Genetic researchers are pursuing a new avenue to rid farms
of insects and weeds that curtail crop production – RNA interference.
The genetic technique shuts down a gene that the insect or
weed needs to survive.
Because researchers select a gene that only shows up in that
specific insect or weed, they believe it will pose no threat to anything else.
Monsanto is researching the technology to tackle corn
root worms.
Its approach is to develop corn hybrids that contain the
gene-silencing RNA; it does its work when the beetle stage of corn rootworms
munch on the genetically-modified corn plant.
The science behind this research earned the Nobel Prize in
Physiology or Medicine in 2006 and at the time was considered a breakthrough
for human medicine.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency has
convened a meeting of scientists this week to ponder the risks and benefits of
applying the technology to farming.
Advocates say it’s the best thing since the discovery of
pesticides. Others worry that we don’t know enough so could be unleashing
technology that will cause great harm.
“To attempt to use this technology
at this current stage of understanding would be more naïve than our use of DDT
in the 1950s,” the National Honey Bee Advisory Board said in comments submitted
to the E.P.A. before the meeting, at the agency’s conference center in
Arlington, Va.
While DDT proved effective, it also
had a broader impact than intended and harmed beneficial species, such as
birds.
“If you use a neuro-poison, it
kills everything,” said Subba Reddy Palli, an entomologist at the University of
Kentucky who is researching the technology, which is called RNA interference.
“But this one is very target-specific.”
