The Genetics Controversy - Agri-culture: Reconnecting People, Land and Nature - page 131

Divided Camps and Different Technologies
Only a few years after the development of the first genetically modified
crops for agriculture, opinions on benefits and risk are sharply divided.
Some argue that genetically modified organisms are safe and essential for
world progress; others state that they are not needed and hold too many
risks. The first group believes that media manipulation and scare-
mongering are limiting useful technologies; the second that scientists,
private companies and regulators are understating hazards for the sake of
economic returns. 4
Neither view is entirely correct for one simple reason. Genetically
modified organisms are not a single, simple technology. Each product
brings different potential benefits for different stakeholders ; each poses
different environmental and health risks. It is, therefore, useful to
distinguish between different generations of genetically modified techno-
logies. The first-generation technologies came into commercial use in the
late 1990s and have tended not to bring distinct consumer benefits; this
is one reason why there is so much current public opposition. The
realization of promised benefits to farmers and the environment has only
been patchy. First-generation technologies include herbicide tolerance,
insect resistance, long-life tomatoes, bacteria in containment for the
production of cheese and washing-powder enzymes, and pre-coloured
flowers and cotton, such as black carnations and blue cotton.
The second-generation technologies comprise those already developed
and tested, but not yet commercially released, either because of uncert-
ainties over the stability of the technology itself, or over concerns for
potential environmental risks. Some of these applications are likely to
bring more public and consumer benefits, and include a range of medical
applications. These include viral resistance in rice, cassava, papaya, sweet
potatoes and pepper; nematode resistance in various cereal and other
crops, such as banana and potato; frost tolerance in strawberry; B.t. clover;
trees with reduced lignin; vitamin-A rice; and 'pharming' with crops and
animals for pharmaceuticals.
The third-generation technologies are those that are still far from
market, but generally require the better understanding of whole gene
complexes that control such traits as drought or salt tolerance, and
nitrogen fixation. These are likely to bring more explicit consumer benefits
than the first generation. These include stress tolerance in cereals, such as
thermo, salt and heavy-metal tolerance; drought resistance; physiological
modifications of crops and trees to increase efficiency of resource use
(nutrients, water, light) or delaying of ageing in leaves; neutraceuticals
(crops boosted with vitamins/minerals); vaccine crops (such as banana