Why innovative developments in Russia are not needed by anyone

Back to the Stone Age?

Anton Chablin, "Kavpolit"Should we be afraid of GMOs?

And what role will transgenic technologies play tomorrow in agriculture in Russia and, in particular, in the North Caucasus? In a recent article "The Year of the Great Deficit", KAVPOLIT talked about the activities of the Association for the development and introduction of biotechnological products "Golden Goat" into production. It operates, we recall, on the basis of the Institute of Gene Biology of the Russian Academy of Sciences and is engaged in breeding transgenic animals.

Today, the vice-president of the Golden Goat Association, Professor Valery Shestakov, answers the questions of the Kavpolit columnist.

– Valery Vasilyevich, you and your colleagues propose to produce the human protein lactoferrin using transgenic goats. Haven't you ever thought that the introduction of such a product to the market will face a total fear of GMOs?

– Firstly, lactoferrin is not a genetically modified product, there is a conclusion of specialized laboratories on this. This is an absolutely identical human protein. After all, human insulin is obtained not by killing homeless people under a bridge, but with the help of bacteria.

Getting lactoferrin is the merit of a whole galaxy of scientists from the Institute of Gene Biology, which is headed by academician Pavel Georgiev. Work is being carried out in the transgenesis laboratory, headed by Elena Sadchikova, and the direct organizer of the work is the president of our association "Golden Goat" Igor Goldman.

Both for me and for my colleagues, the current fear of GMOs that reigns in Russia is amazing. We humans, and indeed all living things around us, are the result of genetic modifications, and scientists just got the opportunity to accelerate it. Believe me as a specialist: it is better to buy GMO products in the supermarket, since they are studied for safety before being released to the market according to the same scheme as medicines.

– Do you agree with the statement that GMOs are the future of agriculture?

– Yes, and the whole world has long understood this. Multinational companies have already appeared, which have become global leaders in the production of GMO seeds. The peculiarity of such plants is that their grains do not germinate, that is, it is useless to plant them next year. Therefore, agricultural producers have to buy seeds again and again from monopolists, owners of know-how.

Someone didn't want to pay. And I do not exclude that all the hysteria around GMOs, with the involvement of "green" funds, is "bought" by these businessmen who do not want to pay for GMOs. Therefore, Russia would need to create its own laboratories for the development of promising plants in order to keep up with the rest of the world forever, as in cybernetics.

– But still, the engine of marketing is more often rumors and fears, not scientific knowledge. The same myths, for example, today reign around the meat of broiler chickens: they say that it is stuffed with growth hormones and antibiotics in factories. Recently, the Vice-speaker of the Stavropol Parliament Viktor Lozovoy made such a report at the NCFD economic forum...

– I will speak again as an expert. Antibiotics are not given to chickens, because they practically do not affect their survival, and growth hormone, somatotropin, is not administered to chickens for the simple reason that its price is extremely high.

That is, one chicken will cost like an adult pig. It is easier to breed chickens that are transgenic by the bovine somatotropin gene – they themselves will be larger, and their eggs will be larger, and they will definitely be completely harmless.

Previously, cows were injected with the hormone diethylstilbestrol (DES), now it is prohibited. In the USA, Canada, Brazil, Argentina and some other countries switched to supposedly safe hormones: three natural hormones (estradiol, progesterone, and testosterone) and three synthetic ones (zeranol, which acts as a female sex hormone, melengestrol acetate – an analogue of the pregnancy hormone, and trenbolone acetate – a male sex hormone).

All these hormones, with the exception of melengestrol, which is added to the feed, are implanted into the ear of animals, where the substance remains for its entire short life, up to slaughter. There is practically no hormone in other organs.

– If GMOs are the tomorrow of agriculture, then how profitable does Stavropol look against this background?

– It looks deplorable. Our association has equipped a breeding and genetic laboratory at the experimental station of VNIIOK (All-Russian Research Institute of Sheep and Goat Breeding – ed.) in the village of Temnoleskaya, where, as far as I know, you have recently been.

Photo: belta.by

There, for the first time in Russia, they received transgenic goats that produce the human protein lactoferrin. And, I think, this is the only such center so far, not only in the region, but also in the South of Russia.

– But Governor Vladimirov says a lot that we have imported seed material and chemical protection products, so, they say, we will develop our own production…

– It makes me smile. And where will the governor get the scientific base to create breeding and genetic centers? Let's take off the rose-colored glasses! Imagine what kind of equipment is needed for such centers!

For example, an ultracentrifuge with a ferromagnetic rotor alone, which allows you to divide DNA into fractions in order to isolate the desired gene, costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. With what funds will it be purchased? And most importantly, who will work on such equipment?

– Your association has specific business proposals that can be applied in practice. But the governors of Stavropol have changed, and the ministers of agriculture, and why is everyone deaf to your proposals?

