Better Ingredients Through Biotechnology

January 2005

Better Ingredients Through Biotechnology

By Steven LuffContributing Editor

Ever since 1973, when American scientists Stanley Cohen and Herbert Boyer removed a piece of DNA from one species of bacterium and inserted it into another, the biotechnology industry has made many promises in regard to genetically modified (GM) foods. Proponents suggest that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) can solve many human needs, whether through food-crop health, improved nutrition or the possibility of using plants as an inexpensive means of delivering or manufacturing drug components. Some of these promises have been met while others are in the works. But, as with any revolutionary scientific process, complications have arisen due to both the science itself and, perhaps most importantly, public approval.

We are currently on the cusp of an exciting time in the biotechnology arena. The so-called "first generation" of GM foods has already settled itself into the framework of our food industry infrastructure. These crops have been developed mostly for their agronomic traits -- that is, for their ability to increase yield and protect against pests, weeds and the chemicals that are used to kill the pests or weeds. The "second generation" of GM products, the generation that will more thoroughly alter conventional foods, like corn, rice or soy, into products that are different nutritionally or structurally, is now in the pipeline.

What will largely determine the success of this second generation is public approval. The media and others have made numerous claims regarding GMOs -- some true, some false -- and the effect of this stigma has placed a great deal of weight on regulatory agencies in soothing the public's perception of this new science. Ultimately, the regulatory arena will help determine whether or not the public feels comfortable enough with these second-generation products to allow them to see the light of day.

Second-generation forerunners The precursors to second-generation GMOs, products that have been bred through what are classified as conventional means for added nutritional benefits, are already on the market. The hottest of these products are vegetable oils that have been altered to eliminate trans-fat content.

Monsanto, St. Louis, one of the world's largest seed and agricultural-product developers, has teamed up with food-ingredient giant Cargill, Inc., Minneapolis, to design a new low-linolenic soybean called Vestive. These beans contain less than 3% linolenic acid as compared to the typical 8% found in traditional soybeans. The oil is more stable than conventional vegetable oil with less need for hydrogenation. Because soybeans with a lower linolenic-acid level reduce the need for partial hydrogenation, their application in processed soybean oils will reduce the presence of trans fats.

Dow AgroSciences, Indianapolis, will be selling a similar product, but made from canola. Natreon canola oil is a new, naturally stable alternative to other vegetable oils that must be hydrogenated for commercial applications. Virtually trans-fat-free and low in saturated fat, its use can substantially improve the nutritional profile of food products by reducing both trans fat and saturated fat.

"While Natreon is not a genetically modified product, by using some of the tools of biotechnology, we were able to identify the specific genes in canola responsible for the Natreon profile," says David Dzisiak, global business leader, oils/oilseeds, Dow AgroSciences. "With the desirable genes identified, we were able to develop elite canola varieties with the favorable Natreon oil profile two to three years quicker while still using conventional plant-breeding techniques."

Real transgenics As noted, these low-trans-fat products, developed through traditional selective breeding programs, aren't genetically modified. Transgenics are defined as plants or animals that have been artificially altered at the genetic level to take on traits not naturally possible -- often by means of merging genes from different organisms. Transgenic GMOs are the products that tend to excite the food industry.

The rapid charting of food and animal genomes, the genetic maps that outline the specific traits in various organisms, is helping to forge this new territory. Researchers have recently charted rice and tomato genomes, and other organisms, such as cows, aren't far behind. In fact, the first draft of the bovine genome sequence was completed in Oct. 2004 by a team led by Richard Gibbs, Ph.D., at the Baylor College of Medicine Human Genome Sequencing Center, Houston. This advancement could soon lead to the ability to selectively breed cattle for higher meat yield or tenderness.

The poster child for second-generation GMOs is Golden Rice, manufactured by Syngenta, Basel, Switzerland. Although it has not yet been released, this rice, modified via daffodil genes to contain significant levels of beta carotene, which can be converted by the human body into vitamin A, successfully completed its first field trials and harvest in the United States in Sept. 2004. In many developing countries, one of the biggest causes of blindness is the lack of vitamin A and other micronutrients in children's diets. The development of Golden Rice could help to address this challenge, although it must first undergo further required scientific and regulatory tests, as well as evaluations of projected public acceptance.

