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Special programmes are being supported for socially disadvantaged sections of the population, women and rural people. Additionally, support has been provided to the victims of earthquake in Gujarat and Uttaranchal. The major goals of these programmes are economic and technical empowerment of the beneficiaries through training, demonstration and appropriate R & D for solving location specific problems using modern biology and biotechnology.
Term Paper on Biotechnology & Social Development
Term Paper # 1. Programmes for SC and ST Population:
Biotechnology based programmes for SC/ST populations have benefited around 50,000 people through the implementation of 40 ongoing projects during the year. The projects supported cover cultivation of aromatic and medicinal plants, mushroom, spirulina and seaweeds, biological control of plant pests and diseases, vermiculture and vermicomposting, bio fertilizers, aquaculture, floriculture, poultry farming as well as human healthcare interventions.
Universities, public funded institutions, Krishi Vigyan Kendras and voluntary/non-governmental organizations have been involved in the implementation of the projects. The beneficiaries received hands on training; field demonstrations were also set up to bring awareness amongst the target population.
i. Cultivation of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants:
A training and demonstration programme was undertaken on cultivation of menthol mint for 120 beneficiaries of Lucknow and Barabanki district with distillation waste residue of menthol mint as one of the raw materials for vermicomposting. A total of 120 farmers were selected and were given one day training programme at CIMAP on various aspects on cultivation, integration of menthol mint in various cropping systems, high yielding varieties, distillation and vermicomposting.
Demonstration of menthol mint cultivation was also organized on farmers’ field employing the recently released high yielding variety for transplanted crop. Nurseries were raised from suckers. Planting was carried out on the fields of 78 farmers to demonstrate cultivation of menthol mint after coriander, masoor and wheat.
A programme on awareness creation and promotion of medicinal plants available in Arunachal Pradesh was taken up at RRL, Jorhat for production and marketing of medicinal herbs towards sustainable development of ST population of the region.
The beneficiaries have been educated on scientific cultivation and marketing of medicinal plants through 12 awareness programmes/exhibitions/workshops at different places in the state. Altogether, 961 local people have participated in the training programmes and showed keen interest to take up cultivation of medicinal plants in their villages.
Detailed survey has been made from different parts of Arunachal Pradesh and with the villagers, NGOs, Govt., agencies, traditional medical practitioners and small traders of medicinal plants about the availability of important medicinal plants from wild sources of the state.
Commercially important medicinal plants were compared with the locally available potential plants viz. Aconitum heterophyllum, Nardostachys jatamansi, Swertia chirayita, Gymnadenia orchidis, Taxus baccata, Rauvolfia serpentina, Gloriosa superba, Asparagus racemosus and Piper longum for selection in the state for cultivation.
Chlorophytum borivillianum was introduced from Madhya Pradesh. A programme was undertaken at G.B. Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development, Almora for promotion and cultivation of medicinal plants in the Nanda Devi biosphere reserve buffer zone villages of Garhwal for socio-economic development of the Bhotiya tribe.
The indigenous knowledge related to agronomic practices and uses of 16 medicinal and aromatic plant species was documented and the beneficiaries were trained in nursery raising of potential medicinal plants.
The farmers have developed polyhouses for medicinal and aromatic plant nursery investing their own money and are approaching the institute for seedling of the plants for large-scale cultivation. The income generated per family/ beneficiary through the cultivation of medicinal plants was reported between Rs.925/to 1200/ per year.
Five training programmes were organized for the local farmers to disseminate scientific knowledge to 300 farmers of more than 40 villages; 35 representatives of NGOs have also been trained. Based on the progress made through the project, Garhwal Unit of GBPIHED has also been identified as a resource centre for providing training on medicinal plant cultivation and conservation and nominated by UNESCO from South Asia Pacific region.
ii. Mushroom Cultivation:
A demonstration and promotion of mushroom cultivation for the sustenance of SC/ST and weaker sections of North Bengal was taken up at North Bengal University, Siliguri in Darjeeling district.
In the region, mushroom has always been a cheap option for protein-rich food. Through the project, demonstration and training efforts could help the local panchayat in initiating mushroom cultivation programme in ten villages located within a radius of 35 km.
Target groups in the villages have been provided with initial support by building mushroom houses for cultivation. These are in Bidhanpally, Ranidanga, Gossainpur, Hatighisha, Bankimnagar and Sisabari, in districts of Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri. Training has been imparted on various aspects of cultivation and marketing. Beneficiaries have been provided with best quality spawn of Pleurotus ‘sajor-caju’ as produced in our own nodal centre.
Ten workshops were conducted for familiarizing the groups with the benefits to be accrued by this venture. In all the villages, groups have taken up this project with enthusiasm and production is in full swing.
Initially, good quality of spawn and paddy straw for preparation of bed and poly packs for mushroom packaging was supplied to the beneficiaries free of cost and demonstrations were held in each village, with constant monitoring. Beneficiaries were also trained in production and marketing of mushrooms and have been encouraged to procure their own raw materials from the profits and use this in a rotational manner.
A programme on agro-ecological conservation using integrated approach was implemented by Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Babhaleshwar District, Ahmednagar for the benefit of SC/ST communities of ten villages. The beneficiaries were trained on various aspects of use of vermin compost for biomass conversion and soil amendment, vermin wash as foliar sprays, biological pesticides and botanical decoctions for control of pest menace prevalent on the commonly grown crops through an integrated approach.
A total 200 vermicomposting units have been established at the beneficiaries’ fields. Over 274 demonstrations were set up on 15 crops over 434 acre area of 538 SC/ST beneficiaries. The vermicomposting activity undertaken could provide an additional income of Rs.5000 to 25,000/- to the beneficiaries from sale of earthworm culture and vermicomposting. Application of bio-pesticides and production of botanicals has also been carried out by the beneficiaries through self-help groups.
The production and utilization of the botanicals have helped them to improve crop productivity as well as raise their family income. The total employment generation due to the project activities is 20,840 man-days per year. There are over 200 direct beneficiaries under the project generating an employment of 75 man days/unit.
