Issues in Biotechnology:

The Way We Work With Life

Dr. Albert P. Kausch

life

edu.org
OnCampus
Live
BCH 190, MIC 190, AFS 190, NRS 190, PLS 190
OnLine BCH 190
A Sweeping General Survey on Life and Biotechnology
A Public Access College Course

The University of Rhode Island

Issues in Biotechnology:
Biotechnology, Our Society and Our Future

Issues in Biotechnology:
The Way We Work With Life
Dr. Albert Kausch
Kimberly Nelson

BCH 190

Section I. The Mechanics of DNA: What is Life?

Section II. The Applications of Biotechnology

A Sweeping General Survey on Life and Biotechnology

A Public Access College Course

The University of Rhode Islandlife

Issues in Biotechnology:
The Way We Work With Life
Dr. Albert P. Kausch

life edu.org
Part II

The Applications of
Biotechnology
A Sweeping General Survey on Life and Biotechnology
The University of Rhode Island

Agricultural Biotechnology
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Lectures 13 and 14

Issues in Biotechnology:
The Way We Work With Life
Dr. Albert P. Kausch

life edu.org

Agricultural Biotechnology
Part I Where Does Our Food Come From?
Part II DNA-based Biotechnology
And Modern Agriculture
Part III. Issues, Controversies and Concerns
a. Setting the Stage about Food and Agriculture:
b. Issues, Controversies and Concerns
c. The Organic Food Debate
Part IV. The Ethics
of Agriculture
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Part V. Renewable Energy and the Future of Humanity

Issues in Biotechnology:
The Way We Work With Life
Dr. Albert P. Kausch

life edu.org

Agricultural Biotechnology
Part IV. Issues, Controversies and Concerns

The Ethics Of Agricultural Biotechnology

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Where do the plants

we eat come from?
Nearly all the plants available
In the grocery store
do not grow in the wild
All cultivated plants are the result
of human intervention.
These plants would not exist
without humans.
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Where do the plants

we eat come from?
Domestication
Selection
Genetics
Wide Crosses
Mutagenesis
Gene Transfer
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Conventional Foods
Processed Foods
Organic Foods
Natural Foods
Whole Foods

Crop Plants
Conventional farming
Organic farming

Large Scale Agriculture

Conventional farming
Organic farming

Wild Plants
Crop Plants
Genetics
Breeding
Heredity
DNA

Terminator

Agent Orange Corn

Issues in Biotechnology:
The Way We Work With Life
Dr. Albert P. Kausch

life edu.org

Agricultural Biotechnology
Part III. Issues, Controversies and Concerns
The Organic Food Industrial Complex

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How should we
produce the food
we eat?
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Large Scale Agriculture

Conventional farming
commercial production
millions of acres
large farms
Water use
Land use
Pesticides
Synthetic fertilizers

Sustainability
Economical
Practical
Scalable

Large yields
Lower costs
Competitive
Crop Improvement

Organic farming
No Synthetic Pesticides
No Synthetic Fertilizers
No GMOs

Genetically Modified Organisms and Food

Issues and Concerns about Biotechnology
Given the success of
Agricultural Biotechnology

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What is behind the

turmoil?
Uncertainty about safety
Regulatory issues
Right of choice
Environmental concerns
Globalization
Food culture
Big science, big companies
Crossing the line
Distrust of Science

AgBiotech
Issues and Concerns
Uncertainty about safety
Regulatory issues
Right of choice
Environmental concerns
Globalization
Big science, big companies
Distrust of Science
Food culture
Crossing the line
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Confronting the Gordian Knot

L Val Giddings, Ingo Potrykus, Klaus Ammann & Nina V Fedoroff
Nature Biotechnology Volume 30 Number 3 March 2012

To our knowledge, every claim of a

negative consequence to health or the
environment from the use of these
crops has failed to withstand
scrutiny.

