B00K Rep0rt: THE FRANKENF00D MYTH

BY: C0sare,

0utli ne Title
Authors background

of book Readers comments definition of terms science involved Summary of chapter 3 Summary of chapter 4

DR. HENRY I. MILLER

He

is research fellow at the Hoover Institution since 1994. His research "focuses on the relationship between science and regulation, the often-excessive costs of government regulation, models for regulatory reform, and federal and international oversight of genetically engineered products. He joined the FDA in 1979 and served in a number of posts involved with the new biotechnology. He has authored or co-authored six monographs.

GREGORY CONKO
He

is the Director of Food Safety Policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) He specializes in issues of food and pharmaceutical drug safety regulation, and on the general treatment of health risks in public policy He is also the Vice President and a member of the Board of Directors of the AgBioWorld Foundation

THE FRANKENFOOD MYTH: How Protest and Politics Threaten the Biotech Revolution

This book aims to describe how misguided activism and government policies are squandering potential advances in biotechnology.

Readers comments
Dr. Miller and Mr. Conko have done a tremendous service to all of those who care about intellectual honesty. This is a no-holds barred, gloves-off attack, not of the critics of biotechnology, but of the intellectual dishonesty and rampant hucksterism that passes for enlightened debate about issues of complexity nowadays. "

-Anonymous

Readers comments
"The Frankenfood Myth outlines problems with the way gene-spliced organisms are regulated in the U.S. It does so using adjectives like "witless" and nouns like "nincompoopery," and so may be especially entertaining for people who like that sort of thing. Miller and Conko's case for less regulation being the solution to these problems was, for me, too often inconsistent and inadequately documented to be persuasive."

- B. Martineau

Readers comments
"The authors do a masterful job of exposing the misapprehension spread by regulators and activists, and abetted by the media that "genetic modification" is untested, unproven or unregulated. It is very readable and very persuasive. "

-Tuscany

Definition of Terms
Frankenfoods Pejorative term for genetically modified food whether it be derived from genetically engineered plants or animals. This derogatory term was coined from Franken(stein) + food on June 16, 1992 by Paul Lewis Genetically modified (GM) foods are foods derived from genetically modified organisms. Genetically modified organisms have had specific changes introduced into their DNA by genetic engineering techniques

SCIENCE INVOLVED
GENE SPLICING / RECOMBINANT DNA involves cutting out part of the DNA in a gene and adding new DNA in its place. process is entirely chemical with restriction enzymes used as chemical 'scissors'. Depending on the type of restriction enzyme used, different parts of the genetic code can be targeted When a new strand of DNA is added, it takes the place of the binds to the ends of the DNA strands that were originally cut. Another enzyme called ligase is used in the repair process.

CHAPTER 3
SCIENCE, COMMON SENSE, AND PUBLIC POLICY

THE SCIENTIFIC CONSENSUS ON REGULATING BIOTECH

*In 1987, U.S. National Academy of Science (NAS) published a white paper on the planned introduction of GMO's into the environment. It noted that recombinant DNA techniques provide a powerful and safe means for modifying organisms, and predicted that the technology would contribute to the improvement of health care, agricultural efficiency, and solution to many environmental problems.

its most significant conclusions and recommendations include:

There is no evidence of the existence of unique hazards either in the use of recombinant DNA techniques or in the movement of genes between unrelated organisms. Assessment of the risks of introducing recombinant DNA-modified organisms into the environment should be based on the nature of the organism and of the environment into which the organism is to be introduced, and independent of the method of engineering.

*In 1989, follow up to this white paper, the National Research Council, the research arm of NAS, made a report inclusive of the following extensive discussions of experience with plant breeding and cultivation of pre recombinant-DNA modified plants and microorganisms:
Crops modified by molecular

and cellular method should pose risks no different from those modified by classical genetic methods for similar traits. Recombinant DNA methodology makes it possible introduce pieces of DNA, consisting of either single or multiple genes, that can be defined in function and even in nucleotide sequence.

