Debates In Biotechnology

Minh Phan

How can Do stem How much of

of biofuels cells have the our diet con-
lead us to potential to sist of generti-
energy inde- save millions cally modified
pendenec? of lives? foods?
 1

Biofuels
Biofuel is defined as solid, liquid or gas fuel derived from recently-dead biological ma
terial, whereas fossil fuels are derived from long-dead biological material. Theoretically,

Background
biofuels can be produced from any (biological) carbon source; although, the most common
sources are photosynthetic plants. Globally, biofuels are most commonly used to power vehi-
cles and cooking stoves. Biofuel industries are expanding in Europe, Asia and the Americas.

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The main debate regarding biofuels centers around whether they are a good means to reversing
global climate change and helping replace oil, or at least reduce oil prices. Biofuels have become
increasingly attractive in recent years because they offer the possibility of both reducing green-
house gas emissions and helping replace oil. This possibility exists primarily in the use of biofuels
in vehicles and other forms of transportation that utilize petroleum products. Biofuels, there-
fore, are potentially helpful in so far as they can replace the use of petroleum in transportation.

Can biofuels help combat global warming ?

Biofuels produce less greenhouse gases. Tradi- Biofuels production and use may increase green-
tional petroleum-based gasoline and diesel fuels house gas emissions. Almost all biofuels used
emit substantial amounts of greenhouse gases. Bio- today cause more greenhouse gas emissions than
fuels, by contrast, burn much more cleanly, emit- conventional fuels if the full emissions costs of pro-
ting far fewer greenhouse gases from the tail-pipe. ducing these “green” fuels are taken into account.
Any such reduction in emissions is valuable in the Plant-based fuels were originally billed as better
face of global warming, and should be embraced. than fossil fuels because the carbon re-
leased when they were burned was bal-
Carbon neutral biofuels only emit CO2 they anced by the carbon absorbed when
draw from atmosphere. Biofuels are less pollut- the plants grew. But even that
ing than fossil fuels because CO2 is absorbed in equation proved overly sim-
the process of photosynthesis by the very plants plistic because the process of
that are being used to produce biofuel. Another turning plants into fuels causes
way to think of this is that, in the cycle of this its own emissions— such as refin-
process, plants are grown which absorb C02 ing and transport.
from the at- mosphere to photosyn-
thesize and grow. When these Developing new land for biofuels
plants are converted into can release green- house gases. Sepa-
biofu- el and then burned, rate studies released by Princeton University and
t h e C02 that is released the Nature Conservancy show that ethanol may
i n t o the atmosphere is be even more dangerous for the environment than
equiv- alent to the C02 fossil fuels are. As a Princeton study points out,
t h a t was absorbed by the clearing previously untouched land to grow bio-
plant in the process of photosyn- fuel crops releases long-sequestered carbon into
thesis. This means that the amount of C02 re- the atmosphere. While planting corn and sugar
leased is equivalent to the amount absorbed, cane in already tilled land is fine, a problem aris

