Alternative to the terminator gene

15 June 1999

Alternative to the terminator gene

“TERMINATOR” technology – genetically engineering plants to produce sterile seeds – has become a controversial issue in biotechnology. But a leading scientist, Richard Jefferson, proposes a simpler alternative in the Financial Times.

He says it would involve developing technologies capable of protecting a particular trait of a plant and not compromising the integrity of the variety itself – the subject of much public criticism.

Farmers would only pay if they wanted to activate the traits. They could be then be turned on by the use of certain chemicals.

Dr Jefferson is director of Cambia – the Canberra-based Center for the Application of Molecular Biology to International Agriculture.

• Financial Times 15/06/99 page 16