Sixty other farmers have additionally gained employment and income from vermicomposting activity in their respective areas. The attitude of the farmers in the vicinity of the target population has changed favourably in adopting eco-friendly methods of crop cultivation.
iii. Cultivation of Tissue Cultureraised Vanilla and Banana:
A project on application of plant biotechnology for improving the life style of the SC/ST population of Wayanad district in Kerala state was implemented at the University of Calicut through the supply of in vitro raised plants of elite materials. Clones of crops such as banana, vanilla, black pepper, orchids, and anthurium were raised in vitro and taken to the Wayanad district.
The SC/ST population in each panchayat was given training in hardening of these especially elite cultivars of banana and vanilla. Following hardening, the plantlets were transferred to polybags and maintained in nurseries for 2-3 months.
Healthy banana and vanilla plantlets were distributed to the tribal population of different panchayats for cultivation. Periodic visits by the project staff to the field were conducted to impart necessary skills. The farmers have achieved an increase of two-to-three-fold in the yield of different cultivars of banana.
iv. Aquaculture:
At CIFE, Mumbai, an integrated aquaculture programme was implemented. Two villages, Mahim and Masavan in district Thane were selected based on the availability of fisheries resources, road communication, general commitment of the people towards fisheries, etc.
Masavan and Mahim have population of SC/ST of 92% to 99% respectively. Five training manuals were published for the better comprehension of the semi-literate participants of the training programmes and some others are in pipeline.
Commercially important seaweeds like Laminaria, sea-grass, Cymodocea and reed i.e. Phragmites australis grown in shrimp aquaculture ponds in an integrated manner could show higher nutrient uptake rate by seaweeds and better growth.
The seaweeds were taking up dissolved organic and inorganic nutrients from pond waters and increasing the dissolved oxygen (DO) level and water quality in ponds. Hence, they were able to control aquaculture pollution. Extracts of seaweeds are being used in food, cosmetic, paper, textile, pharmaceutical, fertilizer and chemical industries.
Such extracts could fetch additional income to the shrimp aquaculture farmers and provide new employment opportunities to the women. Cottage industries based on seaweed utilization can be established, which will create indirect employment for educated unemployed. The application of reed bed technology for purification and amelioration process of the aqueous effluents has been investigated and applied in the field.
In a project implemented by MCRC, Chennai in the economically backward SC village in Pudukottai District, Tamil Nadu, demonstration of Spirulina production technology could extend nutritional benefits to the villagers. Different cement tanks for each women group were prepared and commissioned.
Regular harvests were started and the yield data collected. The women provide the wet slurry to New Ambadi who in turn markets it. The slurry was weighed wet and its dry weight is then determined and noted individually for each beneficiary. At the end of each month the payment is made for the total dry matter.
Term Paper # 2. Programmes and Women:
The main objective of the programme is to empower women technically as well as financially through training and demonstration. Emphasis was given to develop entrepreneurial skill among both educated urban women and unskilled farm women. Forty nine R&D institutions, universities, colleges and NGOs were involved in a big way to implement projects.
Women have been benefited through biotechnology packages in the areas of floriculture, value addition to various horticultural crops, cultivation and processing of medicinal and aromatic plants, production and application of vermicompost, bio-fertilisers, bio-pesticide, mushroom cultivation, aquaculture, poultry and rabbit rearing.
Many of the trained women are selling their products in local markets with good returns. During the year, 105 new proposals were received/generated. Forty one new proposals were sanctioned out of 43 recommended by the Task Force. About 3, 000 women benefited during the year through 26 ongoing projects.
Highlights of some of the projects are as follows:
i. Organic Farming:
More than 300 beneficiaries were trained in cultivation of off-season organic vegetables in rural areas of Almora and Nainital districts of Uttaranchal. The beneficiaries were able to generate additional income to a tune of Rs.24, 000 per hectare during the crop season.
Floriculture and Medicinal Plants Under a project Dehydration of flowers and preparation of eco-friendly floral craft for women’ attempts were made to prepare list of plants suitable for dehydration from different locations of three states viz.
Dehradun, Haridwar, Rishikesh, Mussouri, Deo prayag, Anjanisain etc. in Uttaranchal, Shyamnagar, Kangra in Himachal Pradesh and Lucknow and its surroundings. Forty women from Kangra, 34 from Lucknow, and 40 from Tehri Garhwal were trained in dehydration techniques and preparation of various floral craft items.
A project on conservation and application of orchids for sustainable employment opportunity was sanctioned at NEHU, Shillong. Fifty beneficiaries from women’s organizations of Shillong were selected and trained in tissue culture of economically important orchids that have potential as cut-flowers.
Under an on-going project at the Regional Centre of the G.B. Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment at Kullu, 10 high value species viz. Aconitum heterophyllum, Angelica glauca, Dioscorea deltoidea, Dactylorhiza hatagirea, Hedychium spicatum, Heracleum candicans, Picrorhiza kurroa, Podophyllum hexandrum, Saussurea costus and Valeriana jatamansi were cultivated in demonstration plots of two villages Shat and Silha covering an area of approximately 600 sq.meter each. Nearly 150 families were trained in production of vermicompost and its application to medicinal plants.
Beneficiaries were provided with seedlings of seven species of medicinally important plants for organic cultivation at their own land. The size of plots ranged between 6 and 14 acres, mostly along high slopes. It is expected that the beneficiaries would be able to sell their harvest by the end of the year.
In another on-going project being carried out by the S&T Council, Tripura on cultivation of medicinal plants for additional income to women, a nursery of 30 selected species was established in an area of 50ft x 8ft. Over 300 women were trained in cultivation, harvesting and semi processing technologies. They were provided with plantlets of 30 species. These plants were cultivated at the beneficiaries plot covering an area of 2 hectares.
ii. Food Technology:
Low cost underutilized marine fishes at College of Fisheries, Berhampur district, have been identified along the coast for value addition. Beneficiaries from five coastal districts namely Ganjam, Puri, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur and Balasore were also trained in preparation of food items such as cutlet, fish pakora, roll, balls, finger and pickle.
