The Petri Dish: Bridging Biotech and Society

For the past four months, MABIC office turned into a mini pressroom and will remain so indefinitely. We have initiated another first-of-its kind in Malaysia, or perhaps in the region. MABIC is now publishing a free newspaper on biotech that aims to bridge biotech and the society. It is named The Petri Dish. We hope with The Petri Dish we will be able to dish out all the interesting and innovative research work at universities, research institutes and industry and make it palatable for the society.

Biotech research has remained in the ivory tower, far from the reach of average citizen for very long. This is a global phenomenon and more in developing countries where tools and media are not available to popularize science. Media often shy away from publishing science news. Almost all Malaysian mainstream newspaper does not have a science desk and news is source from wire sources. On the other hand, scientists often see media with suspicion as they are often misquoted. A preliminary research on cancer makes headlines like “Scientist finds cure for cancer”. This kills the reputation of the scientists among their peers.

So, at MABIC we took the onus to bridge the knowledge and communication gap. The Petri Dish will demystify biotech and translate it into simple laymen language. It is a free monthly newspaper that will be circulated to universities, research institutes, ministries, government agencies, industry, schools, hospitals and doctors’ offices, and public places.

We hope to instill the interest on biotechnology among schools students through The Petri Dish. This, we believe will help develop human capital for this industry. We also hope to develop a biotech-literate society who will be able to discriminate between science and pseudoscience. The Petri Dish will also highlight the accomplishment of private biotech entities that contribute to the GDP of the country.

The Petri Dish will ensure that MABIC’s efforts to create awareness on biotechnology will not be confined to seminars, workshops and events in closed rooms.

It is our hope that The Petri Dish will one day be part of the mainstream media and a household name.

For those who have read the first issue, give us your comments and suggestions. We are more than happy to improve it.

By

Mahaletchumy Arujanan

Myanmar Greens Its Map

For the first time, Myanmar makes headlines for different reasons. This time it is not about its Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Ski nor its military government. Myanmar has emerged as the second nation in Southeast Asia to grow GM crops. The jolting news is Myanmar cultivated BT cotton last year for the time – up to an astronomical 270,000 hectares through the sweat, toil and ingenuity of 375,000 small farmers. I can’t help imagining, the experience gained on “risk assessment and management” by this restive country. Science is certainly advancing in Myanmar despite the political flashpoints that make the rancid headlines. This is the revelation made by Dr. Clive James in the recent “Global status of Commercialized Biotech/GM crops: 2010”.

Twenty nine countries, 15.4 million farmers and 148 million hectares are the magical numbers for 2010.

Pakistan for the first time planted GM crops (legally). The other new countries on board are Sweden and Germany. For Pakistan Bt cotton is not new to its farmers. They have been getting their share of this crop from neighbouring India for some time now. However, 2010 saw them planting this crop legally. Sweden planted “Amflora”, a potato with high quality starch for industry purpose. Germany resumed cultivation of GM crops, also by adopting Amflora.

Mexico, the centre of origin for corn, successfully conducted the first field trials on Bt and herbicide tolerant corn. This was after 11 years of moratorium.

GM crops have continued their legacy in:

· Contributing to food, feed and fibre security and self-sufficiency, including more affordable food, by increasing productivity and economic benefits sustainably at the farmer level

· Conserving biodiversity

· Contributing to the alleviation of poverty and hunger

· Reducing agriculture’s environmental footprint

· Increasing efficiency of water usage

· Helping mitigate climate change and reducing greenhouse gases

The countries that grew GM Crops in 2010 are (in order of hectarage): USA, Brazil, Argentina, India, Canada, China, Paraguay, Pakistan, South Africa, Uruguay, Bolivia, Australia, Philippines, Myanmar, Burkina Faso, Spain, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Honduras, Portugal, Czech Republic, Poland, Egypt, Slovakia, Costa Rica, Romania, Sweden and Germany. The crops cultivated are: corn, soybean, cotton, canola, sugarbeet, alfalfa, papaya, squash, poplar, tomato, sweet pepper, and potato.

While 29 countries planted GM crops, 30 other countries have granted regulatory approvals for GM crops for import for food and feed.

For full report, log on to: www.isaaa.org.

By Mahaletchumy Arujanan

Organic vs GM: Comparing apples to oranges

Time and again I have encountered arguments or comparisons between organically grown crops/plants and GM crops. The recent one was in a local newspaper sometime during the Chinese New Year. The article was about a homemaker who rears chicken in her backyard to serve a sumptuous meal during the New Year celebration. She prefers chicken that are not hormone-fed. Great idea, I thought.

But as I read further, I realized the ignorance when she said the chicken cannot be termed “organic” as she feeds them with imported corn that is GM.

One has to understand that when they compare organically produced crops and GM crops, they are actually comparing apples to oranges. Organic agriculture is a matter of agronomic practice. The crops in anyway have been modified either through traditional methods such as breeding, selection or even modern biotechnology methods such as marker assisted selection. It could even be GM, for that matter.

How about this situation: if a farmer grows GM corn organically, and this corn is fed to the chicken – does that make the chicken “organic chicken”? (Though, as a matter of fact, I have not heard about inorganic chicken. All edible stuff is organic anyway…)

I have written before on how GM crops make the best candidate for organic agriculture practices.

I hope time will come when the organic lovers realize that this agriculture practice actually does more harm to the environment than introducing GM crops. Farmers would require more land area to produce the same amount of yield organically as loss of yield to pest and disease would be higher. On the other hand, GM crops have managed to reduce the use of chemicals and the yield has been much higher, thus reducing the pressure to open up new forest land for cultivation.

