GM2 The Second Wave of Genetic Modification

I’m a science fiction fan. I don’t mean I read the odd book, I’ve got over 5,000 sci-fi books plus a few hundred magazines. So I’m used to new and incredible ideas.

For years science fiction has discussed bio-engineering. The Frankenstein science. And now it’s starting to come true. Now I’m not daft enough to think everything in science fiction will come true. We may have men in space but we still don’t have a self aware computer or anti-gravity.

What is coming true is bio-engineering. The latest move appears to be utilising plants to produce drugs and medicines. Inserting a human gene into a plant so that the seeds contain human insulin is the latest development of one company.  Another company is trying to produce a vaccine for cervical cancer from, of all things, tobacco plants. Talk about irony there!

Now all the above are laudable ideas, what could be wrong with making low cost medicines without cruelty to animals? Well many people and organisations are concerned about these plants crossing with other plants in the wild with unforeseen consequences.

Most science fiction that looks at gene modification tends to be positive. The banana meat tree in one story that produced high fibre tasty protein comes to mind. Then again, most science fiction written after the concept of nuclear power was formed but before it became a reality was positive. Safe clean power, so cheap we wouldn’t need a meter to measure it was the general consensus.

Well now we know better. Nuclear power is fairly safe but if something goes badly wrong the consequences are huge. Vulnerable to terrorist attack, earthquake and most of all to human error. Chernobyl was the prime example of this although Three Mile Island was a close shave. The power plants are built to the lowest bid so the temptation to cut corners is always there.

So what are the dangers of this new technology and how safe is it? The simple answer must be ‘If it can go wrong, it will go wrong’  So the real question must be ‘What can go wrong and what would the consequences be?" When we get an answer to that we will know if, in the long run, GM2 is a good idea. Unfortunately, I don’t think we can answer that question with confidence.