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US launches GM trade war Tuesday, 13 May, 2003, 18:17 GMT 19:17 UK

By Steve Schifferes BBC News Online, Washington

Washington has brought a complaint against the European Union for refusing to allow the sale of genetically modified (GM) food or crops, escalating trade tensions between the world's two biggest economic blocs.

The United States - and twelve other agricultural exporting nations - want the EU to repeal its five-year moratorium on GM foods, or face trade sanctions under World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules.

US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick said that the US had run out of patience after years of EU procrastination on the issue.

"The EU's persistent resistance to abiding by its WTO obligations has perpetuated a trade barrier unwarranted by the EC's own scientific analysis, which impedes the global use of a technology that could be of great benefit to farmers and consumers around the world," he said.

" (The EU) has perpetuated a trade barrier which impedes the global use of a technology that could be of great benefit to farmers and consumers around the world " Robert Zoellick US Trade Representative

The EU is unlikely to lift the block on GM food imports, which is widely supported by European consumers, and is also developing tough new labelling regulations which worry US farmers.

EU trade commissioner Pascal Lamy questioned the motives behind the US case, and denied there was a "moratorium" on GM foods.

"The EU regulatory system for GM authorisation is in line with WTO rules: it is clear, transparent and non-discriminatory. There is therefore no issue that the WTO needs to examine," he said.

" If this attempt succeeds, the US will force GM foods onto European markets regardless of the wishes of consumers " Linda Stupples Friends of the Earth

And EU consumer and green lobby groups vowed to oppose the US decision.

"If this attempt succeeds, the US will force GM foods onto European markets regardless of the wishes of consumers," said Friends of the Earth Policy Director Liana Stupples.

Trade wars

Under WTO rules, the two parties have 60 days to consult before a trade disputes panel is set up.

Ultimately, if the panel rules against the EU, it could impose trade sanctions, giving the US the right to impose retaliatory tariffs on EU goods.

Mr Zoellick told BBC News Online that the US would be seeking "several hundred million dollars" in damages, but that the importance of the case went far beyond the immediate damage to US agriculture.

Developing countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America were cutting back on research and production of GM crops, because they were afraid they could not export them to Europe, he said, hurting poor farmers worldwide.

And to support his point, scientists and farmers from developing countries joined the press conference to argue for the economic benefits of GM crops.

Mr Zoellick denied that the US decision to bring the case had anything to do with the WTO's recent approval of $4bn in EU retaliatory sanctions against the US in another case, involving tax breaks for foreign subsidies of US companies.

However, he appeared to concede that the US had delayed bringing the case in the run-up to the Iraq war, when it was trying to gain EU support for a fresh UN resolution.

World trade talks

The US move could also increase the difficulties of reaching a deal on agriculture in the Doha round of global trade talks.

Those talks appear stalled ahead of a summit in Cancun, Mexico, in the autumn.

The US and the EU are at loggerheads over how to reform agricultural subsidies to benefit developing countries.

Many of the countries joining in the US action are part of the Cairns group of agricultural exporting nations which has been lobbying the WTO to open agricultural markets.

A number of them are now seeking separate free trade agreements with the United States.

Countries joining US trade complaint: Argentina, Canada, Egypt

Countries joining as third parties: Australia, Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru and Uruguay.

Bush: Africa hostage to GM fears Thursday, 22 May, 2003, 16:05 GMT 17:05 UK

US President George Bush has accused Europe of blocking efforts to fight famine in Africa because of "unfounded" fears over genetically modified foods.

He accused European nations of "impeding" US efforts to reduce hunger in Africa by opposing the use of GM crops.

The US plans to sue the European Union at the World Trade Organisation unless it allows the sale of GM foods and crops.

" Our partners in Europe have blocked all new bio-crops because of unfounded, unscientific fear " George Bush

US seed companies are keen to sell their products to foreign markets, but European consumers are wary of GM foods, fearing long-term harm to human health and the environment.

Mr Bush, who is visiting Europe in early June for a G8 summit, said GM foods could help end hunger in Africa.

"Our partners in Europe have blocked all new bio-crops because of unfounded, unscientific fears," he said in a speech on Wednesday.

"This has caused many African nations to avoid investing in bio-technologies for fear that their products will be shut out of European markets."

