GMOs and transgenics

Watching the webcast from the Berkeley Energy Bioscience Institute (EBI) got me thinking about the effect of GMO (Genetically modified organisms) on the food system. Wikipedia has a good informational page about GMO plants. Basically, GMOs are plants modified in some slight way to express better qualities for growth, health, and crop production. Generally, a good thing, right? Except when the herbicide these plants are resistant for gets used year after year, on the same land. Then you get the good old evolutionary mutation thing happening ... and the organisms you are defending against (in this case, the corn boring beetle) becomes resistant to the herbicide. This reminds me of the debate over DDT application to combat malaria. Some people argue that using DDT on a widespread basis to control mosquitoes (which carry the malaria virus), will simply result in mosquitoes evolving with the genetic resistance to DDT.

A second little "problem" with GMO crops is that they are usually created so that the next generation of plants arising from the GMO seed has a 50% or lower yield to the originally sold seed. In other words, farmers are dependent on the GMO seed producer to buy new seed every year, if they want to raise a profitable crop.

Interestingly, a lot of the development of GMO seed appears to have happened right here in the Bay Area, where resistance to GMO seed is strongest. There is a long tradition of biotech development here. The companies Chiron, Genentech, and Tularik are all local to the Bay Area. Also, on the other side of the spectrum, the local anti-GMO movement is quite strong, too.

Finally, the movie "Future of Food", a documentary released in 2004, takes a strong stand against GMOs. This film was made by Jerry Garcia's widow, Deborah Koons Garcia. It stars local experts on the topic (including Ignacio Chapela, who speaks in the UC Berkeley faculty forum webcase I posted last week).