www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/costingtheearth.shtml
Radio Four
Thursday 12 Aug 2004
21:00-21:30

COSTING THE EARTH

Modified Medicine

For the past decade environmentalists have fought a 
bruising battle against the introduction of genetically 
modified crops to the UK. They’ve successfully persuaded 
the public that the risks of herbicide-resistant maize 
and flavour-savor tomatoes outweigh the benefits. 
But a new front is about to open in the GM war.

The European Union have awarded an £8 million grant 
to fund research into genetically-modified plants. 
The goal is not to produce an edible crop but to 
grow antibodies for vaccines to combat TB, rabies 
and eventually HIV because current techniques for 
producing vaccines are expensive and cumbersome.

The search is on for a cheaper alternative which 
could be used in the developing world where the need 
for vaccines is greatest. If a field of maize 
or tobacco plants was able to produce antibodies on 
a large scale then a powerful blow could be struck 
against some of the most deadly and persistent diseases 
on the planet.

In this week’s ‘Costing the Earth’, Tom Heap asks 
if the latest advances in GM technology will meet 
the same opposition as the food crops we’ve seen 
trashed in the fields of Norfolk and the Black Isle. 
Could medical crops contaminate the genes of conventional 
maize? Are opponents right to be worried that we 
could soon find ourselves innocently munching on 
human antibodies in our corn flakes? Or could this 
research lead to a cheap method of mass-producing 
vaccines?