Twenty trained women set up stalls at the Gopalpur Beach Festival held on 6-10 December, 2003 and were able to earn a profit of Rs.3, 000 per day. A project supported at College of Horticulture, KAU, Thrissur trained 50 farm women in processing of cocoa and preparation of various value added items. Sixty six women were trained in technologies of fermentation, drying, alkalization, roasting, grinding and technologies for higher cocoa butter recovery.
The beneficiaries were also provided hands-on training on morphology of cocoa, propagation and nursery techniques, selection of planting material, care of young plantations, pruning, fertilizer application, irrigation, harvesting, pest and disease control, breaking pods, extraction of beans and setting for fermentation and drying methods.
iii. Poultry Farming:
A project with the aim to provide entrepreneurship opportunities to rural women in poultry farming was sanctioned at HPKV, Palampur. Sixty awareness camps were organized to motivate women farmers to adopt the technology of poultry farming. More than 800 women participated.
About 200 women from 16 Mandals participated in awareness camp. Ninety 168 women from five villages were selected and trained in complete package of poultry farming including identification of breeds, housing, rearing, feed formulation, healthcare and preparation of bankable projects. Also 16 broiler units were established at selected sites to provide day-old chicks to the interested entrepreneurship.
iv. Aquaculture:
At the National Centre for Women in Agriculture, Bhubaneswar, about 200 women were selected from seven villages of Puri and Khurda Districts and grouped according to the availability of ponds with them. Over 55 women having their own backyard ponds were trained in water analysis and pond management.
Efforts were made to provide access to community ponds to the women who did not have their own ponds. All the beneficiaries were provided with fingerlings along with a complete technology package for rearing and management. Women were also encouraged for ornamental fish production for use in aquaria. Ten women from four villages were trained in raising nurseries of Rohu and Catla in their ponds.
v. Health and Nutrition:
Projects were taken up for providing better nutrition, creating awareness on various diseases specifically addressing the age-related problems of women viz. osteoporosis, hormone replacement therapy, genetic disorders and counseling and also about healthy environment for the society.
At AIIMS, New Delhi, a batch of 20 women in the category of post-menopause (1-5 years) were screened for their clinical profile including bone density, ECG, lipid profile etc. along with normal healthy volunteers. These groups were given 70-80mg of phytoestrogen in the form of soy protein (equivalent to 25 gm. soy flour per day). The detailed symptomatology and clinical profile are being maintained.
In another project underway at Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS), KGMC, Lucknow emphasis was given to educate rural women from low socioeconomic strata about the consequences of calcium and vitamin D deficiency during adolescence and pregnancy. Data is being collected on various biochemical parameters along with genetic polymorphism studies in both adolescent and pregnant women.
In a project on creating awareness and counseling on genetic disorders at SGPGIMS, Lucknow women from four villages have been selected for screening for various types of genetic disorders and counseling.
The women were appraised about the common genetic disorders and their blood samples were collected for screening for thalassemia, Down syndrome, sickle cell anaemia and haemophilia. A total of 470 women were screened for various genetic disorders and more than 900 families were educated on genetic disorders. Counseling was also provided to the affected group.
An R&D project was supported at JNU, New Delhi for development of a technology package on hormone replacement therapy. Biochemical analysis was carried out using the rat model for treatment with hormones like estrogen and progesterone. The parameters for metabolic changes were selected to determine the risk of HRT in post-menopausal women.
An awareness campaign on prevention of carcinoma cervix was conducted at Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology, at Hosur, near Bangalore. More than 1,170 persons including 807 women from rural, low socio-economic status and urban middle socioeconomic status were screened for cervix carcinoma on physical examination basis.
A project was supported for monitoring environmental genotoxicity in women and children occupationally and environmentally exposed to heavy metals such as lead at Mahavir Hospital and Research Centre, Hyderabad. Methodologies for carrying out the work on monitoring lead toxicity in women and children exposed to environmental lead concentration were standardized.
Study on cyto and genotoxicities of lead was carried out using peripheral blood lymphocytes collected from healthy non-smokers and the persons exposed to various environmental hazards. DNA damage was assessed by Comet Assay.
With the objective of utilizing distillery wastes for increased biomass and crop production in Tamil Nadu, samples from Trichy Distilleries and Chemicals, Tiruchirappalli, Salem Cooperative Sugar Mills, Moganur in Salem district and Kothari Sugar Mills, Lalgudi, Tiruchirappalli district, were collected by scientists working in the School of Life Sciences, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli. The samples were screened for microbes which support the growth and development of crop plants.
The common microbes were Rhizobium, Pseudomonas, phosphobacteria and Azotobacter. Also the samples were screened for micronutrients and were found to be rich in iron, magnesium, manganese, sodium, potassium, chromium, copper, zinc, calcium, aluminum, boron, molybdenum and phosphorus. Efforts are being made to use the biomass on ornamental plants such as Pedilanthus, Pandanus, cacti, Hibiscus, table palm, table rose, Vernonia, Calophyllum etc.
vi. New Initiatives:
A one-day brainstorming meeting was organized with experts from government and non-government institutions to generate projects in specialized areas of biotechnology. Major projects were generated and supported on the basis of availability of expertise, infrastructure and market.
Some of the examples are: establishment of a seritechnology complex for women at Mysore; a training centre for women of Bengre fishing village near Mangalore for aquaculture practices; a project on cultivation and processing of jute with pisciculture for SC/ST women of West Bengal; and a training programme in bioinformatics for rural and urban women of Maharashtra.
Other examples include entrepreneurship and skill development among the women of Kashmir through cultivation and application of commercially important Salix spp.; training in low cost food items; and awareness generation among rural women of Jaipur and Kolkata in sexual and reproductive health, genetic disorders, early detection and counseling.
