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seeds are not used without compensation to the seed company, the breeder who wanted to use the genetic material from the hybrid in company has additionally genetically engineered the cotton with his or her own breeding program could retrieve it from these Terminator. Although this is a hypothetical case (after all, plants. With Terminator, the special genes, such as the herbicide Terminator cotton is not yet on the market), all the components of _ tolerance of my example, would not be easily available for use by the procedure have been shown to function, at least in the text of | competitors. the patent for Terminator. Another reason sometimes cited for using Terminator in combi- Cotton is not often sold as a hybrid seed; thus it is a likely can- nation with a genetically engineered variety is to keep the GMOs didate for Terminator protection. By way of contrast, corn is usu- from ‘escaping’ into the environment. Many critics of biotechnol- ally planted as a hybrid and thus has some measure of variety pro- ogy cite problems with releasing GMOs into the wild, noting that tection already. This is because the first generation of a hybrid is their effects on ecosystems and their members would be difficult genetically fairly uniform and has been bred to have desired char- to predict (Rissler and Mellon, 1996). Having all of the second- acteristics that are not present in either parent alone. generation seeds die would circumvent this problem altogether. When these hybrids make seeds, however, the second genera- tion is quite variable because of the shuffling of genes that occurs General Description of Terminator Action in Cotton during sexual reproduction. Industrial agriculture requires unifor- In the cotton example, the goal is to develop a variety of cotton mity because the plants must dovetail with mechanisation. that will grow normally until the crop is almost mature. Then, Therefore, industrial farmers who grow corn usually buy new and only then, a toxin will be produced in the (seed) embryos, seed every year. specifically killing the entire next There are several major crops . . generation of seeds. which usually are not grown from When Terminator Is used, the The system has three key compo- hybrid seeds. These include wheat, second generation is killed. nents. rice, soybeans and cotton. Farmers 1. A gene for a toxin that will kill often save the seeds from these crops, the seed late in development, but will and may not go back to the seed com- With hybridisation, the second not kill any other part of the plant. fome pars ofthe worid—to purchase | 9eNeFation is variable but alive, Fcc srow several sencrations a new variety. and any genes present In the of cotton plants, already genetically It would be a big boost to seed- hybrid will be present in the engineered to contain the seed-spe- company profits if people who now . cific toxin gene, without any seeds grow non-hybrid crops had to buy second generation... dying. This is required to produce new seed every year. This may have enough seeds to sell for farmers to been the major incentive for develop- plant. ing the Terminator Technology. 3. A method for activating the engineered seed-specific toxin There likely were other reasons for developing Terminator. gene after the farmer plants the seeds, so that the farmer's second One reason may relate to the way in which Terminator's effect generation seeds will be killed. differs from hybridisation. These three tasks are accomplished by engineering a series of When Terminator is used, the second generation is killed. With genes which are all transferred permanently to the plant so that hybridisation, the second generation is variable but alive, and any they are passed on via the normal reproduction of the plant. genes present in the hybrid will be present in the second genera- Terminator is a complicated process to understand, so it would tion, although in unpredictable combinations. Therefore, a plant —_ be helpful to review beforehand some of the basic information about how genes function during the life cycle of a plant. Readers with a good grasp of molecular biology may want to skip the following section and proceed directly to lam a Details of the Terminator Technology. breeder who wanted to use the genetic material from the hybrid in his or her own breeding program could retrieve it from these plants. With Terminator, the special genes, such as the herbicide tolerance of my example, would not be easily available for use by competitors. Another reason sometimes cited for using Terminator in combi- nation with a genetically engineered variety is to keep the GMOs from ‘escaping’ into the environment. Many critics of biotechnol- ogy cite problems with releasing GMOs into the wild, noting that their effects on ecosystems and their members would be difficult to predict (Rissler and Mellon, 1996). Having all of the second- generation seeds die would circumvent this problem altogether. When Terminator is used, the second generation is killed. With hybridisation, the second generation is variable but alive, teen tea oa en Ae nee EL! OD “and any genes present in the , hybrid will be present in the Nod. Ont Nea AStameaia cman, Be — Fea ( i j = 7 A Simplified Version of Basic Biological Processes A plant starts life as a single cell—an egg that has been fertilised by sperm which has been delivered to the egg by the pollen. This first cell divides many times to form the tissues and organs characteristic of the species. The process of going from a single cell to an adult is called 'development'. As development proceeds, cells become different from each other and change. Cells in the leaf become distinct from cells in the root, for example. Most of the differences can be attributed to changes in the kinds and amounts of proteins made in the cells, because many of the structures in cells are made of proteins, and most of the processes 26 - NEXUS second generation... DECEMBER 1998 - JANUARY 1999