Doesn’t GM technology do what nature has always done – follow the evolutionary principle of genetic selection?
Answer:
GM technology does not follow evolution’s rules of genetic selection – quite the reverse, it does what nature would never do. In evolution breeding only occurs between members of the same species or very closely related species. Evolution’s purpose for designing natural barriers between different species is to prevent them from cross breeding – which in turn guarantees the survival of individual species and thereby preserves bio-diversity. GM technology allows scientists to use laboratory techniques which enable them to transfer genes from one species into a completely different species. For instance, a plant can be genetically modified with genes from a bacteria, virus, insect, fish, animal and even human. Nature does not cross species and any transferring of genes between species happens within the safety of evolutionary trial and error.
We have ‘cross bred’ roses to create a vast variety of hybrid roses, and we have ‘cross bred’ dogs to create types that are far removed from their natural ancestor, the wolf. Does GM technology alter species any more radically than this?
Answer:
Yes, it does. We have cross bred dogs with dogs, and roses with roses, to create new types of dogs and new types of roses – but we have not bred a dog with a rose, or a rose with a dog. Throughout the evolutionary process, breeding (even selective breeding as practised in modern agriculture) has only taken place within the same or related species. GM technology can bypass natural reproduction rules by crossing the natural species barrier – it can transfer genes from a dog into a rose.
Even though GM technology ‘modifies’ species in ways nature never would, is it not possible that these ‘modified species’ might be better than anything nature could produce?
Answer:
GM technology transfers genes between species in the absence of enough knowledge about genes to guarantee that a ‘modified species’ will be an improvement on nature – or that these ‘modified’ species are safe for the environment and human health. Because scientists do not yet understand many of the subtle and complicated interactions between genes, gene families and the chemical environment within and outside an organism they cannot predict the consequences of gene transfer. They have not discovered how genes behave in the original species, let alone how they will behave in the species they are transferred into. In effect, the genetic modification of food and feed crops is an experiment. Once genetically modified organisms are released into the ecosystem they cannot be recalled - mistakes cannot be corrected, and damage cannot be repaired.
The biotech industry professes that GM technology is precise and predictable. If this is true, then isn’t GM technology safe?
Answer:
GM technology cannot be guaranteed safe because the laboratory techniques used to transfer genes from one species into another are not precise or predictable. Firstly, the act of inserting genes from a foreign species into an organism can, and most probably does, upset (scramble) the natural gene functioning of that organism. (See A. Wilson, J. Latham and R. Stenbrecher, Genome Scrambling – Myth or Reality? Transformation-induced Mutations in Transgenic Crop Plants, Technical Report (2004), EcoNexus, Brighton UK.) Secondly, contrary to claims made by the biotech industry, the laboratory techniques used in GM technology are not precise or predictable – scientists have no control over how many foreign genes will be transferred into the organism or where they will be inserted into the organism’s DNA. This random placement of unspecified numbers of foreign genes matters. Scientists know that the genetic functioning of an organism is determined not only by how many and what kind of genes are present in it’s genome, but where on the DNA strings they are located. Furthermore, the organism being modified does not ‘recognise’ the foreign genes being inserted into its genome and therefore cannot control them - the regulatory system of the organism cannot ‘switch foreign genes on’ when needed and ‘switch them off’ when not needed. Therefore inserted foreign genes remain ‘switched on’ at very high levels and in every cell of the organism, for the lifetime of the organism. This is totally at odds with normal gene behaviour and may well mean that the genetically modified organisms are genetically unstable and consequently unsafe. (See GM TECHNOLOGY AND GMO´s.)
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