Research and Development

This section provides information about research and development in GM crops and foods. It gives an indication of what might be seen in the future.

In the short term, any new GM crops being commercialised are likely to continue to be herbicide tolerant and/or insect resistance. This is because these traits are being introduced into a wider range of crops and being 'stacked' - where a crop is modified to be both herbicide tolerant and insect resistant. So there are likely to be more and more 'Roundup Ready' crops that are tolerant to Monsanto's herbicide, glyphosate. Insect resistance using the soil bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis toxin (Bt) genes, is also likely to be used more widely in those crops, such as cotton and maize, which have pests that are killed by the toxins.

Other areas of active research include:

  • using plants as factories for drug production, including vaccines and antibodies. These are in the early stages of development and the use of food crops and the potential for contamination have been controversial. Using non-food crops under conditions of physical containment could reduce these risks. As well as complying with GMO regulations, any drugs produced will also have to be given a license for medical use.
  • disease resistance to common viral or fungal disases. GM  viral disease resistant papayas and squash are being grown commercially on a relatively small scale in the USA. However, progress with other crops and diseases has been slow.
  • stress resistance, including to cold and salinity. These are complex genetic traits that are not simple to modify or transfer so may never be successful.
  • Genetic Use Restriction Technologies (GURTS) are being designed because conventional ways of preventing copying, such as patent protection, are difficult to enforce for plants which are self-reproducing. GURTs use a chemical switch system which is turned on or off by the external application of a chemical. This switch is linked to either a sterility trait (so the harvested seed is sterile as in Terminator technolgy) or the GM trait (which will only function following the application of a chemical). The company controls the seed or trait via access to the chemical to be applied. Terminator technology is intensely controversial because it would prevent farmers using saved seed, but it is being presented by industry as a way in which GM contamination could be controlled.

Resources

↑ Top