April 16, 2000 / Sunday Advocate / Jennifer A. Thomson and Zhang-Liang / Reference No.: 3212
Recent world conferences on agricultural biotechnology have made it
unmistakably clear that if governments foil the growth of this technology,
mankind will be denied solutions to a host of problems that plague many
nations, particularly in the developing world.
The biotechnology debate in Europe is dominated by cultural and ethical
issues, potential food and environmental safety questions and an underlying
skepticism with regard to the role of multinational corporations and
"industrialized" agriculture. The case for biotechnology in developing
countries can be made much more easily: It is needs-based.
Rich countries may engage in lengthy disputes about real or imagined risks.
We suggest that is largely a luxury debate. Meanwhile, the rest of the
world needs to focus on a rigorous risk-benefit analysis.
The developing world cannot afford to let Europe's homemade problems
negatively impact the future growth in our countries.
In South Africa, small-scale farming still is the norm rather than the
exception. Field trials with genetically modified crops have been taking
place since the mid-1990s, and commercial planting of crops with
insect-resistant and herbicide-tolerant traits started in 1998. The results
are extremely encouraging. The benefits are tremendous, especially in
small-scale farming.
Studies in the Makatini Flats in the KwaZulu-Natal province in 1998 showed a
20 percent yield increase in cotton through the use of insect-resistant,
genetically modified cotton seed. Preliminary results from the 1999 growing
season even suggest a twofold yield increase in this area.
In the cases of some commercial farmers, operators were able to forgo
pesticide spraying completely. We also observed an increase in beneficial
insects in and around the fields planted with "Bt" cotton.
These field results stand in marked contrast to the fears in some
industrialized countries that such crops might endanger "nontarget" insects,
such as the monarch butterfly in the United States.
Biotechnology offers farmers and consumers in South Africa more than just
higher yields and pesticide-free crops. The nation's geography and climate
regularly bring drought to large areas that otherwise could produce
substantial farm crops. Drought-tolerant seed research is making tremendous
progress in South African laboratories, promising improved production and
economic opportunity.
Halfway around the world, China has more than 20 percent of the world's
population and only 7 percent of the world's arable land. With the
still-rapid increase of its population and changing eating habits, as well
as an ongoing loss of cultivable land, food security is an imminent concern.
China turned to biotechnology to hit this concern head-on, beginning in the
mid-'80s. More than 100 laboratories across the country have been involved
in the effort. In 1997, China started to commercialize transgenic crops,
most of them with traits such as insect and virus resistances. Roughly a
million acres of transgenic crops were planted, making China one of the
world's top three countries growing transgenic crops.
As Europe hems and haws, China's research effort is moving forward at a
brisk pace. Scientists are now, or will be, focusing on bacterial, fungus
and virus resistance, salt and drought tolerance, nutritional enrichment and
quality improvement. Additionally, even more advanced applications, such as
"bio-pharming" for edible oral vaccines and recombinant pharmaceuticals, are
in the picture.
Given the socioeconomic realities and needs in countries such as South
Africa and China, it is almost trivial to discuss whether they should use a
technology that already has shown its benefits to their populations.
Jennifer A. Thomson is head of the microbiology department at the University
of Cape Town, South Africa. Zhang-Liang Chen is director of the National
Laboratory of Protein Engineering and Plant Genetic Engineering in China.
(posted without permission)
