What are the Benefits What are the Benefits and and

Risks of GMOs? Risks of GMOs?• Nipon Iamsupasit• Technical Advisor,• Thailand Biodiversi

ty Center,• 539/2 Gypsum Metr

opolitan Tower, 15t -h Floor, Sri Ayudha

1ya Road, Bangkok 0400, Thailand Integrated Capacity Development for the Biosafety

of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)- - South East Asia Workshop, November 6 8, 2001

Jakarta, Indonesia

BenefitsBenefits

Farmer Benefits

Agricultural Benefits

Consumer Benefits

Environmental Benefits

World Benefits

Farmer BenefitsFarmer Benefits

• Better Control of InsectPests

• More Flexible Weed Management

• Good Quality of Products• Improved Yield• Reduced Production

Cost

Better control of insect Better control of insect pestspests• Bt cotton provides effective control of th

e three major caterpillar pests in cotton.• - U.S. growers surveyed in 1999 they had

much better control of tobacco budwor ms (77%) bollworms (66%) and pink boll

- worms (57%) Marketing Horizons, 1999• In Texas, Moore etal. (1 9 9 7 ) estimated t

hat two Bt cotton varieties provided 95 % control of tobacco budworm, 90% cont

- 99rol of bollworm (pre bloom) and % contttt tt tttt ttttttttt

- 5121136 2001The Journal of Cotton Science : ( ) http://www.jcotsci.org

More flexible weed More flexible weed managementmanagement

• The number of total sprayings can be reduced from 5-7 to 1 or 2 per season.

• Flexibility in terms of time management

• Conventional weed control often involves intensive tillage. Promotes soil erosion. RR soybean, in general, fit into conservation tillage practices.

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Good quality of Good quality of productsproducts

• In case of corn• Lepidopterans can influence the developme

nt of stalk rot and ear rot disease in corn.• Fusarium ear rot and Aspergillus kernel rot

are often associated with insect damage to ear or kernels.

• Mycotoxins, fumonisins that canbe fatal to horses and pigs and are probable human car

cinogens. Aflatoxins can be passed into milk if dairy cows consume contaminated grain.

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Improved YieldImproved Yield

• 1996 75In the USA, Kerby in a field compattttt tt ttttt t t tttttt ttttttttt ttt ttttt

- - non Bt near isogenic parents, showed a lin t yield increase of as much as 207.2 kg/ha.

• - 109In a field comparison in the southern a nd southeastern USA, Mullins and Mills 19 99 22demonstrated a yield advantage of .

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- 5121136 2001The Journal of Cotton Science : ( ) http://www.jcotsci.org

Improved YieldImproved Yield

• The average gross yields from Bt cotton increased by 1 5 % over conventional strains in China (Buran

akanonda, 1 9 9 9 )• 301438InIndia, astudyconductedat locationsshoweda to %increaseincot t on yi el d wi t hout a si ngl e sp

rayofinsecticideforarthropodspecies(HinduBusi ness Li ne,2000)• - - 1999 1985199537 19961998 23GianessiandCarpenter foundthattheaveragepercentagelossinyieldbeforeBtcottonintroduction( ) was . %whereastheaveragepercentagelossinyieldafterBtcottonintroduction( ) was .

%.

- 5121136 2001The Journal of Cotton Science : ( ) http://www.jcotsci.org

Reduced Production Reduced Production CostCost

• For every spray eliminated, a grower re duces the number of spray trips and rel

ated fuel, machinery and labor cost.• Using the estimated 972,000 ha of Bt co

tton planted in the United States in 199 8as a basis, the use of Bt technology ha s saved $4.8 to $9.6 million in total and

variable costs to the grower.

- 5121136 2001The Journal of Cotton Science : ( ) http://www.jcotsci.org

Reduced Production Reduced Production CostCost

Conventional Tillage No-till

RoundupReady

Conventional RoundupReady

Conventional

TotalCost/Acre

$44.90 $55.50 $63.25 $73.13

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23An average $ /acre incremental profit opportunity with roundup ready.4(http://www.farmcentral.com/s/rrs/s rssbzzz.htm)

Agricultural BenefitsAgricultural Benefits

• Increased productivity and yield leading to reduced or stable prices for consumers

•More efficient use of agricultural chemicals

•savings in energy inputs to farm production

•Recovery of degraded land•Reduced chemical sprays, with less

exposure of farm workers

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Agricultural BenefitsAgricultural Benefits• ArecentUnited States DepartmentofAgriculture

(USDA) study reported an average 4 5 percent r eductioninthe use of i nsecti ci des oncottoncontai ni ng the(Bt)gene

• Inthe USA,farmers have reducedthei r i nsecti ci de appl i cati ons tocottonby four mi l l i on l i t

res i nthe fi rst three years of use .• In one study, 45 percent of farmers used no i

nsecticide at all.• In Australia it has reduced pesticide applica

tionsbyapproximately50percent per annum/season.

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Agricultural BenefitsAgricultural Benefits

• Developing biotech crops capable of surviving under harsh conditions such as droughts or in regions previously considered unsuitable for farming.

