‘TERMINATOR’ GENE TECHNOLOGY: WHO IS RIGHT?

Good day great Steemians.
It’s so great to have my first post in here. Let’s get to it at once.

It is an interesting thing to know that the world is being revolutionized due to technological innovations in various spheres of life. Today, I will be writing about a particular technology in Agriculture which has been of immense benefit to scientist but not without side effects that has been of ethical concern to our dear farmers (without them, we can’t survive, you know).

So, what is this technology about? ‘Terminator’ Gene technology also known as Genetic Use Restriction Technology (GURTs) is the genetic modification of plants to make them produce sterile seeds in the second generation. Those second generation seeds are famously known as “suicide seeds”.

By Viriditas - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0

In lay man’s language, it is a technology that is used in Agriculture whereby the genetic component of a particular plant is intentionally altered through genetic engineering and a certain chemical, which makes the first generation of the seeds remain intact like nothing was done to it. When those seeds are planted they grow into new plants but when the seed from these new plants are planted again, the seeds can never germinate (those are the second generation seeds). Wow! The farmer discovers that the seeds are sterile! He cannot plant his own seeds but have to go back to the scientist or breeder that sold him the seeds! If he attempts to plant the seeds, the plants will die before maturity, they won’t even survive. Farmers can’t just plant the seeds they derived from their past harvest but have to buy new seeds every year which makes them always dependent on the scientists producing those seeds.

By CIAT - 2DU Kenya16, CC BY-SA 2.0

This is causing a whole lot of problems to peasant farmers because they procure these seeds at exorbitant prices from the scientists.

Lest I forget, the term ‘terminator’ gene technology itself is a dubbed name given to the technology by critics due to the mechanism and the side effects of the technology on plants. The actual patent name of the technology is Technology Protection System or Genetic Use Restriction Technology (GURT).

The questions which I guess might be on your mind right now are ‘does this technology even have any benefit?’, ‘Why must a technology of great ethical concern be initiated in the first place?’Did I just read your mind? Of course, it has a whole lot of benefits! Scientists brought about this technology to solve the problem of food scarcity which is a major challenge in many parts of the developing world, but in doing that, other problems surfaced. Due to the side effects, the technology became a threat and of great ethical concern to the society at large including some ethical breeders and scientists like me (I care about others, you know).

576px-GMO_corn_label_RoundUp_Liberty_Link_Herculex_I_Cruiser_Mid_Rate.jpg

By Orin Hargraves from Carroll County, MD, USA - Better Living through Genetic Modification, CC BY 2.0

Benefits of GURT

Some of the general benefits of this technology are:

It strengthens intellectual property protection of newly developed agricultural crop varieties and restrict farmers or competing breeders from reproducing their innovation.
It produces transgene that in turn helps to respond to biosafety concerns.
It is a tool via which desired traits in plants can be switched on or off in favourable or unfavorable environmental conditions.
Breeders that initiated the technology would obtain their economic return through the sale of seeds
Farmers could profit from the new (improved) varieties providing higher yield potentials and improved pest resistance.
It has a secondary positive impact on consumers in terms of lower cost of foods.

Initially, there has been a wide range of criticism from different parts of the world concerning genetically modified crops (GMOs), so further initiating suicide into the already controversial technology (Genetic Engineering) is a big challenge.

Ethical concerns of GURT

Let’s briefly have a look at some of the great ethical concerns of this technology to the society. The society thinks;

The toxin introduced into the plant during the process of the technology can enter the part of the plant people eat
The genes may escape accidentally and make some of our major crops self sterile, then they may no longer reproduce
There is a great threat to biodiversity
Seed saving would no longer be economical, which is really necessary for survival in some poorer parts of the world
*Above all, they claimed it is immoral to have introduced something as dangerous as that into nature.

Scientists in turn then argued that so much effort, resources and time was put in breeding plants with high productivity potentials, so there has to be a patent right to protect their innovation. They also argued that without the patent protection on the technology ,they cannot afford to do the extensive research needed to provide advances in biotechnology. Harry B. Collins of Delta & Pine Land company also argued that the farmers will still have the option to use the traditional varieties having no protection system and that the new technology will encourage plant breeders to invest and develop new varieties of crops.

Do you think the scientists are right to have protected their technology? On the other hand, are these seeds not posing threat to the health, economy and survival of the society? These and many more are the questions I begin to ask myself. WHO IS RIGHT? The scientists (inventors of the ‘terminator’ gene technology) or the society? How do you think a balance can be reached? In your own opinion, what do you think is a solution to this ongoing controversy?

Conclusion

The ‘terminator’ gene technology is an innovation with both positive and negative impacts on the world’s agricultural system which makes it a subject of much controversy.

Thanks for your time, till next time. Keep on steeming and you'll certainly be informed.