Lives depend on GE drugs

Saying 'no' to gene technology could be deadly for some disease sufferers, medical researchers told the Royal Commission on Genetic Modification this week. ANNE BESTON reports.

People with serious illnesses, from diabetics to leukaemia sufferers, rely on genetically modified drugs to keep them alive, the Royal Commission on Genetic Modification was told this week.

More high-powered pro-genetics evidence was presented during the second week of hearings by the commission, which has been asked by the Government to investigate how New Zealand should deal with controversial new gene technology.

Top academics from the University of Auckland said most branches of medicine now relied on the pioneering techniques of genetic science to solve some of the world's most deadly diseases.

Professor Ingrid Winship, associate dean for research of medical and health sciences at the university, said more than 100,000 diabetics in New Zealand needed the drug insulin to stay alive.

Insulin was once manufactured from the pancreas of dead animals but since the early 1990s, synthetic insulin had been produced using GE techniques.

Gene research was also used to diagnose different types of cancer, in particular a rare form of leukaemia. Isolating genes in tissue samples allowed the disease to be diagnosed and it was treated quite differently from other forms of leukaemia.

A new drug was also being clinically tested for the disease and had so far proven 100 per cent effective.

Professor Winship said a gene causing cystic fibrosis - a potentially fatal disease that causes chronic lung infections and infertility - was carried by one in 25 New Zealanders. The use of GE technology allowed the gene to be identified in foetuses before birth.

"While prenatal testing and the possible consequence of termination of an affected pregnancy remains a difficult issue, parents are able to exercise informed choice in this situation," she told the four-member panel of commissioners.

She said about 10 per cent of cancer conditions occurred because of genetic predisposition, genes passed on to children from their parents.

Bowel cancer was one example where, using genetic science, individuals who were susceptible to the disease could be identified early and get regular checkups through their lives.

Genetic modification meant that, in future, haemophiliacs could be given synthetic factor VIII instead of risking infection from blood transfusions using human blood.

Professor Marston Condor, deputy vice-chancellor (research) at the university, told the commission that the School of Biological Sciences was heavily involved in genetic research.

He estimated that 75 per cent of the school's $18 million income was spent on biotechnology, a branch of science which investigates the genetic make-up of DNA.

Also appearing before the commission this week was global food giant Monsanto.

The company's New Zealand representative, Murray Willocks, said New Zealanders would have to choose whether they wanted an economy based on organics or genetic engineering.

A lawyer representing the organics industry said organic exports could rise from the current $60 million a year to more than $100 million by 2005 but Mr Willocks said that was tiny compared to New Zealand's total agricultural and forestry output.

"It comes down to a choice New Zealanders must make," Mr Willocks said.

Monsanto produces GE soy, wheat, corn, cotton and other crops, which the company claims are resistant to Round Up herbicide and insects.

On Wednesday an article incorrectly quoted Genetic Engineering-Free New Zealand spokeswoman Susie Lees as saying her organisation was opposed to using genetically modified animals in medical research.

GE Free NZ does not make statements on medical applications of genetic modification. It is concerned about transgenic animals for medical use being in the open environment.

- NZPA

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