Zambia says no

GM food aid was sent to southern Africa during the current drought, despite strong reservations from Africa.

Zambia banned the aid, saying it would rather go hungry than risk losing its export markets in Europe because its crops had been contaminated with GM seed.

The BBC's Martin Plaut says the Bush administration has taken a more commercial approach than Europe towards Africa.

He says the US makes great play of the fact that it has helped African states get an official credit rating, which they need to raise bank loans.

Europe's approach has traditionally been to provide direct funding for projects like roads or dams.

The GM debate is expected to come up when President Bush visits France next weekend.

Correspondents say the EU is likely to resist calls for it to lift its block on GM food imports. It also developing tough new labelling regulations which worry US farmers.

Famine and the GM debate Thursday, 14 November, 2002, 09:58 GMT

Africa does not produce enough food for its population Amid the efforts to cope with a famine threatening 30 million Africans, a row is raging over genetically modified (GM) food aid.

Zambia is refusing to accept any assistance that includes it, and its neighbours have agreed to accept GM grain only if it is milled before distribution.

These countries are concerned that letting in food aid containing genetically modified material will lead to the planting of seeds and the contamination of domestic crops.

None of the countries has developed a clear policy on the long-term effects or value of GM technology.

Most of the aid containing GM foods comes from the US.

The US Agency for International Development (US Aid) says that non-GM maize (corn) was unavailable and that it is "despicable" if opponents of GM foods are risking lives.

Aid agencies and relief charities are split over whether famine-stricken countries should accept GM foods.

Disagreements focus on whether emergency needs should take precedence over long-term considerations about the value of GM crops for Africa.

Food for the hungry

As famine took hold in southern Africa, many countries were opposed to GM food supplies.

Zimbabwe and Mozambique resisted them and Mozambicans were concerned about them being transported across their territory in case seeds contaminated its crops.

Zambia then joined the countries opposing GM.

They were worried that if genetically modified grain was allowed into their countries, seeds might be planted before the governments had carried out any research or formulated policies on the GM issue.

Most of the countries were won over by deals between donors, aid agencies and recipients under which GM maize was milled before distribution so that seeds could not be planted.

This satisfied Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Malawi.

Angola, Lesotho and Swaziland have not adopted positions on GM but have not refused aid containing genetically modified food.

The head of the World Food Programme (WFP), James Morris, said that the decision by Zimbabwe would enable his agency to do its job and supply food to the hungry.

Poison or panacea?

Zambia held out against GM foods and has stopped the WFP distributing GM maize in a refugee camp.

Before this decision, the government sent a scientific team to the US, South Africa, Britain and Belgium to examine the issue of genetically modified crops.

Its report led the government to maintain the ban, with President Levy Mwanawasa calling GM food "poison".

There are serious long-term issues here: the position to be adopted by countries towards the growing of GM crops and relations between those countries and the multinational companies which supply GM foods or seeds.

The Panos Institute in London, which provides an information service specialising in issues for developing countries, says that most of the countries concerned, including Zambia, have not developed clear policies on GM crops.

Panos says that debate on the issue is proving "heated and difficult" with the anti-GM voices tending to drown out the voices in favour.

There are major disagreements between international organisations over whether GM foods are right for Africa.

A UN investigator into food policy, Jean Ziegler, told the London-based Independent newspaper that he was "against the theory of the multinational corporations who say if you are against hunger you must be for genetically modified organisms".

"There is plenty of natural, normal, good food in the world to nourish the double of humanity," he says.

For and against

Charities like Oxfam and Action Aid oppose the introduction of GM crops into Africa saying that food shortages result not from a lack of food but from the inability of poor countries to buy it.

Action Aid says that if GM seeds are supplied to Africa, "farmers will be caught in a vicious circle, increasingly dependent on a small number of giant multinationals".

But many Western governments, including Britain, believe that the introduction of GM crops would boost yields in Africa.

A consortium called African Biotechnology has been established by GM proponents to encourage the use of GM crops.

Its director, Dr John Wafula, says that as an African, "my crusade is to ensure that my people are not dying of starvation".

He says he wants to see food production grow to keep pace with the growing population.

African countries clearly still have to look at the GM option as part of broader agricultural strategies and the debate will continue.