Biofuels
and that biofuels are, thus, carbon neutral.
What are the economic pros and cons of biofuels?
Biofuels are essential to replacing waning and
high-priced petroleum. Robert Zubrin wrote in
the Spring 2008 edition of The New Atlantis, “On
the world markets, the cost of a barrel of oil is,
at this writing, over $120. In the United States, a
gallon of gasoline now costs, on average, roughly
$3.50. Even when adjusted for inflation, both of
those figures are now higher than they have ever
been—higher than during the 1973 oil embargo,
higher than during any subsequent peak. And
yet, bizarrely, instead of focusing their attention
on the staggering cost of oil and its ruinous im-
plications for global growth and economic wellbe-
ing, American policymakers and energy analysts
have begun to decry a different fuel—one that
holds the key to ending our dependency on ex-
pensive oil purchased from countries with inter-
ests inimical to our own. Biofuels can play a cen-
tral part in weaning the United States from oil.”
2
-ses when farmers churn up new land to grow more
fuel or the food and feed displaced by biofuel crops.
In addition The destruction of natural ecosystems
— whether rain forest in the tropics or grasslands
in South America — not only releases green-
house gases into the atmosphere when they are
burned and plowed, but also deprives the planet
of natural sponges to absorb carbon emissions.
Cropland also absorbs far less carbon than the
rain forests or even scrubland that it replaces.
Developing a biofuel economy is more expen-
sive than alternatives. An Oregon State Univer-
sity study done by Dr. Bill Jaeger looked at the en-
ergy (BTU’s) contained in certain fossil fuels and
biofuels and compared to the fossil fuel energy re-
quired to produce, process, and transport them.
Replacing a BTU of gasoline with a BTU of biofuel
will contribute to energy independence if fewer
fossil fuel inputs are required for biofuel than pe-
troleum based fuels. For this to be the case, a
biofuel’s net energy balance ratio (NEB) must be
greater than that of gasoline or pertroleum die-
sel. If a biofuel represents a small improvement
in NEB ratio, but a big increase in cost then it is
not a viable means of achieving energy indepen-
dence. For all of the biofuels studied by Jaeger,
energy independence is achieved at costs that are
6 to 28 times higher than other policy options
Sourcee: OSU report on biofuel

Biofuels
Biofuel will help developing countries im-
prove their economy. Researchers at the Over-
seas Development Institute have argued that
biofuels could help to reduce poverty in the de-
veloping world, through increased employment,
wider economic growth multipliers and energy
price effects. With regards to the potential for
poverty reduction or exacerbation, biofuels rely
on many of the same policy, regulatory or in-
vestment shortcomings that impede agriculture
as a route to poverty reduction. Since many of
these shortcomings require policy improve-
ments at a country level rather than a global
one, they argue for a country-by-country anal-
ysis of the potential poverty impacts of biofuels
Does the production of biofuels harm food prices?
Food sources are not required to produce bio-
fuel. Many forms of biofuel do not use
food sources. While corn, grains,
and sugar are common bio-
mass sources of biofuel,
non-edible sources include
switchgrass and trees
(cellulosic) as well
as algae. It is wrong,
therefore, to pin biofu-
els as always a threat to food-sources. In the
case of algea. 10 million gallons of biodiesal
could be created by only a 100-acre field of algea.
Biofuel crops do not harm food production and
can actually help. The United States, which pro-
duced 3 billion gallons of ethanol in 2002, grew
its production to 8 billion gallons in 2007, replac-
ing some 5 percent of our gasoline supply. In
the last five years, despite the nearly threefold
growth of the corn ethanol industry the amount
of corn grown in the United States has vastly in-
creased. The U.S. corn crop grew by 45 percent,
the production of distillers grain quadrupled,
3
Biofuel has made economies of developing
countries more unstable. In 2008 the British
anti-poverty charity War on Want released a re-
port linking the demand for biofuels and other
‘green’ alternatives to petroleum to violent land
seizures taking place in Colombia. The report
outlines how the production of biofuels, specifi-
cally palm oil, has led to the forced displacement
of thousands of Afro-Colombians from the south-
west region of Colombia. In addition, biofuel
development increases demand for scarce water
resources in certain parts of South East Asia.
Biofuel production can increase the price of
many foods. A World Bank policy research paper
published on July 2008 found that the increase
in food commodities prices was led by grains, with
sharp price increases in 2005 despite record crops
worldwide. From January 2005 until June 2008,
maize prices almost tripled, wheat increased 127
percent, and rice rose 170 percent. The increase
in grain prices was followed by increases in fats
and oil prices in mid-2006. On the other hand,
the study found that sugar cane production
has increased rapidly, and it was large enough
to keep sugar price increases small except for
2005 and early 2006. The paper concluded that
biofuels produced from grains have raised food
prices in combination with other related factors
between 70 to 75 percent, but ethanol produced
from sugar cane has not contributed significantly
to the recent increase in food commodities prices.
Biofuel consume crops that could be used to feed
people. Demand for fuel in rich countries is now
competing against demand for food in poor coun-
tries. Cars, not people, used much of the increase
 4

