Impacts of Biotechnology in Agriculture

In 1996, transgenic grains were introduced in the United States for its commercialization. This genetic modification still concerns the health of people, most of the studies have shown diverse results from positive to less positive on its expression in human health. The genetic modification is a specific part of biotechnology, and it is a key to decrease malnutrition in undeveloped countries.

The combination of genes from different organisms is recognized as recombinant DNA technology and the product is called genetically modified or transgenic. The main intention is to increase their micronutrient content, reduce the time of maturity in the seeds, and to increase the resistance of plants to pests and diseases, producing a recombinant of proteins. This leads to feed more with fewer quantities. That is why the size of our food is bigger when it is genetically modified. This with the intention of increasing both the quantity and quality of the food produced

The FDA has proved all transgenics as a harmless nutritional complement and that they are harmless to human beings, but there are several concerns about the use of transgenics. People still doubt the fact that foods are genetically modified and there is the fear that transgenics can affect the natural environment.

In fact, scientists only worry about the allergens that people can develop through genetic modification. Another fact is that the transgenic crops can bring greater resistance to insects that damage the crops and these insects can cause chemical resistance to those used to protect them from pests. That is the main biological concern.

The FDA has approved genetically modified foods or GMO’s. In the USA, some common GMO crops are corn, soybeans, cotton, potatoes, papayas, summer squash, canola, Alfalfa.

The first GE crops that were first introduced were mainly herbicide tolerant. In order to protect the cotton and corn pests that have caused economic recession in agriculture. And it’s one of the best technologies that biotechnology could have brought to alleviate the huge risk of a big economic loss. Most of the GE acres planted are field crops with corn, cotton, and soybeans. Later in 1998, the GE crops increased overtime in its varieties and are mostly combined with HT (herbicide tolerant) and BT (insect tolerant). 86% of the cotton planted in the USA is genetically modified and 82% of the corn planted is also being genetically altered to resist these conditions. By 2023, 89% of the USA cotton acres were planted with GE insect resistant seeds and 91% of corn is planted with a herbicide tolerant corn seed.

But that doesn’t mean that the plant is fully at risk of being invaded by pests. Nature is strong, according to the USDA. When there are high numbers of bollworms on cotton, the Agriculture can apply one or more supplemental herbicides to prevent economic damage. The Tobacco Budworm, Pink bollworm, Red Spider, for example, are the most common pests. Those insects are the main reason why technology has been applied in Agriculture, due to its drastic effects on Agriculture. Insect-resistant crops have improved the biological control over the crops.

But why are there still some concerns about this technology, when the resistance is absorbed by the thicker leaves, and the DNA of the corn itself remains the same?

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has several protection strategies to target biological resistance and to prevent biological transmutation. Firstly, we have found that some crop fields might not respect the boundary between a non-GE modified seed and a GE modified seed in between crops. EPA’s main goal is to prevent insect resistance before it occurs in the field, or before it spreads and, if possible, prevent the development of resistance by detecting an increased pest susceptibility.

The risk situation comes when several parameters are not being followed. According to the EPA, to avoid the pests developing resistance to pesticides, it is required that 20% of the insect-tolerance fields need to be planted with a non- Bt (insect tolerant) to avoid the risk of harmful environmental effects, to avoid cross-pollination that causes the movement of the transgenes and cause a resistance in the natural evolution.

All plants have the characteristics to repel insects or pathogens by their own nature. Plants have a natural mechanism of protection. When a plant has more of these natural barriers, it is less susceptible to pests than plants that have few of those natural mechanisms.

And there are some countries like Uruguay that does not plant GMO seeds, but they have found some types of transgenic seeds of corn in their location. According to Plus Biology, Zea Mays (corn) is a wind pollinating species and the tessels (male flowers) or its silks (female flowers) encourages outcrossing among nearby plants encouraging some cross polinization that can be spread by animals feeding on the plants. Recent studies indicate that cross-pollination occurs from 100ft- 160 ft and a distance of 660 ft has been required to ensure separation of pollen types.

