Page 55 - Breeding Edge ebook

“We are concerned about exclusive rights in that area, too,” from a global perspective and beyond the

implications for organic production, said Jamie Love, director of Knowledge Ecology International. He
said KEI and others with a stake in agriculture worldwide “think it’s a mistake to associate exclusive
rights with that sort of technology.” GE technology “should be used as freely as possible … for research,
but also so that people can actually benefit from it,” he says.

The odds of gene editing gaining favor in America any time soon aren’t clear. It is good to remember
that acceptance of scientific discoveries can take what seems like ages. Galileo, for example, was
convicted by a church Inquisition in 1633 for teaching that the Earth circles the sun and spent the
last nine years of his life in house arrest because of that supposed heresy. Yet, today, only 76
percent of American adults believe the Earth circles the sun, and only 49 percent believe in human
evolution, according to the 2016 National Science Board’s survey on Public Knowledge about
Science and Technology.

Mindful of the deepening polarization over gene editing and GMOs in general, scientists at the
University of Minnesota are trying what they call “cooperative governance networking” to tease

out a public policy consensus on whether, when, and how GE could be used and developed in ways

that would be acceptable to society.

UM Agronomy and Plant Genetics Professor Nicholas Jordan said his team began with the assumption
that folks who’ve long objected to biotechnology in agriculture and “want to hold up genetic
engineering … hold the upper hand.”

So, Jordan reasoned, “we will try to engage them in something they care about,” and thought gene
editing in cover crops might be a place to start. There has been paltry investment and not much progress
in cover crops, he said. But with climate change threatening, genetic advances are needed for winter-
hardy grains, oilseeds and other crops to help them flourish.

He is working to make those advances happen with the Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research,
environmentalists, soil scientists, plus venture capitalists who might consider developing new cover crop
traits. He has also applied for a USDA grant.

Jordan said his project provides “an opportunity
to take a look at the value of gene editing” from
various perspectives. For investors, he said, getting
favorable consensus from across the spectrum of
stakeholders is a good way to reduce financial risk.

So, what is the future of precision breeding tools in
the U.S.?

Nina Fedoroff isn’t all that optimistic. Fedoroff, a

molecular biologist with Penn State University and

other institutions for nearly a half century, calls Nina Fedoroff
herself “one of the few people left who have been
around since the beginning” of cell nucleus

manipulation in the laboratory. She points to the 2016 National Academies of Science findings of no

health or safety risks linked to biotech crops.

www.Agri-Pulse.com 53