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[Guest guest]

Hi Doug:

 

Thank you so much for responding to my post.

 

You are right.  I am new to this list, and this is the first time I have posted

on genetic engineering.  Maybe members have already discussed this in depth

before I joined the group. 

 

In any event, the " silence " I refer to that I find so unnerving is not specific

to this list.  I do need to express myself better; please accept my apologies.

 

The silence I refer it is multifaceted.  I am referring in general to how little

most of us (the general public) know about genetic engineering.  It is being

issued in under the radar.   It is under-reported, unregulated and unlabeled. 

It is misrepresented, frequently couched in public relations terminology

advancing it as sustainable and good for the environment.  It is, on the other

hand, deeply enmeshed within a web of supportive political, legal and monetary

support, both on the national and international levels.

 

I am referring in part to the tendency for many scientists to keep quiet due to

the repercussions that have occurred to those who have spoken out about the

dangers and risks of genetic engineering.   

 

I am referring also to how this relates to living organisms becoming commodities

that are owned by corporations through intellectual property rights.   This is

part of the silence because the patenting of life forms itself became possible

without being voted on by USA citizens. .  Also, most people don't

understand how easily genetically engineered organisms can contaminate other

plants through natural means (wind, insect pollination).   Once contaminated,

the organism's progeny are no longer part of the public domain.  They are owned

by the corporation who holds the patent on the particular DNA segment.  Of

course, we don't want them contaminated in the first place..

 

I began a serious self-education campaign regarding genetic engineering

about two years ago, out of concern for the risks posed by genetically

engineered crops.  This expanded to an investigation of genetically engineered

forest trees, a topic which I was completely ignorant of before.  I knew that

biotechnologists were already engineering crops with foreign DNA for

pharmaceutical purposes; e.g., corn with human insulin, rice with human milk

DNA.  Corn and rice.  These are sacred plants!  I knew biotechnologists had an

eye on genetically engineering traditional medicinal plants as well, but I had

no idea it had already progressed as far as it has until I came across the book

on transgenic medicinal plants that was published in 1999, and the link to which

I posted on this listserve.

 

Seeing so many familiar traditional medicinal plant species listed there really

shook me up.  Why hadn't I seen this before?!  

 

It is important to understand that the creation of a transgenic organism is very

different from simply synthesizing a drug from an isolated " active ingredient "

found in a traditional medicinal plant.  While drugs do pollute the

environment (entering our drinking water supply), they don't pose the same risk

for irreversible loss that transgenic/genetically modified organisms (GMOs) do.

 

Transgenic organisms are developed by introducing foreign DNA into the genome in

ways that are prohibited by natural safeguards that have evolved over thousands

(millions?) of years to prevent species from crossing with unlike species.  For

example, corn does not normally cross pollinate with a human.    

 

DNA of humans, pigs, plants, insects, microbes, etc,  are now being combined in

single organisms.  The foreign DNA may be introduced by micro-injection, cell

invasion by pathogenic microbes, or blasted directly into the cell by gene guns.

 

Sometimes reproductive ablation constructs ( " terminator genes " ) are introduced

as well, that interfere in various ways with the reproductive capacity of the

species.   This is to protect the patented DNA sequence from spreading, but it

is not absolute; instead, it poses the risk of introducing reproductive problems

(if not sterility) into the oiginal gene line.

 

The pharmaceutical companies do not pull their ideas out of the atmosphere. They

get their research leads through bioprospecting traditional knowledge of plants

that may possess chemical compounds of interest.  " Bioprospecting "  is the

pharmaceutical industry's term of choice.   Opponents of bioprospecting call it

" biopiracy " .

 

Of course, they don't need this listserve for that.   Chinese herbal knowledge

is well published. 

 

 

Notice that AgBiotechDatabase is listed among the databases that the

Pharmacognosy Journal lists its citations with.  And it appears they work in

collaboraton with the Inpharm Association.  Pharmaceutical crop development is

pretty much the way the research is going these days.  Plants are being

developed as cheap drug factories.

 

We are very blessed that Jean Giblette and High Falls Gardens have taken the

initiative to promote the cultivation of Chinese herbs.  Hopefully, these

positive initiatives will continue to expand as they are criticial at the most

fundamental level.    Growing our own plants is where the true transformation

will take place..

 

But still we can not afford to be silent or under-informed about genetic

engineering.    If it is not our role and responsibility to protect the genetic

heritage of these medicinal plants, whose is it? 

 

There is a fundamental difference between TCM and western medicine with respect

to the orientation towards nature.    If one sees nature as  bundle of chemicals

and nucleotides to be manipulated and exploited towards product development to

serve isolated goals,  genetic engineering makes sense.  But if one perceives an

organizational integrity to the matrix of living organisms and systems, if one

recognizes the delicate balance of relationships essential to life, the creation

of transgenic organisms represents a fundamental disruptive and

disorganizational influence that places the perpetuation of life at risk.

 

TCM and western medicine both have their strengths and limitations.  We can

co-exist and should co-exist as long as we each understand our limitations.

 

A mechanical view of life serves it's purpose well in the operating room where

it accomplishes what TCM can not conceive.  But when it starts cutting and

splicing DNA inside the cell, confounding boundaries between genera and

kingdoms, all with the pretense of creating " medicinal plants " , it is time for

some of us to speak up.

 

Looking the other way is not harmless.  It is time for us to promote our

paradigm.

 

My appreciation in advance for your thoughts.

 

best regards,

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Gena,

 

This information is indeed disturbing, though not new to me, I suspect it is

new to many people on the list. The problem is, as you may have gleaned from

recent activity, most practitioners in the West are just that,

practitioners, they are either uninterested in anything outside of clinical

information or simply struggling to survive, feed their families, pay their

student loans etc. and although I think nearly everyone would agree that the

practices you are calling attention to are deplorable, most people simply

don't have the time, and many don't have the inclination to get involved

with this subject.

 

Issues concerning proper identification, processing, formulation, and this

issue have been relegated to sub-groups (mostly commercial, at least in the

West) and although I agree that this is very sad, I myself do not have the

energy to attack such a large project as I am already engaged in what

believe to be critically important work.

 

However, I would like to make a suggestion. It sounds to me like you have

gathered a large amount of data from your research/ " self-education " and that

information would have a powerful impact on people if it were organized, say

on a website, where people could get easy access to said data. Also, may I

suggest proposing written articles to be published in local, regional,

national, and even international media. Every little bit helps.

 

Thanks for bringing this important topic to the list, I sincerely hope it

develops into a greater conversation.

 

In Good Health,

Thomas

 

 

Beijing, China

Author of " Western Herbs According to Traditional : A

Practitioners Guide "

Check out my blog: sourcepointherbs.blogspot.com