THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume VIII, Issue # 207, October 26, 2006
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
DELAYING TECHNOLOGY CAN BE DEADLY:
Radican Activist Opposition to Bio-Pharmaceuticals
Perpetuates Disease Risks
By Paul K. Driessen
POLITICAL ENVIRONMENTALISM & RADICAL ACTIVISM VERSUS LIFE-SAVING BIOTECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES &
HEALTHCARE INNOVATIONS: POLITICAL ENVIRONMENTALISTS & LUDDITE RADICALS, SEEKING TO BLOCK
TECHNOLOGICAL PROGRESS IN THE FIELDS OF MEDICAL CARE & PHARMACEUTICS, RUN THE RISK OF PERPETUATING
MISERY, DISEASE, & PREMATURE DEATH
FULL STORY:
In sub-Saharan Africa and poor areas of Asia and Latin America, diarrhea isn’t just a source of mild discomfort and juvenile
bathroom humor. Because of unsanitary conditions, contaminated water and food infected by bacteria in feces used for
fertilizer, people in those regions endure 4 billion episodes of severe diarrhea a year. Up to 2 million die annually.
Among children in the United States of America, acute diarrhea accounts for more than 1.5 million outpatient visits, 200,000
hospitalizations, and 300 deaths a year. It imposes a multi-billion dollar burden on the U.S. healthcare system.
But miracles of modern medical and agricultural science offer hope.
For years, glucose-based rehydration solutions (similar to Pedialyte) were used to treat diarrhea. They saved countless lives,
by replacing lost salts, sugars, and bodily fluids. However, even with the successful health outcomes, these solutions did
not reduce the incidence or severity of childhood diarrhea.
Now Ventria Bioscience has developed an advanced solution that augments standard rehydration solutions, by adding
protective human proteins (lactoferrin and lysozyme) found in all human saliva and breast milk.
A recent child health study demonstrated that the proteins cut the average duration of children’s diarrhea by 30 percent
(1.5 days), and patients were half as likely to get diarrhea again during the next twelve months. Equally important, Ventria
produces the proteins in a special variety of rice, which makes its rehydration solution affordable, even for people in poor
countries.
Ventria achieved its remarkable breakthrough by altering rice DNA and using rice plants as factories that utilize the sun,
soil, and water as raw materials to produce the proteins. The company extracts the proteins and adds them to rehydration
solutions. Its success could convert one of the world’s most essential foods into a valuable life saver.
In another achievement, SemBioSys Genetics created genetically engineered safflowers that produce insulin at commercial
levels -- an acre of safflower can produce a kilogram of insulin, enough for 2,500 patients. Fewer than 16,000 acres – about
0.2% of what Iowa farmers devote to corn (maize) – would cover projected 2010 world demand for insulin. With diabetes on
the rise in India and elsewhere, this advance could be vital.
Syngenta is working on plant-based antibodies that fight infections and skin disease. Other scientists are enhancing plants
to produce vaccines, hormones, and enzymes that can treat HIV, cancer, heart and kidney disease, spinal cord injuries,
multiple sclerosis, cystic fibrosis, hepatitis, anthrax, West Nile virus, and arthritis.
It costs around $1,000 to produce 1 gram (0.035 ounce) of protein from animal cells, making many such vaccines prohibitively
costly for even the wealthiest countries, and completely out of reach for destitute countries. Producing the same amount
from gene-altered plants would cost less than $20 – and that means pharmaceutical companies will be able to put a higher
priority on finding cures for rare and “orphan” diseases across the globe.
But amazingly, instead of applauding these life-saving innovations, critics are attacking them. Political environmentalists and
Luddite radicals -- members of activist groups such as the Center for Food Safety, the Union of Concerned Scientists, and
Greenpeace -- assert that this “Frankenstein” technology tampers with nature and could “contaminate” other crops. These
groups are well funded by organic food interests and others who profit by attempting to scare the public. The European
Union and organic food industries demand stringent, costly, unnecessary regulations that impose unconscionable delays
and result in death for some of the world’s most needy children.
Breeders have been improving plants for millennia, using a variety of genetic technologies. Plant biotechnology is simply a
refinement of the earlier, cruder techniques. Today’s researchers employ genetic technologies that are far more careful and
precise, and management practices that maintain closed production systems and virtually eliminate any risks of accidental
cross-pollination and gene migration.
But none of these facts are persuasive to “anti-humanists who put unfounded fear-mongering ahead of the world’s children,”
says Greenpeace co-founder Patrick Moore. Healthy, well-fed, safe from diseases that kill millions in other countries, with
access to abundant clean water and electricity, radical environmentalists obsess about purely speculative risks from
technologies that could improve and save countless lives.
In so doing, they prolong disease risks for countless human beings. They throw roadblocks in the path of scientific and
technological progress that so far has eluded the world’s poor, even as it improved our own health, nutrition, living
standards, and life spans.
My personal experience with poliomyelitis (luckily, after receiving two Salk inoculations) made me eternally grateful that these
“ethicists” weren’t around 50 years ago to stymie research and field trials of that vaccine. My generation can also count its
blessings for treatments, antibiotics, and vaccines that have saved many of us and our children.
It is now the responsibility of our generation to protect children, the poor, and future generations from mean-spirited Luddite
environmentalist groups that are paid to undermine our technological progress and humanity. It is time for legislators,
regulators, judges, and people of conscience to say “enough.”
The world needs these miraculous technologies – today. And those who support radical anti-biotech organizations need to
understand that, by blocking healthcare innovations, they are perpetuating misery, disease, and premature death in
countries the world over. That is simply immoral.
© 2006 Paul K. Driessen
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Science, Ethics, & Human Health
Policy Issues Relating to Energy, Environment,
& Natural Resources
Paul K. Driessen is Senior Policy Advisor for the Congress of Racial Equality, the Committee for A Constructive Tomorrow, and the
Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise. Driessen is author of Eco-Imperialism: Green Power, Black Death, which can be
obtained at www.Eco-Imperialism.com. Email: pdriessen@cox.net --- Telephone:
(703) 698-6171
Return to Top of Page
Go to the WEBSITE INDEX
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Public Issues & Political Controversies
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
Most Recent Articles
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Volume VIII, 2006
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Subject Matter Highlights
Return to POLITICAL EDUCATION Homepage
CONTACT & ACCESS INFORMATION
This is not a commercial website. The sole purpose of the website is to share with interested persons information regarding civics,
civic and social education, political science, government, politics, law, constitutional law and history, public policy, and political
philosophy and history, as well as current and recent political developments, public issues, and political controversies.
POLITICAL EDUCATION, CONSERVATIVE ANALYSIS
POLITICS, SOCIETY, & THE SOVEREIGN STATE
Website of Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr.
Government, Politics, Public Policy, Legal Issues, Constitutional Law, Government & the Economy, Cultural Values, Foreign Affairs,
International Relations, Military Defense & National Security, Geopolitics, Terrorism & Homeland Security, American National Interests,
Political Systems & Processes, Political Institutions, Political Ideologies, & Political Philosophy
INDEX FOR THE ENTIRE WEBSITE
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Conservative & Free-Market Analysis of Government, Politics & Public Policy, Covering Political, Legal, Constitutional, Economic,
Cultural, Military, International, Strategic, & Geopolitical Issues