Biofuels
and the net U.S. corn production of food for hu- in world grain consumption in 2006. Over 450
mans and feed for animals increased 34 percent. pounds of corn are needed to fill a 25-gallon tank
Contrary to claims that farmers have cut other with ethanol—enough calories to feed a person
crops to grow more corn, U.S. soybean plantings for a year. Poor people spend a higher portion of
this year are expected to be up 18 percent and their income on food, so higher food prices hurt
wheat plantings up 6 percent. U.S. farm exports them more. If a per-
are up 23 percent over last year. So while it is son in a develop- i n g
true that there is now much more corn being country spends 6 0 %
used for ethanol than ever before, there is also of their money o n
much more total corn than ever before, including food and then t h e
much more for food and feed than ever before, food prices dou- b l e ,
and still plenty of land, and room for implemen- they will experi- ence
tation of improved methods to grow yet more. immediate hard- ship.
According to the U N ,
aid organizations that buy food and send it to poor
countries are only able to send half as much food
on the same budget if prices double. But the higher
prices mean there are more people in need of aid.

References
Ethanol: A Convenient Solution to an Inconvenient Truth. Better Environmental Solutions. Dec. 2007.
http://www.ethanol.org/pdf/contentmgmt/Ethanol_a_Convnient_Solution_to_the_Inconvenient_Truth_
report.pdf

Use of U.S. Croplands for Biofuels Increases Greenhouse Gases Through Emissions from Land Use Change
Timothy Searchinger, Ralph Heimlich. Feb. 7, 2008 Science.

Elizabeth Rosenthal. Biofuels Deemed a Greenhouse Threat. New York Times. Feb. 2008. http://www.ny-
times.com/2008/02/08/science/earth/08wbiofuels.html

The Problem With Biofuels. Washington Post. Feb. 2008. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con-

tent/article/2008/02/26/AR2008022602827.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Issues_relating_to_biofuels#Issues

Robert Zubrin. In Defense of Biofuels. The New Atlantis. Spring 2008. http://www.thenewatlantis.com/
publications/in-defense-of-biofuels

Biofuels, Agriculture and Poverty Reduction. Overseas Development Institute. 2007. http://www.odi.org.
uk/resources/specialist/natural-resource-perspectives/resources/specialist/natural-resource-perspec-
tives107.pdf
 5

Human Embryonic Stem Cells

Ultimately, every cell in the human body can be traced back to a fertilized egg that came into
existence from the union of egg and sperm. But the body is made up of over 200 differ-
ent types of cells, not just one. All of these cell types come from a pool of stem cells in

Background
the early embryo. During early development, as well as later in life, various types of stem
cells give rise to the specialized or differentiated cells that carry out the specific func-

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tions of the body, such as skin, blood, muscle, and nerve cells. Over the past two de-
cades, scientists have been gradually deciphering the processes by which unspecialized
stem cells become the many specialized cell types in the body. Embryonic stem cells,
which can be derived from a very early stage in human development, have the potential
to produce all of the body’s cell types. This property makes stem cells appealing for sci-
entists seeking to create medical treatments that replace lost or damaged cells. The de-
bate over stem-cell research incorporates a number of social, ethical, and religious con-
siderations. The detailed arguments, studies, and facts of this debate are laid out below.