More than 23,000 farmers have been benefited through biotechnology packages in the areas of floriculture, value addition to various horticultural crops, cultivation and processing of medicinal and aromatic plants, mushrooms and spirulina; production and application of vermincompost, bio-fertilisers, bio-pesticide; aquaculture, poultry and rabbit rearing etc. Apart from these, a few ‘bio-villages’ have been supported for value addition and better utilization of the available resources.
Projects were also supported for rehabilitation of earthquake-affected people of Uttaranchal and Gujarat. Majority of these beneficiaries have started earning their livelihood through the sale of their products in the local market. During the year, 46 new proposals were received or generated, out of which the task force recommended 27. Sixteen projects have been already sanctioned during this financial year and others are at various stages of approval. About 2,000 rural people have benefited through 18 ongoing projects.
More than 500 farmers were trained in solid waste management for preparation and application of vermicompost, sixty rural women were trained in the cultivation of button and dhingri mushroom through a project supported to IIT, Delhi. A project is being implemented by Welfare Programmes for Rural Areas Several projects have been generated and sanctioned with the recommendation of the Task Force for the benefit of rural areas.
R&D institutions, universities, colleges and NGOs were Organization for Rural Development, Tirupati. Fifty farmers from four villages have been trained in agro- waste utilization. The farmers have set up their units on their own land. They produced more than 10,000 kg of compost for application in their own farm.
vii. Community Seed Village:
A project was implemented through KVK, in West Bengal to establish community seed village. Farmers were trained in seed production technology of pulses, paddy and oilseeds in the areas of about 80 bighas.
The farmers have been demonstrated the technical know-how on sowing, maintaining optimum plant population in unit area, and management of crops from pests and diseases and application of organic manures/bio-fertilizers to minimize the production cost and maximize crop productivity per hectare with better returns.
The programme could help them in providing an opportunity to learn about successful cropping pattern on their own field through training and demonstration programme, as well as raising their production and productivity.
Under the Bio-village project sanctioned to CSMCRI, Bhavnagar, 120 farmers from Lilivav and Bhandar village of Junagarh were trained in application of bio-fertilizer for kharif crop and similar number for rabi crops. Also 30 farmers were trained in preparation and application of liquid seaweed fertilizer. Salvadora persica plants were raised on 1 ha wasteland at village Lilivav.
Under the Bio-village project sanctioned to MP Council of Science and Technology, farmers from 10 villages were trained in organic farming, cultivation of oyster mushroom, blue green algae (BGA) and spirulina. Villagers from Obaidullaganj of Raisen were trained in bee keeping. Demonstration units were also established in three villages for vermin-compost, mushroom cultivation, and BGA fertilizer production.
viii. ‘Krishi Jaiv Praudyogiki Prasar’ Programme:
The department has sanctioned a project for rehabilitation and employment generation through application of biotechnologies at Bhuj in September 2002. The project was implemented through five agencies in the areas of vermin-compost, livestock improvement, tissue culture and spirulina production.
In order to provide sustainable employment and to utilize the infrastructure created for the affected and trained people of the area, the department has decided to support this project for a further period of three years as under ‘Krishi Jaiv Praudyogiki Prasar’ programme.
ix. Rural Urban Women Networking:
Under a completed project on rural-urban women network for biotechnology adoption and diffusion implemented at IIT, New Delhi, 100 collegiate women were involved in training about 500 rural women in income generation through mushroom cultivation, solid waste recycling, horticulture including floriculture and other avenues such as organic farming who have been sensitized to rural development have continued to network the programmes. They are taking up similar work through new activities in different villages to have a multiplier effect among the women groups.
Term Paper # 3. Teaching the Principles of Biotechnology Transfer:
As concerns about genetically modified crops, biotechnology and technology transfer have come to the forefront of media coverage and governmental policies, such issues clearly have implications on the life of every citizen around the world. To combat uncertainties about biotechnology and technology transfer with firsthand knowledge of these subjects, a biotechnology service learning course was designed.
This class examines interdisciplinary issues regarding the transfer of biotechnology and agricultural and medical technologies through the utilization of didactic and service-learning activities.
The objectives of this undergraduate course are:
(i) To broaden the perspective of students on global issues related to technology transfer from developed countries to developing countries,
(ii) To examine the efficacy of technology transfer to developing countries through case studies,
(iii) To critically evaluate current opinions regarding the benefits and costs of technology transfer to both developed and developing countries, and
(iv) To become aware of and involved with community organizations addressing the needs for and methodologies involved in technology transfer to developing countries.
i. Service-Learning Environment:
During the course term, students are guided through an exploration of interactions between developed countries and developing countries with regards to whether technology can and should be effectively transferred to developing countries to combat current social ills such as hunger, disease and poverty. The course is composed of both lecture and service components and is offered to undergraduates at all levels and of all majors.
During the lecture module, brief lectures are dispersed among class discussions throughout the class period. Lectures are designed to present new information and model critical thinking patterns.
In class discussions allow students to present personal views with each other, to collectively synthesize new perspectives on the topics presented in class, and to engage in discussions addressing what responsibilities developed countries have in providing access to the latest advances in agricultural and medical technologies and what approaches to knowledge and wealth sharing are most appropriate.
Reflective writing assignments allow students to demonstrate their mastery of concepts discussed in class and to present questions about the lecture and/or discussion material. Most students elect to complete such writings using a guideline provided in class that encourages them to include a summary and evaluation of both materials covered in class and assigned readings, which include journal articles, commentaries and reviews.
The service-learning setting affords an opportunity for students to gain personal experience with issues encountered in readings, the sharing of ideas between students and guest speaker experts and allows many sides of the issue to be encountered by students.
Ultimately, the service-learning experience is designed to offer students an opportunity to demonstrate their acquisition of knowledge about biotechnology and to report transformations in their attitudes about biotechnology through direct involvement in the dissemination of knowledge about biotechnology and the exploration of innovative approaches to the transfer of biotechnology in a sustainable, economically viable and socially responsible manner.