For this reason, In case of detecting a GE-crop that is infested with a pest, EPA has developed a resistance monitoring plan in the USA that requires them to collect at least 250 individuals. This means that the sampling collected of either adult budworms or egg masses, needs to complete the number of at least 20 targeted locations of those pests in order to confirm that there is Insect tolerance resistance. EPA established that this could be a remedial action plan, but thankfully, no field resistance has yet been found.

The effect of transgenic seeds on human health is a popular topic of study in the laboratory. Most of the studies show that transgenic corn is most of the time harmless to the animals and humans, but it depends mostly on the type of transgenic corn used.

A study held by The Student Research Committee gathered several studies conducted as a systematic double-blind review found in articles and the results are mostly positive in the use of transgenic corn and its consumption by rats, cows and sheep. The results in all the histopathology of the animals that consumed transgenic corn showed minimal liver and kidney toxicity. There were also some changes in the protein levels, as well as a change in the creatinine and globuline levels. In cows, studies have shown that the protein that carries the transgenic protein Cry1ab in corn, has been digested in the gastrointestinal tract of the cows. The negative results increased when there was a variety of three different kinds of modified corn-insect resistant, such as Maize MON 863 that didn’t have a positive impact on the rats and caused toxicity in the kidney and liver. While in other studies in pigs fed with GM soy and GM maize diets have shown gastro-intestinal inflammation. – Elyasi H, Rahimi H, Nafari AH. Effects of Genetically Modified corn on human health, Iran. Plant Biotechnology Persa. 2020; 2(1): 48-54

Interview:

And, here I am chatting with my father who is an Independent Agricultural Engineer with more than 40 years of experience, in Zootechnics and field crops, mainly with sorghum, beans and corn varieties. We are going to discuss the quality of the corn seeds and the diverse global subjects that encourage optimal commercialization between the USA-Mexico and Canada.

Nowadays, the subjects of transgenics are unknown among the ordinary people and most of us tend to non-trust some of the genetically modified products and their quality. What do you think about transgenic corn, in terms of production, quality, when we compare it with a non-GE corn seed?

Juan Bernardo Argüelles:

Me, personally, I think that genetically modified seeds are not bad for their consumption. What worries me is the resistance to other insects and the insects becoming resistant to those chemicals that could develop a greater resistance too pests and diseases that could be very difficult to control. Everything can mutate, there can be a biological symbiosis, so other microorganisms can survive, and remember that those microorganisms were the first colonizers of this earth.

What is the ideal seed to establish an optimal global competency among other countries?

Juan Bernardo Argüelles:

To have optimal production, we have to scientifically demonstrate the positive and negative aspects. Mexico has a big deficit in basic seeds, and we have to promote and support the production of corn, specifically yellow corn and sorghum in the country. Also, commerce is sustained by the Free Trade Agreement and its associates in the country that provide the subsidies to Agriculture. To have a balanced competency, we must balance and equalize the subsidies for agriculture. This will support better commerce between countries and will equalize the production costs, which is the main issue.

Me:

When the Mexican government establishes that it will provide agriculture with agro products, what do you think about the kind of chemical treatment they will provide?

Juan Bernardo Argüelles:

The fertilizers and herbicides could have a good quality of performance, but we might have to remember that all kinds of soil have different needs, and we must consider the elements of the soil and the kind of agricultural crop. We can not standardize one kind of chemical fertilizer or herbicide for the whole country.

In general, which are the agricultural demands for today in 2024 in Mexico and specifically in Tamaulipas?

Juan Bernardo Argüelles:

Without any other challenge that agriculture could face. Agriculture needs security, positive credits, agricultural insurance and technical advice.

Thank you for your talk.

Juan Bernardo Argüelles:

Thank you for having me.