Confronting the Gordian Knot

L Val Giddings, Ingo Potrykus, Klaus Ammann & Nina V Fedoroff
Nature Biotechnology Volume 30 Number 3 March 2012

It is imperative that the impediments

now obstructing innovations in these
critical areas be examined, and those
that cannot be justified must be
removed

The Threat of Pesticides

to Health and the Environment
Toxic compounds
Allergenicity
Carcinocenic
Estrogen-like
compounds
Persistent
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What Is The Threat of Pesticides

to Health and the Environment?
What are the health
consequences to
Agricultural workers?
They are exposed to
more pesticides daily
that most people in a
lifetime.
Do organic foods
provide a safety?

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Agbiotech Crops Can Lower

Pesticide and Chemical use.
Protein-based
Safer Compounds
Using Less Fuel

Conservation Tillage
Specific Targets
Biological Basis

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Lower
Environmental
Impacts

In 1962, Carson wrote: A truly extraordinary variety of

alternatives to the chemical control of insects is
available. Some are already in use and have achieved
brilliant success. Others are in the stage of laboratory
testing. Still others are little more than ideas in the
minds of imaginative scientists, waiting for the
opportunity to put them to the test. All have this in
common: they are biological solutions, based on
understanding of the living organisms they seek to
control, and of the whole fabric of life to which these
organisms belong. Specialists representing various areas
of the vast field of biology are contributing
entomologists, pathologists, geneticists, physiologists,
biochemists and ecologistsall pouring their knowledge
and their creative inspirations into the formation of a
new science of biotic controls

Will Biotechnology help

create sustainable Agriculture,
Or
Exacerbate the problems of large
AgriBusiness & Monoculture farming?

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Is Organic Food
Better for You?

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Is Organic Food
Better for the
Environment?
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Is the Organic solution viable for

sustainable world agriculture?

Critics argue:
Feeding Humanity From Organic Fields
Would Mean Cropping Twice As Much
Land As We Currently life_edu
Plant.

Is Organic Food
Safer?

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Perhaps New Organic

Food Standards Could
Use Warning Labels
Organic Products Are
Not Necessarily Tastier,
Healthier Or
Pesticide-Free
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Is Organic Food
Better for You?

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Issues in Biotechnology:
The Way We Work With Life
Dr. Albert P. Kausch

life edu.org

Agricultural Biotechnology
Part IV. Issues, Controversies and Concerns

The Ethics Of Agricultural Biotechnology

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Sustainable Agriculture

Responsible Land Management Practices

Water Use Efficiency
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Maarten J.
Chrispeels,ed.
Director
San Diego Center for
Molecular Biology
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Agricultural
Biotechnology: Risks and Ethics
Risk to worldview
Risk to human health
Risk to environment
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Biotechnology: Risks and Ethics

Given sufficient real risk,
most of us would proceed
with extreme caution or not
at all

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Can
Biotechnology
Be Used To
Feed The Poor?

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Biotechnology: Risks and Ethics

Given sufficient need, most
of us would proceed with
perseverance and survival

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Should
Biotechnology
Be Used To
Feed The Poor?

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i
B
0
1

n
o
i
ll

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World population is growing faster

than increases in food supply

There are now six billion

people on the planet.
There will be ten billion
by 2025.
Can we feed the world
in the future?

An Essay on
The Principle of Population
Thomas Robert Malthus
life_edu
1798

Can agriculture be
sustainable?

Who will feed the world

in the next 20 yrs?

90% of the population increase

in the next 30 yrs will be
in third world cities.

Mexico City:
the worlds
largest city

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Stage 1: 400 billion in 260 yrs

elimination of all land wildlife
complete use of land for agriculture
Stage 2: 3000 billion in 370 yrs
only food source is single-celled
marine algae
Stage 3: 15000 billion in 450 yrs
light and phosphorus are limiting
Stage 4: 1,000,000 billion in 680 yrs
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Solent Green is people

The Silent Holocaust

40,000 people die from starvation
each day
1,000,000 people die from vitamin A
deficiency each year
Who will feed these people?
The North?or themselves?