Does ES cells research have substantial promise for advancing public health?
Embryonic stem cells have extraordinary po- Some scientist may be “over-promising” the
tential in treatments of all kinds of diseases. Ac- benefits of embryonic stem cells research. Re-
cording to Wikipedia, stem cells could potentially searchers such as Princeton developmental biolo-
cure a variety of diseases including brain damage, gist Shirley Tilghman warns that the idea that
cancer, spinal cord injury, muscle damage, heart it was unreasonable to think that it was just a
damage, low blood supply, baldness, missing matter of a few years before we would be able to
teeth, deafness, blindness and vision impairment, transplant stem cells and cure a lot of neurologi-
and ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease). There are several cal disorders, like Alzheimer’s disease. She says,
recent scientific break-throughs including Hans “some of the public pronouncements in the field
Kierstead’s (UC Irvine) experiment that repairs a of stem-cell research come close to over-promis-
rat’s damaged spine with stem cell injections. In ing at best and delusional fantasizing at worst”
the American Journal of Physiology, team from
the Mayo Clinic shows the potency of embry- Embryonic stem cells treatments will be ex-
onic stem cells in rebuilding an infracted heart. pensive since they have to be individualized.
According to Christopher Scott, director of Stan-
Potential social impact through a cure for ford’s Program on Stem Cells in Society, custom-
chronic diseases such as Alzheimer’s or diabe- ized treatments that can’t rely on economies of
tes. A study from the ADA point- scale are likely to be very expensive. For a stem
ed out the poten- tial impact cell regimen, the tissue in which the stem cells
a cure to dia- betes reside must be biopsied—perhaps more than
would have not- i n g once. For any cell therapy the methods for isolat-
that there are 20.8 ing, growing, and expanding the cultures must be
million Ameri- c a n perfected—complications not yet perfected for em-
children and adults with bryonic stem cells. Like any transplant, the cells
diabetes (roughly 6% of the must be free of contamination with unwanted vi-
population). The esti- m a t e d ral, bacterial, or chemical agents. To avoid “home-
total financial cost for diabetes in the U.S., in grown” rotocols and to ensure quality, companies

Human Embryonic Stem Cells
-cluding costs of medical care, disability, and
premature death, was $132 billion in 2002. This
all makes the potential health and social bene-
fits of stem cell research substantial, if it were
to lead to something of a cure for diabetes. Ap-
proximately 4.5 million Americans currently have
AD, with annual costs for the disease estimated
to exceed $100 billion. Moreover, the rapid aging
of the American population threatens to increase
this burden significantly in the coming decades.
How does ES cells research compare to adult stem cells research?
Adult stem cell and embryonic stem cell re-
search should be pursued equally aggres-
sively because they both have unique char-
acteristics and applications. “Scientists who
are having surprising success with adult stem
cells find their progress being used by activ-
ists to argue that embryo research is not just
immoral but also unnecessary. But to those in
the field, the only answer is to press ahead on
all fronts. ‘There are camps for adult stem cells
and embryonic stem cells,’ says Douglas Melton,
a co-director of the Harvard Stem Cell Insti-
tute. ‘But these camps only exist in the political
arena. There is no disagreement among scien-
tists over the need to aggressively pursue both
in order to solve important medical problems.’”
Embryonic stem cells are more versatile. Em-
bryonic stem cells make up a significant propor-
tion of a developing embryo, while adult stem
cells exist as minor populations within a mature
individual (e.g. in every 1,000 cells of the bone
marrow, only 1 will be a usable stem cell). Thus,
embryonic stem cells are likely to be easier to iso-
late and grow ex vivo than adult stem cells. Em-
bryonic stem cells divide more rapidly than adult
stem cells, potentially making it easier to generate
large numbers of cells for therapeutic means.
In contrast, adult stem cell might not divide
fast enough to offer immediate treatment.
6
and hospitals will need to standardize laborato-
ry, manufacturing, and clinical practices. Health
professionals will need training to provide proper
informed consent and oversight of the procedures.
Some researchers assert that for each patient, be-
tween 10 and 20 technicians will need to work full-
time in specialized laboratories. The costs for such
individualized treatments would be astronomical.
Adult stem cells have already produced ther-
apies, while embryonic stem cells have not.
Moreover, there have been many advances in
adult stem cell research. In late 2007, Shinya
Yamanaka of Kyoto University succeeded in per-
forming an experiment where pluripotent adult
stem cells were manufactured from differentiated
fibroblast by the addition of specific transcription
factors. The newly created stem cells were devel-
oped into an embryo and were integrated into
newborn mouse tis- sues, analo-
gous to the prop- erties of
embryonic stem cells. In
specific cases, a d u l t
stem cells can be better
because they are easi-
er to control and t a r g e t
to create desired tissues.
Adult stem cells taken from patients them-
selves avoid immune rejection better than em-
bryonic stem cells. When asked about wheth-
er making customized organs and tissues [from
stem cell implantation] patient-by-patient will be
cost effective, Anthony Atala, a Researcher and
Physician at Wake Forest University who in 1999
created the first human organ, replies, “you can’t
argue with autologous.” Atala and other research-
ers argue that making organs from a patient’s
own cells is the best way to go, regardless of cost.
 7

