Genetically Modified FoodsGroup 1

http://articles.latimes.com/1990-03-24/news/mn-681_1_genetically-engineered-product-for-food

Introduction

 Genetically

modified (GM) foods are foods derived from organisms whose genetic

material (DNA) has been modified in a way that does not

occur naturally, e.g. through the

introduction of a gene from a

different organism

Currently available GM foods stem

mostly from plants, but in the future

foods derived from GM microorganisms or GM animals are

likely to be introduced on the

market.

Existing GM crops have been

developed to improve yield, through the

introduction of resistance to plant

diseases or of increased tolerance

of herbicides.

In the future, genetic modification

could be aimed at altering the

nutrient content of food, reducing its

allergenic potential, or improving the efficiency of food

production systems

History1946

• Scientists discovered that DNA can Transferred between organisms.

1983

• First transgenic plant was developed using anti biotic resistant Tobacco.

1994

• Falvr Savr Tomato was approved by FDA to be marketed in US

1990s

• Recombinant Chymosin was approved to be used in several countries.

1995

• In US, Bt Cotton, GM Canola, Bt Corn and several other GM crops got approval

2000

• Scientist developed Golden Rice in which nutrient value is enhanced for the first time.

http://articles.latimes.com/1990-03-24/news/mn-681_1_genetically-engineered-product-for-foodhttp://www.isaaa.org/resources/publications/briefs/43/executivesummary/default.asp

http://articles.latimes.com/1990-03-24/news/mn-681_1_genetically-engineered-product-for-food

GM Hormones and Animals• In some countries, GM bovine somatotropin or

rBST is approved for administration to increase milk production.

• No GM animals approved had been for use as food, but a GM salmon had been awaiting regulatory approval.

• Major GM grown Plants are corn, soybeans, cotton, canola, sugar beets, alfalfa, and squash

Global Scenario

Pakistan grows 2.8

million hectares of cotton

Argentina grows 23.9 Million ha

Canada grows 11.6

Million haIndia

grows 10.8

million ha

China grows 4.0 million ha

South Africa

grows 3.9 million

United States grows 69.5

Million ha

http://organic.lovetoknow.com/GMO_Statistics

http://www.fao.org/docrep/006/y4955e/y4955e06.htm

GM Process Flow

Identification of Gene of Interest

Isolation of gene of Interest

Amplification of Gene into many

copies

Association of Gene with

Promotor and Insertion into

Plasmid

Check Gene expression in Plasmid and extract out

desired clone

Transformation of Gene into

Target Animal

Check Gene Expression in Target Animal

Inheritance of Gene in further

generation

Advantages & Disadvantages of GMOs

Advantages• With an ever increasing global population,

massive 3rd world hunger, and with an estimation that a child dies for every two seconds world wide from starvation; this does not even take into account the number of people who are mal and undernourished, there is a great promise in the use of this technology to benefit not only the farmers, but also societies worldwide.

Cont.…• Some opportunities to use GM foods for good is:

• Creating plants better resistant to weeds, pest and other diseases; such as corn

• corn is the most important and widely grown grain in the United States.

• however, corn cannot reproduce without human aid.

• corn is also vulnerable to many pests and diseases, and corn requires a lot of nutrients.

Cont.…• Bigger yields to create more efficient use of land,

less uses of herbicides and other pesticides.

• Foods with better texture, flavor and nutritional value.

• Foods with a longer shelf life for easier shipping.

• Finally, GM foods can create an essential sustainable way to feed the world

Positive Environmental Impacts of GMO's

• Soil salinity has become a major problem in all agriculture especially in the San Joaquin Valley. This has made crops less able to grow and in some cases unable to grow at all. Notice the white soil, cause by excessive salt in the picture.

Cont…• Thus we need to research the possibility of using

the genes of salt tolerant plants species (e.g. mangrove) in our agricultural crops.

• Example of such crop; A gene from the grey mangrove, Avicennia marina, has been genetically implanted into a tobacco plant, making it able to tolerate salt stress as well as showing tolerance to other ionic stresses.

Creating sustainability through GMOs• Some of the most exciting advances in genetically

altered plants are for non-food sources. Edible vaccinations are one such area.

• The genetic engineering of plants has the potential to provide edible plant vaccines that could be used to immunize individuals against a wide variety of infectious diseases ranging from cholera to potentially AIDS.

