A genetically modified future

GMO: no options? 
Marina Muravyeva, STRF.ru

These plants are not afraid of pests, they do not have to fight weeds for a place in the sun, their fruits are healthy and beautiful – in short, transgenics have a lot of advantages. But there are a lot of people in society who are extremely negative about the prospect of eating genetically modified food. And in vain, the geneticist Ancha Baranova is sure. In her opinion, humanity will soon have no other way out.

Ancha Baranova has been living in the USA for eight years, working at George Mason University. But she does not forget about Russia: here she leads a group at the Medical and Genetic Research Center of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences (see the material "Pills with double benefits"). During her next visit to her homeland, she gave her colleagues an overview lecture on transgenic plants. Her message turned out to be particularly interesting, perhaps not so much from a factual point of view as from an ideological one: the lecturer demonstrated how ambiguously residents of different countries perceive the same problem.
 
"Americans are not very concerned about the issue of genetically modified food, but Europeans and Russians are very worried about this," Professor Baranova noted. – Personally, I think that GMOs should not be afraid, there is nothing wrong with that. It's just that we won't have any other options in the near future – except to eat spirulina."

Would you like some seaweed?According to forecasts, by 2050 the limit of productivity of the earth's ecosystem will be reached.

If you look at how much land is needed to grow some kind of mass of protein - not just delicious, any, then an interesting picture will appear. According to the data given by Ancha Baranova, it takes 22 square meters to get one kilogram of corn (it contains 9 percent protein). For soy (35 percent protein) – 16 square meters. For alfalfa (18 percent) – 9. The most effective culture can be considered spirulina – blue-green algae: 65 percent protein and only 0.6 square meters. The crop can be harvested several times a year. But the main thing is that it contains all the useful substances necessary for a person. Calcium in this algae is 300 percent more than in milk, iron is 2300 percent more than in spinach, beta-carotene is 3900 percent more than in carrots. There is only one problem – spirulina is tasteless, so it is sold in the form of tablets in pharmacies. According to Professor Baranova, the idea of producing spirulina with different flavors is now being actively discussed among biotechnologists in order to increase its demand among consumers.

Another option is to create transgenic plants. More than 80 percent of them are produced in the USA and Canada, over 15 percent – in Argentina (where this direction is actively supported), in China and Australia – about one percent. All these figures are rapidly changing in the direction of increase. In the USA, back in 2001, 70 percent of transgenic cotton and soybeans were grown, as well as 20 percent of corn. By 2008, cotton and soybeans reached the level of 100 percent, and corn - 80.

Naturally, such rates of development of transgenics worry people. Some worry that these plants can be powerful allergens. Others are afraid of the loss of biodiversity. Others are afraid of "contamination" by transgenics of other populations. Finally, many are unhappy that they are being deprived of the right to know what they are being offered: GMOs or not? In this regard, they insist that such information be indicated on each product.

Corn or butterflies?Ancha Baranova gave several arguments in favor of creating transgenics.

By the way, most often genes are embedded in plants that ensure their resistance to herbicides, insect infestation and resistance to viruses.

Manufacturers are fighting among themselves for the right to produce more "beautiful" food. If the cob on one side is eaten by worms, then it will not get on the shelves of the store – it will be sorted and sent to feed cattle. During storage, these gnawed ears will begin to rot, becoming fertile soil for the development of fungus. Animals, of course, will eat it all. But the toxins produced by mushrooms will remain in the meat, which will later be on the human table. The amount of fungal toxins in meat in the USA is now almost at zero, and in the 90s it was huge. And all because now there is no such thing as bad corn: cattle eat the same ears untouched by bugs as humans.

Another example: there is a terrible fungus sclerotinia – the causative agent of white rot. Surely, everyone has seen it in their refrigerator, for example, on carrots. If at least one fetus is affected by it, then the same fate will befall the rest. In America, a transgenic carrot has been created that is resistant to this fungus. "Vegetables have been stored in my refrigerator for months, and nothing happens to them," Ancha Baranova said, not without pride.
 
