10. Current genetic engineering is operating under a limited understanding of genes.

• In the past 20 years, radical changes and advances in the understanding of genes have occurred but it takes a long time before new insights saturate the whole of the scientific community. This is the case of the genetic engineering that was born before the new understanding developed. It was therefore from the beginning based on a now outdated idea of the genes.

The old ideas or "genetic determinism" are based on the following basic assumptions:

Assumption 1: Each gene is an independent unit of information. Each gene adds one trait to the build-up and behaviour of the organism. Each gene invariably codes for just one protein molecule (it is by creating different proteins that the genes govern the events in the cell).

Assumption 2: The information of each gene is expressed straightforwardly without any kind of interaction.

Assumption 3: The genes are stable. They do not change unless mutations occur because of damage such as radioactive irradiation. Therefore the genes are normally passed to the next generation without any changes.

Assumption 4: Genes or sets of genes cannot change in response to the environment. (Suurküla)

• The failure to realize that the understanding governing genetics is flawed has lead to a serious underestimation of the hazards of genetic engineering and an overestimation of its possibilities. Recent findings about several "single gene" disorders show that they are really caused by different genes or gene patterns resulting in the same diseases. There are no simple one to one relationships between genes and traits. Therefore the attempts at diagnosing and treating "single gene disorders" with genetic engineering is not supported by present knowledge. This is why it is not possible to try to "tailor" the traits of organisms by insertion of "desirable" genes (Suurküla).
• New findings show the expression of one single gene into its corresponding protein is the result of a very complex process of feedback and feed-forward interactions. The expression of the gene is the result of a complicated network of interactions that involves not only the whole cell but the whole organism and the environment. The stability of a gene is influenced by the condition of the organism. Genes may change character in response to the state of the organism and the same gene may even give rise to different proteins under different conditions (Suurküla).
• The gene in a network of interactions, is not stable. There are a number of different mechanisms that destabilize the genes under certain conditions inside and outside the body. The DNA may mutate and new pieces may be inserted or pieces may be deleted or multiplied many times. Sequences of the genetic code may be rearranged or combined with other sequences. Some genes can jump around between different places in the chromosomes. Some genes can convert other genes to their own DNA sequence. Geneticists have coined the phrase "fluid genome" to describe this behaviour of the genome (Suurküla).
• Fluid genome processes are not at all random, chance or pointless. They occur, under the control of the cell, as adaptive responses to various conditions. For example, plants exposed to herbicides or insects to insecticides are able to respond by mutations that make them resistant to the harmful influence. This is perceived by the scientists as an expression of reverse information flow from the environment to the DNA. Contrary to the old idea, it has been found that starving bacteria and yeast cells have developed what have been called "directed" or "adaptive mutations". They respond directly to substances that they are normally unable to metabolize by mutating so that they are able to feed upon the new nutritional source (Suurküla).
• The usefulness of transgenic plants has been overestimated because of the incorrect belief in unidirectional control of gene expression. The input from the environment may greatly restrict their survival capacity to only the conditions that prevailed where they were developed. Hence, a transgenic maize developed in USA failed when planted in the Philippines, the tomato FlavrSavr, developed in California did not grow well in Florida, and Monsanto's Bt-cotton crop did not work properly in Texas because it was too hot nor in Australia because it was too cold (Suurküla).