Cont…• One such example:

• the transgenic potato plants that have been produced and tested successfully by utilizing a genetically engineered food to deliver a pharmaceutical immunization against diarrhea.

Disadvantages• The idea of producing food with desirable qualities

paved the way for the development of genetically modified food worldwide. Scientists were able to isolate genes with favorable traits and insert them in crops to produce food that can resist drought, insects, pesticides and even is more nutritious.

Cont…• It started by developing a tomato with a longer

shelf life in 1994 called Flavr Savr. But then, it was found that consumption of this engineered tomato caused stomach lesions in rats, thus, raising issues about the safety of genetically modified food in general. Since then, the debate raise on the disadvantages of consumption of genetically modified food.

Cont…• There are some examples of the list of

disadvantages of such practice;

• Genetically modified ingredients can cause cancer:

• A consultant histopathologest at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, Dr Stanley Ewen, raised the concern that food and water contaminated with genetically engineered material could increase the growth of malignant tumors upon contact with humans. Later, other studies suggested a link between engineered food and cancer.

Cont.…• It could raise new allergy outbreaks in humans:

• It was found that a genetically engineered soya bean containing Brazilian nut protein was allergenic to humans and was withdrawn from production.

Cont.…• It is un-natural way of producing food:

• There will always be unknown long term effects to the ecosystem and biodiversity when inducing unnatural ways to change the natural traits of crops.

Cont…• Adverse effects on the immune system:

• A study in 2008 showed that feeding mice engineered food for 30 days caused an immune reaction and altered the number of cells that regulated the immune functions in the body.

Cont.…• Under-Developed countries becoming more

dependent on other communities:

• This was raised when developing the golden rice, a genetically modified rice that contains larger amounts of vitamin A, which can be beneficial to poor people in developing countries. However, it is usually the large companies of the developed world that can produce such crop engineering which will increase the dependency of poor countries on the West world.

Cont.…• The effects of genetic food engineering could be

irreversible:

• All the disadvantages mentioned above are probably irreversible, especially the harmful effects on the environment and human health which is an inevitable outcome to the fast pace development of biotechnology and genetic engineering.

• Consuming the highest quality of nutrients is the best option for a healthy lifestyle that can even reverse the adverse effects already implemented by GM food.

Regulations on Genetically Modified Foods

• Compared to other countries, regulation of GMOs in the US is relatively favorable to their development.  GMOs are an economically important component of the biotechnology industry, which now plays a significant role in the US economy

• In 2013, 93% of the soybeans, 90% of the cotton, and 90% of the corn grown in the US were genetically engineered for either herbicide tolerance or insect resistance

http://www.loc.gov/law/help/restrictions-on-gmos/usa.php

Regulations on Genetically Modified FoodsAPHIS

• Plant GMOs are regulated by the US Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) under the Plant Protection Act. 

FDA

• GMOs in food, drugs, and biological products are regulated by the FDA under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and the Public Health Service Act.

EPA

• GMO pesticides and microorganisms are regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) pursuant to the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act and the Toxic Substances Control Act.

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Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)

• APHIS regulates the planting, importation, or transportation of GM plants pursuant to its authority under the Plant Protection Act which authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to prohibit or restrict the importation, entry, exportation, or movement in interstate commerce of any plant, plant product.

• APHIS grants authorization to use GM plants in three ways: through a notification process, a permitting process, or a determination of nonregulated status. 

http://www.loc.gov/law/help/restrictions-on-gmos/usa.php

Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)

• Notification process: The notification procedure is available to plants that are not classified as noxious weeds, or weeds in the release area, if certain criteria and performance standards are met.

• Permit Procedure: The permit procedure requires an applicant to submit information concerning, among other things, the donor organism, the recipient organism, the composition of the regulated article etc.

• Determination of Non-regulated Status: GM plants that have been tested and have been shown not to pose a risk may be eligible for a determination of nonregulated status

http://www.loc.gov/law/help/restrictions-on-gmos/usa.php

Food and Drug Administration (FDA)• The FDA encourages developers of new plant varieties intended for food

use, including GMOs, to engage in a consultation procedure with the FDA, in order “to ensure that human food and animal feed safety issues or other regulatory issues (e.g. labeling) are resolved prior to commercial distribution.

