«Who is afraid of the evil GMOs?»
Jürg Vollmer is editor-in-chief of the magazine «die grüne». He advocates the authorisation of breeding methods such as genome editing. In this way, the advantages of wild and cultivated plants can be combined in a meaningful way.
Tuesday, November 2, 2021
Content in German
Modernes Genome Editing ist kein Teufelszeug, sondern die logische Fortsetzung der Mutation und Mutagenese in der Pflanzenzucht. Pflanzengenetiker verändern das Erbgut mit der «Genschere» CRISPR/Cas so präzise, dass man auch von «Gen-Chirurgie» spricht. Ohne artenfremdes Genmaterial hinzuzufügen (= transgen-frei).
CRISPR/Cas unterscheidet sich in den Zielen und im Ergebnis nicht von der traditionellen Pflanzenzucht: Sie verändert ein Gen-«Schnipsel» und macht damit Nutzpflanzen ertragreicher und resistenter gegen Krankheitserreger und Schädlinge. Und das ist nötig: Denn die heutigen – auf hohen Ertrag gezüchteten – Nutzpflanzen sind genetisch verarmt.
Mit CRISPR/Cas werden Nutzpflanzen gezüchtet mit den Vorteilen der robusten (und oft auch schmackhafteren) Wildpflanzen und den Vorteilen von Kulturpflanzen, die Schädlingen trotzen, Pestizide einsparen und dabei mehr Ertrag liefern. Es wird Zeit, dass wir unsere Angst vor den «bösen GVO» überwinden und die Chance nutzen, die sie bieten.
Jürg Vollmer ist Chefredaktor der Zeitschrift «Die Grüne». Dieser Beitrag erschien zuerst in der Ausgabe 10/2021.
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