countries to
increase food production was another.

Panamanian scientist Yau also recognised the concerns about
this new technology's consequences, but said ''it has been very
important in developing...seed and plant varieties with excellent
disease and pest tolerance.''

Carolina Turin, a Honduran researcher for the non-governmental
Zamorano Institute, pointed out that the problems of marketing and
use of genetically-modified seeds and plants were much more
serious in countries like her own, which lacked systems to monitor
and regulate imports of such products.

''We don't have any way of determining if genetically
engineered seeds are entering the country, and much less of
regulating them,'' said Turin. (END/IPS/tra-so/sh/ag/ld/99)

(c) 1999 IPS
 
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