ave found no credible reason to conclude that foods produced from current GMO crops are unsafe to eat.
Elsewhere on the UVM campus, the subject veered in the direction of GMO-propelled cars.
Transgenic corn, which is fermented by yeast into ethanol, has already transformed vast tracks of the Midwest.
Other techniques for cultivating biofuels — from diesels to aviation fuels — are being tested on a much smaller scale at the lab of Mary Dunlop, a bioengineer and professor at College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences.
Yet again, bacteria play a leading role.
E. coli, a gut-friendly organism, converts sugars into alcohols or other hydrocarbons. As with yeast in a batch of wine, alcohol concentrations reach a level of toxicity to the bacteria, and the process stops.
Dunlop is examining ways to boost E. coli's production.
Using a genetic process called transformation, she is able to introduce genes that control tolerance to biofuels, and the efficiency by which that metabolic "waste" is released.
Dunlop sticks with E. coli because of its rapid reproductive rate, its relatively simple cellular structure "and because you can just put them in the freezer for the weekend if you want to go home."
Before returning to her work, Dunlop noted another arena for genetically modified E. coli: the production of insulin for diabetics.
Dean Tom Vogelmann elaborated.
"People overlook that this new technology has transformed pharmaceuticals and medicine," he said.
"You can imagine the relief worldwide when all of the sudden you could make pure human insulin within bacterial cells. It seems to be accepted."
E. coli can be selectively modified not only to kick off vaccines, but also to perish if it escapes the confines of the lab — a safety measure more secure than the old-school method of cultivating, storing and transporting deadly pathogens, Vogelmann added.
Quickly, naturally mutating microbes pose the ultimate biological threat to humanity, he concludes.
"Viruses and retroviruses are notorious for dumping DNA into human cells," Vogelmann said. "You carry foreign DNA around in you until the end of your days."
Contact Joel Banner Baird at 660-1843 or joelbaird@FreePressMedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/vtgoingup.
Crops that have been genetically modified with other species' genomes include:
- Alfalfa (Medicago sativa)
- Apple (Malus x Domestica)
- Argentine Canola (Brassica napus)
- Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris)
- Carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus)
- Chicory (Cichorium intybus)
- Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.)
- Creeping Bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera)
- Eggplant (Solanum melongena)
- Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus sp.)
- Flax (Linum usitatissumum L.)
- Maize (Zea mays L.)
- Melon (Cucumis melo)
- Papaya (Carica papaya)
- Petunia (Petunia hybrida)
- Plum (Prunus domestica)
- Polish canola (Brassica rapa)
- Poplar (Populus sp.)
- Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.)
- Rice (Oryza sativa L.)
- Rose (Rosa hybrida)
- Soybean (Glycine max L.)
- Squash (Cucurbita pepo)
- Sugar Beet (Beta vulgaris)
- Sugarcane (Saccharum sp)
- Sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum)
- Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.)
- Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum)
- Wheat (Triticum aestivum)
Source: International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications.
Details on the crops and their provenance can be found at the organization's online GM Approval Database: www.isaaa.org/gmapprovaldatabase/default.asp