•The salt-tolerant tomato helps solve a major agricultural problem since crop production is limited by salinity on up to 40% of the world's irrigated land. The GM tomato can grow in soil irrigated by water that is about 50 times saltier than normal. Another potential use of the modified tomatoes is to reclaim damaged soil by soaking up the salts.

Crop Biotech Update, August 3, 2001

Consumer BenefitsConsumer Benefits

• Better Nutrition and Quality• Researchers have succeeded in

genetically modifying rice to enhance its vitamin A and iron content

• Health Benefits• A research team of the Science

University of Tokyo has succeeded in using genetically modified rice plants to produce the hepatitis B antibody, which can be used to produce immunity to the virus

- -2 110100http://www.eat k.org/headlines/ _japanes_hep_antibody.htmlhttp://www.biotech.ucdavis.edu/links/iron.htm

Consumer BenefitsConsumer Benefits

“ ttttttttttt tt ttttttt t. .tttttttttt tt ttt tt ttttttt ttt

ttt -tttttttttt tttttt, ns of certain foodstuffs for peo ple who suffer from food allerg

ies".

ttt tttt tttttttt ttttttt tt tttt tttt isunderwayi n J apan t o devel op GMr i ce, mi n ust he maj or al l er gen.

Reduction of food contaminants, allergens and natural toxic compounds in foods

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Environmental BenefitsEnvironmental Benefits• Conserve natural resources, habitat

and indigenous animal and plant life• Higher yields per acre for many crops

produced through biotechnology mean that farmers would not require as much land to produce crops, thus helping to preserve forests and animal and plant habitats

2http://www.icfcs.org/eco .html

Environmental BenefitsEnvironmental Benefits• Soil conservation• - The development of herbicide resistant crops has ex

-panded farmers' ability to practice conservation till age farming. Conservation tillage is the practice of p

lanting seeds through the stubble of last year’s crop , rather than plowing and disking the field. The stub

ble protects topsoil against loss to wind and rain an - d reduces chemical run off to streams. By not plowin g, farmers also conserve soil moisture, which can re

duce irrigation demands in some regions.

2http://www.icfcs.org/eco .html

Environmental BenefitsEnvironmental Benefits• I mprovedwater qual i ty throughreduceds

-oi l erosi onandrun off• SoilsedimentationorsiltationisamajorthreattostreamqualityintheUnitedStates.Whensi l t enters ri vers, l a

kes, coastal waters, and wetlands, fish respir ation may be impaired, plantproductivity an

d water depth can be reduced, aquatic organi sms and their habitats may be smothere

d, and our aesthetic enjoyment of the w ater may be reduced. A summary of stud

- ies found that no till farming, which is fa cilitated by biotechnology, can reduce s

oil erosion by 90 percent.

2http://www.icfcs.org/eco .html

Environmental BenefitsEnvironmental Benefits• More cl eanenvi ronment due to reduce use o

f agri cul tural chemi cal s• AstudyfromVirginiashowedthat farmers who pl antedtransge

nic cotton showed a 72 percent reduction - in insecticide use. Forty five percent of grower

sdi dnot to spray at al l .• The results with canola grown in Canada are al

so impressive. Total herbicide use dropped fro m 1400 to 400 grams per hectare in 1996

- 5121136 2001The Journal of Cotton Science : ( ) http://www.jcotsci.org

Environmental BenefitsEnvironmental Benefits

• Herbicide tolerant crops in the USA have recorded similar results to insect resistant crops. The USDA study showed an overall 17 percent drop in herbicide use on herbicide tolerant corn, cotton and soybeans.

• Biotech foods can make it possible to grow more food on the same land, especially under tough growing conditions

• Biotech foods can reduce crop losses to pests and disease

• Biotech crops can be more nutritious

World Food Supply World Food Supply BenefitsBenefits

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Do we have enough foods to feed them? (approximately 9,000 million people in 2050)

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What are the possible What are the possible risks?risks?

•Environmental Risks

•Human Health Risks

Environmental Risks?Environmental Risks?• Can GM crops become a weed or be invasive of nat

ural habitat?• Can genes from genetically modified organisms cr

oss over to weeds and create herbicide resistantweeds?(gene flow)

• -Can GM crops transfer genes to non GM crops?(ge ne flow)

• Could insects become resistant?• - Are there any unintended effects on non target or

ganisms?• Risk to the capacity to maintain diverse farming p

ractices, or impact to biodiversity.

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Human Health Risks?Human Health Risks?• Increased health risks associated with allerg

enicity and toxicity in genetically modified foods

• - Why are antibiotic resistant genes being used?

• -Horizontal gene transfer to other micro orga nisms and become pathogenically.

• -Possible unknown long term or inter genera tional consequences that may not be able to

be adequately addressed once the GMO is wi dely used

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To love is to risk not being loved in return

But risks must be taken, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing

The person who risks nothing does nothing, has nothing, is nothing

Only a person who takes risks is free

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Thanks for your attention.Thanks for your attention.