Bart: continuing (briefly) on with my explanation (gotta run to meet my son's
bus):
In addition to assessing the merits of each "event" on a case-by-case basis,
assessing as best we can a) why we need it, b) is this the best way to address
the issue, c) with a minimum of adverse side-effects and a maximum of societal
and environmental benefit (e.g. not just to the proprietor):
2. We do not yet have the capacity to insert transgene packets anything other
than randomly. We cannot control on which chromosome they go, or where on the
chromosome they will go. And order matters. Order affects not just transgene
expression, but stability of expression (over generations), and further,
affects wholly unintended traits. I discuss this at length in the "laird"
talk mounted on my homepage
(http://www.plant.uoguelph.ca/faculty/eclark/laird/htm), and will not take
time to elaborate further.
3. Given that everything currently in commerce involves single gene traits,
and given further that these single gene insertions have caused all manner of
unexpected side-effects which have escaped detection by either the proprietor
or the regulators until they are already out in commerce (see the Laird talk
for examples), it seems quite implausible to me that inserting complex,
multigenic traits transgenically will be able to avoid the same kinds of
unintended side-effects - but exponentially worse. The combination of
ignorance and arrogance which has so far guided ag biotech develoment strikes
me as particularly prone to these kinds of problems.
4. Traits that matter - like PS rate, N-fixation, stress tolerance - are a)
complex and multigenic, and b) involve many metabolic pathways. You cannot
just change one thing and somehow expect everything else to stay the same.
Everything affects everything else. This could be no clearer than what has
happened when Roundup resistance is inserted into soybeans (stem splitting,
perhaps due excess lignin) or cotton (boll drop and deformations) -
specifically because RR acts at the level of secondary metabolism. Other
pathways and endproducts are affected - not just Roundup resistance. It seems
highly unlikely that we will ever know enough to meaningfully manipulate such
intricate and complex phenomena as key, yield-limiting traits with anything
resembling consistent success in fieldscale applications.
Above are "physiologically-based" concerns. I have other points to make, but
will have to wait until I get back from Winnipeg next week to make them. Ann
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