AS sudah lama membudidayakan tanaman hasil rekayasa genetika

Tanaman pertama yang direkayasa dengan gen manusia memperoleh persetujuan awal untuk ditanam di Amerika Serikat. Namun, kalangan aktivis lingkungan berang dan mengatakan, ada risiko tanaman rekayasa genetik itu bisa mencemari rantai makanan, seperti dilaporkan Wartawan BBC James Westhead.

Dengar ceritanya

In a major advance for the biotech industry a Californian company has won initial permission to grow a special rice implanted with genes found in human breast milk and saliva. It would be the first time a crop has been used to produce human proteins on a large scale.

The company, Ventria Bioscience, wants to extract the proteins to make a medicine for diarrhoea and possibly to add them to health foods. But consumer groups are furious. The US Centre for Food Safety's Bill Freece, claims there's a danger of contaminating other crops and possibly harming human health.

BILL FREECE: I'm really concerned about this because I think there's one, the potential for this rice to get into the food supply and two, it hasn't been tested, it hasn't gone through a drug review process. So we're dealing with an unknown here, something that could cause harm to human health.

The company insist there's no risk of contamination because the crop will be planted in Kansas where no other rice crops are grown. But with controversy growing, the US Department of Agriculture has yet to give final approval and there are many bigger regulatory hurdles before the first food with human DNA can be sold to consumers.

James Westhead, BBC, Washington

Dengar kata-katanya

biotech
(disingkat dari biotechnology) penggunaan organisme hidup atau sistem biologis lain dalam memproduksi obat atau produk-produk lain

has won initial permission
has been allowed to do something at the present time, but may not be allowed to do it in the future

implanted
ditanamkan ke dalam jasad hidup melalui pembedahan

saliva
ludah, cairan berair yang dihasilkan secara alamiah di mulut

to extract
menyarikan, mengeluarkan bagian aktif atau paling berguna dari suatu zat melalui prosedur kimiawi atau secara mekanis, seperti pemerasan, penyulingan, evaporasi,

consumer groups
kelompok orang yang bekerja sama untuk menjaga hak-hak orang yang membeli atau menggunakan barang atau jasa

contaminating
mencemari, membuat sesuatu kotor atau tidak bisa dipergunakan akibat kontak atau percampuran dengan sesuatu yang tidak bersih, berbahaya atau buruk

a drug review process
proses resmi pengujian terkendali untuk memastikan suatu obat aman untuk pemakaian umum

regulatory hurdles
ketentuan dan peraturan resmi yang harus diikuti sebelum sesuatu bisa diedarkan kepada masyarakat umum

DNA
(singkatan dari deoxyribonucleic acid) asam yang memuat informasi genetika dalam sebuah sel