Canadians shouldn’t fret about genetically modified technology because companies are moving toward a more precise method of developing crop traits, says a University of British Columbia plant scientist.
A Canadian Biotechnology Action Network poll, released in late September, found that 59 percent of survey respondents oppose using GM technology on crops and 48 percent support a ban on all GM food.
Brian Ellis, an expert in cellular and molecular biology in plants and the co-chair of a 2001 Royal Society of Canada report on the regulatory system for GM food, said scientists are on the cusp of an improved technique to manipulate plant genetics that might quell public resistance to biotechnology.
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“There’s a whole new tool kit coming, (which) allows genome editing and more sophisticated ways of modifying the plant gen-ome without, I think, giving you a product at the end with this big, hairy GMO label on it,” Ellis said.
“I would say it’s not ready for the market yet, but will be in a few years.”
Scientists and global consortiums have decoded and sequen-ced the genomes of canola, wheat, corn, rice and other major crops over the last decade.
“This (having a draft wheat genome) is a game-changer,” Jorge Dubcovsky of the University of California, Davis, told Nature.
“It will accelerate all the projects to identify important agricultural genes.”
Ellis said plant breeders are harnessing the new-found genomic data to develop varieties with desirable traits such as drought and disease resistance.
“(It) lets you zero on the areas of the genome that are really important for the (desired) trait,” he said.
Ellis said it may be possible to precisely tweak one base in the DNA sequence without residual effects.
“Once you’re done that tweaking, there’s going to be no trace of any activity in the genome.”
Ellis said public opposition to GMOs is partly responsible for the move toward a more elegant form of biotechnology.
He said the regulatory process for GM food has become expensive and time consuming. Consequently, crop biotech firms are reluctant to introduce new traits unless the technology can be used on tens of millions of acres.
“From where I sit, it seems unlikely that many new products developed through the original technology platforms for gene insertion will make it through the regulatory process,” Ellis said.
