2014 ndi 6ws fitzmier, Lundberg, Abelkop deep ocean neg privatization cp
Download 0.84 Mb.
|
- Navigate this page:
- GM algae required to make biofuels viable are dangerous – destroy ecosystems and cause bioterrorism
- GM algae escapes – dangerous to the environment and causes disease
gm algae turnOnly GM algae have a chance of solvingFehrenbacher 11 (Katie, “Craig Venter: Algae fuel that can replace oil will not come from nature”, Gigaom, 10/23/11, http://gigaom.com/2011/10/23/craig-venter-algae-fuel-that-can-replace-oil-will-not-be-from-nature/) Biofuels made from algae that will be able to scale, and compete with oil, will have to be synthesized and will not come from nature, said controversial genomics scientist and entrepreneur Craig Venter last week at a conference on the future of energy at the New America Foundation in Washington, D.C. (see video below). Venter said in an interview, “It’s pretty obvious that there’s nothing in the natural world to make the levels that are needed,” and he pointed to algae oil yield volumes needing approximately 20,000 gallons per acre equivalent of algae. Venter and his research team, of course, in spring 2010, successfully created the first synthetic bacterial cell, which was controlled completely by a synthetic genome. Or as Venter explained it in his recent interview, as the first cell “to have a computer for a parent,” or “designed DNA on a living system.” Venter now says he has increasingly realized that a fully synthetic cell is the way to go to create competitive algae fuel. When it comes to tweaking naturally occurring algae cells, he says, “you’ll never get there with that. We need a fundamental change to how we approach all this.” GM algae required to make biofuels viable are dangerous – destroy ecosystems and cause bioterrorismMaron 10 (Dina Fine, “The Race to Make Fuel Out of Algae Poses Risks as Well as Benefits”, The New York Times, 7/22/10) The first is simply supply. A central question dominating algal biofuel conferences is whether the best oil-producing algae crop will come from strains occurring in nature, or if they will need to be genetically modified to enhance their fuel-producing potential. If researchers choose to modify them, then the algae basking in open pools under the sun's rays will have genomes dotted with genes from foreign species. Those algae could cause problems, according to a small group of academics and researchers. Their concerns begin with something as ephemeral as a breeze that could pick up genetically modified microalgae and carry them into nearby fields and streams to displace natural strains, alter the ecosystem, and perhaps get into the human food chain. Just what would happen then is unknown, but the uncertainty is what is keeping them up at night. When it comes to genetically modified algae, they say, no one is asking the difficult questions, so it is impossible to get any of the answers. History shows that in general, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) can be difficult to contain. A 2008 Government Accountability Office report, for example, found there have been half a dozen documented cases where GMO were released unintentionally. "Moreover, the actual number of unauthorized releases is unknown," the report notes. Unlike genetically modified, or GM, corn, which has been used for some 15 years, similarly altered algae are newcomers to the scene and have not been tried outdoors before. "Being a nascent industry, there are no existing standards for various aspects of algal biofuels production," said an Energy Department algae road map issued last month. No single regulator Currently, all genetically modified organisms are primarily regulated under a splintered regulatory system overseen by U.S. EPA, the Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration. There is no single body in charge of GMO oversight, according to Mark Duvall, a lawyer who works on these issues at Beveridge & Diamond PCs. But some researchers and energy insiders fear that even if there were a standard set of regulations in place, that may not be enough to minimize the risks if GM algae were grown in outdoor ponds. "The reality is that algae escapes. Algae is everywhere, and algae is not something that is easily contained," energy consultant David Haberman told a biotechnology conference last month. "It's going to get out," he warned. Haberman, an electrical engineer by training, served from 2000 to 2005 as a member of the Energy Department's Hydrogen Technical Advisory Panel, (now known as the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technical Advisory Committee). He has been a leading voice calling for an overarching risk analysis of genetically modified algae and its impacts to human health and environment. In a worst-case scenario, Haberman asserts, the genetically modified algae might even be used in weapons to destroy fisheries or make large numbers of people sick. GM algae escapes – dangerous