But in the short term, most countries have accepted that GM food can stave off hunger even if its arrival is greeted with suspicion by their governments.

Stem cell debate rages on Saturday, 28 December, 2002, 11:13 GMT

Stem cells have so far failed to deliver miracle cures

One of the most controversial issues in medical science in 2002 was the development of stem cell technologies.

The debate looks set to continue in 2003, with researchers keen to start full clinical trials.

The field of biological research has been heralded as the development that will provide cures for diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

It could eventually allow doctors to grow organs and tissues for transplants.

None of these dramatic promises have yet been achieved, however, despite the hype.

Recent announcements suggest that more clinical trials could start in the New Year.

However, just as the pace of research seems to be speeding up, the problems that scientists need to overcome are also mounting.

Repairing damage

Stem cells could potentially change the way diseases are treated. Scientists hope they will one day be used to replace cells which have died or stopped working, in diseases like Alzheimer's, multiple sclerosis and diabetes.

Until recently it was thought that the most versatile and useful types of stem cells came from embryos or foetuses, as these can develop into any kind of cell in the body. But their use presents a minefield of ethical dilemmas.

Human embryonic stem cells are taken from embryos that are just a few days old, destroying the embryo, while foetal stem cells are taken from aborted foetuses.

In many countries the debate about what type of research should be allowed and what should not rages on.

Ethical alternative

Ethical considerations are not the only obstacle facing researchers, however. Another problem is that embryonic stem cell treatments may not work.

Faults can accumulate as cells divide....

Professor Tom Kirkwood from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne is one of Britain's leading researchers into ageing.

He believes the process of growing stem cells in the laboratory may limit their medical use.

"Setting aside the huge ethical questions that arise from using cells grown from a very early embryo, before we can use these cells in any kind of therapy we have to make them go through a large number of divisions in cell culture procedures," he said.

"And these are exactly the types of processes where faults can accumulate as cells divide and divide and divide - they have to copy and copy and copy their DNA - and we know that this is how some of the damage to DNA arises."

Pros and cons

Embryos and foetuses are not the only sources of stem cells, as they are also found in adults.

Adult stem cells were once considered not to be as versatile as the embryonic variety, as they cannot develop into any type of cell.

But over the last year evidence has been accumulating that they may be much more useful than scientists previously believed.

Blood stem cells, we now know, can develop into muscles and nerves - muscle stem cells into brain - and so on.

There are other advantages to using adult stem cells. If doctors use embryonic or foetal cells there is a danger that the patients' body may reject the new cells.

But if stem cells are used from the patients themselves then there is little danger of them being rejected and any future treatments would be more likely to work.

Ageing effects

Again there are possible problems with adult stem cells. Professor Kirkwood said that they could turn out to be unusable in medical treatments.

"Stem cells that are taken from the adult body have been affected by the ageing process and may be damaged by that process and may not work as well," he said.

There has been a lot of hype over the past few years about the potential of stem cell therapies.

Companies have invested millions in the hope they will bring about a revolution in medicine.

It may yet prove to be a wise investment, but as scientists like Tom Kirkwood are proving, there is no guarantee.

Stem cell hope for heart patients Monday, 21 April, 2003, 23:37 GMT 00:37 UK

Thousands of people diagnosed with severe heart disease could soon be given fresh hope.

Doctors in the United States say they have successfully used stem cells to treat patients with heart failure - a condition where the heart is unable to pump enough blood around the body.

Their results add to growing evidence the technique could help patients to live longer.

The procedure involves taking stem cells from a patient's bone marrow and injecting it directly into the heart muscle.

Stem cells are master cells, which have the capability of turning into any other cell. In this case, scientists believe they turn into new blood vessel or heart muscle cells.

Clinical trial

Doctors at the Texas Heart Institute and the Federal University in Rio de Janeiro tested the technique on 21 Brazilian patients.

The patients all had very severe heart disease.

"These patients were desperately ill," said Dr James Willerson who led the trial.

" This procedure could lead to an effective treatment for severe heart failure " Dr James Willerson

He said: "They had a relatively high risk of dying and had no other forms of therapy available because their heart failure was so severe."

Doctors injected 14 of the 21 patients' hearts with stem cells obtained from their own bone marrow.

