Genetic Engineered Plants and the Third World

Genetic engineering promises crops that are resistant to cold, drought, disease and pests. The Rockefeller Foundation is funding a "golden rice" project designed to improve nutrition in the developing world. Here in Ithaca, at Cornell University, researchers are working to develop a banana that carries the hepatitis B vaccine. If successful, someday a genetically modified banana could deliver an extremely low-cost, easy-to-administer vaccine to places like Africa where it is sorely needed.

In spite of these potential benefits of genetic engineering, these designer plants also pose potentially serious problems for farmers and consumers, especially in poor third world countries.

One problem is that in trying to make plants pest-resistant, agricultural research companies such as Monsanto have produced plants that are capable of producing their own chemicals which are toxic to insects. For example, Monsanto has created a variety of plants that incorporate a gene found in soil bacteria to produce a protein that is poisonous to pests such as the corn borer and the cotton boll worm. Unfortunately, the same protein may pose a threat to beneficial species such as birds, bees, butterflies and beetles which are necessary for pollination and for pest control though pest-predator balance. Nothing is yet known of the impact on the health of humans and livestock when toxin-producing crops such as potato and corn are eaten. Monsanto is introducing such genetically modified crops into India without adequate ecological studies of their effects. The Indian people are basically being used as guinea pigs for a risky experiment.

A second risk for third world farmers of genetically modified plants is seed sterility. A "terminator gene" was developed with the support of the US Department of Agriculture that makes the second generation of crops such as corn genetically sterile. The corn looks and tastes like regular corn, but it cannot be used as seed. This "feature" of the corn makes a farmer permanently dependent on the seed supplier; a farmer cannot save a portion of his crop to use as seed next year. (Thanks to a campaign led by Gordon Conway, president of the Rockefeller Foundation, Monsanto has abandoned plans to use of "terminator" seeds in Kenya). Even without such terminator genes, the use of genetically engineered crops in third world countries can lead to the abandonment of nutritious and ecologically sound local crops in favor of US-developed crops. This development makes the farmers more dependent on US companies, and also decreases biodiversity, making their agriculture more vulnerable.