The service-learning module has two major requirements: involvement with a local service agency and the completion of a service-learning portfolio. Effective portfolios can include a range of materials including formal documentation of service activity, copies of reflective journal writings, directed writings assigned during the class period, and/or copies of 14 products completed during the service experience.
The service-learning portfolio documents evidence of processes utilized and products completed during this service-learning course. Summarily, it allows the students to demonstrate that they have completed the learning objectives of the course and that they understand the connection of these objectives to the service completed.
One example of a service component most recently utilized in this course involved students working with the Programs Director of a local non-profit organization, Scientific Technology and Sustainable Agricultural Development (STSAD).
STSAD, Inc. is a charitable organization dedicated to educating the public on scientific technology and sustainable agricultural development with special attention to educating the underserved public about how to utilize current scientific developments to improve their quality of life.
Students work with the organization for 2 hours weekly to assist in implementing one of the following projects:
(a) Development and publication of pamphlets and brochures explaining what technology transfer is and how it could impact the lives of citizens in developing countries with attention to both potential negative and positive outcomes for distribution at a local project site in Kambuga, Uganda during an upcoming workshop; or
(b) Planning and hosting a local roundtable discussion of issues such as the role of science in sustainable development with students and faculty members from different disciplines of local universities and with community members.
The collaborative effort with STSAD, Inc. allowed students to gain additional perspectives from experts active in the field including agricultural and medical technology transfer experts. More importantly, this nonprofit institution reinforced the class methodology of addressing at least two sides of the issue including technology transfer efforts and encouraging the education of citizens in developing countries on the grassroots level.
ii. Extracting the Learning from Service Learning:
A comparative study on the impact of service-learning on various aspects of undergraduate academic learning showed that students exposed to service-learning were better able to make decisions about complex social problems than their counterparts in traditional courses.
Moreover, Service-learning components can reinforce academic rigor in courses by supporting the development of critical thinking skills by requiring students to adapt to learning from community service experience and integrating that learning with the acquisition of formal factual knowledge.
The integration process can be facilitated through the use of learning activities that require students to reflect upon service experiences and utilize these experiences as a learning tool to reinforce didactic learning.
Specifically, service-learning experiences in biology are designed to “accentuate the need for understanding basic principles of biological science” and to “help illuminate and reframe specific questions research scientists aim to answer and, in turn, help stimulate interest in the principles that underlie these phenomena”. These engagement projects “help students gain an appreciation for the methods, complexity and goals of scientific research”.
Furthermore, it has been noted that the use of service- learning components in biology helps to “engage students in biological issues that they often have little interest in understanding or to which they have had little exposure”. With these reported benefits of service-learning classes in mind, this course was designed as a tool for investigating the impact of service learning on the acquisition of knowledge and change in student attitudes about biotechnology and technology transfer.
This is an important undertaking as a recent study that surveyed undergraduate students to determine the students’ knowledge and attitudes about biotechnology revealed that students have a low amount of knowledge about biotechnology and a majority of students were more likely to reject biotechnology than support it.
Specific methodologies that employ to gain further information about the impact of service learning on the acquisition of knowledge of issues at the interface of science and society includes comparing reflective writings of students in regular biology courses to those from service learning courses, and analysing student self-reports from papers submitted expressing views on a specific topic prior to becoming involved in the service experience compared to reports from post-papers and/or interviews collected after the service-learning experience.
The goal of these investigations is to determine aspects of the design and implementation of student service work that maximally impact student learning and to explore instructional and evaluative strategies to advance the learning objectives for service learning in the sciences.
Term Paper # 4. Relevance of Genetically Modified Plants:
Genetically modified plants are created by a process of engineering that allows scientists to move genetic material between organisms with the aim of changing one or two of their characteristics. All organisms are composed of cells containing DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) molecules.
These molecules form units of genetic information known as genes. Each organism has a genetic blueprint made up of DNA, which determines the regulatory functions of its cells, and thus the characteristics that make it unique.
Prior to genetic engineering, the exchange of DNA was possible only between individual organisms of the same species. With the advent of genetic engineering in 1972, scientists have been able to identify specific genes associated with desirable traits in one organism, and transfer those genes beyond the species boundary into another organism.
For example, genes from bacteria, viruses, or animals may be transferred into plants to produce genetically modified plants with changed characteristics. This method, therefore, allows the transfer of genetic material among species that cannot otherwise breed naturally.
The Green Revolution ushered in the late 1960s has transformed the country from a food grain importer to a self- sufficient one. However, with our burgeoning population having already crossed the one billion mark, the achievements of the Green Revolution are unlikely to be sufficient. Injurious but common farm practices have damaged the cultivated land through water and wind erosion, compaction, salinization, and water logging. Our forest cover is a sad mismatch of desirable levels and actual ground realities.
Over-tillage rapidly depletes prime agricultural lands and today little quality land is available to increase the area under farm production. It is therefore not surprising to learn that India will need to import an estimated 45 million tonnes of food grains to meet its basic requirement of food by the year 2030.
There is little doubt that agricultural research will have to be rejuvenated to meet the increasing demands of farm production. To achieve this, there will have to be a paradigm shift from the methodologies held in the 1970s and 1980s. Radical changes will have to be made even in the thought processes that plan the needs of the new century.
Conservative and obsolete policies drawn for an older era will have to give way to realistic measures reflecting the urgency of the demand for technological breakthroughs. The success of the Green Revolution of the earlier decades will now have to be repeated through a Gene Revolution.
In addition to increasing the total useful biomass in plants, the following have been made possible by successfully employing biotechnology tools: improving or creating resistance to insects, pests, and microbes, value addition to crops, suitable alterations of carbohydrate profiles, addition of specific amino acids and vitamins, modification of fatty acid profiles to meet the dietary requirements of humans and animals, elimination of certain biosynthesized products harmful to animals, enhancing the shelf life of fruits and vegetables, and enhancing the production of certain metabolites.
