Safe Food_ Bacteria, Biotechnology, and Bioterrorism - Marion Nestle [94]
Antibiotechnology protesters . . . deny developing countries like my home, Kenya, the resources to develop a technology that can help alleviate hunger, malnutrition and poverty. . . . As an African, I know that biotech is not a panacea. It cannot solve problems of inept or corrupt governments, underfunded research, unsound agricultural policy, or a lack of capital . . . but as a scientist, I also know that biotech is a powerful new tool that can help address some of the agricultural problems that plague Africa. The protesters have fanned the flames of mistrust of genetically modified foods through a campaign of misinformation. These people and organizations have become adept at playing on the media’s appetite for controversy to draw attention to their cause. But the real victim in this controversy is the truth. . . . I know of what I speak, because I grew up barefoot and hungry.17
In 2001, her sweet potato was in field trials, and the level of its productivity or acceptance would not be known for some time. Nevertheless, Monsanto has used the potato in its public relations campaigns since 1996 (“the sweet potato project will ultimately be a major contribution to food security for some of the poorest farmers in the world”), and the Biotechnology Information Council, which runs an industry-sponsored public relations campaign, also uses her work: “Florence Wambugu helped develop sweet potato varieties that are resistant to a complex set of viruses that can wipe out three-fourths of Kenyan farmers’ harvest. . . . Similar techniques are being used to improve other staple crops of the developing world, including cassava, banana, and potato.”18 These statements are promises. The crops are not yet in production, but the public relations materials do not emphasize that point.
The most highly publicized example of the gap between promises and reality is “Golden Rice,” genetically engineered to contain beta-carotene, a precursor of vitamin A. Although this rice also is not yet in production, it has been the industry’s primary advertising tool to promote the humanitarian benefits of food biotechnology (see figure 12). This rice raises a variety of issues that illustrate some further points about the interweaving of science and politics in food biotechnology, as we will now see
MAKING RICE “GOLDEN”
Much of the promise of food biotechnology depends on its science, but the realities depend on social as well as scientific factors. Nowhere is this distinction better illustrated than in the case of Golden Rice. To understand why the interplay between the scientific and societal issues makes genetically modified foods so political, we need to begin with an explanation of the extraordinary scientific achievement involved in creating Golden Rice.
Biotechnology versus Traditional Plant Genetics
Scientists who are puzzled by public distrust of food biotechnology tend to see its techniques as extensions of those of traditional plant genetics but superior because they are more efficient and precise. Traditional plant breeding can be tedious. Suppose, for example, that you would like to create a tomato with a thicker skin so it can be transported without getting crushed. Using the typical genetic methods, you would grow many kinds of tomatoes and look for a rare plant that produces tomatoes with thicker skins. You might also treat tomato embryos with chemicals or radiation to induce mutations; if you are lucky, a mutation will lead to fruit with a thicker skin. You then grow seeds from these tomatoes into