Team:WLC-Milwaukee/Anthropology

Darned if You Do, Darned if You Don’t: The Cost of Indigenous Culture in Biotechnology
By: Lakaysha Blacksher

During the early fifteenth century, while most European countries were still reeling from the Black Death and successive wars, Portugal was on the brink of making a discovery. No, it was not the cure for the bubonic plague, nor was it the admission that the world is round. It was a different kind of discovery: Africa. At this point, credit (or blame) must be given; Henry the Navigator, king of Portugal, became famous for his funding of numerous expeditions to Africa that yielded gold and slaves. This is the start of the well-known Age of Exploration.

By the seventeenth century, Holland, England, France, and Spain had joined the slave trade, and their economies flourished—to the detriment of the entire African continent. Many of these conquests began as humanitarian and/or trade expeditions, with underlying motives. For example, the Kingdom of Benin, a kingdom in what is now Nigeria, had flourished from the 14th to 18th centuries. Their peak was during the 15th and 16th centuries, when they joined in the transatlantic trade. They sold slaves of rival kingdoms for “metals, salt, cloth, guns, and powder.” However, they, too, were conquered.

Yet again, as if by some odd instant-replay of a competition, both Asia and the Americas, during the same time, were milked for resources by more powerful nations—again, to the detriment of the people. For centuries afterward, these countries in Africa, Asia, and Central/South America struggled to both gain independence and revive their lost culture.

It is only recently that some of these nations affected by colonialism, imperialism, and general cherry-picking of natural resources have been able to survive, and just barely so, without intervention. Unfortunately, the caveat emptor is the impending natural disasters all too frequent in tropical and arid climates.

After the “Scramble for Africa” in 1884 with the Berlin Conference until 1900, there were only two ‘free’ nations in Africa. The first, Liberia, a colony established by the United States for those who, during Reconstruction, wanted to go ‘back’ to Africa and the second, Ethiopia (at the time called Abyssinia), a proud nation based in self-reliance. In Asia, the Portuguese colony of East Timor was finally released in 2002. India had gained independence in 1945. Even Russia, throughout all its economic and political turmoil, attempted to venture into Asia as they had done in the rest of Eastern Europe. After the Spanish and others left by the late nineteenth century, both Central and South America struggled with dictators, and continue to, even now.

During the 1980’s, every news outlet covered the Ethiopian famines, the ‘Killing Fields’ in Cambodia under the auspices of the Khmer Rouge, and even the South American/Mexican establishment of drug cartels and civil unrest. These places have three things in common. Firstly, they all have numerous indigenous groups. Secondly, these groups are disproportionally affected by poverty. Finally, these groups have been and currently are struggling to survive due to cultural stagnation by outside influence. Even now, as these words are typed, some mother has to explain the intricate politics of why they cannot get any more food, or why they never have enough harvest to sell at market to pay for necessary items. She will likely sigh, shrug, and state resignedly, “That’s just how it goes. There’s nothing we can do about it.” Thus, it is morally necessary to turn the proverbial gear towards humanitarian aid, which now is possible through a broad but effective scientific development.

This scientific development comes in the form of biotechnology. According to the Oxford Dictionary, biotechnology is, “the exploitation of biological processes for industrial and other purposes, especially the genetic manipulation of microorganisms for the production of antibiotics, hormones, etc.” This is a field newly discovered, only being fifteen years old, and the possibilities are virtually endless. There are some drawbacks to a relatively unknown field, however. One such conflict, and a heated one, stems from the use of GMO’s, or ‘genetically modified organisms’.

These GMO’s are not the only facet to biotechnology, as they are simply organisms with certain ‘desirable’ genes expressed for various purposes. There are multiple uses for biotechnology: medicine, agriculture, fuel efficiency, and even BactoBlood , engineered by UCLA Berkley students, which is a substitute for red blood cells. Although BactoBlood was not successful, it still provides a strong starting point for all RBC (red blood cells)-related biotechnology work hereafter.

Out of all of these advances in biotechnology, it is no small wonder that scientists are attempting to find ways of curing one of the world’s greatest issues: world hunger and malnourishment. But western attempts in other places have failed before. This puts them in a precarious situation, and thus begs the question, “How can we help indigenous people fight crop failure, without over-stepping cultural boundaries?” Culture, in its purest sense, is a staple in civilization. Civilization marks the progress of humans, be it social, economic, agricultural, etc., through a time period, and through each successive landmass. There are multiple cultures within each, which define the civilization itself.

During the Age of Exploration, the western civilization was marked by religious teaching, primitive medicine, and an uncanny thirst for knowledge—so long as the ruling classes approved it. Equally during this time, eastern civilization was marked by mostly the exact same concepts. It was their multitude of cultures that set them apart. Now, in 2014, the eastern cultures are widely conservative, clinging to the traditions of their parents, grandparents, even distant ancestors. In the west, the proverbial rules are routinely broken; tradition is largely viewed as simply a holding place for outdated ideals. For example, filial piety, first taught by Confucius, has a stronghold in modern Eastern Asian countries; it is among the greatest sins to disappoint or neglect an elder . In the west, there is nothing comparable. Elders are left in nursing homes, all but forgotten, and there are no laws to enforce care, but only to punish elderly abuse.

For now, let us put focus on Africa. Many of their traditions revolve around food; pastoralists rely on wild game for sustenance, horticulturalists will plant roots, berries, and other plants for consumption by family, and foragers will hunt game and pick berries and roots. These are methods practiced in small communities. Most Sub-Saharan African farmers are subsistence farmers , only growing enough for their families. If and when there is extra, it will be sold. But there has not been extra, not in a long time. Not even sorghum, a hardy root, has been able to withstand drought conditions without blight. The bellies of children, though they are distended, are empty.

