If biotechnology companies had a tough time containing GM crops, wait until they have to handle the next development in the technology pipeline.
The North American Plant Protection Organization has a draft standard in place for the import, transportation and confined release of genetically modified insects.
The proposed guideline would govern the use of biotech bugs being developed and evaluated in laboratories for future use in plant pest control programs.
“There’s a number of potential applications in agriculture that would be seen to be beneficial,” said Ian McDonell, executive director of NAPPO, an organization that co-ordinates the efforts of Canada, the United States and Mexico to prevent unwanted pests from crossing borders.
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One of those applications has to do with sterile insect release programs. Fruit growers use radiation to produce sterile flies and moths that mate but do not produce offspring, reducing the next generation of pests.
Biotechnology companies have
developed fluorescent proteins as genetic markers that will help fruit growers differentiate sterile insects from wild ones in monitoring traps to see how effective the eradication program has been.
Another potential GM bug application is to create more robust strains of beneficial insects, such as honeybees that are more resistant to parasites or predators.
“I think there are some possible large benefits,” said McDonell.
Anti-biotechnology groups shudder at the thought of introducing a product that will be harder to control than GM crops.
“If we were cautious around genetically modified plants we should probably be doubly cautious around genetically modified insects,” said Darrin Qualman, director of research with the National Farmers Union.
“It’s hard to even find a word to describe the idea that we’re going to start releasing genetically modified insects into the ecosystem.”
Approval required
McDonell said companies are still in the research and development stage with work done in laboratory containment facilities or under controlled field conditions.
Unconfined release of the GM insects won’t occur until there is regulatory approval in a country, a process that would likely take one or two years to complete and could require legislative changes.
But it won’t be long before regulators are faced with requests to commercialize biotech bugs.
“There are companies out there now who are getting geared up and have already put in place multiplication programs for some of these insects,” said McDonell.
To prepare for that eventuality, NAPPO has created a draft standard to govern the cross-border movement of GM insects. The standard is open for public comment until July 11, after which it will be modified and officially adopted.
Qualman said the proposed uses for GM insects do not provide enough societal benefit to justify “fiddling with insect genetics,” and likened the robust honeybee idea to killer bees, an African bee that was accidentally released in Brazil and has since spread throughout the southern United States.
He dismissed the purported benefits to agriculture of allowing the use of GM insects.
“The dollars aren’t going to come down to farmers. The public doesn’t want this. It is ill conceived and unneeded,” said Qualman.
