Ecology today (Экология сегодня). Макеева М.Н - 18 стр.

UptoLike

ВУЗ: 

ТГТУ | Тамбов

Составители: 

Рубрика: 

"The Midwest is strewn with rural ghost towns whose small farmers were driven away by huge agricultural
firms farming thousands of acres of a single crop. And the oversupply of grain has promoted widespread usage
of high-fructose corn syrup in processed foods, contributing to the epidemic of obesity", – Manning said. The
McKnight project researching an ancient Aztec polycropping system, still used by Mexican peasants, called
"milpa", could provide a solution for reversing monoculture in the U.S.
Experiments underway in New York, Chile and Brazil crossing domestic potatoes, plagued by a range of
insect pests, with wild relatives of potatoes, whose sticky leaves trap insects, are revolutionizing the economics
of potato farming both in the U.S. and worldwide.
"The intensive use of pesticides and herbicides has contaminated our water and depleted our soils. It costs
between $60 and $200 per acre per year to spray potatoes with insecticide. A grower in upstate New York typi-
cally gets about $6 for a hundred pounds of these potatoes, while organic market pays $30 a hundredweight for
pesticide-free potatoes," – Manning said.
Three projects described in "Food's Frontier" involve genetic engineering: in Nanjing, China, creating
scab-resistant wheat; in India, increasing the efficiency of production and nutritional value of chickpea; and in
Shanghai, China, eradicating viral rice disease by eliminating the ability of a plant hopper insect to transmit the
virus.
Recognizing that modern biotechnology has the potential to contribute much to the solutions of agricultural
problems in the developing world, Manning dismisses the argument that genetic engineering is unnatural.
"From lop-eared rabbits to wine grapes, artificial form of life as a result of human-engineered selection sur-
rounds us. Every form of life we call domestic has a genetic makeup that is artificial as a result of human activ-
ity", – he said.
The biggest danger to the public regarding genetic engineering, Manning feels, is when profit-motivated
companies rush to patent and market an untested technique. In contrast, McKnight-funded research remains in
the public domain, available to all who need it, and is carefully tested by scientists who live among the farmers
where the techniques will be used.
Manning found that Robert Goodman, a University of Wisconsin plant pathologist who oversees the Col-
laborative Crop Research Program, has his own doubts about the value of genetic engineering.
"We'll eventually have the same problem with genetically engineered plants as we do with more traditional
approaches – the pests and diseases we are trying to repel are going to develop their own defenses", – Goodman
said.
The alternative is not to look only at a single gene, but at the entire sequence of genes in a particular plant,
as well as the sequence of genes in the organisms living in the surrounding soil and air. With this information,
scientists, rather than transferring single genes from one plant species to another, can manipulate a plant's own
genes to stimulate certain interactions with the other organisms in its environment. Goodman predicts this prac-
tice, called "genomics", will render genetic engineering obsolete within a matter of years.
"By the end of the decade we're going to look back at current genetic engineering technology, with its par-
lor tricks like sweeter tomatoes, as being primitive and almost arcane," – Goodman said. "We are finally rec-
ognizing that nature is unimaginably complex. To survive, we need to learn to respect and harness that com-
plexity, because at a fundamental level, genetic improvement is integral to human society".
"No one ever said feeding a planet of six billion people would be without consequences," – Manning said.
"But helping third world scientists feed their own people ensures sensitivity to culture and environment that we
missed in the first green revolution".
The McKnight Foundation Collaborative Crop Research Program, begun in 1993, seeks to increase food
security in developing countries. The total financial commitment is $53,5 million over 15 years.
Words and Expressions:
famine-stricken – голодающий
dire – страшный, ужасный, жуткий, внушающий ужас
surplus – излишний, избыточный, добавочный
monocropping – выращивание одной культуры
to collaborate – работать совместно, сотрудничать
chickpea – нут, турецкий горох

Страницы