Another, more-recent example of second-generation GMOs is a GM linseed plant first produced by Ernst Heinz, Ph.D., at Germany's University of Hamburg. This plant accumulates high levels of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (lc PUFAs) and is a result of work that introduced DNA coding sequences for genes responsible for the production of lc PUFAs from algae (Phaeodactylum tricornutum) and borage. These long-chain fatty acids, including omega-3 and omega-6 polyunsaturated fats, have been found to provide significant effects in lowering LDL or "bad" cholesterol levels in humans. This discovery, while obviously benefiting human health, would also benefit the environment as the primary source of PUFAs is from wild and farmed fish, practices that both have their share of environmental caveats.

"Pharm-fresh" foods Nutritional enhancement of foods through transgenics doesn't stop with altering nutritional profiles or adding basic nutrients, such as vitamins or minerals, to foods that didn't already have them. Modern biotechnology has begun to develop means for housing medicinal elements in food items to provide a unique and cost-effective delivery system for medicine.

Researchers at the University of Rochester, NY, for instance, are in the third stage of clinical evaluations on bananas and potatoes developed to contain a vaccine for human papillomavirus (HPV), one of the most prevalent sexually transmitted diseases and the cause of almost all cervical cancer in women. Similarly, researchers at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, have developed a hepatitis B vaccine that's carried by bananas. Similar to a traditional vaccine, this manufacturing and delivery system would be considerably less expensive than traditional methods.

The Biotechnology Industry Organization, Washington, D.C., lists a number of other biopharm products in development. These include tobacco products that can remediate non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, tooth decay and even the common cold, as well as corn that can help with cystic fibrosis and allay hepatitis A. This last project is partially funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD, and conducted by ProdiGene, College Station, TX.

Public perception As previously mentioned, lack of public acceptance might prevent many of these second-generation products from reaching store shelves. A GM wheat variety, designed to resist glyphosate herbicide, was set to be grown commercially in the United States this year but was pulled due to perceived public disapproval and concern that introducing GMO wheat into the U.S. pipeline would adversely affect the overseas market.

Some disapproval has been the result of a few regulatory missteps with GMOs over the past few years that have built real and imaginary fears in the public. For example, in 2000, a GM corn called StarLink, intended for sale as animal feed, inadvertently ended up in human food products. Also, in Nov. 2002, an Iowa GM corn crop grown as research for plant-made pharmaceuticals commingled with a soy crop, effectively contaminating 500,000 bushels of soy.

"I know that there are crops under development that are languishing either because of the regulatory burden or because of lack of public acceptance, especially in Europe, but also in the U.S.," says Nina V. Federoff, Ph.D., co-author of the book "Mendel in the Kitchen: A Scientist's View of Genetically Modified Foods" and a professor of biology at The Pennsylvania State University, University Park. "I also know that many academic researchers don't develop such crops because they can't -- or don't want to -- deal with the bad press, the regulatory approvals or the consumer problems. But others have persisted and continue to."

Impending changes?... The current level of public acceptance of the first generation of GMOs has resulted from the fact that when GMOs were first approved by the U.S. regulatory system, including FDA, EPA and USDA, it was approved on the basis of "substantial equivalence" -- that is, if a GM food performed the same way as a conventional food, it would not require additional labeling. This might help soothe and calm concerned consumers.

The emergence of second-generation GMOs might change this climate, for better or worse, depending on how the regulatory agencies embrace new challenges. Whereas the first generation of GMOs included mostly single-gene, single-trait transgenics, second-generation modifications will be more complex, potentially altering the regulations governing them. When that happens, a whole array of complications might arise -- from the extremely complicated reworking of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act of 1992 to the elevation of public distrust surrounding biotech food.

The benefits of second-generation GM foods could become a cornerstone of a revolutionized food industry. However, we must take a look at our regulatory system. But before that happens, there's still a long road ahead for the development and testing of biotech foods.

Steven Luff is a Los Angeles-based writer specializing in health, the environment, government regulation and social concerns. He has worked for a number of years as a bread baker and appreciates the complexities of the food industry from company management to end product.

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