Each patient received an average of 15 injections, containing about two million stem cells. The remaining seven patients did not have the treatment.

After two months, patients who underwent treatment had significantly less heart failure and angina.

Their hearts were also able to pump more blood around their body. The improvements were still visible four months after treatment.

However, two patients did die. A patient who did not undergo treatment died two weeks after the start of the trial. A second patient who did undergo treatment died 14 weeks later.

Nevertheless doctors hailed the results. Dr Willerson said they would have to be replicated in larger clinical trials before doctors elsewhere could carry out the procedure.

He said: "This is one of the largest series of stem cell treated patients reported so far.

"If our findings are confirmed in larger trials, this procedure could lead to an effective treatment for severe heart failure."

He added: "We studied a small number of patients and we will need to study a much larger number in many medical centres to identify the benefit and risks that might exist."

The study is published in the American Heart Association journal Circulation.

China approves stem cell bank Wednesday, 11 December, 2002, 22:50 GMT

China is trying to become a leader in biological research The Chinese government has approved the setting up of the country's first state-run stem cell bank, according to state media.

The Xinhua news agency said the bank will be built in Tianjin, close to the capital Beijing, and will aim to provide treatments for various diseases.

A stem cell transplant centre at the facility will eventually be able to provide transplants for 200 patients every year, the agency said.

BBC science correspondent Richard Black says this is the latest in a series of moves aimed at making China a world leader in the modern biological sciences.

Thousands of samples

According to Xinhua, the bank has already gathered 6,000 samples of human tissue.

However, experts say that similar banks in the United States typically have about 4.5m samples.

Nonetheless, when the Tianjin facility is completed in eight years' time, it will be the largest stem cell bank in Asia.

By its side there will be a medical centre designed to turn the concept of stem cell therapies into practice, providing treatments initially for several hundred people a year.

Growing Asian power

Our correspondent says it is the latest indication that east Asia, and China in general, is growing in importance as a leader in the new sciences of genomics, cloning and stem cells.

The Chinese Genome Centre, established three years ago, played a central role in decoding the genetic structure of rice.

South Korean and Chinese scientists have been ahead of the world in creating animal-human hybrid cells.

And earlier this year, one of the creators of Dolly the cloned sheep, Alan Coleman, moved from Britain to Singapore, citing a more favourable environment for his research.

Even as the Chinese announced their stem cell bank, Stanford University in the US was drawing criticism from religious groups for setting up a new research programme involving therapeutic cloning.

Our correspondent says such criticism does not seem to arise in east Asia.

Govt trials show GM pollution NZ Herald Dec 02

LONDON Alarming results from official trials of GM craops show them interbreeding on a large scale with conventional crops - and weeds. A Government report, the result of six years' monitoring of GM crops in Britain, gives the first results from the official farm-scale trials, originally begun to study the effects of pesticides but later expanded to study "gene flow" as a result of public pressure. Carried out between 1994 and 2000 by the National Institute of Agricultural Botany and the Laboratory of the Government Chemist, the trials show that genes from GM oil seed rape, engineered to be resistant to herbicides, contaminated conven- tional crops. GM oil seed rape that had escaped from a crop harvested in 1996 persisted for at least four years. The report also shows that the GM crop interbred with a weed, wild turnip, giving it resistance to herbicides and thus raising the spectre of the development of super weeds. INDEPENDENT

