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Moderated conference on GMOs in the pipeline, hosted by the FAO Biotechnology Forum in 2012

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Mon, 5 Nov 2012 17:50:23 +0100
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[[Thanks to Jim Murray from the United States for sending in the first message of this FAO e-mail conference on "GMOs in the pipeline: Looking to the next five years in the crop, forestry, livestock, aquaculture and agro-industry sectors in developing countries". All messages will be numbered chronologically. If during the conference you notice that you are missing any messages, just contact me at [log in to unmask] ...Moderator].

My name is Jim Murray and I am a Professor at the University of California Davis. I am an animal geneticist and have worked in the area of genetically engineering livestock since 1983. I am also the Chair of the organizing committee for the biannual Transgenic Animal Research Conference, which focuses on the production of use of non-murine transgenic animals.

Two things play against there being any application of genetically engineered (GE) livestock or fish in the developing world in the next five years. One is the time it takes to develop and characterize transgenic animals for agriculture and the second is that, to date, no GE animal has been approved for use as food anywhere in the world. While those of us developing such animals live in hope that regulatory approval will be forthcoming on a number of GE animals, at present the timeframe remains open. That said, there are a number of GE animals currently available that could potentially be of use in parts of the developing world, which I will quickly enumerate. Each of these lines of animals has been extensively studied and no detrimental effects have been identified, either for the animals themselves or for human consumption.

First, for countries with suitable environmental conditions, the AquaAdvantage GE salmon could be produced for export and thus generate economic growth. The potential for a suitable market outside the European Union exists.

Second, the EnviroPig developed in Canada has the potential to increase sustainability by decreasing the environmental footprint of pork production. Again this would depend on the economics of markets and may not be of high priority within some countries.

Third, the bovine alpha-lactalbumin GE pigs developed at the University of Illinois have the potential to increase pork production by increasing the growth of baby pigs pre-weaning.

Fourth, the human lysozyme GE goats developed at the University of California have the potential to produce milk with increased shelf life and antimicrobial activity that may help to combat childhood diarrhea.

These are probably the lines of GE animals most developed and therefore most likely to gain regulatory approval in the near term. With the advent of new techniques to increase the efficiency of gene targeting in vertebrates, it is likely that a number of new lines will be, or already are, in development to improve disease resistance or increase efficiency and sustainability of production.

James D. Murray
Professor
Department of Animal Science
Department of Population Health and Reproduction
University of California
One Shields Avenue
Davis CA 95616
United States
Phone: (530) 752-3179
Fax: (530) 752-0175
Email: jdmurray (at) ucdavis.edu

[To contribute to this conference, send your message to [log in to unmask] For further information on this FAO Biotechnology Forum, see http://www.fao.org/biotech/biotech-forum/ ]

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