The man who has bread

has many problemsThe man who has no bread
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has one.

Norman E. Borlaug
Founder of the Green
Revolution
Developed High-Yield
Wheat Crops in Mexico
Introduced High-Yield
Wheat Crops to India
and Pakistan
1970 Nobel Prize
Laureate
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Ending World Hunger.

The Promise of Biotechnology
Norman Borlaug
Nobel Laureate
The Green Revolution

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Biotechnology and Ethics

Could it be that some applications of
biotechnology are morally good while some are
morally wrong?
Can detailed public debate be used to choose?
Can a balance between perceived benefits and
known risks be used to evaluate these
questions?
life_edu

Biotechnology and Ethics

The implementation of biotechnology is
moving much faster than the public education
Hence there is no meaningful public discussion
and there are no collective decisions
Therefore, momentous collective moral
decisions about biotechnology are being made
by default
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Is the Consumer Adequately Edu

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Biotechnology and Ethics

Machiavellian
Bioethics
Could it be that some applications should be
pursued for the Higher Good

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Biotechnology and Ethics

Biotechnology and
the Developing World
Suppose you were a farmer living in a country facing
famine and you had access to a genetically altered seed
stock that was 30 percent more productive than your
existing seed stocks. Would it be morally wrong to
refuse the bioengineered seeds?
life_edu

Biotechnology: Risks and Ethics

Polls show that Americans are generally:
Optimistic about science and technology
Fairly adverse to risk taking
Financially dependent on scientific progress
and development of technology
Obsessed with health
Eager to accept benefits with limited risk
What about the rest of the world?
life_edu

Any society goes through social movements or

fads, in which economically useless things
become valued or useful things devalued
temporarily. Nowadays, when almost all
societies on Earth are connected to each other,
we cannot imagine a fad's going so far that an
important technology would actually be
discarded. A society that temporarily turned
against a powerful technology would continue
to see it being used by neighboring societies and
would have the opportunity to reacquire it by
diffusion (or would be conquered by neighbors
if it failed to do so).
Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs and Steel

The History of
cience, Technology and the Publ
Has there ever been a new technology
that has been developed that has not
been implemented by the public if it were
useful?Regardless of risk or change?

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Visualize
Whirled
Peas
Sustainable
Agriculture
Global Ecology
Rain Forest or
Food?

What is the carrying

capacity of the Earth?

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Genes and Ideas

No organ in the history of
evolution has grown as fast
as the human brain
What is the biological
basis for the evolution of
consciousness?
Who are you?
There is no alternative to
being yourself
Be all you can be
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Follow your bliss

How did the brain evolve?

How did consciousness
evolve?
What is perception?
What is psychology?
How does government
relate to sociobiology?
Is anyone an individual
by choice?
What does it mean
o be a human?

Genes and Ideas

Ideas, like biological
innovations, seem to follow
the rules of evolution.
From the random stream of
thoughts, utterances, and
writings, a few get selected
and are reproduced, while
the rest are weeded out. An
idea born in one brain
evolves as it passes through
other brains. Those ideas
that spread best will find
more enduring lives in the
worlds libraries and CD
collections.

Any discreet, memorable

idea enters the competition:
car headlights, microchips,
Pinocchio, algebra, natural
selection, and the TV jingle
that you hate but cant get
out of your head. The first
order of business for an
idea is to spread itself,
whether or not it acts for
the good of anything. The
more it sticks in our
collective minds, the more
likely it is to survive.

By almost any measure, the

natural environment we
live in is under stress.
Many organisms have not
been able to keep pace with
the changes we have
produced and extinction
rates are rising.
Evolution suggests to us
that ideas that work from
one environment may not
work for another. In other
words, the ideas that got us
here may not be the ones
that keep us here.

