Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 16, 1994 TAG: 9407190001
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KRISTEN KAMMERER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Seven private farms also will test varieties of corn, cotton, tomatoes, potatoes, soybeans and squash.
The crops have been genetically engineered to have increased resistance to pests, disease or herbicides, or to produce a product with a longer ripening process.
The goal of the research is to "reduce pesticide use by letting the plant itself fight off disease and insects, or to produce a product that will stay fresher longer," said Phil Eggborn, manager of the Virginia Agriculture Department's Office of Plant Protection. A third goal, he said, is to come up with a plant that can withstand the use of herbicides.
At Whitethorne, researchers are growing soybeans that have been altered to have a resistance to glyphosate, a commercial weed killer also known as Roundup.
Scott Hagood, a professor of weed science at Virginia Tech, is conducting field tests on soybeans altered by Monsanto, one of several companies that is developing and financing research for such crops. The USDA and the Office of Plant Protection carefully monitor the tests.
"I have been testing the herbicide-resistant soybeans since 1992 when [Monsanto] first released them to academia," Hagood said.
The advantages of having soybeans that can tolerate Roundup are that the herbicide is inexpensive and safe.
"Farmers can invest anywhere from $20 to $40 per acre for weed control alone," Hagood said. "Using Roundup, in combination with other standard herbicides, could cost farmers less than $20 per acre."
The herbicide is inactive when it enters the soil so it doesn't affect crop rotation. "Its toxicity is very low and ... it doesn't contaminate the [ground]water."
During two years of field tests, Hagood has found Monsanto's soybeans to have excellent tolerance to Roundup and to produce yields equivalent to those of good commercial varieties.
"Other than their response to Roundup, these soybeans are exactly the same and of the same quality as any variety on the market today," Hagood said.
Based on his results, Hagood said Monsanto should be able to sell its genetically-improved soybean commercially, possibly as soon as 1996. "Soybeans are one of Virginia's largest agronomic crops, so this state's farmers stand to gain a lot from this research," he said.
Monsanto is no longer funding Hagood's reserach as it did when the company first introduced its bean. Now, the research is supported by state soybean growers, via money administered by the Virginia Soybean Board.
"Now we're trying to find ways these beans fit my growers' needs," Hagood said. "It becomes more of a landgrant responsibility. ...The potential benefit for Virginia is the main reason for my designing and conducting this research."
Genetic engineering, whether performed on plants, animals or humans, involves transferring one or more genes which produce desirable traits or abilities to the DNA of an organism which does not normally possess them. This technology is what produced the Flavr-Savr, a genetically-improved tomato recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
"What would take decades to develop by a painstaking process of planting strains of a crop can now be accomplished through gene transfer," said J. Carlton Courter III, commissioner of the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
Some consumers and members of the scientific community have protested use of genetic engineering, voicing the concern that we don't know enough about the long-term effects of altering an organism's genome.
Acknowledging the controversy, Courter said that he believes Virginians will use common sense. "There may be some groups that take this opportunity to antagonize the issue or sensationalize it," he said. "But the public has nothing to fear from biotechnology."
Hagood said those who protest the technology do not fully understand the chemical aspects of the science. "The only cause for concern in using the altered soybeans, for example, is that over time the weeds themselves might also develop resistance to Roundup." He said careful herbicide management can prevent this from happening.
Eggborn said that his office is doing what it can to strike a balance between those who champion the technology and those who are concerned. "My office has done all it can to inform the public and to ensure that the necessary precautions are being taken," he said. "Of course we don't know the final outcome for sure - but from where I sit, the benefits far outweigh any potential harm."
Throughout the summer, different crops will be tested at private farms located in Amelia, Chesapeake, Emporia, Urbanna, New Kent, Painter and Heathsville. Testing will also take place at the Eastern Shore Agricultural Experiment Station in Painter and the Claude Moore Colonial Farm in McLean.
by CNB