Vaccines can now be efficiently administered to the needy population through their incorporation into common fruit such as bananas. While pursuing greater productivity, we need to redesign crops and add value to the farm produce so as to make agriculture more rewarding to farmers.
A revitalized Indian agriculture can be the engine of growth in the new millennium, and biotechnology might be the best fuel for this. When deployed sensibly and with responsibility, biotechnology can benefit our society greatly.
For instance, diseases typical to crops such as rice, wheat, and coffee and the insect pests of cotton, and chickpea, and vegetables such as eggplant and tomato can be targeted and managed through a purposeful application of the powerful tools of biotechnology.
Hazardous substances in the foods that we consume, such as aflatoxins in groundnut, neurotoxins in kesar dal, cyanide in tapioca, besides several undesirable elements in chickpea, sweet pea, and potato, can be knocked out using the modern methods emanating from biotechnology.
Amidst the din of protests and denunciation of the perceived risks in undertaking genetic modifications and consuming foods from modified organisms, one should not forget that every human activity has inherent risks. However, as an intelligent society, we ought to be able to rationalize them, based on scientific data, and make sensible decisions.
In the case of plant biotechnology, the risks have perhaps been exaggerated. The practice of genes being introduced from wild species or unrelated organisms is not unknown to classical breeding methodologies nor is the introduction of exotic plant species to new habitats a new development.
It is interesting to note that until 1999 over 45 countries from the United States to China, including Canada, Argentina, Brazil, and India, planted transgenic crops in over 39.9 million hectares and this figure reached 44.2 million hectares in the year 2000.
Genetically modified foods worth billions of dollars, ranging from cheese to tomato and soybean, are consumed in all these countries (apart from Japan and Australia), and there has not been even one report of adverse effects either to human health or to an animal from their use. Private companies engaged in seed/agricultural biotechnology have a major role to play by keeping up their research efforts as also by disseminating information. They do need to soften their stand on the issue of royalty.
The relation between research institutes and industry needs to be strengthened to fully realize the commercial benefits through a clear economic analysis of the benefits of transgenic crops. The role of the media must be balanced based on scientific data rather than on sensationalism.
They should emphasize publishing technically correct information rather than selling more copies. The mainstream population must be involved and communicated to without hype or false hope.
Scientists who are developing these modified crops and the new opportunities that they foster are the fountain- heads of evolving knowledge and hold the primary responsibility for its effective dissemination. Policy makers, administrators, legislators, the judiciary, industry, farmers, and the media will each have to play an active role in safeguarding the society’s interests by participative decision-making.
Recently, a collaboration was announced that will help fight blindness in developing countries using genetically modified rice. The collaboration will help the inventors of Golden Rice, to deliver their gift of nutritionally enhanced rice to the developing nations of the world, bringing health benefits closer to countries where Vitamin A deficiency causes the deaths of two to three million children and an estimated 500000 cases of irreversible blindness annually.
The inventors of “Golden Rice” have reached an agreement with Green ovation and Zeneca, and are working with agencies throughout the world to enable the delivery of this technology free of charge for humanitarian purposes in the developing world. How can the Indians refrain from receiving such a gift?
In India, nutritionally improved transgenic potatoes have been obtained by transferring the amaranth seed albumin gene (AmA1) from Amaranthus hypochondriacus into potato. The transgenic potatoes show a significant increase in all essential amino acids, including lysine, tryptophan, tyrosine, and sulphur-containing amino acids such as cysteine and methionine. Interestingly, the transgenic plants also showed enhanced total protein in tubers as compared with control plants. The expressed AmA1 gene was found to be non-allergenic to mice.
The decision of the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, to permit field trials of Bt (Bacillus thuringenesis) cotton for insect resistance, which brings about tremendous losses and reduces the use of insecticides, is highly commendable. This is a positive step towards taking India closer to the Gene Revolution. With the advent of recombinant DNA technology, it has become possible to gain further insights into the expression and function of genes.
Recent progress in genome sequencing and mapping of Arabidopsis and rice has equipped scientists with the information to unravel not only the sequence of specific genes but also their function. Great strides have been made in the area of human genome sequencing. It has raised hopes of producing designer drugs to combat deadly diseases such as AIDS, tuberculosis, diabetes, and Parkinsons disease.
Term Paper # 5. Safety Evaluation of Foods:
i. Micro-Organisms:
Examples of traditional food biotechnology include the use of yeasts in the brewing and baking industries, and the use of bacteria and moulds and their components in the dairy industry for making cheese and yoghurt. Moulds and bacteria are also used for the fermentation of plants or plant products (for example, miso).
Purified enzymes from micro-organisms are used extensively in making products such as high-fructose corn syrup and certain types of hydrolyzed or predigested protein products. In many such products, the micro-organisms function in the production process and the food product does not contain viable cells.
In others, such as yoghurt, microbial cultures remain viable and are consumed. Such traditional applications have a long history of safe use, and many have formally been affirmed as safe by various national and international food safety evaluations. Key considerations have included non-pathogenicity and non-toxicity of the organism and its products.
Modem biotechnologies are being used increasingly to improve food micro-organisms for the enhanced production of essential components or products, as well as the improvement of nutritional value, flavour, texture, and the shelf life of fermented foods.
ii. Plants:
Plants are consumed directly as whole food, or are processed into many types of foods. Many plants have a long history of use as foods. Undoubtedly, the plants selected were the ones that appeared healthy, grew vigorously, and gave higher yields. Edible portions had desirable taste, smell and appearance. Selection might have included an evaluation of safety, although it was not formally recognised.
In any case, there is little historical record or documentation of the process by which the safety of food plants was maintained, or of involvement of national food authorities. Now that new biotechnology has vastly increased the variety of new traits that can be introduced into plants, the impact of plant biotechnology on food safety is receiving attention.
Early farmers selected and preserved plant variants that had desirable food or agronomic attributes, such as larger fruit or uniform dormancy and maturation times for seeds. Such properties are deleterious to wild plants and so would not have been developed without the efforts of early “breeders”.
