Yves Tchapda (28-02-05)

There have been so many passionate debates on biotechnology between environmental pressure groups and those in favour of this relatively new and upcoming technology. Concerns have been expressed about biotechnology, and most of these concerns have been on ideological, ethical, and religious grounds. Sometimes, a lack of knowledge has been a the root of some reticence. Before engaging into any discussion on biotechnology, it is essential to define this technology actually means.

What is Biotechnology?

Biotechnology also known as Genetic Modification (GM), Genetic Engineering (GE) or Genetic Improvement (GI) is the process of modifying a plant's genetic composition by introducing new genes into its DNA structure.

Benefits

It is predicted that in 50 years, the world population is going to double, moving from the 6 billion today to nearly 10 billion. Most of the population increase will be in Asia and Africa, where there are more encouragements to having larger families, and little incentives to use contraceptives. This rapid population growth will inevitably put enormous strain on the resources of the countries concerned. Africa will be hit the hardest, because of its increasing level of poverty and its inability to manage its resources effectively. For example, Africa which has seen a rapid population expansion in the past 40 years, is increasinly becoming unable to meet the tremendous food demands and finding harder to cope with the resulting strain. It's unquestionable that this poverty has largely been due to extremely reckless governments and political adventurism, but it's also due to the fact that African agriculture is still very primitive and unsustainable. In Africa, the crop yield is still less than half the world's average. The problem is further compounded by the rapid rise of the AIDS epidemic, which is reaping havoc across the continent. Many villages have witnessed their work force decimated by this disease, which has inevitably had a catastrophic impact on productivity and sustainability. What could be done to increase agricultural yield to ease the strain? Could Biotechnology be the answer?

Biotechnology has numerous benefits, that could in a way help alleviate the food shortage in developing countries, particularly in Africa. For instance, modifying the genetic composition of a plant, could lead to disease and insect-resistant species, which would undoubtedly increase the yield. Using genetically improved techniques, it will be possible to plant in areas previously deemed arid, and that will lead to a huge agricultural diversity, more than is currently possible using today's techniques.

Another area which could reap great benefits is in the nutritional content of GM food. In some poor countries, the food is deficient in essential vitamins and minerals, such as vitamin A and iron. The lack of these important nutrients can have very detrimental health consequences such as blindness (lack of vitamin A) or anemia (lack of iron). However, with Genetic Engineering, it is feasible to develop crops with some specific nutritious proteins. An example of this is in the development of the "Golden rice", wich is packed with vitamin A. This could be life-saving in areas where rice has become the staple diet.

Allergen control is another area which could make use of biotechnology. An allergic reaction is the body's abnormal response to some naturally occuring proteins in food such as peanut, milk, fish, beans, etc. By identifying the genes that are responsible for causing allergies, it will be possible to isolate these genes and replace them with non allergenic ones. This could save the lives of thousands of African children who die from severe allergic reactions (anaphylactic shock) to peanut, which is a very popular diet in many African countries, my home country Cameroon being one of them.

Concerns

Like with any new technology, many concerns have been rightly expressed on the dangers that this new technology could pose to human health. It is absolutely important to tighten any controls on the use or abuse of this technology. Without any serious regulatory controls, with very well defined safeguards, Some companies will attempt to cut corners in this potentially explosive market at the expense of the health of the less scrutinising African countries. Some of the concerns have centered around the risks of introducing new toxin in the food chain. By modifying the genetic make up of a plant, could we be introducing some new proteins with deadly toxin? Is it also possible to a lesser extent to develop new allergens with the recombination of these genes? Even though the scientists engaged in research in these areas are dismissive of these concerns, it is still early days yet to be able to say with certitude that no risks to human health will be involved.

I have no doubt that research should continue in this area, but with the strictest guidelines. Rejecting the potential benefits of biotechnology to Africa's agriculture would be foolish, short-sighted and damn right dangerous.



Disclaimer: The views that I, Yves Tchapda, have expressed in this article are entirely my personal views, which are not based on any research, as I'm not scientifically involved in this area.

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