What is biotechnology?

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What is biotechnology?

• WSSD Information days

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Well talk about

• Biotechnology as we know it
• Problems with food production
• How we address these and other problems
• Modern biotechnology
• Concerns
• Safety

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Biotechnology as we know it

• Biotechnology is using living things to make
  useful products
• Living things are
• microbes,
• plants and
• animals

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Has anyone ever made bread?

• or vetkoek,
• or beer,
• or wine?
• These processes all need the help of a living
  organism

yeast
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Has anyone ever made compost?

• Compost is decomposed plant and animal material
• We use composting to put food back into the soil
  for the next crop
• Microbes breakdown dead plants and animals back
  into compost
• What would the world look like without these
  microbes?

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What about medicinal plants?

• Some plants and animals have special compounds
  that act as medicines.
• Africa has a strong culture of traditional
  medicine that uses many local plants

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And, food production?

• Our different plant varieties and farm animals
  come from
• Selection
• and
• Breeding

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What is gene transfer?
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1 gene - 1 protein
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Why are we trying new technology?

• What problems do we have with producing food?

• How do we try to address these problems?
• Pesticides (chemicals)
• Pesticides
• Seasonal planting
• Covers, shade
• Fertilisers, compost

• Pests
• Diseases
• Drought
• Floods
• Cold
• Heat
• Poor soils

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We need new technology to produce all things
sustainably

• Modern biotechnology allows us to take the best
  in nature and share it around to make useful,
  safe new products
• The aim is to improve quality of life in a more
  environmentally friendly way

WSSD
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Moving genes for medicines
Insulin is used by diabetics It used to be
extracted from pigs pancreases The human insulin
gene was cloned into a bacterium The bacterium
multiplies in vats and produces lots of human
insulin The insulin is purified and sold
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Moving genes for agriculture

• Bt cotton has a gene from a soil bacterium
• The gene produces a very small amount of protein
  that makes caterpillars ill
• This protein does not affect any other living
  organism
• Using Bt cotton farmers get better yields with
  much less pesticide
• Bt cotton is more environmentally friendly than
  conventional cotton

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WSSD
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GM crops approved for SA

• Insect tolerant cotton
• Insect tolerant maize
• Herbicide tolerant cotton
• Herbicide tolerant soya

WSSD
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Moving genes for food processing

• Rennin is extracted from sheep stomach linings
  (rennet) to help mature cheese
• The gene for the enzyme was moved from sheep into
  yeast (mid 1980s)
• Now cheese makers buy the purified enzyme and add
  it to their cheese. Vegetarian cheese derived
  from GM.

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Benefits of GM enzyme production

• Safer
• Cheaper
• Better quality
• Less waste
• Less energy
• More environ-mentally friendly

WSSD
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Microbial gene transfer products ...
Food processing amylase glucosidases chymosin
(cheese) isomerases oxidases lipases pectinase pap
ain, etc.
Medical uses insulin factor 8 human growth
hormone, gene therapy, etc. Industrial uses -
lipases - cellulases - proteases, etc.
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Biotechnology and the environment

• Biotech tools are used to
• Identify species
• Keep records of biodiveristy
• Help conservation decision making

WSSD
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How do you feel about gene transfer?

• Gene transfer is a powerful technology that has
  many benefits, but also raises some concerns.

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Concerns about gene transfer

• Fall into 4 categories
• Environmental
• Food and feed safety
• Economic
• Social

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Environmental concerns

• Outcrossing
• other farmers
• local plants and animals
• Spreading
• invasiveness
• weediness
• Biodiversity
• non-target organisms

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Food and feed concerns

• Toxins
• Allergens
• Nutritional changes
• Antibiotic resistance
• Unexpected effects
• Segregation can harvested crops be kept apart,
  when needed?

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Economic concerns

• Globalization
• Multinational control of food production
• Trade wars
• Intellectual Property Rights
• Note these apply to most technologies, not just GM

WSSD
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Social concerns

• Dietary preferences
• Taste preferences
• Ethics
• Keeping seed
• Organic farming
• Labelling

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So how do we deal with our concerns about gene
transfer?

• Gene transfer is not the first technology to
  raise concerns.
• Consider
• cars, aeroplanes, drugs, electricity, pesticides,
  etc.
• All have risks and benefits
• They are regulated to allow us access to the
  benefits.

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Checking the safety of GMOs

• All GMOs have to be approved
• Approval process checks safety and socio-economic
  impact
• Safety audits are by independent experts
• Government reviews socio-economic impact, public
  input and safety data to make final decision

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What is checked?
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Status of GM foods in the world

• Over 3 billion people have eaten approved GM food
  for the last 6 years
• No safety incident to date
• Modifications approved in
• tomato, soya, cotton, maize, canola, chicory,
  potatoes, flax, rice, pawpaw, squash, etc.
• There are no human or animal genes in any
  approved GM food crops

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Conclusion

• Biotechnology products will impact on all areas
  of our lives
• food, fuel, materials, forestry, mining,
  medicine, computers
• All concerns are checked before approvals are
  given
• Safety is carefully regulated

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Conclusions, cont.

• Biotechnology is one of many tools that will help
  
• produce food sustainably,
• address poverty and
• conserve our planet
• To benefit from biotechnology, we need a well
  informed civil society.