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Press Release 6/12/2000
Terminator Alert
UK GM Field Trials Contain 'Terminator' Crops
Among the GM crops undergoing field trials in the UK are Aventis' spring
and winter GM oilseed rape (canola) engineered with the 'terminator
technology' that makes seed or pollen sterile. The application to the UK
from AgrEvo (now part of Aventis) makes clear that such terminator crops
have been field-trialed in France and Belgium from the beginning of 1990,
and subsequently on larger scales, also in Sweden and Canada before coming
to the UK.
The original purpose of the terminator technology was to enforce
corporate patents on GM seed, so farmers cannot resow harveted seeds. The
first terminator patents that came to the attention of the public were
jointly owned by US Department of Agriculture and Delta and Pine Land
Company, which Monsanto had intended to acquire. As a result of universal
condemnation and rejection by farmers and non-Government organisations
world wide, Monsanto had announced it will not commercialise terminator
crops. But research and development continued unabated.
Now, the technology is being promoted simultaneously on both sides of
the Atlantic. The USDA is soliciting public comment on the technology
itself with the recommendation that it could be used to prevent gene flow
http://www.usda.gov/agencies/biotech/downloads/paper72000.html
TheUK Government's Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment
(ACRE), meanwhile, is soliciting comments on a draft document, "Guidance
on Best Practice on the Design of GM Crops", which presents the
technology as one of the main methods for preventing gene flow, and
thereby improving the safety of GM crops
http://www.usda.gov/agencies/biotech/downloads/paper72000.html
"The technology is ineffective in preventing gene flow, and it
makes use of two very dangerous genes that should never , never be
released." Says Dr. Mae-Wan Ho, Director of the Institute of Science
in Society. The first is the gene coding for 'barnase', an enzyme that
breaks down RNA, an intermediate in the expression of all genes, and that
is why it is a universal cell poison. "It kills all cells", says
Dr. Joe Cummins, Emeritus Professor of Genetics, University of Western
Ontario, Canada. "Experiments have shown that it causes cell-death
when introduced into animal and human cells, and causes kidney damage when
perfused into rat kidneys."
The second is the gene coding for a 'recombinase', an enzyme in the
'site-specific recombination system' which breaks and rejoins DNA at
specific sites. Unfortunately, the recognition of specific sites by the
enzyme is far from 100% accurate, so it has the potential to scramble
genomes by breaking and rejoining at inappropriate places. This technology
is not only used on plants but also in animals, and experiments have
already indicated that such genome scrambling can occur.
Contact: Dr. Mae-Wan Ho,
Institute of Science in Society m.w.ho@i-sis.org.uk
tel: 0207-272-5636
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