The Gene Revolution

The study of genetics has given rise to a lucrative new industry called biotechnology. As the name suggests, it blends biology and modern technology through such techniques as genetic engineering. Some of the new biotech companies, as they are called, specialize in agriculture and are working feverishly to patent seeds that give a high yield, that resist disease, drought, and frost, and that reduce the need for hazardous chemicals. If such goals could be achieved, it would be most beneficial. But some have raised concerns about genetically engineered crops.

“In nature, genetic diversity is created within certain limits,” says the book Genetic Engineering, Food, and Our Environment. “A rose can be crossed with a different kind of rose, but a rose will never cross with a potato. . . . Genetic engineering, on the other hand, usually involves taking genes from one species and inserting them into another in an attempt to transfer a desired trait or character. This could mean, for example, selecting a gene which leads to the production of a chemical with antifreeze properties from an arctic fish (such as the flounder), and splicing it into a potato or strawberry to make it frost-resistant. It is now possible for plants to be engineered with genes taken from bacteria, viruses, insects, animals or even humans.”a In essence, then, biotechnology allows humans to breach the genetic walls that separate species.

Like the green revolution, what some call the gene revolution contributes to the problem of genetic uniformity—some say even more so because geneticists can employ techniques such as cloning and tissue culture, processes that produce perfectly identical copies, or clones. Concerns about the erosion of biodiversity, therefore, remain. Genetically altered plants, however, raise new issues, such as the effects that they may have on us and the environment. “We are flying blindly into a new era of agricultural biotechnology with high hopes, few constraints, and little idea of the potential outcomes,” said science writer Jeremy Rifkin.b

On the other hand, the power to manipulate life on the genetic level is a potential gold mine, and so the race is on to patent new seeds and other engineered organisms.