Blogs under tag Craig VenterGene Modified Algae are Safe? Posted by Veronica on Fri August 06 2010 11:11:13 AM 21 |
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Sapphire Energy is on to create superalgae, highly efficient at converting sunlight and carbon dioxide into lipids and oils that can be sent to a refinery and made into diesel or jet fuel. But efforts to genetically engineer algae, which usually means to splice in genes from other organisms, worry some experts because algae play a vital role in the environment. The single-celled photosynthetic organisms produce much of the oxygen on earth and are the base of the marine food chain. Sapphire says it is not growing any genetically engineered algae in open ponds yet. When it is ready, it says, it will comply with all regulations. Genetically engineered algae, whether in open ponds or enclosed bioreactors, are likely to be regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency, which now regulates genetically engineered microbes under the Toxic Substances Control Act. In this context Craig Venter of Synthetic Genomics had this to say that no algae would escape from the labs. Nothing will go into the drains. In the long run, Dr. Venter said, the algae should be given 'suicide genes' that would kill them if they escaped the lab or fuel production facility. |
