Animal Biotechnology: Identifying Science-Based Concerns

200 Pages·2002·3.038 MB·English

by  Committee on Defining Science-Based Concerns Associated with Products of Animal Biotechnology

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ANIMAL
BIOTECHNOLOGY:
SCIENCE-BASED
CONCERNS
Committee on Defining Science-based Concerns
Associated with Products of Animal Biotechnology
Committee on Agricultural Biotechnology, Health, and
the Environment
Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources
Board on Life Sciences
Division on Earth and Life Studies
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
Washington, D.C.
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NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the
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Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee
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regard for appropriate balance.
This study was supported by Contract No. 223-93-1025 between the National
Academy of Sciences and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and funds by
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Animal biotechnology: science-based concerns / Committee on Defining Science-
based Concerns Associated with Products of Animal Biotechnology, Committee on
Agricultural Biotechnology, Health, and the Environment, Board on Agriculture and
Natural Resources, Board on Life Sciences, Division on Earth and Life Studies.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-309-08439-3 (pbk.)
1. Animal biotechnology. I. National Research Council (U.S.).
Committee on Defining Science-based Concerns Associated with Products of
Animal Biotechnology.
SF140.B54 A58 2002
660'.65—dc21
2002151075
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Committee on Defining Science-Based Concerns
Associated with Products of Animal Biotechnology
JOHN G. VANDENBERGH, Chair, North Carolina State University, Raleigh
ALWYNELLE (NELL) SELF AHL, Tuskegee University
JOHN M. COFFIN, Tufts University School of Medicine
WILLARD H. EYESTONE, Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary
Medicine
ERIC M. HALLERMAN, Virginia Polytechnic and State University, Blacksburg
TUNG-CHING LEE, Rutgers University
JOY A. MENCH, University of California, Davis
WILLIAM M. MUIR, Purdue University
R. MICHAEL ROBERTS, University of Missouri, Columbia
THEODORE H. SCHETTLER, Science and Environmental Health Network
LAWRENCE B. SCHOOK, University of Illinois, Urbana
MICHAEL R. TAYLOR, Resources for the Future
Staff
KIM WADDELL, Study Director
DEBRA DAVIS, Editor
MICHAEL R. KISIELEWSKI, Research Assistant
CINDY LOCHHEAD, Project Assistant
v
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Committee on Agricultural Biotechnology, Health,
and the Environment
BARBARA A. SCHAAL, Chair, Washington University, St. Louis, MO
DAVID A. ANDOW, University of Minnesota, St. Paul
NEAL L. FIRST, University of Wisconsin, Madison
LYNN J. FREWER, Institute of Food Research, Norwich, UK
HENRY L. GHOLZ, National Science Foundation, Arlington, VA
EDWARD GROTH III, Consumers Union, Yonkers, NY
ERIC M. HALLERMAN, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University,
Blacksburg
RICHARD R. HARWOOD, Michigan State University, East Lansing
CALESTOUS JUMA, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
SAMUEL B. LEHRER, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans,
LA
SANFORD A. MILLER, Georgetown University, Washington, DC
PHILIP G. PARDEY, University of Minnesota, St. Paul
PER PINSTRUP-ANDERSEN, International Food Policy Research Institute,
Washington, DC
ELLEN K. SILBERGELD, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
ROBERT E. SMITH, R. E. Smith Consulting, Inc., Newport, VT
ALLISON A. SNOW, Ohio State University, Columbus
PAUL B. THOMPSON, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
DIANA H. WALL, Colorado State University, Fort Collins
Staff
JENNIFER KUZMA, Program Director
SETH STRONGIN, Project Assistant
vi
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Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources
HARLEY W. MOON, Chair, Iowa State University
SANDRA BARTHOLMEY, Quaker Oats Company
DEBORAH BLUM, University of Wisconsin, Madison
ROBERT B. FRIDLEY, University of California
BARBARA P. GLENN, Federation of Animal Science Societies
LINDA F. GOLODNER, National Consumers League
W.R. (REG) GOMES, University of California
PERRY R. HAGENSTEIN, Institute for Forest Analysis, Planning, and Policy
CALESTOUS JUMA, Harvard University
JANET C. KING, University of California, Davis
WHITNEY MACMILLAN, Cargill, Inc.
PAMELA A. MATSON, Stanford University
TERRY L. MEDLEY, DuPont Biosolutions Enterprise
JAMES A. MERCHANT, University of Iowa
ALICE N. PELL, Cornell University
SHARRON S. QUISENBERRY, Montana State University
NANCY J. RACHMAN, Exponent, Inc.
SONYA B. SALAMON, University of Illinois
G. EDWARD SCHUH, University of Minnesota
BRIAN J. STASKAWICZ, University of California, Berkeley
JACK WARD THOMAS, University of Montana
JAMES H. TUMLINSON, USDA/ARS
B.L. TURNER, Clark University
Staff
CHARLOTTE KIRK BAER, Director
STEPHANIE PADGHAM, Project Assistant
vii
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Board on Life Sciences
COREY S. GOODMAN, Chair, University of California, Berkeley
R. ALTA CHARO, University of Wisconsin, Madison
JOANNE CHORY, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies
DAVID J. GALAS, Keck Graduate Institute of Applied Life Sciences
BARBARA GASTEL, Texas A&M University, College Station
JAMES M. GENTILE, Hope College
LINDA E. GREER, Natural Resources Defense Council
ED HARLOW, Harvard Medical School
ELLIOT M. MEYEROWITZ, California Institute of Technology, Pasedena
ROBERT T. PAINE, University of Washington, Seattle
GREGORY A. PETSKO, Brandeis University
STUART L. PIMM, Columbia University
JOAN B. ROSE, University of South Florida, St. Petersburg
GERALD M. RUBIN, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
BARBARA A. SCHAAL, Washington University
RAYMOND L. WHITE, University of Utah, Salt Lake City
Staff
FRANCES SHARPLES, Director
BRIDGET AVILA, Senior Project Assistant
viii
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Preface
What we have before us are some breathtaking opportunities disguised as
insoluble problems.
—John W. Gardner, 1965, upon appointment as the Secretary of the Department
of Health, Education, and Welfare
Rarely in the modern history of humans has biology played such an
important role in human affairs as it does today. In the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries, explorers stimulated the first major advance in biology by
bringing back countless new species that Darwin, and others, put into a logical
order based on the theory of natural selection. The development of evolutionary
thinking and the clarification of the rules of genetic inheritance resulted in the
theoretical base for targeted artificial selection—an essential component of
progress in biology and agriculture.
A second major advance currently is underway. Due to the basic
understanding of inheritance at the molecular level and the tools this has made
available to biologists, it no longer is necessary to depend upon natural or
artificial selection and breeding of progeny to produce new and improved
individuals. Genes from the same or other species can be inserted into a
genome, or the activity of a specific gene can be blocked. Further, once the
genome has been altered artificially, large numbers of new plants and animals
ix
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x PREFACE
carrying the modified genome can be made using cloning techniques. Producing
animal models of human diseases for research, improving medical procedures,
and increasing food production are but three modern advances that already have
come to pass. More advances are predicted for the future. The committee—
early in its discussions—recognized that not everything that bloomed from the
biotechnology garden was a flower ready to be picked for the human bouquet.
As was true for other technologic advances in the past, advances do not come
without expected and unexpected risks. The committee also recognized that the
technology it was studying is in its infancy. Many of the problems, such as
inefficient reproduction and production of abnormal offspring, are receding as
the technology advances. Therefore, the committee presents a “snapshot” of
biotechnology and of potential concerns about that technology at present.
In view of the rapidly-changing biotechnologic landscape, federal
agencies with responsibility for ensuring food safety, maintaining modern
medical treatment standards, minimizing environmental impacts, and ensuring
the welfare of animals requested that a committee formed by the National
Research Council (NRC) of the National Academies explore concerns related to
animal biotechnology. A committee of 12 scientists, physicians, and experts in
regulatory issues accepted the task of defining science-based concerns
associated with products of animal biotechnology. The committee’s report
presents science-based concerns it identified but it does not contain specific
recommendations. Identification of the concerns will allow others to develop
regulatory policy where appropriate. While the focus of the committee was on
the scientific information that could clarify the issues, it remained aware of the
social and other policy issues involved in moving biotechnologic advances from
the laboratory to the “real world.” Thus, assuming a bit of flexibility in our
charge, our report addresses some of the policy issues involved as well.
In a sense, almost any issue related to a technologic advance can be a
concern. The committee attempted to place concerns in relative priority order
within sections of the report (i.e., hazards associated with the techniques
themselves, food safety, environmental impacts, and animal welfare). In only a
few cases was it possible to state that an issue brought to our table was not of
concern. Much of the basic biology underlying the techniques remains to be
discovered, and we have only partial information on the consequences of using
biotechnologic techniques. This is true especially in terms of the environmental
concerns raised. It became quickly apparent that more information was needed
to assess the priority of concerns raised. Only more research will resolve this
problem.
The committee relied heavily on published information, on presentations
made by experts at an NRC-sponsored workshop, and on previous NRC reports.
The NRC report, Environmental Effects of Transgenic Plants: The Scope and
Adequacy of Regulation—recently completed by experts from the botanical half
of the biologic world—was a valuable source of information.
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