GIGO

Genetic Engineering

Events have a habit of catching up with you. I'd just finished an article about the useful connections between academia and industry supported by the Graduates in Industry Fellowship programme. The idea is that Masters and PhD students get a chance to undertake research that meets their academic needs as well as answering questions useful for commercial applications. We've covered quite a lot of GRIF research over the years -- anything that helps build an awareness amongst businesses of the utility of basic and applied research is a Good Thing in my opinion.

So there I was with an article written about some research being undertaken by a couple of PhD students in tandem with Lincoln University, Crop & Food Research and Alex MacDonald Ltd, a potato breeder. They were looking at the effects on insect populations of genes introduced into the potato to combat tuber moth -- yes, genetically modified potatoes.

The day I went and saw them, the trial plots were coming along nicely, the sun was shining, and students were out hunting ladybirds for the study. A couple of days later and their work was in tatters, fallen victim to a bunch of self-styled eco-warriors who pulled out the spuds in the belief that this would somehow contribute to debate on genetic modification.

It was frustrating to see the spokesman for these "Wild Greens" state that there had been no discussion of genetic engineering and its implications. I guess he wasn't aware of the various forums that have been held over the past five years in the form of conferences, seminars, public hearings and hui. I thought the Talking Technology conference in 1996 was a particularly good approach to getting public input into such an issue, though it would have done better to have broader media coverage.

Such coverage, of course, is always behind the times, reacting as it does to events such as the Wild Green attack rather than leading debate in any useful sense. Perhaps now is the time for professional scientific societies, to step in and help organise local public discussion on these sorts of issues. Not only does this sort of discussion have to be done, but it obviously has to be seen to be done.

Vicki Hyde is the editor of New Zealand Science Monthly.