Substantial Equivalence
A concept, developed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in 1991, that maintains that a novel food (for example, genetically modified foods) should be considered the same as and as safe as a conventional food if it demonstrates the same characteristics and composition as the conventional food. The practical way to determine the safety of novel foods is to consider whether they are substantially equivalent to conventional food products.

The Big Lie

*Professional anti-biotechnology activists have promoted pseudo-controversies by raising succession of phony issues that have included fanciful safety concerns, inaccurate economic forecasts and thoughts of deceiving consumer rights" *They keep on saying that even the most modest, precise and well characterized genetic modification can have unpredictable and disastrous effects.

Recombinant Bovine Somatotropin (rBST)

used to increase milk production in dairy

cows rumors about possibilities of having breast cancer in women who drink milk from cows injected with rBST.

Greenpeace and the Purloined seeds

*On April 6,1995, the Greenpeace International may have attained the nadir of anti-biotechnology activism when the group announced that it had intercepted a package containing rice seed genetically manipulated to produce a toxic insecticide as it was being exported and swapped the GM seeds with normal rice seeds.

*The rice seeds stolen by Greenpeace had been modified through recombinant DNA techniques to improve its insect resistance and were en route from Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich to the International Rice Research Institute here in the Philippine, where the seeds were to be tested for the ability to produce high yields of rice using less chemical pesticides.

Greenpeace only interfered with the research on insect-

resistant rice only because the seeds were improved using recombinant DNA techniques. Greenpeace targets only a single and superior technology which is recombinant DNA

CHAPTER 4
Caution,Precaution, and the Precautionary Principle

THE PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE

Definition It is the idea that regulatory measures should be taken to prevent or restrict products, processes or actions that raise even conjectural risks , even though scientific evidence of their existence , magnitude, or potential impacts is incomplete or inconclusive. When an activity raises threats of harm to human health or the environment, precautionary measures should be taken even if some cause and effect relationships are not fully established scientifically.

Purpose The purpose of the precautionary principle is ostensibly to impose early preventive measures to ward off risks for which we have little or no basis on which to predict the future probability of harm. Flaws The decision-making process dictated by the precautionary principle is intentionally weighted AGAINST new technologies even AFTER they have been cautiously examined. It grants regulators the ability to disregard findings of lengthy risk analysis whenever there remains any question.

Bottomline If uncertainty about the risks of a product or process should draw out application of the precautionary principle, that criterion is far more easily met with conventional techniques than with recombinant DNA techniques. Thus, greater precaution would be appropriate not to gene splicing but to the less precise and less predictable conventional forms of genetic modification.

The SIX STRATEGIES FOR REFORMING REGULATORY ABUSES

1.Scientists Must Actively Protest Unscientific Policies and Regulations

Individual Scientists must contribute concisely and wisely to the dialogue on public policy issues.

Encouraging Scientists to test public policy waters is always accompanied with risks.

2. Scientific Institutions Must Stimulate Public Discourse

Professional associations, faculties, academies, and journal editorial boards should far more aggressively explore and clarify the controversies about public policy and elevate the level of discussion on them.

3. The Media Must Discount Bogus Science

Reporters and their editors wield tremendous power and can do great deal to illuminate policy issues related to science. The Public should be exposed to genuine controversies, and not to pseudo-controversies stirred up by activists, and that are bread and butter to the media.

4. The Biotechnology Industry Must Advocate Scientific Regulatory Policies

Companies and trade associations should stay away from short term advantages and actively oppose unscientific and discriminatory regulations

5. All Stakeholders Should Promote Science-Based Public Policy

There are others not directly involved in research and development who are important stakeholders in the ultimate application of science and technology. These includes venture capitalists, philanthropists and most especially the consumer groups.

 6. Rethink the Government's Monopoly over Regulation

It is time for the biotechnology regulatory pendulum to swing away from unnecessary and discriminatory government reviews, toward other models that are more efficient and favorable to innovation.

MY own POINT OF VIEW

We all have our own opinions about the new biotechnology and the only fair way to decide about the regulation on the new biotechnology is by testing its products HONESTLY. Regulators and as well as scientists should accept whatever the results are.

MARAMING SALAMAT PO !