Ready For A GM Beer?

By Roland Piquepaille

If you travel through Sweden this summer, don't forget to try the first genetically modified (GM) beer in the world. According to CNN.com in this short article, the Kenth beer contains "corn that has been genetically modified to protect it against pests." Sometimes, corn is named maize in Europe, and the brewer chose to use this unusual Bt maize to 'spice up' his beer. Of course, his goal is to produce a great new beer, but he also wants to introduce new technologies that will be good for the environment without compromising the consumers' health -- I guess he based his assumptions on a 'reasonable' number of bottles on a very warm day... Anyway, GM food products have been approved by the European Union since April 2004 -- if they're properly labeled. So you might find this beer outside Sweden anytime soon. Read more...

First, here is a picture of this delightful new beer (Credit: Oesterlenbryggarna brewery in Osterlen, Sweden).

Now, here are some excerpts from the CNN article.

Master brewer Kenth Persson is aware that the use of GM ingredients is not to everyone's taste and admits the brewery is taking a risk.

"But I think it's very interesting to be doing a new thing and that is what brewers like me want to do," he said. "We cannot do things in the same way as the big breweries like Carlsberg. We try to do things differently."

You'll find more details on BioteknikCentrum.com by reading this page, "The ordinary beer that's out of the ordinary."

The fact that one of the ingredients of this beer comes from a GM crop (maize) does not mean, however, that the beer has any characteristics that would not be found in a beer made with conventional maize. The grain looks exactly the same, it tastes exactly the same, and Bt maize is at least as safe and healthy as conventional maize.

Rather, the difference is in the small yellow maize kernals sown in a field in the Oderbruch region of Germany, beside the River Oder.

This is somewhat ironic as Germany is -- with France -- one of the European countries most strongly opposed to GM foods.

But now, let's look at why this GM maize can be better for us.

This genetically modified Bt maize has been imbued with a new characteristic, enabling the crop to defend itself against the dreaded European corn borer moth. This vicious pest has had many maize growers tearing their hair in despair over the years.

In conventional maize growing, insecticide sprays are used to fight off the corn borer. Thanks to the Bt gene -- which can be described as a self-defence gene -- farmers no longer need to rely so heavily on insecticides. This of course benefits the environment.

Halting the spread of the corn borer moth also reduces the risk of fungal attacks. Fungi can produce poisonous substances (mycotoxins) at levels that create major problems for producers of both human foods and animal feeds. In conclusion, the Bt maize actually enables safer food products.

I don't know if the above statement is true, but if you try this beer, drop me a note to tell me if it tastes good.

Finally, you also can read another version of the document mentioned above, but with more pictures: "The story of Sweden's first GM-labelled food product" (PDF format, 7 pages, 162 KB).

Sources: Tom Hayes and Liz George, CNN.com, July 15, 2005; and various web sites

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• Biotechnology
  
• Environment
  
• Food
  
• Innovation
  
• Miscellaneous