As some of out most

successful ideas come to
threaten the ecological
balance of the natural
world, we need to take
another look at them and
make choices that
contribute to the well-being
of the life system as a
whole. One such choice is
what biologist E.O. Wilson
calls Biophilia, which
might be viewed as our
natural sense of
connectedness to life.

Wilson writes, to explore

and to affiliate with life is a
deep and complicated
process in mental
development. To an extent
still undervalued in
philosophy and religion,
our existence depends on
this propensity, our spirit is
woven from it, hope rises
on its currents.
It may be that our growing
appreciation of that truth
will be the greatest legacy
we can pass on to future
generations.
Mahlon Hoagland

Genes and Ideas

What about individuality?
Freedom of Choice

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 life_edu

25. Organic Foods are know to be better for you since

a. They have been shown to have quantitatively higher levels of
proteins compared with their conventional counterparts
b. They have been shown to have quantitatively higher levels
of vitamins compared with their conventional counterparts
c. They have no GMOs which have been demonstrated to have
negative effects on human health
d. They are only grown from heirloom varieties that have not
been robbed of their inherent nutritional value the way
conventional crops have been.
e. They are safer than their conventional counterparts
regarding food borne diseases like E coli.

26. Suppose you were a farmer living in a country facing

famine and you had access to a genetically modified seed stock
for growing 1000 hectares of drought tolerant maize that was
30 percent more productive than your existing seed stocks.
Your country allows production of GM crops and you have
received funding from the Gates Foundation to purchase the
seed. Which group would you be most likely to obtain the
seeds from?
a. The United Nations
b. Greenpeace
c. Monsanto
d. The Salvation Army
e. Church World Service

27. Suppose you were a farmer living in a developing country.

You can grow crops for subsistence, but you have no money to
send your children to school or for medical care. You have
access to a genetically modified seed stock for 1000 hectares of
maize that is 30 percent more productive than your existing
seed stocks. One problem is that you might not be able to sell
you seed to market since
a. you dont want to exposure your children to the known risks
of GM crops
b. your country exports to Europe which has a ban on GM
crops and ingredients
c. GM crops are known to be useless for human and livestock
nutrition
d. GM crops are inherently risky in every farm environment
e. The buyers in all developing countries accept only
organically grown crops (no GMOs)

28. The implementation of agricultural biotechnology is

moving much faster than the public education about it. Hence
there is no meaningful public discussion and there are no
collective decisions. Therefore, momentous collective moral
decisions about agricultural biotechnology are being made
largely by
a. A well educated public
b. Well informed scientists at Greenpeace
c. Default
d. Educated clergy
e. Church World Service

29. Norman Borlaug

a. Was a Nobel Laureate for his role in The Green Revolution
b. Invented Genetic Modification of Agricultural crops
c. Played for the New York Yankees before becoming an
advocate of World Agriculture
d. Was an outspoken critic of Agricultural Biotechnology
citing its detriments to sustainable agriculture
e. Believed that Agricultural Biotechnology could not play a
significant role in ending world Hunger.

30. There are currently 7 billion people on the planet and

projected to reach 9 billion by 2050. One question is whether
biotechnology can be used to feed the poor. Another question
erroneously asks whether biotechnology should be used to feed
the poor (with the presumption that the poor will generate
more poor). How many people can the planet sustain. What is
the best estimate of the carrying capacity for the planet?
a. 10 billion
b. 100 billion
c. 1000 billion
d. 10,000 billion
e. It can not be accurately determined based on a variety of
yet unknown factors.

31. There are currently 7 billion people on the planet and

projected to reach 9 billion by 2050. Considering the use of
biotechnology and the crises of rising population, decline of
arable land and water resources, limited energy supplies and
unequal distribution of food and a growing decline in global
food security the ethics what are the major risks (real or
perceived) concerning the deployment of biotechnology
application to agricultural
a. Risk to worldview
b. Risk to human health
c. Risk to environment
d. Risk to sustainable environment
e. All of the risks shown have been expressed as concerns