GURT

1. SIDDARUDH K S
Ph.D scholar
UAS GKVK
BANGALORE

2. Genetic use restriction technology
Overview
 Introduction
 What is Terminator Technology?
 Definition
 How does it work
 Impacts and risks
 Short history
 Why is it being developed?
 Conclusion

3. Definition
 Terminator technology refers to plants that have been
genetically modified to render sterile seeds at harvest –
it is also called Genetic Use Restriction Technology or
GURTS
 Terminator technology was developed by the
multinational seed/agrochemical industry and the
United States government to prevent farmers from
saving and re-planting harvested seed.
 Terminator has not yet been commercialized or field-
tested but tests are currently being conducted in
greenhouses in the United States.

4. short history
1998/1999 international protest against a Terminator patent from
Delta and Pine
2000 De facto moratorium on the COP5 of CBD:
recommendation that ..”products incorporating such
technology should not be approved by parties for
field testing until appropiate scientific data can justify
such testing… „
2005 Canadian Government tries to weaken the
moratorium by stressing biosafety function of
Terminator Technology. They try to get a case by
case assessment
January
2006
Granada: ad-hoc working group on Art. 8j CBD
accept a recommendation paper for Curitiba with
“case by case assessment”
March 2006 Curitiba: A lot of protest (over all the international
Ban Terminator campaign)
Result: The moratorium remains without limitation.

5. Types
 V- GURT (Varietal GURT)
 T-GURT (Trait GURT)

6. V- GURT (Varietal GURT)
 This type of GURT produces sterile seeds meaning that
a farmer that had purchased seeds containing V-GURT
technology could not save the seed this crop for future
planting
 This would not have an immediate impact on the large
number of primarily western farmers who use hybrid
seeds, and instead buy specialized hybrid seeds from
seed production companies

7. V- GURT (Varietal GURT)
 The technology is restricted at the plant variety level,
hence the term V-GURT
 Manufacturers of genetically enhanced crops would
use this technology to protect their products from
unauthorised use

8. T-GURT (Trait GURT)
 A second type of GURT modifies a crop in such a way
that the genetic enhancement engineered into the
crop does not function untill the crop plant is treated
with a chemical that is sold by the biotechnology
company
 Farmers can save seeds for use each year. However,
they do not get to use the enhanced trait in the crop
unless they purchase the activator compound
 The technology is restricted is registered at the trait
level, hence the term T-GURT

9. Why is Terminator a problem?
 The top 10 largest seed companies control half the
world’s commercial seed market.
 Across the world, over 1.4 billion people, primarily
small-scale farming families in the developing world,
depend on farm-saved seed as their primary seed source
 If Terminator is commercialized, corporations will likely
incorporate sterility genes into all their seeds. That’s
because genetic seed sterilization would secure a much
stronger monopoly than patents — instead of suing
farmers for saving seed, companies are trying to make it
biologically impossible for farmers to re-use harvested
seed

10. impacts and risks
 Reliability for biosafety:
This is enough for use restriction but as an
affective measure to avoid GMO
contamination not enough
 Use restriction:
 negation of farmers´rights
 undermining of food sovereignty
 danger for food security
 biodiversity loss

11. Impact of Terminator seeds on
farmers?
 Terminator would results in higher seed prices at a
time when farmers are experiencing the worst income
crisis in the history of modern agriculture.
 Terminator is a major violation of the rights of farmers
to save and reuse their own seeds. Through pollen
movement in the first generation, Terminator genes
could contaminate farmers’ crops - farmers might then
unknowingly save and reuse seeds that are
contaminated and will not germinate

12. Who holds patents on
Terminator?
 Delta & Pine Land (DPL), the world’s largest cotton
seed company, which jointly holds three US patents on
Terminator technology with the US Department of
Agriculture.
 In October 2005, DPL won new Terminator patents in
both Europe and Canada.
 During 2002 mansanto aquired Delta & Pine Land
(DPL),

13. Will Terminator stop genetic
contamination?
 Industry argues that engineered sterility would offer a
built-in safety feature for GE plants because if genes
from a Terminator crop cross-pollinate with related
plants nearby, the seed produced from unwanted
pollination will be sterile – it will not germinate. But
Terminator technology is a complex system involving
multiple inserted genes that all work together in a
sequence. Scientists warn that Terminator will not be
100% effective. The likelihood of system failure means
it could never be a reliable tool for “biocontainment”. If
Terminator is used for “biocontainment” and fails, it
would introduce new, dangerous biosafety risks.

