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What are the Benefits and Risks of GMOs?

What are the Benefits and Risks of GMOs?. Nipon Iamsupasit Technical Advisor, Thailand Biodiversity Center, 539/2 Gypsum Metropolitan Tower, 15th Floor, Sri-Ayudhaya Road, Bangkok 10400, Thailand. Integrated Capacity Development for the Biosafety of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)

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What are the Benefits and Risks of GMOs?

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  1. What are the Benefits and Risks of GMOs? • Nipon Iamsupasit • Technical Advisor, • Thailand Biodiversity Center, • 539/2 Gypsum Metropolitan Tower, 15th Floor, Sri-Ayudhaya Road, Bangkok 10400, Thailand Integrated Capacity Development for the Biosafety of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) South-East Asia Workshop, November 6-8, 2001 Jakarta, Indonesia

  2. Benefits World Benefits Environmental Benefits Consumer Benefits Agricultural Benefits Farmer Benefits

  3. Farmer Benefits • Better Control of Insect Pests • More Flexible Weed Management • Good Quality of Products • Improved Yield • Reduced Production Cost

  4. Better control of insect pests • Bt cotton provides effective control of the three major caterpillar pests in cotton. • U.S. growers surveyed in 1999-they had much better control of tobacco budworms (77%) bollworms (66%) and pink bollworms (57%)-Marketing Horizons, 1999 • In Texas, Moore et al. (1997) estimated that two Bt cotton varieties provided 95% control of tobacco budworm, 90% control of bollworm (pre-bloom) and 99% control of pink bollworm. The Journal of Cotton Science 5:121-136 (2001) http://www.jcotsci.org

  5. More flexible weed management • The number of total sprayings can be reduced from 5-7 to 1 or 2 per season. • Flexibility in terms of time management • Conventional weed control often involves intensive tillage. Promotes soil erosion. RR soybean, in general, fit into conservation tillage practices. http://www.asa-europe.org/biotech2.shtml

  6. Good quality of products • In case of corn • Lepidopterans can influence the development of stalk rot and ear rot disease in corn. • Fusarium ear rot and Aspergillus kernel rot are often associated with insect damage to ear or kernels. • Mycotoxins, fumonisins that canbe fatal to horses and pigs and are probable human carcinogens. Aflatoxins can be passed into milk if dairy cows consume contaminated grain. http://www.apsnet.org/online/feature/BtCorn/Top.html

  7. http://www.apsnet.org/online/feature/BtCorn/Top.html

  8. Improved Yield • In the USA, Kerby 1996 in a 75 field comparison of three Bt cotton varieties and their non-Bt near-isogenic parents, showed a lint yield increase of as much as 207.2 kg/ha. • In a 109-field comparison in the southern and southeastern USA, Mullins and Mills 1999 demonstrated a yield advantage of 22.4 kg/ha that resulted from adoption of Bt cotton The Journal of Cotton Science 5:121-136 (2001) http://www.jcotsci.org

  9. Improved Yield • The average gross yields from Bt cotton increased by 15% over conventional strains in China (Buranakanonda, 1999) • In India, a study conducted at 30 locations showed a 14 to 38% increase in cotton yield without a single spray of insecticide for arthropod species (Hindu Business Line, 2000) • Gianessi and Carpenter 1999 found that the average percentage loss in yield before Bt cotton introduction (1985-1995) was 3.7% whereas the average percentage loss in yield after Bt cotton introduction (1996-1998) was 2.3%. The Journal of Cotton Science 5:121-136 (2001) http://www.jcotsci.org

  10. Reduced Production Cost • For every spray eliminated, a grower reduces the number of spray trips and related fuel, machinery and labor cost. • Using the estimated 972,000 ha of Bt cotton planted in the United States in 1998 as a basis, the use of Bt technology has saved $4.8 to $9.6 million in total and variable costs to the grower. The Journal of Cotton Science 5:121-136 (2001) http://www.jcotsci.org

  11. Reduced Production Cost http://www.uwex.edu/ces/crops/RRsoybn.htm An average $23/acre incremental profit opportunity with roundup ready. (http://www.farmcentral.com/s/rrs/s4rssbzzz.htm)

  12. Agricultural Benefits • Increased productivity and yield leading to reduced or stable prices for consumers • More efficient use of agricultural chemicals • savings in energy inputs to farm production • Recovery of degraded land • Reduced chemical sprays, with less exposure of farm workers http://www.health.gov.au/ogtr/general/benefits.html

  13. Agricultural Benefits • A recent United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) study reported an average 45 percent reduction in the use of insecticides on cotton containing the (Bt) gene • In the USA, farmers have reduced their insecticide applications to cotton by four million litres in the first three years of use. • In one study, 45 percent of farmers used no insecticide at all. • In Australia it has reduced pesticide applications by approximately 50 percent per annum/season. http://www.afaa.com.au

