September 24, 2007
UNIT 7: PlantsPharm-Fresh Medicine
If one British researcher has his way, tobacco would be grown to save lives. Professor Julian Ma of the GM tobacco project at the Centre for Infection in London grows genetically engineered tobacco plants that carry an algae gene to make a protein the plant doesn’t need. The protein is then extracted from the plants and used to make a cream that may fight the spread of HIV. In other parts of the world, scientists are growing genetically modified (GM) plants that produce dietary supplements and vaccines against viruses such as rabies and hepatitis B.
The technique used to make the GM plants is called “pharming”, or pharmaceutical farming. While GM crops are very controversial, these plants could potentially save millions of lives around the world. GM crops that carry corrective medicines can be grown, harvested and their medicines purified at a fraction of the cost of traditional means. This new breed of GM crop could be the best way to get low-cost medicines to countries where a dollar per prescription or dose is still too expensive.
Professor Ma makes a case for his and similar research: "The advantages they [GM plants] offer simply cannot be equaled by any other system. They provide the most promising opportunity open to us to supply low-cost drugs and vaccines to the developing world."