14. Impact to terminator technology
on agro-biodiversity
 The world’s agro-biodiversity depends heavily on seed
saving, selecting and re-planting. This practice has
resulted in crop varieties that are adapted to the local
environment, soil and local pests.
 This technique has also resulted in creating new crop
varieties that fetch more money in the market
 For example, Basmati rice of India and Pakistan.
Introducing “terminator seeds” will replace the age-old
practice of seed saving and can lead to the loss of
traditional seed varieties

15. Socio-economic impact of
terminator technology
 Terminator technology can be good for the intensive
farming operations in the developed world. These farms
produce high-value produce and rarely save seeds for
replanting making it less vulnerable to terminator
technology.
 But, medium, low and subsistence farming practices
dominate the agricultural systems of the developing world.
 These farming practices rely heavily on saved seeds and use
it for replanting. If “terminator seeds” are introduced in
these systems it will replace the existing seeds and force the
farmers to buy seeds every season, which poor farmers
from developing countries cannot afford.

16. IMPACT OF THE TERMINATOR SEED
TECHNOLOGY ON THE FARMING COMMUNITY
 It affects poor farmers is that they would be unable to
maintain commercial varieties from their own seed
stock and would be forced to return to the seed
provider
 This will translate into non availability or lack of seed
inputs to the farmers
 This will greatly affect the level of agricultural
production and the farmer’s income

17. Impact to terminator technology
on environment
 Some research that suggests that weeds and bugs
could possibly evolve into resistant organisms.
 pollen escaping from the terminator crop is sterile and
cannot spread to weeds or other crops.
 Gene movement from crop to weed through pollen
transfer has been demonstrated for GM crops when
the crop is grown near a closely related weed species.
 When a weed is fertilized, for example, with the
terminator pollen, the new generation of seeds will
bear plants, with fertile pollen.

18. Good for biotech companies,
bad for farmers
 Terminator technology troubles farmers throughout
the developing world because they would no longer be
able to save seeds to re-use from one harvest to the
next.
 Many poor farmers cannot afford to buy seeds each
year. Instead, they save, swap and share seeds that
have been developed over generations.
 If farmers have no choice but to buy new seeds every
year, the companies are guaranteed large profits at the
expense of poor farmers' food security.

19. Why is it being developed?
 The biotech companies argue that Terminator
technology will prevent the contamination of non-GM
crops with GM-crops. They say that if all GM varieties
had the terminator trait they would not be able to
spread into the environment, and so biosafety would
be ensured

20. Terminator technology consists of
three genes
GENE I
 Gene I is a repressor gene that produces a repressor
protein that interacts with a binding site near Gene II.
GENE II
 Gene II is a recombinase gene that is controlled by a
promoter. Between the gene and the promoter is a
binding site for the repressor from Gene I. The
recombinase gene produces a recombinase protein
that is an enzyme and snips out pieces of DNA.

21. Contd..
GENE III
 Gene III produces a toxin that is lethal to embryos. The
gene is controlled by a late promoter, which is active
only during the late stage of seed development when
the embryo is developing. Between the late promoter
and the toxin gene is a piece of DNA called a blocker,
which interferes with the ability of the promoter to
turn on the toxin gene.

22. How the Terminator terminates ?
The terminator technology consists of three genes with their on/off
switches :
Gene I: Repressor
Gene II: Recombinase
Gene III: Toxin
A gene for a toxin lethal to embryos (Toxin Gene) is controlled by a
late promoter (LP), that is active only during the late stage of seed
development when the embryo is developing.

23. How the Terminator terminates ?
The terminator technology consists of three genes:
In the absence of the Inducer

24. How the Terminator terminates ?
The terminator technology consists of three genes:
In the presence of the Inducer

25. The case of “Terminator” technology

26. Traitor technology
 The expression of a specific desirable transgenic trait
is dependent upon spraying a specific proprietary
chemical, sold separately, often by the same company.

