- Biotechnology researchers, heading off into uncharted
worlds, may one day produce bacteria that detect land mines, fish that
sniff out pollutants, and spider silk made from goat's milk.
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- These are among the dozens of products biotech companies
are developing, says a report out Thursday from the Pew Initiative on Food
and Biotechnology.
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- "We wanted to look down the road five or 10 years
to see what this technology is producing," says Mike Rodemeyer,
executive
director of the Pew Initiative. "It is a very powerful technology,
and the report provides a lot of interesting examples of this. But at the
same time, it's the power of this technology that is raising safety and
environmental issues."
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- Among the products highlighted:
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- * Spider silk, one of the strongest natural materials,
can be used in bulletproof vests, but it's hard to grow commercially.
Researchers
can now make it using a protein from goat's milk engineered with a spider
gene.
* Malaria-resistant mosquitoes and other insects that can't carry human
diseases are being investigated, along with methods to control insect pests
without using chemicals. * Bacteria that are genetically modified to
be sensitive to TNT are being created for use in detecting explosives,
including land mines. The bacteria contain a gene from jellyfish that
creates
a fluorescent glow, which changes color on contact with TNT.
* Zebra fish are being engineered to act as biosensors for pollutants such
as dioxin or PCBs.
* Plants are being modified to produce vaccines and other pharmaceuticals
and to provide extra nutrients.
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- Rodemeyer says the Pew Initiative is neutral, but it
wants to spur public debate over the future of biotechnology.
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- One concern is how the government will regulate new
products
to assure safety, he says. One example is a new breed of
"super-salmon,"
genetically modified to grow rapidly. The question, he says, is what impact
would these fish have on native salmon if they were released into the wild?
"We have a system put into place for products that predated
biotechnology,"
he says, "not products that have the potential of replicating
themselves
in nature."
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- Matt Rand of the National Environmental Trust echoes
that. "We feel the U.S. government does not have the proper
regulations
in place to govern over these foods," he says. "They are entering
the market and environment without the proper safety studies."
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- But Val Giddings of the Biotechnology Industry
Association
sees no need for new regulations. "One of the great strengths of the
regulatory system is that it can be adapted to ensure that we can enjoy
the benefits of these products while keeping any risks under firm
control."
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- As for the threat of fast-growing salmon, Giddings says,
that's a red herring: They're sterile. If they got loose, he says,
"they
would have dramatically less impact than conventional farm-raised
salmon."
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