help halt the spread of deserts; to develop microorganisms and plants to synthesize essential biologics, such as insulin and antibodies; to help in water treatment to remove pesticides (bioremidiation), heavy metals, and other industrial and agrochemical poisons.Scientists must be extremely cautious about releasing genetically engineered organisms into the environment. The deliberate and accidental release of exotic, nonindigenous plant and animal species has caused considerable harm to the ecosystem already. Modern agriculture operates so close to the edge of disaster that the U.S. Department of Agriculture Research Service spent $23.5 million in 1991 on biological control programs. Exotic foreign weeds, such as the field star thistle, and bugs such as the Russian wheat aphid, accidentally imported in contaminated agricultural produce and seeds, along with indigenous agricultural pests such as grasshoppers and medflies, are a serious and costly problem. The rationale of using high-risk biological controls- such as releasing Australian wasps to control grasshoppers- as an alternative to more costly pesticides is the same rationale that the biotech industry is employing to justify the use of various genetically engineered products as alternatives to chemical pesticides.The plethora of biological immigrants- exotic plant and insect pests that are a threat to agriculture and are responsible for millions of dollars of crop damage and loss in the United States every year- should serve as a warning to those who see no problems in releasing new genetically engineered life forms into the environment. Some of these biological immigrants include the blue water hyacinth and hydrilla that are now clogging Floridas waterways; the Eurasian carp and other deliberately introduced foreign fish species that have decimated indigenous fish species across the United States; and the Middle East sweet potato whitefly. Other ecologically harmful exotics inclu...