27. International Regulation
Regarding Terminator Technology
The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
 i) conservation of biological diversity;
 ii) sustainableuse of its components; and
 iii) fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of
the utilizationof genetic resources
The Conference of Parties (COP)
The Subsidiary Body for Scientific, Technical and
Technological Advice (SBSTTA)

28. (GURT): Potential economic benefits, costs and risks
Benefits Costs Risks
Farmers
increased productivity from
improved inputs due to
increased research and
development (R&D)
investment
Increased input
costs from seed
purchase
Misuse of
monopoly powers
by breeders
Breeders
(especially
private sector)
Increased appropriation of
research benefits from new
products
Increased cost
for access to
gene pools of
other breeders
Governments Reduced investment
requirements in breeding
Complementary
R&D investment
requirements
Society Increased agricultural
productivity
Reduced genetic
diversity in fields

29. Have any plants with GURT traits been released
in world ?
 It is important to note that no applications have come
forward for the environmental release of plants
with GURT traits. This technology is currently still at
the research stage in laboratories - there have been no
confined research field trials or commercial
applications from developers to date.

30. Benefits from the Deployment of GURTs in Crops
a) Prevent gene flow from transgenics through
pollen by producing sterile pollen or through seed
by arresting embryo development.
b) Help in containing GE pharma crops that
synthesize therapeutically active compounds.
c) Protect Organic Farming, since sterile pollen
cannot cause cross pollination that may affect
Organic Certification, though currently this is not
an issue.
d) Induced male sterility is an accepted tool in plant
breeding to produce hybrids in otherwise difficult
crops such as sorghum and mustards, and GURTs
make this much easier than conventional methods.

31. Contd…
 e) Arresting embryo development in such seeds would
control the transmission of the seed borne pathogen to the
next generation.
 f) Protect the genetic design of GE crops.
 g) Prevent the unauthorized or illegal cultivation of
transgenic crops.
 h) Since GURTs would block gene flow from transgenic
crops, their incorporation into transgenics is actually in
keeping with the aims of the Cartagena Protocol on
Biodiversity (Article 2) and do not threaten biodiversity as
alleged by activists.

32. Possible Advantages of Terminator
technology
 Terminator technology can also be used to limit the
spread of genes from GMOs to other plants in the
natural environment. This will ensure that genes from
the GMOs will not get mixed with the plants in the
wild.
 Intellectual property protection of Biotech firms.
 Reduce the propagation of volunteer plants.
 Prohibit non V-GURT grain sprouting, which
lowers the quality of grain.
 Prevent escape of transgenes into wild relatives
and prevent any impact on biodiversity.

33. Disadvantages of Terminator
technology
 Engineered systems is an inability of the engineered
organisms to fully express a specific trait (encoded by
genes). All the terminator seeds should receive a given
amount of inducing agent to activate the terminator genes.
Insufficient inducing agent may not trigger the genes,
thereby resulting in seeds that germinate in subsequent
generation.
 Environmentalists are concerned about the possibility of
gene transfer between genetically engineered plants and
traditional, non-targeted plants
 The production of sterile seeds by these plants would
render the seeds useless.

34. Conclusion
 Terminator seed technology will have adverse consequences
on on-farm conservation and development of plant genetic
resources.
 Terminator technology may have both positive and negative
impacts on the world’s agricultural system. In developed
countries like Canada, terminator technology will not have
much impact on farmers and the way they farm. But in
developing and low-income countries, terminator technology
might be harmful to the farmers.
 Moreover, technical aspects of terminator technology design
still need to be fine-tuned. These aspects need to be perfected
before introducing terminator technology in the farms
worldwide. Apart from this, as with any other GMO, the
impact of introducing terminator technology on the world’s
biodiversity is not yet known

35. contd
 The technology may offer considerable incentives for
increased private sector innovation in the agricultural
breeding sector, but with a skewed distribution of
benefits and costs. On balance, the development
implications of GURTs give cause for concern,
particularly from the perspective of the more
vulnerable and marginalized farmers.