The creation of a GM potato to help fight hunger inflames India's GM debate

AS THE debate over genetically modified (GM) crops rages in the West, hidian scientists are Apushing ahead with their search for a solu- tion to hunger in the Third World. Their latest weapon is a GM potato called the "protato" because it contains more protein than nor- mal ones. Having had limited field trials in India and passed allergenic tests on mice, the potatoes are now subject to fmal testing before being submitted to the Indian Government for approval. They are in every sense homegrown: the extra gene added to them was ident- ified and isolated by a team led by Professor Asis Datta in Delhi, and the aim is that they improve diets in the poorest communities. Yet opinion remains divided over whether this - and many other "fimctional" transgenic foods - is the right way to tackle malnutrition. In the view of the pressure group Greenpeace, the answer is no. "We're opposed to the release of GM crops m the wider environment because the environ mental impact is very, very negative," said Charlie Kronick, a GM campaigner at Greenpeace. "The experience in the farm-scale trials in Britain shows a faster spread of interbreeding with nomml plants than was expected." He also points out, as many aid agencies have done for years, that malnutrition is less due to under- production of food than because of political problems in getting food to the people who need it. Even so, Delhi is starting a 15-year plan to fl&t malnutrition among hidia's poorest children, aiming to provide clean water, vaccines and better food - the last-named served partly by the "protato". It was developed by Professor Datta - a US- trained scientist who was the first Indian to patent genes - and his team at the Jawaharlal Nehru Uni- versity in Delhi. It incorporates the AmAl gene from the aramanth plant, native to South America and sold in Westem healthfood stores. The gene increases the protein in the potato. A typical potato has about 2g of usable protein per lOOg (and 78g of water). Ashok Chaudhary, a research associate at the Tata Energy Research histi- tute in Delhi, said transgenic potatoes "show a sig- nificant increase in all essential amino acids, includ- ing lysine, tryptophan, tyrosine and sulphur- containing amino acids such as cysteine and meth- ionine'. Proteins are essential for developing the body.

They are broken down mto their constituent amino acids, which are then reassembled into tissues. Lysine is an essential building block for all other proteins, and for proper muscle and bone develop- ment in children; methionine gives cells antioxidant protection; tryptophan is unportant for regulating sleep/wake cycles. Adding the AmAl gene can transorm foods, Pro- fessor Datta believes. "This bit of genetic engineer- ing can make rice as rich as milk, com a near-perfect complete food, and the humble potato so protein powered that it could contribute to the virtual elimination of malnutrition in developing countries," he said in 1999. Now, the Indian Govenunent is backing him. The plan was outlined last month by Govindaraian Padmanaban, a biochemist at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore. He told New Scientist magazine that he hoped environmental groups would not oppose it. The experience of GM "golden rice" devel- oped by scientists at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology suggests he could be disappointed. "Golden rice" grows with extra iron and vitamin A; the latter makes it look yellow, hence the nick- name. Unveiled in 1999 by Peter Beyer, one of its inventors, it was attacked as being a Western attempt to impose its technology on less developed nations. But Professor Beyer rejects the claims, noting that the rights to the technology have been trans- ferred to India and, importantly, that farmers are allowed to keep and sell the seeds. That sets apart the "golden rice" project, which begins larger-scale @, in India this year, from the schemes that gave GM such a bad name in the 1990s. Then, there were two key elements about GM crops. First, the food (such as maize or soya) pro- duced by the crops was exactly hke those made by conventional means - the GM element only mat- tered to farmers killing weeds or supermarkets keeping food on shelves for longer.

Second, the firms that made the GM seeds controlled their sale, distribution and storage very tightly: farmers were not allowed to resell or even store more than a little, far below what they were used to working with. The idea that companies developing GM crops wanted to control everything, including farmers' warehouses, set many people - especially in the developing world - against them. But, said Professor Padmanaban, when it caine to so-called "functional foods", where GM has been used to make a difference to what you eat, "the requirements of developing countries are very different from those of rich countries. I think it would be morally indefensible to oppose [GM potatoes]." The lack of foreign control has led the Delhi- based Gene Campaign, which opposes patenting plants, to give the GM potato a cautious welcome. "If you're going to use GM at all, use it for this," Suman Sahai, a campaigner, told New Scientist. "India's problem is that we're vegetarian, so pulses and legumes are the main protein source, but they're in short supply and expensive. The potato is good because it's cheap." At Greenpeace, Kronick disagrees. "The cause of hunger isn't lack of food. It's lack of cash and of access to the food. India has had 50 to 60 million tonnes of surplus food production for the past decade but that hasn't done anything to improve food secur- ity." He argues for sustainable agriculture, in which food is grown to meet need, rather than cash crops being used to buy imported foods. But progress is only slowly helping the world's poor. Even though "ftmetional" foods were identified years ago as the best application for GM technology, it will be probably five years before "golden rice" has completed trials in India. The trials for the "protato" could take even longer. A 15-year plan may sound like an unainbitious timescale but the numbers needing food keep growing. - INDEPENDENT

Onions and Garlic anti-cancer

A study finds prostate cancer rates halve.. Men who eat plenty of onions, garlic and similar foods may irritate their romantic lovers but they cut their risk of prostate cancer in half, researchers have reported. Men who eat the most vegetables contammg allium - the pungent, sulphur based compound blamed for the effects of garlic and onions - are 50 per cent less likely to get prostate cancer than those who eat least, the study found.