Practices of early farmers led eventually to the development of desirable clones, land races, and varieties of major food crops, with predictable reproducible agronomic characteristics yielding foods with uniform properties. As the agronomic properties of individual crops were made more uniform, production methods could be designed to obtain optimum yields.
With the relatively recent advent of directed plant breeding for improvement of agricultural crops, the objectives of plant breeders became:
(i) To increase yield;
(ii) To improve quality; and
(iii) To reduce production costs by, for example, identifying traits which could increase resistance to pests and diseases.
Although it may not have been a major objective, plant breeders have been effective in conserving the nutritional quality of plants developed for food. Routinely, they have selected plants with desirable qualities and rejected undesirable plants by destroying them in the breeding plots. Preferences of the humans consuming the crop have contributed to the food characteristics of plant varieties ultimately developed.
For example, varieties of potatoes and beans are quite different in different areas of South America, where their selection has been influenced by the taste preferences of native peoples. As another example, the milling and baking quality of flour is checked during the variety development process since wheat is often developed for particular baking products.
In the case of certain crops, breeders have deliberately attempted to improve nutritional value. Often, as for example in the case of high-lysine corn or high-vitamin C tomato, other factors have prevented these varieties from becoming widely accepted. The best-tasting, most nutritious variety will not succeed as a commercial crop unless it also gives high yield.
Difficulty in processing, susceptibility to pests or diseases, an undesirable flavour or colour, or simply difficulty in getting the plants to market will also limit the adoption of a new variety. Public acceptance of a high- nutrient variety is not based on nutrient content alone.
Carrot and sweet potato varieties that have a bright orange colour are more acceptable to humans than those that do not. They also have a higher content of the pigment that supplies vitamin A precursor in the human diet. The ascorbic acid (vitamin C) content of tomatoes has been extensively examined, and varieties with higher content developed.
However, since the fruit of these tomatoes is more yellow-orange than red, they have not been as acceptable to consumers. The nutritional value of fruit or vegetable crops can be quite variable, and may be difficult to assess definitively.
The composition of plant foods, particularly fruits and vegetables, is transient because the edible portion undergoes rapid biochemical changes during the ripening process. For example, in red tomatoes the content of ascorbic acid is low in green fruit, increases rapidly as the fruit ripens, and then drops off with time.
Ascorbic acid content also varies in ripe tomatoes with their position on the vine, since higher light intensity increases the amount. Moreover, field-grown tomato plants produce fruit of higher vitamin C content than those grown in glasshouses. In view of these considerations, the significance of a genetically induced change in the level of a nutrient, such as ascorbic acid in modified tomatoes, would be difficult to assess.
The significance of a genetically induced change in the level of a particular nutrient would also depend on the position of the food in the total diet. Many plants are known to produce compounds toxic to other species. Acutely toxic poisonous plants, such as some fungi and ornamental plants are not consumed.
A number of plants consumed by humans are acutely toxic in the raw state, but are accepted as food because processing methods alter or eliminate their toxicity. For example, the cassava root is quite toxic, but proper processing converts it into a nutritious and widely consumed food. Soybeans and lima beans, among other crops, also require proper processing. Thus the mere presence of a toxicant in a plant variety does not necessarily eliminate its use.
In other plants that contain toxicants affecting humans, such as potato and tomato, plant breeders have succeeded in reducing the level of these toxicants in food varieties.
Over time, there have been few reported examples of plant breeding inadvertently leading to increases in toxicants. Varieties with an increased toxicant level have been quickly removed from agricultural use. In some countries new varieties have been monitored for levels of a particular toxicant, but systematic food safety assessment has not generally been conducted.
The impact of plant biotechnology on food safety is now receiving wider attention. At the same time, there is increasing general recognition of the relevance of plant breeding’s historical record.
Toxicant levels might become important, particularly when traits are introduced for resistance to pests and diseases, simply because a compound inducing resistance to another organism might possibly affect humans.
The molecular basis for the resistance mechanisms is just beginning to be understood by plant scientists, and may be a target for biotechnology approaches to enhance resistance. Some mechanisms appear to be quite general, while others have adverse effects on a specific pest or pathogen. Knowledge of the mechanisms should, in the future, provide a valuable tool for the plant breeder and should facilitate evaluations of safety.
iii. Animals:
The development of new strains of domestic mammals and birds for food has had a long history, and extensive procedures are in place to improve yield and assure the health of these animals. In general, foods from new strains of mammals and birds that appear to be in good health have proven to be as safe as the animal breeds from which they were derived. No endogenously produced toxicants are known to come from such domestic animals.
In recent years, breeding technologies have been developed that permit increased numbers of desirable individuals through techniques such as embryo splitting. In addition, improved knowledge of the genetic control of hormonal levels has permitted the alteration of carcass quality, for example of fat to lean ratios, which has resulted in consumer desired lean meats. Increased hormone levels have also enhanced the rate of growth, as well as milk production. There is no evidence of adverse effects to humans from the use of such technologies.
iv. Food Safety and Biotechnology:
The consideration of the safety of foods and food components derived from biotechnology involves several continua: from older to newer biotechnology; from traditional techniques to the latest techniques based on molecular and cellular biology; from simple to complex products; from a well-known history of exposure and safety of use to areas of less knowledge of the trait in different organisms; from whole organisms to specific chemical compounds or substances; and from simple to complex assessment approaches.
For a rational and practical approach to ensuring safe use, these continua can be separated into manageable pieces, facilitating the description of the concepts or principles of safety.
Accordingly, scientific principles and procedures should be applied in a flexible fashion, taking into account the knowledge of:
a. The characteristics of the newly introduced traits;
b. Potential dietary exposure;
c. The preparation and processing of the foods or food components;
d. Nutritional considerations; and
e. Toxicological aspects.
v. Concepts of Food Safety:
The safety of food for human consumption is based on the concept that there should be a reasonable certainty that no harm will result from intended uses under the anticipated conditions of consumption. Historically, foods prepared and used in traditional ways have been considered to be safe on the basis of long-term experience, even though they may have contained natural toxicants or anti-nutritional substances.