Transgenic Papaya

Some fruits many of us would not be able to taste at all if there were no Trangsens. For example, papaya. Today she is all transgenic, there is no other. Why did it become necessary to create it? In the 1940s, in Hawaii – in the center of papaya production – a virus spread by aphids began to infect the leaves and almost mowed down all the trees: instead of several dozen fruits, 1-2 were born on each of them. Then scientists decided to "make" a papaya resistant to the virus. Having solved this problem, they were able to save the culture.

The resistance of plants to insects was achieved by scientists by using Bacillus thuringiensis – a toxic bacterium that lives in the soil, but is harmless to humans, acts only on insects – butterflies, flies and beetles. Before the appearance of transgenic plants, this bacterium was used to make sprays with which cultures were sprayed. This practice is still being used to save ordinary plants.

A side effect of growing such transgenics, in particular corn, was a reduction in the number of butterflies: in Ontario, for example, by 62 percent, in Minnesota – by 40. At one time, there was a big fuss in the American press about the extermination of monarch butterflies. Their caterpillars feed on the milkweed weed and do not spoil the corn in any way, but in those places where it grows, they began to notice that there are fewer butterflies. According to Ancha Baranova, the explanation is simple: when corn blooms, a lot of pollen is formed, which spreads everywhere and gets on all the plants around, including the weed that the caterpillars feed on. The varieties of transgenic corn with the highest concentration of toxin in pollen were identified: they turned out to be KnockOut from Novartis and NatureGard from Mycogen. Under the pressure of the public, these two varieties were banned. Novartis is a big company that managed to recover from the incident, but Mycogen no longer exists. That's how the story of the struggle for butterflies ended.

Golden rice, brown carrotsYou can make plants with improved properties – another important argument in favor of GMOs.

With the help of genetic engineering, genes are "inserted" into plants that produce vitamins in large quantities, that is, they make these plants more fortified. It would seem that this problem is not the most urgent – vegetables and fruits already have a lot of vitamins. However, this is not quite true, says Ancha Baranova. There are many people in the world who lack beta-carotene (most of this vitamin is in carrots, as well as apricots, melons) – a person's daily need for it is equal to 750 milligrams. If it is not satisfied, then in the most deplorable outcome it leads to melting of the lens and blindness.

Scientists from the University of Texas "made" transgenic carrots, which contain 50 percent more beta-carotene than in ordinary vegetables. "I ate such carrots,– said Ancha Baranova. – I bought it at a regular store in Colorado. In color, it is not orange, but dirty brown. And the texture of the other is very crispy. But in general it is edible and even delicious."

Golden rice enriched with vitamin A was also obtained. Three genes were embedded in the rice genome, two of which were taken from daffodils, one from the bacterium Erwinia uredovora. All three genes are expressed in the endosperm – part of rice granules. In the end , vitamin A is obtained .

Later, the same specialists offered iron rice to customers. There are also three genes in it – one increases iron, the other two enhance the absorption of iron in the human intestine.

After that, at the third stage, they did not embed six genes into one plant, but crossed these two species – gold and iron. And the result was a double transgenic rice. It is distributed to the poor population of the country as humanitarian aid, although not in very large quantities: this is something like an advertising campaign of a manufacturing company.

In addition, it is possible to lower saturated fat in plants and increase unsaturated. Extracts from these plants can be added to food for children, athletes, cancer patients.

Scientists associate another direction with the creation of vaccines in plants. For example, from hepatitis B there is a transgenic salad, bananas. It takes only 24 acres of land (9.72 hectares) to grow bananas, which are enough to vaccinate all Mexican children under the age of 5. Vaccines in transgenic plants could be much cheaper. But so far this direction is not very developed for various reasons, including the fact that people do not perceive these fruits and vegetables as medicine.