Human Embryonic Stem Cells

Are embryos human? When should “life” begin?
Embryos are not equivalent to human life
while they are still incapable of surviving out-
side the womb. Blastocysts are a cluster of hu-
man cells that have not differentiated into dis-
tinct organ tissue; making cells of the inner cell
mass no more “human” than a skin cell. Others
define that the life of Homo sapiens only begins
when the heartbeat develops, which is during the
5th week of pregnancy, or when the brain begins
developing activity, which has been detected at
54 days after conception. In addition, the Ameri-
can Society for Reproductive Medicine has more
than 1/3 of zygotes do not implant after fertil-
ization which means that more embryos are lost
to chance than embryonic stem cells research.
Human “life” begins at “conception” when
a sperm fertilizes an egg cell. The destruc-
tion of an embryo at any point beyond “concep-
tion” the destruction of “human life”. From the
perspective of Christians, replication of specif-
ic tissue requires cells to receive an enormous
number of specific signals. What defines a hu-
man life is the cellular mass that is able to pro-
duce and integrate this enormous number of se-
quences—this occurs shortly after fertilization.

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stem_cell_treatments

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embryonic_stem_cell

Scott, Christopher. Stem Cell Now: From the Experiment That Shook the World to the New Politics of Life.
New York: New York. P.I Press, 2007

Gibbs, Nancy. Stem Cells: The Hope and The Hype. Time. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/arti-
cle/0,9171,1220538,00.html

Cyranoski, David. Simple switch turns cells embryonic. Nature 6 June 2007. http://www.nature.com/na-
ture/journal/v447/n7145/full/447618a.html

Biologists Make Skin Cells Work Like Stem Cells. The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/06/
science/06cnd-cell.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/aug2000/od-23.htm

“Deriving Stem Cells Without Killing Embryo”. Medical News Today. 2006. http://www.medicalnewstoday.
com/healthnews.php?newsid=50329
 8

Genetically Modified Foods

Genetically modified (GM) foods are derived from organisms whose DNA has been
modified through genetic engineering, unlike similar food organisms developed
through the conventional genetic modification of selective breeding (plant breed-

Background
ing and animal breeding) or mutation breeding. GM foods were first put on the mar-
ket in the early 1990s. Typically, genetically modified foods are plant products: soy-

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bean, corn, canola, and cotton seed oil, but animal products have been developed.

Genetic engineering begins with the identification and isolation of a gene which expresses
a desirable trait, with the aid of restriction enzymes. Then a recipient plant is selected,
and the gene is inserted and incorporated into its genome through a vector such as agro-
bacterium, through a gene gun shooting an elemental particle covered in plasmid DNA,
electroporation, or a virus. Once part of the recipient, the newly inserted gene becomes
part of the genome of the recipient and is regulated in the same way as its other genes.

Are GM foods safe/healthy for consumers?

