Genetic fears may derail biotech

By Yoke Har Lee

Between the lines

New Zealand could enter the next decade enjoying a robust biotechnology industry worth between $6 billion and $10 billion. At the very worst however, public concerns over genetic engineering could severely derail this future.

It would be ironic if the biotech industry suffered from public resistance to genetic engineering. Modern biotechnology owes much of its life to work done by a Kiwi.

In 1953, two scientists, Dr Francis Crick and Dr James Watson, published in a scientific journal their work on the structure of the DNA. Their research was based on the findings of Dr Maurice Wilkins, a New Zealander then working at the University of London.

Not many New Zealanders know about Dr Wilkins. Neither does the world. But what the world is discovering is that New Zealand has ideal conditions for biotechnology research and development (R&D). We have healthy animals, great biodiversity, and a clean green environment.

Governments around the world understand biotech as one of the new waves of business. Hence it is timely for the Government to form the Independent Biotechnology Advisory Council, with the aim of providing a forum to advise it on biotechnology's development.

The council, according to Dr William Rolleston, who is chairman of the New Zealand Biotechnology Association, should capture all stakeholders' views. Maxine Simmons, co-founder of biotechnology firm Immuno-Chemical Products, summed it up succinctly when she said: "In a nutshell, no, we can't have a biotech industry without GMO [genetically modified organisms]."

Much of the public's fear about GMO is based on emotion and a lack of information. So far, all the GMO debate has done is to raise the spectre of Frankenstein or mutant species.

The fact is genetic engineering is already widely prevalent in our lives. Insulin is made by putting a human gene into bacteria. Genetic engineering treats diabetics, human dwarfism, renal failures, among others. Some day, genetic engineering may find a cure for currently incurable diseases.

There is an inherent contradiction in the public's fear of GMO - genetic engineering seems fine as long as scientists don't cross ethical lines. It is fine if it helps save lifes, not fine in our foods. The council will hopefully raise debate to its proper level - one based on facts to help us make informed decisions.

In regulating the development of the biotechnology industry, there is no shortage of models for New Zealand to follow. But the biotechnolgy industry has so far failed to make the public understand what GMO is all about.

For a public fed only by scaremongers, more facts would be constructive in helping New Zealand decide what sort of biotech future it can have.