Ann Hsing of the US National Cancer Institute and her colleagues interviewed 238 men with prostate cancer and 471 men without it about what they ate. Men who ate more than lOg a day of onions, garlic, chives or scallions were much less likely to be in the cancer group, Hsing reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Insti- tute. This adds to research showing the right diet can reduce the risk of cancer, said the American Institute for Cancer Research, which investi- gates links between cancer and diet. "Several case-control studies [in which the diets of cancer patients were compared to the diets of healthy individuals] have linked allium vegetables to lower risk for cancer of the stomach, colon, oesophagus, breast and endo- metriium {lining of the uterus}," the group said. Bad news for prostate cancer patients is that a team at the University of Rochester, New York, has found some drugs used to treat prostate cancer can in fact cause it to grow. "It's a real surprise that the same compound that kills cancer cells also makes them grow," said Chawn- shang Chang, who led the study. 'The effect of the drug reverses com- pletely." His team studied a drug called flutamide, made by Scheming, but he said other similar drugs were likely to have a similar effect. A treatment for prostate cancer is castration, using drugs or surgery to cut off testosterone. The hormone fuels the growth of prostate cancer cells in many cases. But for reasons that doctors have not understood, after one or two years the cancer cells often start growing again. "In all of the more than 30,000 [US] men who die of prostate eancer each year, the cancer cells have become capable of growing even when we starve the cells of testoster- one," said Dr Edward Messing, a urology professor at Rochester. Yi-Fen, who worked on the study, said the findings did not mean prostate cancer patients should avoid flutamide or similar drugs. "These drugs are necessary for patients who otherwise have few options. Perhaps these findings will help lead to a new drag target so men with this disease can be treated more effectively." - REUTERS

Attempt to make new life form

WASHINGTON - Scientists mtend to armounce today that they t to create a new form from a laboratory dish.

The Washington Pbost reported that gene scientist J. Craig Venter and Hamilton Smith, a Nobel laureate, will armounce their hopes of creating a single-celled, partially man-made organism with the minimum number of genes necessary to sustain life. If the plan works, the microscopic manmade cell will begin feeding and dividing to create a generation of ceIls unlike any known to exist. The cell will be hobbled to render it incapable of infecting people - a step in ensuring safety, the Post said. It also will be confined and designed to die if it does escape into the environment. The project could lay the scientific groundwork for a new generation of biological weapons. But Venter and Smith said the project could also help in enhancing the nation's ability to detect and counter existing biological weapons. , The project is funded with a three-year grant of $US3 million ($6.1 million) from the Energy Department. - AP

GM set to tame the wrath of grapes--

by Arifa Akbar in London

Researchers have found that genetically Modified yeast added to wine may prevent hangovers.

In what may become a drinker's dream they have also found that the addition of modified yeast could improve the flavour of wines.

But the breakthrough is unlikely to become a reality in the immediate future because winemakers do not want to be associated with GM because of its negative image among consumers

Tradtional winemakers rely on natural yeasts that grow on grape skin, but GM yeasts would be more reliable because they could help improve the sugar-acid balance body of the wine. Florian Bauer from the Institute of Wine Biotechnology at Stellew bosch University in South Africa said GM, wines could also reduce illness the morning after, as most hangovers were not due to alcohol alone. Neurotoxic amines and sulphur dioxide in wine also contribute to hangovers, so commercial yeast that produce relatively harmless anti-microbials could also help to prevent heavy heads. Despite consumer doubts about GM products, the dilemma could, be resolved if wine made with yeasts did not contain any yeast DNA, meaning technically it is not GM. Products such as cheese already use a technique similar to this. But European Union rules state that cheese does not have to be labelled because the GM element is a "processing aid" with no trace in the final product. The same would not apply to wine bcause it may retain some yeast cells. The likelihood of seeing GM wines on supermark remains low, with every researcher contacted by New Scientist saying that they had no plans to use GM products in commercial wines. But scientists could use yeasts as models in order to get the same results without GM technology.