In principle, food has been presumed to be safe unless a significant hazard was identified. Modern biotechnology broadens the scope of the genetic changes that can be made in food organisms, and broadens the scope of possible sources of foods. This does not inherently lead to foods that are less safe than those developed by conventional techniques.
Therefore, evaluation of foods and food components obtained from organisms developed by the application of the newer techniques does not necessitate a fundamental change in established principles, nor does it require a different standard of safety.
Moreover, the precision inherent in the use of certain molecular techniques for developing organisms for use as food should enable direct and focused assessment of safety where such assessment is desired. Knowledge obtained using these methods might also be used to approach safety assessment of new foods or food components from organisms developed by traditional methods.
vi. Safety Considerations and Substantial Equivalence:
For foods and food components from organisms developed by the application of modern biotechnology, the most practical approach to the determination of safety is to consider whether they are substantially equivalent to analogous conventional food products, if such exist.
Account should be taken of the processing that the food may undergo, as well as the intended use and the exposure. Exposure includes such parameters as the amount of food or food components in the diet, the pattern of dietary consumption, and the characteristics of the consuming populations. This approach provides a basis for an evaluation of food safety and nutritional quality.
The concept of substantial equivalence embodies the idea that existing organisms used as food, or as a source of food, can be used as the basis for comparison when assessing the safety of human consumption of a food or food component that has been modified or is new.
If one considers a modified traditional food about which there is extensive knowledge on the range of possible toxicants, critical nutrients or other relevant characteristics, the new product can be compared with the old in simple ways.
These ways can include, inter alia, appropriate traditionally performed analytical measurements (for example, alkaloid levels in potatoes, cucurbatin in vegetable squash cultivars, and psoralens in celery) or crop-specific markers, for comparative purposes.
The situation becomes more complex as the origins/composition/exposure experience decreases, or if the new- products lack similarity to old established products or, in fact, have no conventional counterpart.
A demonstration of substantial equivalence takes into consideration a number of factors, such as:
i. Knowledge of the composition and characteristics of the traditional or parental product or organism;
ii. knowledge of the characteristics of the new components or traits derived, as appropriate, from information concerning: the components or traits as expressed in the precursors or parental organisms; transformation techniques (as related to understanding the characteristics of the product) including the vectors and any marker genes used; possible secondary effects of the modification; and the characterisation of the components or traits as expressed in the new organism; and
iii. Knowledge of the new product/organism with the new components or traits, including the characteristics and composition [i.e. the amount of the components or the ranges of expressions of the new traits] as compare with the conventional counterparts (i.e. the existing food or food component).
Based on a consideration of the factors in the paragraph above, knowledge that a new food or food components was derived from organisms whose newly introduced traits have been well-characterised, together with a conclusion that there is reasonable certainty of no harm as compared with its conventional or traditional counterpart, means that a new food or food components can be considered substantially equivalent.
Set out below are the principles for the application of substantial equivalence to the assessment of foods from organisms developed by the application of biotechnology:
i. If the new or modified food or food component is determined to be substantially equivalent to an existing food, then further safety or nutritional concerns are expected to be insignificant;
ii. Such foods, once substantial equivalence has been established, are treated in the same manner as their analogous conventional counterparts;
iii. Where new foods or classes of new foods or food components are less well-known, the concept of substantial equivalence is more difficult to apply; such new foods or food components are evaluated taking into account the experience gained in the evaluations of similar materials (for example, whole foods or food components such as proteins, fats or carbohydrates);
iv. Where a product is determined not to be substantially equivalent, the identified differences should be the focus of further evaluations;
v. Where there is no basis for comparison of a new food or food component, that is, where no counterpart or similar materials have been previously consumed as food, then the new food or food component should be evaluated on the basis of its own composition and properties.
As an example of the application of substantial equivalence, potatoes have long been part of the human diet. The presence of viral coat proteins in the potato is due to natural viral infections; consequently, these proteins have a long history of human consumption. Coat proteins have never been associated with a toxicity problem and are not considered a food safety issue.
Consequently, a potato in which the coat protein of one of these viruses is expressed after the gene has been introduced would be considered substantially equivalent to the infected potatoes that have a long history of safe use and consumption provided the amounts expressed were not grossly different from those occurring following natural infection.
This analogy applies only to viral coat proteins in the portions of the plant traditionally consumed, taking into account the characteristics of the new trait and possible untoward effects of the modification on alkaloid levels and key nutrient starches, as well as the extent of consumption.
Some specific examples of additional considerations which it may be necessary to take into account when applying the concept of substantial equivalence. The intended uses and degree of exposure must also be considered in assessing safety. This includes the effects of the level of the food or food component in the diet, the pattern of dietary consumption, and the characteristics of the consuming populations (i.e. infants, the elderly, the immune compromised, etc.).
The consideration of safety may include the need to evaluate possible effects occurring through cooking or other processing. For example, trypsin inhibitors from certain leguminous plants, such as the cowpea trypsin inhibitor, have a long history of safe consumption when properly cooked. However, if the cowpea trypsin inhibitor is expressed in other plants, the safety question relates to whether the normal use of these plants as food involves cooking sufficient for its inactivation.
In special cases, depending on the product consumed, the consideration of safety may also include the need to evaluate the potential for, and human health implications of, transfer of the new genetic material. For example, the use of some antibiotic resistance markers in micro-organisms should be carefully considered since transfer to the micro-flora of the human gut could, if demonstrated, possibly have human health implications.
Another consideration is the influence of the newly introduced modifications on the nutritional value of the food or food components. For the majority of modifications being carried out, such changes are unlikely.
Nonetheless, when modifications are directed at metabolic pathways of key macro or micro nutrients, the possibility of an impact on nutritional value is increased. Such impacts are of potential significance in cases where the modified food or food component may become a major dietary source of the nutrient affected.