Research literature says that GM foods are as There are instances when GM foods were un-
safe as their organic counterparts. In 2001, safe. A large media event occured in 1998 when
the research directorate of the EU commission scientist Árpád Pusztai, who works on plant lec-
released a summary of 81 scientific studies fi- tins, reported that he had found that rats fed po-
nanced by the EU conducted over a 15-year pe- tatoes genetically modified to contain lectin devel-
riod, to determine whether genetically modified oped immune system damage and other serious
products were unsafe or insufficiently tested: health problems. Even though the lectin itself
none found evidence of harm to humans or to caused no adverse effects his conclusion was that
the environment. A 2004 re- view of feed- the GM process had somehow made the potatoes
ing trials found no differ- less nutritious. Pusztai later reviewed the indus-
ences among animals eating try-sponsored study and found that seven of the
genetically modified plants. A forty rats in the study that were fed the GM crop
2005 review by the Italian Journal died within two weeks while several others devel-
of Animal Sci- ence con- oped stomach lesions. An independently funded
cluded that first-generation researcher, Professor Bela Darvas of Debrecen
genetically modified foods had been University was refused more Mon 810 corn to use
found to be similar in nutrition and safety to non- in his studies after informing Monsanto that the
GM foods, but noted that second-generation foods variety was lethal to two Hungarian protected in-
with “significant changes in constituents” would sect species and an insect classified as a rare.
be more difficult to test, and would require animal
studies. Two 2009 papers from Nutrition Reviews GM food safety tests by biotech companies
and the Food Science Journal found that although can be trusted. The only requirement for ap-
most studies concluded that GM foods do not dif- proval of genetically engineered food products is
fer in nutrition or cause toxic effects in animals. that it should be grossly similar to its natural
counterpart. This is called the principle of “sub-
Genetic modification is considered safe in stantial equivalence”. To decide if a modified
medicine; why not in foods? The human insulin product is substantially equivalent, only a limi
 9

Genetically Modified Foods

used to treat diabetes, for example, is genetically ited set of characteristics selected and tested by
engineered: the human gene that codes for insu- the manufacturer are compared. If this proce-
lin has been transferred into bacteria and yeast, dure reveals no significant difference between
a process that involves crossing the species bar- the genetically engineered product and its natu-
rier. By what rationale can the technology be safe ral counterpart, then no further food safety
and ethical when saving lives in medical treat- testing is required. Critics argue that
ment, but not when used to make plants resis- regulators should use independent
tant to pests in order to save people from hunger? studies, not in- dustry studies for
substantial equiv- alence, to prevent ma-
nipulation of data.

Are GM foods good for the environment?

GM foods are environmentally friendly. Stud-
ies showed that using herbicide resistant GM
crops allowed better weed control and that under
such conditions there were fewer weeds and fewer
weed seeds. In addition, GM crops are important
in sustainable food security and environmental
management. On our planet, 18% of the land mass
is used for agricultural production. This fraction
cannot be increased substantially. It is absolutely
essential that the yield per unit of land increases
beyond current levels given that: The human pop-
ulation is still growing, and will reach about nine
billion by 2040;70,000 km² of agricultural land
are lost annually to growth of cities and other non-
agricultural uses; Consumer diets in developing
countries are increasingly changing from plant-
based proteins to animal protein, a trend that
requires a greater amount of crop-based feeds.
GM crops are environmentally unfriendly be-
cause they affect natural processes/wildlife.
Genetically modified foods threaten plant biodi-
versity. Planting GM crops is not a question of
choice: once they are planted somewhere, crops
elsewhere become contaminated by them. This
could be especially disastrous for organic farmers.
GM crops that contain their own pesticides often
kill more than their targeted insects, producing
a chain reaction of unintended consequences,
among them pesticide resistant “super-pests”; GM
crops designed to be herbicide resistant (so that
large amounts of strong weed killer can be safe-
ly used on them) have already spread to related
weed species, which then also pick up the resis-
tance to the herbicides and become “super-weeds”
that are difficult to control. Finally, in November
2008, a report by Greenpeace published results
of a report linking a Monsanto produced strain of
transgenic maize to lower levels of fertility in mice

References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetically_modified_foods

Genetic Engineering: The Future of Foods. http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/2003/603_food.html

Can Organic Farming “Feed the World”?. http://www.cnr.berkeley.edu/~christos/articles/cv_organic_

farming.html