– Yes, I went and wrote, but there is no result. And it can't be. Firstly, there are no statesmen now, people for whom the word "Homeland" means more than their pocket. It's even a shame to be a patriot, it's not timely.

And secondly, there are no mechanisms to support innovators. Here is an idea, and it will allow the edge to earn a lot, but there is no money for the implementation of the project. More precisely, there is money, and big – the Ministry of Agriculture allocates more than 6 billion rubles for state support of farmers, but they are "smeared" all over the edge without any benefit.

To take and think over the mechanism for launching such programs to support innovations in the agro–industrial complex - no, no one takes it upon themselves. Troublesome and not promising for your own pocket. Now, if there are people with money, and they have given you a promising territory, you can only cut the ribbons, but you will still look promising.

– You say that your developments will allow you to earn a lot of money in the budget. Surely you have calculated what order of numbers we are talking about?

– The volume of sales in the world can reach $30 billion a year.

– Too much...

– Lactoferrin is a unique, irreplaceable substance. This protein appears in the colostrum of human milk in order to start the immune system of the child. It also protects the baby from infections until his own immunity is working. Children on artificial feeding are more likely to get sick, the mortality rate among them is five times higher than that of those on breast feeding.

Add to this that the number of women who suffer from lack of milk, as well as patients with tuberculosis, HIV, is constantly growing all over the world/AIDS and other diseases. In all these cases, lactoferrin identical to human lactoferrin is indispensable.

In addition, it acts as an antibiotic to which microbes cannot adapt. In the world, the number of infections insensitive to antibiotics is increasing. So maybe this protein can play the role that penicillin played in the last century. After all, it is a completely harmless immunomodulator. It can replace all other similar expensive and ineffective drugs.

I'm sorry for such a long preface. But without this, it is impossible to understand the economics of production. The annual demand for the drug in the world is tens of tons, its price ranges from 10 to 300 thousand dollars per gram (dose per course of treatment). It is clear that only very rich people can afford to buy it.

If lactoferrin is used as a biologically active food additive together with goat's milk, then the global sales volume may amount to $5.5-6 billion, and as a basis for the manufacture of bactericidal and anti–inflammatory drugs - at least $10 billion more. Clinical trials of the antitumor properties of human lactoferrin have already been successfully completed, this is up to $19 billion per year.

– I personally know many scientists who have been trying for years – and absolutely unsuccessfully – to get the Stavropol government to implement their developments. And they promise huge dividends. Only I know about several such projects. For example, Viktor Shmatchenko from Kochubeyevka suggests building multi–level greenhouses for vegetables, and Valery Yangolenko from Izobilnensky district - eco-farms. They go to officials, write, they have reached the governor. But nobody needs anything!

– And you imagine the economic effect of our proposals! If only we had at least one goat farm in the Stavropol Territory, of which there are about 300 in Holland, then in four years (the time is needed for breeding animals) only the profit tax and VAT paid by such a farm to the budget would exceed the cost of all agricultural products of the region.

And every year the profit would increase. And the cost of building a farm is only $15 million.

Right now, the "deal of the century" is called a deal with China on the sale of gas, which will go through the "Power of Siberia". Revenue is $400 billion over thirty years, net of pipeline costs. And only the sale of lactoferrin can more than three times exceed the income from the sale of gas to China.

And after all, to get the drug, you only need feed for goats. And the effect is not only economic – the latest trends in pharmacology and biomedicine will be developed, import-substituting food products will be produced.

– And what kind of products?

– Back in 2005, we developed technical conditions for goat milk products and even began to release it to the market. For cheese "Sengiley" (such as "Roquefort") and powdered milk received gold medals at the exhibition in Sochi.

Yes, I am proud of the achievements of our association. But it's not just that. The example of lactoferrin simply shows that, despite the presence in Russia of scientific developments that promise to get rid of oil dependence, we do not have financing mechanisms for private investors. And therefore, such developments either disappear, or developers leave for other countries.

During the Great Depression in the United States, for example, a factory was built at the expense of the budget in order to launch the innovative production necessary for the state. The initiator of the project became its director, and in case of successful work, this production was sold to him in a few years for a symbolic one dollar.

There are plenty of similar developments in Russia, but you mentioned a few. At one time, the Start Foundation worked in Russia, which gave 3-5 million rubles to innovative startups.

But in our case, this is not enough, and therefore it is not even worth starting with such an amount. Because the farm is either there or it is not. Plus, there is also a legal restriction on the use of transgenic animals. So it turns out that we will never see our drug. And he really is very necessary, I'm already saying this as a doctor. It is not for nothing that it is bought all over the world at such a high price.

– As I see, you, Valery Vasilyevich, are a pessimist.

– No, I'm a realist.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru13.01.2015