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Note: The following paper was given by Con O'Rourke, of Teagasc, at the Autumn 2000 meeting of the Irish Science Centres Awareness Network (iSCAN) at the National Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin. It was published in the iSCAN Newsletter, Vol 11, January 2001 available on the ISCAN web site at http://www.iscan.ie/newlsletter/volume11.htm.
The paper mentions that Teagasc received £ 25 million in taxpayer funding to promote biotechnology, and would have us believe that biotechnology and organic farming are compatible!
Can Biotechnology and Organic Farming be Friends?
Con O'Rourke, Teagasc
Teagasc is involved both in organic farming and in biotechnology - in the former via research at Johnstown Castle and teaching in Athenry College, and in the latter mainly via research on dairy foods and animal production. Biotechnology in Teagasc has received a major boost with the recent additional £25million government funding.
As a component of biotechnology, genetically-modified (GM) plants currently include 13 major crops grown on 35million hectares worldwide, 40 foods and 60% of soy/maize-based processed foods. Most such crops are insect, disease or herbicide resistant but some also include quality attributes such as reduced alkaloids in potato and higher solids and increased shelf-life in tomato. Of particular relevance to the Third World is the development of vitamin-A enriched rice and orally-administered human vaccines produced from staple foods.
A more science-aware public is required to evaluate the benefits-versus-risks of GM plants. Unfortunately, the fewer second-level students taking chemistry and physics at higher level means that the agenda may increasingly beset by fear, ignorance and tabloid journalism rather than by scientifically-verifiable facts.
Areas where the interests of biotechnology and organic farming can (or should) complement each other include environmental protection and nutrient recycling (e.g. slurry digesters, 'superbugs' to biodegrade plastic wastes), animal welfare (e.g. diagnostic kits to measure stress), GM crops requiring no or much-reduced pesticides, and tissue culture and embryo rescue in both plants and animals to conserve and propagate rare varieties or breeds.
Microbiological safety (e.g. Salmonella, Listeria, E. coli, BSE) is by far the most important food-related public health issue. Chemical residues in food are continuously monitored and rarely exceed safe limits. Most heavy metal-based pesticides (e.g. copper, mercury) are being, or already have been, withdrawn from agriculture. More environmentally-sensitive practices, such as BIFS, IPM and VRT ('Biologically Integrated Farming Systems', 'Integrated Pest Management' and 'Variable Rate Technology', respectively), are gradually closing the gap between conventional and organic farming.
