CMancasMr Farming, Saturday, March 13 1993
BIOTECHNOLOGY
IN THE BARNYARD
Terry D. Etherton
Professor
Animal Nutrition
During the next 40 years, the
amount of food needed for the
growing world population will
approximate that produced in all
the years since the beginning of
humankind.
To meet these needs, animal and
plant scientists are developing new
biotechnologies that promise to
increase productivity, enhance
productive efficiency (unit of food
produced/unit of resource input),
and alter food composition to pro
duce more nutritious and higher
quality foods.
The issue of food composition is
particularly important to the meat
animal industry because of the
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need to reduce the fat content ot
both fresh and processed meat pro
ducts by means that are more cost
effective and efficient than the cur
rent practice of simply trimming
off the excess fat Based on current
expectations, many of these
biotechnologies will be integrated
into food production and food pro
cessing systems between now and
the end of the century. As a result,
it will be important that producers
and consumers understand the
benefits and safety of these
approaches. In this article I will
briefly discuss two biotechnolo
gies that shortly will be used in ani
mal agriculture.
First, What
Is Biotechnology?
Although biotechnology has
been touted as a recent develop
ment, it has been used for thou
sands of years to make bread and
fermented foods and beverages.
Biotechnology is simply the use of
biology to make a product or deve
lop a process that is of value to
society.
Today, biotechnology is not
only being used in the food pro
duction and processing industries,
but also to develop new and
improved human and veterinary
health care products, to increase
mineral and oil recovery, to pro
duce fuels that will be an alterna
tive to petroleum-derived fuels,
and for novel approaches to
degrading toxic and solid waste
materials.
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As for animal agriculture, two
of the first biotechnologies that
shortly will receive regulatory
approval from the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) for use in
dairy and pork production are
bovine somatotropin (BST) and
porcine somatotropin (PST).
Somatotropin or growth hor
mone is a naturally occurring pro
tein hormone made in the pituitary
gland of all mammals. It is the
master hormone that regulates
growth of humans and animals.
When administered to dairy
cows, BST increases milk produc
tion IS percent to 20 percent and
enhances feed efficiency by about
10 percent
Studies we have conducted in
the Department of Dairy and Ani
mal Science have shown that when
PST is administered to growing
pigs, growth rate increases by 10
percent to 20 percent, and carcass
fat is reduced sometimes by as
much as 70 percent. This change in
growth rate is accompanied by a
marked increase in muscle growth
(up to SO percent) and feed effi
ciency (by 15 percent to 35 per
cent). These technologies may also
help reduce environmental pollu
tion, since using less feed means
using less fertilizier and other
inputs associated with growing,
harvesting, processing, and storing
animal feed.
Public Discussion
Of Biotechnology
Although scientific advances
made in the past IS years have
been enthusiastically received by
agricultural scientists, there is
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widespread public misunderstand
ing concerning their benefits and
safety.
It is difficult for many consum
ers to accurately evaluate the pro
ducts of biotechnology because
they may not have a scientific
background. As a result, they arc
sometimes misled by campaigns
conducted by opponents of
biotechnology who often falsely
condemn these technologies.
The fact that these technologies
involve food plays into another
issue of great importance to con
sumers food safety.
Public discussion between
proponents and opponents of
biotechnology has been controver
sial and typically has involved sci
entists responding to misinforma
tion disseminated by groups
which, for various reasons, oppose
the use of biotechnology. While
the motivation of these groups for
opposing biotechnology is not
always apparent, it is clear that
many of their claims are designed
to frighten the consumer rather
than address the scientific facts as
we know them.
From a scientific viewpoint, the
emerging agricultural biotechno
logies are effective and safe.
Nonetheless, it is the attitudes and
beliefs of tie consumer that will
determine whether society will
benefit from using them.
In this environment, it is impor
tant that institutions of agricultural
science across the United States
inform the public about the bene
fits of agricultural biotechnology.
One challenge is to develop effec
tive programs (hat educate the
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