Bumble Bee Seafoods‘ announcement last week that its flagship canned tuna is certified non-GMO is rich with irony for San Diego’s innovative biotechnology economy.
For nearly 50 years, from the 1930s to the late 1970s, San Diego was known as the Tuna Capital of the World. Locally based companies like Bumble Bee and Chicken of the Sea dominated the national market. The tuna industry ranked third behind the Navy and aerospace manufacturing.
But during the last decade of the tuna industry’s prominence, a young Vietnam veteran transferred to UC San Diego to study biochemistry as an undergraduate and then pursue a doctoral degree. His name was Craig Venter. He went on to sequence human DNA and create the first synthetic life form.
It turns out that DNA is the software of life, telling the protein machines of our bodies what to do, and humans are rapidly learning how to master the code. Using recombinant DNA techniques, we can insert and remove genes and alter their sequence to make improvements in medicines, plants, microorganisms and animals.
U.S. companies have been in the forefront of the new genetic engineering, and already most of the corn, soybeans, sugar beets and canola grown in this country come from GMO strains. Genetic modifications can improve yields, add resistance to disease and result in other benefits. For example, a genetically modified fruit providing resistance to the ringspot virus saved the Hawaiian papaya industry in 1998.
While humans have been genetically modifying plants and animals for millennia through careful cross-breeding, the growing scientific understanding of how DNA works combined with genetic engineering techniques have dramatically accelerated the process.
As the respected British magazine The Economist explains, “Genetic modification is one of the most promising tools for feeding a global population that will one day hit 9 or 10 billion.”
But the phrase “genetic modification” sparks fear in many people. Europeans call the result “Frankenfood.” No one has died from eating GMO foods — though millions die annually of old-fashioned starvation. But wealthy consumers in Europe and America would rather be safe than sorry, even if it means turning their backs on technology that could better feed billions across the planet.
Bumble Bee’s new tuna taps into this consumer concern. The state of Vermont now requires GMO foods to be labeled, and Whole Foods wants all the GMO food it sells labeled by 2018. Chipolte has banned GMO products altogether (though this hasn’t prevented old fashioned food poisoning at its restaurants).
Meanwhile, San Diego continues to develop as one of the world’s main centers for biotechnology, and scientific teams are daily pushing the boundaries on human manipulation of nature’s software. Earlier this year, Venter’s team synthesized a strain of bacteria with the minimum number of genes to sustain life.
Venter’s La Jolla-based startup Synthetic Genomics promises to “design and build biological systems to solve global sustainability challenges,” including quality food for a growing world population and motor fuel produced by genetically engineered algae. The company’s website talks about a future in which “barren lands produce food that is sustainable, healthy and safe.”
Bumble Bee’s non-GMO certification may be a good business decision in today’s consumer marketplace, but the future of San Diego’s economy — and the world’s food supply — is far more likely to be built upon genetic engineering.
Chris Jennewein is editor and publisher of Times of San Diego.