In Kenya, there is a push to promote a “special program by the Biotechnology Development Co-operation of the Netherlands Government, the Kenyan Ministry of Research, Science and Technology, and the small-scale farming system stakeholders” (Machuka). For this collaboration to work, all three parties must work together to prevent crop failure; “quick-fixes” will not do. Scientists, with the aid of farmers, develop new techniques to improve soil health, create drought-resistant crops (and to enhance those already naturally so), and to make decisions based on not only scientific trial and error, but also indigenous experience.

In Nigeria in 2006, the Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology in Africa (OFAB) was established to bring together lobbyists, civilians, scientists, and industrialists to “share knowledge and experiences, make new contacts, and explore new avenues of bringing the benefits of biotechnology to…Africa…” The goal of the forum is to not only drum up new ideas for progress in Nigeria, but to also dispel some common misconceptions about biotechnology.

Despite the successes of biotech companies and scientists in some parts of Africa, there are some heavy failures. In 2009, South Africa lost more than 80,000 hectares (approx. 200,000 acres) of corn, affecting 280 farmers. Monsanto, one of the leading firms in biotech, paid for all affected, however, “Mariam Mayet…the director of the African Centre for Biosafety… has been raising concerns about genetically modified crops for several years. Ms. Mayet declares the recent crop failures to be the most significant development in the debate over GM food. She says biotechnology has failed”.

Monsanto has defended the failure, stating that it was a simple mistake; that their seeds were underfertilized. The proverbial silver lining, however, is that most farmers affected, even spokesperson Nico Hawkins of the local farmers, states that they still support genetically modified (GM) crops. One may raise hypotheses as to why the seeds failed; as Monsanto stated, underfertilized seeds, non-responsive soil, or even the weed-killing, yield-increasing genetic alteration held unknown side effects.

Perhaps, even, education (or lack thereof) played a significant part. In the examples of Kenya and Nigeria, education was a vital part of the process; the scientists teach the farmers, and in turn, the farmers relay information to the scientists. Perhaps in the case of South Africa, education would have been helpful; if they had known the seeds produced less pollen than needed, they may have been able to notify Monsanto and replace the defective seeds before harvest.

Even so, biotechnology has gained a strong foothold in South Africa; there are fifteen (as of 2007) biotech firms in the Western Cape region. There are some setbacks to South Africa’s potential, one being the lack of “venture” capital; many “people put venture money into real estate, into building a mall or into mining” . The desire for education in biotechnology is strong, and “the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity will be offering learners from Grades 11 and 12 the chance to work as apprentices… on March 22 and 26, while marine biologist Dr. Nadine Strydom…will be offering high school students and adults an excursion along the Eastern Cape coastline for one day only during SciFest” (Science in Africa).

In Asia, rice has been a staple for millennia. In Japan, rice is linked to abundance, harmony, and wealth. “For example, the Emperor became a "priest-king" early in Japanese history. Many of his priestly functions under the Shinto religion revolved around rice-growing and included rice products such as sake (rice wine) and mochi (rice cakes), as well as the actual grain and its stalks.” Recently, crops have failed, resulting in a major shortage of food for this nation. Children here, as in Africa, and as in South America rely on this food, not only for themselves as their most basic biological needs dictate, but also for commerce; any extra crops could possibly fund a way to escape the rural poverty through which their parents struggled. It is difficult and dangerous to study while hungry, let alone to work from sundown to sunup. Yet, that is what they do.

In a small liberal arts college in southeastern Wisconsin, an assembly of science-minded undergrad students is attempting to make the developing world healthier. The focus of Wisconsin Lutheran College’s iGEM (International Genetically Engineered Machine) team this year is to utilize bacteria for further digestion of fiber, first tested in animals, and then given to humans in developing areas in order to combat malnourishment. In humans, the gene to digest and utilize fiber is not expressed, and this creates problems for those who do not have a relatively unlimited source of fiber, protein, or carbohydrates.

The project for 2014 is geared toward a goal to use a probiotic strain (E. coli Nissle 1917), whose purpose is to “increase the caloric intake in the individuals who live as sustenance farmers, refugees, and in areas that do not provide enough agricultural means so as to provide sufficient calories for the population housed in the area.” Their ultimate goal was to have a fully-functioning probiotic that, upon expression of a certain gene, could help organisms to utilize them to their fullest. They hope to first test on livestock, and should it succeed, enter it into the market for human consumption.

Now, why is this important? The WLC iGEM team’s goals mirror those of other organizations. There are several risks involved when aiding a foreign culture, the largest concern being the degradation of the culture influenced by biotechnology. “In villages, constraints to crop production include pests, diseases, weeds, environmental degradation, soil nutrient depletion, low fertilizer inputs, inadequate food processing amenities, poor roads to markets, and general lack of information...” It is necessary, however, to not view the farmer as a “simple peasant,” but rather, to take into account their traditions; what processes have worked and what has not.

It is no easy task to help an entire continent, but perhaps, just perhaps, it can be done. Malnourishment is a widespread disease, and one that needs immediate treatment. It is dangerous; those who are underfed are more susceptible to disease and injury. This task will require all of our greatest minds and strongest hands. For the past five centuries, the influence of the west has been largely negative in these areas, but new tools are being used to heal these wounds. Communication, education, respect, and dedication are vital to curing the greatest disease of the 21st century.

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