CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Biotechnologist David Lightfoot has come to the conclusion that the era of adding foreign genes to other organisms is finished for agriculture. "We will still do it for medical purposes," said Lightfoot, who works out of Southern Illinois University-Carbondale's college of agriculture. "I think GMOs (genetically modified organisms) are not going to be around for too much longer. There is too much societal resistance."

Lightfoot is conducting soybean research in the field of genomics. Genomics is he science of studying every gene in an organism at once. Genetic research at SIU seeks to find the economically important genes within soybean plants. The genetically modified soybeans may bring on images of organisms that have been the focus of protest by consumers and environmentalists in England and elsewhere. Genomics differs from other gene-spliced genetically modified organisms, because it adds genes from the same species. "The idea of genomics is that you don't go outside of the species to incorporate good genes," Lightfoot said. "In most species, there are a lot of variations. Some genes are good and some are not so good. Genomics is seeking to understand what those combinations are and which ones can be made more positive."

"It's what plant breeders have always done blindly. It's what nature does too, slowly," Lightfoot said. "Mother Nature is the ultimate genetic engineer; we want to do what she can do, just a little faster." The research has succeeded in finding genes that are resistant to two of the four major diseases that afflict soybean farmers in Illinois and throughout the United States. The project Lightfoot helped research started in 1998 and is almost complete. He began by trying to define the position of valuable genes -- genes that are disease resistant or promote greater yield and higher nutritional content.

"We found natural resistance mechanisms that could be improved by bringing in genes from wild soybeans," Lightfoot said. "We quickly got to the point where we could define the position of 40 of these economically important genes whose values range from $200 million dollars a year down to $20 million dollars a year."

Illinois farmers lose about $200 million to the soybean cyst nematode, a little worm that sucks on soybean roots, and they lose $100 million to sudden death syndrome caused by a fungus that chews on soybean roots. Illinois produces about 20 percent of the soybean crop in the United States. With the identification of genes that would boost resistance to these two diseases, soybean plants can now be engineered to withstand these threats. Mike Plumer, natural resource management educator from the University of Illinois extension of the Dunn-Richmond Economic Development Center, said the genetically modified soybeans would be a boon to farmers in Illinois. "There are around 10 to 12 million acres of soybeans in Illinois. If this technology is utilized you could figure a $10 to $20 increase in profitability per acre," Plumer said. "We do a little bit of cultural work to try to reduce the incidence of these pests with crop rotation and tillage rotation, but genetics is where the answer is."

However, genomics is not free from trepidation or without its critics. Julie Sommer, president of the Campus Shawnee Greens, said as a consumer she is against genetic modification of agriculture due to the lack of information provided by food companies. "Generally, the greens are against genetic tampering because of ecological concerns. In the ecological web of nature, one thing affects the next," said Sommer, a senior in university studies. "We don't know what the effects will be on the plant life we are directly changing. We don't know what the effects will be on wildlife or the human population in the future." Problems with genomics also arise with the debate on who can own and patent genes. According to Lightfoot, the genomics industry is highly concentrated in the United States.

This leads to other concerns about the potential for limited medical research and a global monopoly by the United States. Lightfoot said there is concern that U.S. companies will focus solely on diabetes, weight gain in middle aged men, heart disease and cholesterol -- the major health concerns of the nation.

"U.S. companies go prospecting throughout the world for useful genes to bring back to serve the purposes of the U.S. market," Lightfoot said. "The fear is that the U.S. market, which is so large and puts such a high value on medical technology, is going to develop a de facto monopoly on genetically derived technologies. No one else can afford to do it as well as the United States."

Genetic engineering and biotechnology are fairly new industries, spawning debates about its beneficial effects versus its harmful ones. There are environmental, religious, economical and societal concerns about how today's genetic engineering might impact the future. But Lightfoot said GMOs can protect the earth from further human activities. "What society decides to do is what society decides to do," Lightfoot said. "We have to come to a democratic consensus of the value of different things in our planet and how we are going to proceed."

** NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed for research and educational purposes only. **