And when the phytase corn is introduced which will reduce the amount of methane produced by livestock, will ardent organic lovers embrace the technology?

I hope those who are against GM in the pretext of environment safety will do good to the environment by really understanding the science behind GM technology.

This is what Dr. Patrick Moore, the co-founder of Greenpeace in 1970s and left the organization in 1986 due to ideology differences has to say:

“Farmers planting Bt cotton have experienced dramatic improvements in yields and in reduction of chemical application. Bt cotton is really promising, and farmers want to use it. They know how important this is, and yet you have these intellectuals and academics claiming that they're speaking on behalf of the small farmer and the poor. It's just a complete hoax”.

By

Mahaletchumy Arujanan

Resolution on the Halal Status of GM Crops/Foods

Two weeks ago MABIC organized an International Workshop for Ulama on Agribiotechnology. The theme was “Agribiotechnology: Shariah Compliance” The aim of this workshop was to bridge the knowledge and communication divide between scientists and ulama and to adopt a resolution on the halal status of GM crops/foods. MABIC has been engaging all stakeholders involved in the biotech sector and ulama is one of the key groups although no efforts have been made to create awareness on biotech among them. It is of paramount importance ulama has good understanding on the basic of modern biotechnology as they develop fatwa.

The workshop was attended by very prominent scientists and ulama from Malaysia as well as overseas. Presentations on halal concept, Shariah principles, GM technology, its safety, socioeconomic impact, global status, environmental impact and the need for this technology in Muslim countries were part of the workshop and these were deliberated by both scientists and the ulama present.

I would like to share here the resolution that was adopted in the workshop:

For full report

By Mahaletchumy Arujanan

Seminar on Agribiotechnology: Listen to what is happening in Africa and more…

MABIC is organizing a seminar on agribiotechnology featuring speakers from Nigeria, Egypt, USA and the Philippines. They will talk about the developments in agribiotechnology in Africa, biosafety regulations and biotechnology communication in the Asia Pacific region. The seminar is jointly organized by Centre for Research in Biotechnology for Agriculture (CEBAR), University of Malaya.

I invite all those interested to attend this seminar which is free of charge.

You may find answers to these questions:

1. Does Africa need GM technology?

2. Who does research on GM technology in Africa – public or private sector?

3. Why is there so much of interest in Africa among philanthropic organizations and multinationals?

4. Can GM crops promise food security to Africa?

5. And many more…

See you there on the 29th Nov 2010, 9am, Rimba Ilmu, UM.

GM Mosquito to Combat Dengue

Every day we read about new cases of dengue and the number is rising, in spite of the heavy campaign carried out by the Ministry of Health. Dengue is a vector-borne tropical disease caused by Aedes aegypti. It can be fatal a disease as timely detection is a problem. Symptoms only appear 3-14 days after the infective bite. The symptoms are the same as any common viral disease and currently there are no specific treatments for dengue. Severe cases can cause hemorrhage. According to World Health Organization (WHO), two fifth of world population, or 2.5 billion are currently at risk of dengue. Every year there might be 50 million dengue cases globally.

Current measures taken to combat dengue have failed to reduce the population of this deadly mosquito. Fogging has not been effective and it also presents another problem where these mosquitoes become resistant to the chemical used. Fogging also only kills adult insects and not the larvae. It creates more environmental problems than being effective in reducing the population of the mosquito. The Ministry of Health is urging the public to clean the surroundings of their house and look out for mosquito breeding grounds. The effectiveness of this measure is really insignificant. As Malaysia receives rain almost every day and water can retain anywhere from flowers pots, drains, roofs, tree trunks, empty containers at landfills to just anywhere, it is just impossible to lookout for the all the possible mosquito breeding grounds.

Doing the same thing year after year and expecting a different result is certainly foolish.

Fortunately, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (NRE) approved the confined field trial for GM mosquito after many years of deliberation. This is a new approach to battle against the Aedes. The GM mosquitoes are created at Oxford University and its subsidiary, Oxitec in the UK. The Institute for Medical Research (IMR) in Malaysia is working with Oxitec on this research on mission to suppress the population of Aedes aegypti. The male mosquitoes have been sterilized and will not be able to breed. This will cause population reduction. This in fact, is not a new approach. Sterile insects have been released to the environment in the past to control the population of insect pests in the agriculture sector. Nevertheless the technique used was irradiation which the public care less about. Thanks to many GM opponents who have featured GM technology as more hazardous than irradiation!

If the field trials are successfully conducted and yield the desired results, Malaysians can heave a sigh of relief. We can shed off our label as one of the dengue prone region and remove Malaysia from the dengue global map. Unfortunately, it is not just the science that needs to be strengthened and battled but also the public attitude and concerns. Naysayers and scaremongers are hard at work to ensure this project is halted.

It frustrates to read about all the negative letters and the ONE main question: “who is behind this project and what is the benefit to them?”

Why do we readily embrace all other products that come from the industry and not GM technology? It is beyond me to comprehend the concerns of these people. Does it matter where the technology comes from as long as we are not shortchanged and it is worth every cent we spend?

I must say SYABAS to NRE, the Genetic Modification Advisory Committee (GMAC) and the National Biosafety Board for upholding scientific principles in approving this technology for field trial. This letter from NRE says it all.

If this technology is successful with Aedes, the next to be eliminated could be the vector for Malaria.

I want to end by saying “Those who want the world to continue in the same way, do not want the world to continue”

By Mahaletchumy Arujanan