Nexus - 0221 - New Times Magazine-pages

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ket for genetically-engineered plant varieties could top US$14 bil- _and last up to two weeks after picking. After five years of scruti- lion. ny, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently Using gold-and-tungsten-tipped micro-bullets just 1,000th of a approved the tomato, announcing it "as safe as tomatoes bred by millimetre across and coated with DNA, CSIRO scientists are able conventional means". to shoot ‘designer’ genes into wheat seeds. The bullets also con- The Australian push for genetic engineering came from the tain a marker gene for herbicide resistance: the CSIRO claims itis country's desire to be at the forefront of high-tech or ‘sunrise’ solely a 'success indicator’ for field trials—the wheat is sprayed industries. It established one of the world's first Genetic with herbicide and only the transgenic plants will survive. Manipulation Advisory Committees in 1975, made up of scientists This is a major breakthrough as it is the first successful gene- and academics from the CSIRO, the Australian Academy of splicing of a cereal crop: until now, wheat had required laborious Science and leading universities. cross-breeding to breed out the many undesirable genes that result Intense lobbying from biotechnologists led to the Australian from hybridisation. A Queensland University team, led by government creating the National Biotechnology Program Professor Ken Scott, developed the micro-pellet gun technique Research Grants Scheme. Last year, the government handed over with the assistance of multinational giant DuPont which designed | A$100 million for research into genetic engineering. the method. Half of the CSIRO's divisions now include work on genetic Another process, developed with Chinese microbiologist Dr engineering. More than 120 projects costing A$30 million and Ding Gang He, involves passing an electric current through the employing 200 scientists were carried out in 1988 alone; more seed 10 open the pores of the wheat protoplasm enough to allow _ than 70 per cent of projects involved agricultural transgenics. foreign DNA cells to enter. This contrasts markedly with the paltry A$200,000 spent in The techniques are set to revolutionise world agriculture by Australia last year on research into organic or chemical-free agri- allowing the creation of tailor-made food crops. culture. CSIRO researchers have already spliced a tobacco plant gene into sheep. This causes its sweat glands to secrete chitinase, an PATENT IT—AND RULE THE WORLD enzyme that kills blowfly larvae by dis- solving the chitin that protects an insect's The international cotton industry is still endoskeleton. reeling from the US government's decision One of the most scandalous incidents The same Rockefeller in 1992 to award process patent rights for involving transgenics occurred in Australia 4% | all transgenic cotton to American biotech- from 1988-90. Drs Bob Seamark and Foundation also collected nology company Agracetus, on behalf of Julian Wells from an Adelaide University the seeds of 95 per cent of chemical and nuclear multinational W. R. team attempted to develop transgenic pigs 1 . Grace. Europe also has just granted the by splicing in an extra growth hormone the Earth S$ major cer eal patent. gene that would lift the animal's food-con- crops—wheat, barley and Patents are pending in the major cotton- version efficiency by 30 percent: the pigs .. 0 s+ . producing nations of India, Brazil and grew faster, yielded fat-free pork, and were corn—in the years leading China. The all-encompassing patents will able to reach market weight seven weeks Up tO the GATT treaty and _ give Agracetus-Grace a world monopoly earlier than usual. d i pee bill on any new varieties of cotton regardless of Metro Meats, the university's commer- Plant Breeders Rights UNS. the GE technique used in its development. cial parter in the scheme, later sold the : All major cotton-producing countries will transgenic pigs to an abattoir from where be forced to pay big royalties to use the the meat was then distributed and sold through Adelaide butcher new cotton seeds; growers will be lured to return to high-velocity shops. Consumers were not informed and it took two years forthe and aerial spraying so they can maximise returns on their herbi- truth to emerge. cide-resistant crops. The outcry from anti-genetic engineering and animal rights Another US seed company, Delta & Pine Land, has commis- activists led to a public inquiry which found that the original trans- _ sioned Calgene to develop a transgenic cotton that will be resistant genes had failed to function, so the pigs bred from those originally _to the market-dominant broad-spectrum herbicide, Roundup, pro- genetically manipulated were, in fact, not transgenic. This was duced by Monsanto. merely coincidental. In March 1994, Agracetus-Grace was also granted a process Australia's two largest breweries—Tooheys, and Carlton & _ patent in Europe, and has applied for one in the US as well, for all United—have funded the development of transgenic yeasts that transgenic varieties of soyabean—the first attempt to gain total can offer low-calorie beer. These yeasts are expected to be in use _ control over a staple food crop. The soyabean industry is worth by the year 2000. Meanwhile, rennin made with transgenic bacte- | US$27 billion annually worldwide; the US dominates half the Tia is already being used in cheese production. market, with Europe a minor supplier. If approved, the patenting Multinational chemical giant Unilever has conducted trial plant- of soyabeans will open the door to breeding rights for all major ings of a transgenic tomato developed in the United Kingdom by — foods—rice, maize, beans and peanuts. Zeneca Seeds, and is now conducting similar trials in Australia Agracetus used its own version of the DuPont micro-pellet gun through its subsidiary, Unifoods Ltd. Unilever wants to develop _ technique to genetically engineer soyabean seeds. In 1992 when long-shelf-life, out-of-season, anti-rot tomatoes for the lucrative awarded patent rights on all transgenic cotton, Agracetus had used North American and Asian markets. the standard GE techniques of using the bacterium Agrobacterium Just last May, biotechnology company Calgene also launched its tumefaciens to ferry the foreign genes into the plant. anti-rot "Flav'r Sav'r" transgenic tomato onto the Californian and The breadth of the patent rights on cotton and soyabean extends Chicago markets—and has plans to make it available in Australia _to all genetically-engineered variants, regardless of the technique before too long. The tomato is claimed to stay fresh on the plant employed. Both patents are under attack from agricultural and and last up to two weeks after picking. After five years of scruti- ny, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved the tomato, announcing it "as safe as tomatoes bred by conventional means". The Australian push for genetic engineering came from the country's desire to be at the forefront of high-tech or ‘sunrise’ industries. It established one of the world's first Genetic Manipulation Advisory Committees in 1975, made up of scientists and academics from the CSIRO, the Australian Academy of Science and leading universities. Intense lobbying from biotechnologists led to the Australian government creating the National Biotechnology Program Research Grants Scheme. Last year, the government handed over A$100 million for research into genetic engineering. Half of the CSIRO's divisions now include work on genetic engineering. More than 120 projects costing A$30 million and employing 200 scientists were carried out in 1988 alone; more than 70 per cent of projects involved agricultural transgenics. This contrasts markedly with the paltry A$200,000 spent in Australia last year on research into organic or chemical-free agri- culture. 16eNEXUS PATENT IT—AND RULE THE WORLD AUGUST - SEPTEMBER 1994