• Biological products (Vaccines, serums, blood products etc.) whether involving genetic modification or not, must be licensed by the FDA before they can be introduced.

• FDA also asserts jurisdiction over genetically engineered animals, a NADA for a GE animal must include information on the animal’s identification; chemistry; clinical purpose; labeling; manufacturing procedure, safety etc.

http://www.loc.gov/law/help/restrictions-on-gmos/usa.phphttp://fas.org/biosecurity/education/dualuse-agriculture/2.-agricultural-biotechnology/us-regulation-of-genetically-engineered-crops.html

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

• The EPA regulates the manufacture, sale and use of pesticides under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA).

• FIFRA requires all pesticides to be registered with the EPA before they can be distributed commercially

• EPA regulates plants that are genetically modified to produce substances intended to control pests as to both their environmental safety and their safety in food, termed plant-incorporated protectants (PIPs)

• The EPA also has authority to regulate GMOs under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)

• The EPA has established regulations specifically for microorganisms that require submission of a Microbial Commercial Activity Notice (MCAN) before they are used for commercial purposes.

http://www.loc.gov/law/help/restrictions-on-gmos/usa.php

What does Islam say about GM Food?• Religious views on genetically modified foods have been mixed,

although as yet, no "GM“ foods have been designated as unacceptable by religious authorities.

• The major concern, echoing anti-GMO activist claims that genetic modification violates ‘nature,’ revolves around whether GM foods violate the natural order of things. 

• Some Qurani verses stress that believers who feed the hungry will be rewarded in the afterlife. There are also passages in the Quran which “motivate Muslims to conduct research and investigate God’s creation.” 

• On the other hand, environmental activist organizations have claimed that GM crops can harm humans and the environment.

• So the debate has no end…http://www.geneticliteracyproject.org/2013/11/26/debating-genetically-modified-food-an-islamic-perspective/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_views_on_genetically_modified_foods

Authorizing Bodies in Pakistan

• Ministry of Science and Technology

• Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC)

• National Bio-Safety Committee (NBC)

• Environment Protection Agency (EPA)

Scenario in Pakistan• In Pakistan the introduction of genetically modified seeds in market

has not faced any positive response due to Islamic concerns and lack of technology at majority farms.

• The Lahore High Court has ordered the federal government to stop issuing licenses for genetically-modified (GM) varieties of cotton or corn until a legal framework is put into place to assess the new types of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) that are fast cropping up every day.

• The decision effectively halts and prohibits the supply and sale of fresh GM seeds in Pakistan including pest-resistant strains of Bt cotton and Bt corn. These varieties are genetically altered to be more resistant to certain types of pests and diseases.

http://www.dawn.com/news/1106195/court-stops-regulator-from-issuing-licences-for-modified-seeds

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• The Farmers Association of Pakistan has been complaining about the sale of poor quality Bt cotton seeds in the open market for quite some time. 

• The commercialization of genetically modified (GM) crops, in the absence of a strong regulatory system, trained staff and well-equipped laboratory to deal with the issues involved are the biggest problems that have to be resolved in order to save the resources.

• “The use of uncertified varieties of GM seeds increase input costs for farmers. The low levels of pest resistance in these seeds have increased insects’ immunity, necessitating the use of nearly double the normal amount of pesticides. The NBC also relaxed germination levels for crops from 75 per cent under Seed Act, 1976 to less than 50 percent,” Chaudhry Gohar, a progressive cotton farmer from Multan, told Dawn.

Scenario in Pakistan

http://www.dawn.com/news/1105680/regulatory-system-urged-for-gm-crops

• the NBC’s requirements and bio-safety standards are compromised when it comes to designing, monitoring, implementing and enforcing rules and regulations concerning GM crops.

• “The NBC has been functioning without plant breeders, bio-safety experts, entomologists, agronomists, ecologists, biochemists, microbiologists, and other qualified staff not only to independently check data provided by seed producers but also to assist farmers in establishing refuge and buffer zones between GM and non-GM crops to delay resistance development in pests and prevent cross-pollination and contamination of GM crops”, an agriculture expert said.

http://www.dawn.com/news/1105680/regulatory-system-urged-for-gm-crops

Scenario in Pakistan

http://inspirationgreen.com/assets/images/Food%20blog%202010/Monsanto/gmo_canola.jpg

Thank You