to the environment and causes diseaseLaskow 11 (Sarah, “Attack of the Killer Algae? The Risks of Creating Biofuels”, GOOD, 10/7/11, http://magazine.good.is/articles/attack-of-the-killer-algae-the-risks-of-creating-biofuels) “One of the problems with algae is that they tend not to stay where they are,” says Todd Kuiken, a senior research associate with the Wilson Center’s Synthetic Biology Project. “If anyone tells you that algae won’t escape, they're lying or they don't understand how algae works.” It doesn’t matter if the algae are grown in contained systems or in open-air ponds, although the latter system offers more opportunities for a breakout. The algae that scientists have altered to help produce biofuels will escape into nature, whether on a quick breeze, a shirtsleeve, or a bird’s foot. They will bring with them genetic material that humans have tinkered with and, in some cases, manufactured wholesale. The results are often nothing, but in a worst case scenario, the engineered algae thrive or transfer their human-made genes to other algae, and a piece of DNA made in a lab leads to irrevocable changes in a once-diverse and thriving ecosystem. Synthetic biology is a somewhat mushy term, but think of it as a more ambitious form of genetic engineering. Humans started manipulating the genes of plants through cross-breeding and later graduated to genetically modifying plants to perform super-vegetal feats of strength like resisting pesticides or producing their own. Scientists now know enough about genes that they can use them to program simple organisms, which will spit out a specified product. For scientists working to create better biofuels, that product is often sugar, which can be processed into a fuel like ethanol. Algae, yeast, and bacteria like E. coli—the organisms used in biofuel plants—can be manipulated, and scientists are seeking out strands of genetic materials that will allow those organisms to produce sugar or break down plant materials into sugar more efficiently. In some cases, scientists create the genes themselves, either by splicing together different strands from nature or creating synthetic bits of DNA. Concerns about the organisms engineered for biofuel production are similar to the those about genetically modified crops, but there’s little information about specific risks of synthetic biology. Last year, the President’s Commission on Bioethics published a report on synthetic biology, which concluded that the government should keep a close eye on the field. There haven’t been many studies of these organisms, and there aren’t many examples of algae breaking into the wild. “I don’t think we can say all synthetic organisms are safe or all of them are dangerous,” Dr. Allison Snow, who’s an expert in the risks of genetically modified crops, told the commission. Over the summer, the Wilson Center gathered a group of ecologists and other experts to discuss potential problems. “You're basically worried about gene transfer and what that implies in the nature ecosystem, and how that can change the balance,” Kuiken says. At the end of the session, the participants were most interested in pursuing research about what would happen to the man-made DNA after its host organism died and how a “novel organism” comes to differ from its “wild” precursor. Algae grown in open ponds spanning hundreds of acres are more likely to escape than yeast trapped in a silo, but in any biofuel production process, there’s a chance that a synthetic organism will get out. Brewing biofuels is a bit like brewing beer, and “beer producers have problems with contamination all the time,” says Eric Hoffman, of Friends of the Earth, an environmental organization that is skeptical of the benefits of biofuels and worried about the synthetic biology’s potential harms. Yeasts from beer-making processes are always escaping, Hoffman points out, and microbes from outside are contaminating the vats. “It’s not a contained system,” he says. In 2010, FOE argued that synthetic organisms are “a serious threat to biodiversity, the environment, and public health.” The group’s worry, in part, is that biofuels are diverting funds and momentum from renewable energy projects like wind and solar and creating synthetic organisms to further biofuel development while courting unknown risks to the environment. Directory: wp-content -> uploads -> 2014 2014 -> For want of a nail 2014 -> Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act of 2014 2014 -> Ihbb asian Championships 2014 middle school bowl Round 4 First Quarter 2014 -> Ihbb european Championships 2014 Bowl Round 4 First Quarter 2014 -> International History Bee and Bowl 2013-14 Asian Division Question Set Bowl Round Six 2014 -> United states patent and trademark office 2014 -> Coffs harbour eisteddfod vocal syllabus 2014 -> Listen News Programs Schedule pledge now 2014 -> Slow club announce third album complete surrender Download 0.84 Mb. Share with your friends:
|