The Enviropig: Good or Bad Idea?

The enviropig is a genetically engineered pig that has been approved for limited production in Canada. It is called the enviropig because it’s urine and feces contain up to 65 percent less phosphorus than their non genetically altered relatives. This is a breakthrough because animal waste is used as fertilizer and this fertilizer contains a lot of phosphorus which runs off into streams and lakes, playing a big part in causing algal blooms. The algae uses up the oxygen and creates areas in the water called dead zones where fish and other aquatic life cannot live because of the lack of oxygen. The scientist created the enviropig by locating an enzyme in the genome of E. coli responsible for breaking down phosphorus. Then they paired this gene with a mouse DNA promoter, which is a part of DNA that encourages replication of a specific segment. Pig embryos were injected with this mixture and it was actually incorporated into the pigs genome. This trait can now be inherited by the enviropig’s offspring without further scientific intervention! Scientist applied to the FDA in 2007 to see if this pig can be sold for human consumption. The enviropig is still being studied but it is likely this pig will be approved. Consumers who do not like to eat genetically modified fruits or vegetables may have to watch out for genetically modified meats as well. Would you eat this pig?

Minard, Anne. “Gene-Altered Enviropig to reduce Dead Zones?” National Geographic. National Geographic Society, 2010. Web. 20 Apr. 2011. < http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/03/100330-bacon-pigs-enviropig-dead-

zones/ >

Enviropig - The next transgenic food? 2010. CNN. Video. Web. 20 Apr. 2011. <http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/living/2010/09/27/chernoff.eatocracy.enivropig.cnn.html>

Pharming: Growing Vaccines and Pharmaceutical Chemicals in Plants

Pharming is a term that originates from the words, “farming” and “pharmaceuticals.” Pharming uses basic agriculture combined with advanced biotechnology to develop plants that are essentially “factories” for growing vaccines, proteins, and antibodies that can be used for cancer treatments. Pharming with plants involves altering the plants DNA by adding genes that will make the plant produce a specific chemical. Most plants engineered to produce these chemicals deposit the proteins in the seeds because seeds naturally have high concentrations of proteins. The leaves of some plants are also used to produce vaccines. Researchers have used the tobacco plant to grow personalized cancer vaccines. Every person’s cancer has different antibodies, so this is why a universal vaccine won’t work. They found that by taking antibodies from a patient’s tumor and putting that into a modified tobacco plant, the plant then produces a large amount of antibodies. Then the researchers were able to grind up the plant leaves and purify the antibodies. Only a few plants were needed for each patient they tried this method on. No side effects were reported from the plant grown vaccines, and there were indications that plant grown vaccines stimulate the immune system more than those made in animal cells. Growing vaccines in plants can be done quickly and cheaply compared to the traditional way of growing them with mammalian cell cultures. This technology seems to hold a lot of promise. I always believed that plants were more important in our lives than most people make them out to be. This seems like it could be the solution to producing the amount of medicines that are needed. It may also lead to cures for some diseases. What could be a disadvantage to growing our medicines? How will these plants be kept separate from the natural one?

Auch, Ian and Kevin M. Smith. Incredibe Edible Vaccines. Computer Image. Boyce Thompson Institute, New York. Web. 25 Apr. 2011. < http://www.genomenewsnetwork.org/articles/07_00/vaccines_trees.shtml >

Digitale, Erin. “Plants can be factories making vaccine to treat cancer.” Stanford. Stanford University, 2008. Web. 25 Apr. 2011. <http://news.stanford.edu/news/2008/july23/med-plants-072308.html>

Byrne, P. “Bio-pharming.” Colorado State. Colorado State University, 2008. Web. 25 Apr. 2011. <http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/crops/00307.html>