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Plant Biotechnology in the Service of Human Health

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2024

Roger Beachy ,
Elizabeth Schell-Frederick  and
Joseph Schell
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Extract

It is a cliché to say that the poor countries are becoming poorer and poorer while the rich ones become richer and richer. Previous experience shows that it is an illusion to count on mankind's sense of solidarity to resolve this dilemma. And yet we are dealing with a problem that is real, vast, and urgent. The developed world uses its knowledge and technological opportunities to sustain and increase its wealth, and in the race for scientific and technical advances the “Third World” faces the serious risk of never being able to catch up. Seen in this light, it is understandable that some people have allowed themselves to be seduced by the notion that in order to achieve a better equilibrium in the world all that is required is to return to a “more natural” life in which science and technology no longer play a dominant role. It seems to us, however, that this vision is unrealistic because it does not take account of the fact that human nature pushes us toward competition and that the kind of solidarity that would compensate for, and mitigate, this competitiveness works successfully only on a small scale (e.g., within the family or clan) or in very special circumstances (e.g., wars, natural catastrophes).

Type
Research Article
Information
Diogenes , Volume 43 , Issue 172 , December 1995 , pp. 93 - 104
Copyright
Copyright © 1995 Fédération Internationale des Sociétés de Philosophie / International Federation of Philosophical Societies (FISP)

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References

Notes

1. R. Taylor, "Food for Thought. ‘Seropositive' Plants May Yield Cheap Oral Vac cines," in: Journal of NIH Research, 5 (1993), pp. 49-53.

2. H.S. Mason, D.M.-K. Lam, and C.J. Arntzen, "Expression of Hepatitis B Surface Antigen in Transgenic Plants," in: Proceedings of the American National Academy of Sciences, 89 (1992), pp. 11745-49.

3. J. Tempé and J. Schell, "La manipulation des plantes," in: La Recherche, 18 (1987), pp. 696-709.

4. Y. Thanavala, Y.-F. Yang, P. Lyons, H.S. Mason and C.J. Arntzen, "Immuno genicity of Transgenic Plant-Derived Hepatitis B Surface Antigen," in: Proceed ings of the National Academy of Sciences (US), 92 (1993), pp. 3358-61.

5. Ibid.

6. J.K.-C. Ma, A. Hiatt, H. Hein, N.D. Vine, F. Wang, P. Stabila, C. van Dolleweerd, K. Mostov and T. Lehner, "Generation and Assembly of Secretory Antibodies in Plants, " in: Science, 268 (1995), pp. 716-19.

7. K. Düring, S. Hippe, F. Kreuzlaer and J. Schell, "Synthesis and Self-Assembly of a Functional Monoclonal Antibody in Transgenic Nicotiana tabacum," in: Plant Molecular Biology, 15 (1990), pp. 281-93.

8. O. Artsaenko, M. Peisker, U. zur Nieden, E.W. Weiler, K. Müntz and U. Conrad, "Expression of a Single-Chain Fv Antibody against Abscissic Acid Creates a Wilty Phenotype in Transgenic Tobacco," The Plant Journal, in press.

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12. L. McLain, C. Porta, G.P Lomonossoff and N.J. Dimmock, "Human Immunode fiency Virus Type 1 Neutralizing Antibodies Raised to a gp41 Peptide Expressed on the Surface of a Plant Virus," in press.

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16. T.A. Haq, H.S. Mason, J.D. Clements and C.J. Arntzen, "Oral Immunization with a Recombinant Bacterial Antigen Produced in Transgenic Plants," Ibid., pp. 714-16.