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Myths and lies turning GM into Frankenstein monster, scientists say
MELBOURNE, Australia
Myths and lies spread by the green movement about the consequences of genetic modification (GM) are preventing the use of new crops that could alleviate third-world famine.
At the XIX International Congress of Genetics last July, world-renowned scientists said ignorance and paranoia has turned genetic engineering into a monster feared when it should be hailed.
"Genetic engineering has been turned into this Frankenstein technology and a lot of it is due to ignorance," South African scientist and 2002 Nobel Prize winner Sydney Brenner said.
Kenyan scientist Florence Wambagu said anti-GM campaigners "play around with the anxiety of the public and make them more anxious with myths and lies."
Wambagu said poverty and not development or genetic modification was causing the loss of biodiversity in Africa and the continent faced a food deficit without new technologies.
The scientists have also warned that anti-GM feeling in Europe had caused the withdrawal of funding for some trials.
Swiss geneticist Klaus Ammann said European countries should not be imposing their standards on Africa and other developing regions of the world.
The warnings support claims by US scientists that paranoia about gene modification is preventing African countries from using new crops that could relieve famine.
Australian state governments have also blocked the commercial release of a genetically modified crop, GM canola, even though it was approved as safe by a federal government regulator.
Craig Cormick, manager of public awareness for the Australian government agency Biotechnology Australia said the general community was ignorant about scientific facts, wrongly believing genetically modified organisms were "unnatural" and unreasonably demanded "zero risk."
After peaking in 2001, public concern over GM foods and crops eased in 2002 but had risen again in the past 12 months, Cormick said.
"In the last four years debate about genetic technology has become increasingly complex because it's broken up into foods, crops, and medicine," he said.
The congress was also told that now the human genome has been mapped, an international collaboration of genetic scientists has begun working on the "Hapmap," which could shed new light on common conditions like heart disease and diabetes.
Dr. Francis Collins, director of the US National Human Genome Research Institute said that compiling the Haplotype Map was one of the biggest and most exciting projects since the mapping of the human genome was finalized in April.
While the genome is a record of the entire sequence of genes, the Hapmap will be a catalogue of variants in the genetic sequence. Once the genetic culprits in a disease have been identified, it becomes possible to develop new treatments and even cures. Collins said 15,000 genetic mutations had so far been linked to specific, rare diseases.
However, hereditary factors contributing to diseases primarily responsible for filling up hospital wards, such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease, were proving more difficult to pin down.
This had led many scientists to conclude that common genetic variants, rather than rare mutations, were the cause of the most common diseases.
AFP
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