  14. Agricultural Benefits • Developing biotech crops capable of surviving under harsh conditions such as droughts or in regions previously considered unsuitable for farming. • The salt-tolerant tomato helps solve a major agricultural problem since crop production is limited by salinity on up to 40% of the world's irrigated land. The GM tomato can grow in soil irrigated by water that is about 50 times saltier than normal. Another potential use of the modified tomatoes is to reclaim damaged soil by soaking up the salts. Crop Biotech Update, August 3, 2001

  15. Consumer Benefits • Better Nutrition and Quality • Researchers have succeeded in genetically modifying rice to enhance its vitamin A and iron content • Health Benefits • A research team of the Science University of Tokyo has succeeded in using genetically modified rice plants to produce the hepatitis B antibody, which can be used to produce immunity to the virus http://www.eat2k.org/headlines/11-01-00_japanes_hep_antibody.html http://www.biotech.ucdavis.edu/links/iron.htm

  16. Consumer Benefits Reduction of food contaminants, allergens and natural toxic compounds in foods “..new application of genetic engineering is set to provide alternative, non-allergenic versions of certain foodstuffs for people who suffer from food allergies". The most advanced project of this kind is underway in Japan to develop GM rice, minus the major allergen. Http://www.eufic.org/gb/food/pag/food06/food063.htm

  17. Environmental Benefits • Conserve natural resources, habitat and indigenous animal and plant life • Higher yields per acre for many crops produced through biotechnology mean that farmers would not require as much land to produce crops, thus helping to preserve forests and animal and plant habitats http://www.icfcs.org/eco2.html

  18. Environmental Benefits • Soil conservation • The development of herbicide-resistant crops has expanded farmers' ability to practice conservation-tillage farming. Conservation tillage is the practice of planting seeds through the stubble of last year’s crop, rather than plowing and disking the field. The stubble protects topsoil against loss to wind and rain and reduces chemical run-off to streams. By not plowing, farmers also conserve soil moisture, which can reduce irrigation demands in some regions. http://www.icfcs.org/eco2.html

  19. Environmental Benefits • Improved water quality through reduced soil erosion and run-off • Soil sedimentation or siltation is a major threat to stream quality in the United States. When silt enters rivers, lakes, coastal waters, and wetlands, fish respiration may be impaired, plant productivity and water depth can be reduced, aquatic organisms and their habitats may be smothered, and our aesthetic enjoyment of the water may be reduced. A summary of studies found that no-till farming, which is facilitated by biotechnology, can reduce soil erosion by 90 percent. http://www.icfcs.org/eco2.html

  20. Environmental Benefits • More clean environment due to reduce use of agricultural chemicals • A study from Virginia showed that farmers who planted transgenic cotton showed a 72 percent reduction in insecticide use. Forty-five percent of growers did not to spray at all. • The results with canola grown in Canada are also impressive. Total herbicide use dropped from 1400 to 400 grams per hectare in 1996 The Journal of Cotton Science 5:121-136 (2001) http://www.jcotsci.org

  21. Environmental Benefits • Herbicide tolerant crops in the USA have recorded similar results to insect resistant crops. The USDA study showed an overall 17 percent drop in herbicide use on herbicide tolerant corn, cotton and soybeans.

  22. World Food Supply Benefits • Biotech foods can make it possible to grow more food on the same land, especially under tough growing conditions • Biotech foods can reduce crop losses to pests and disease • Biotech crops can be more nutritious Do we have enough foods to feed them? (approximately 9,000 million people in 2050) http://www.un.org http://www.whybiotech.com/en/benefits/worldfood/con62.asp?MID=39

  23. What are the possible risks? • Environmental Risks • Human Health Risks

  24. Environmental Risks? • Can GM crops become a weed or be invasive of natural habitat? • Can genes from genetically modified organisms cross over to weeds and create herbicide resistant weeds?(gene flow) • Can GM crops transfer genes to non GM-crops?(gene flow) • Could insects become resistant? • Are there any unintended effects on non-target organisms? • Risk to the capacity to maintain diverse farming practices, or impact to biodiversity. http://www.afaa.com.au

  25. Human Health Risks? • Increased health risks associated with allergenicity and toxicity in genetically modified foods • Why are antibiotic-resistant genes being used? • Horizontal gene transfer to other micro-organisms and become pathogenically. • Possible unknown long term or inter-generational consequences that may not be able to be adequately addressed once the GMO is widely used http://www.afaa.com.au

  26. To love is to risk not being loved in return

  27. But risks must be taken, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing

  28. The person who risks nothing does nothing, has nothing, is nothing

  29. Only a person who takes risks is free

  30. http://www.farmsource.com/News_Trends/Edge/prdkn2.htm

  31. Thanks for your attention.

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