Question from HP: You said at your last educational event that viruses are used in conventional and organic agriculture for pest control. Are these viruses harmful to people?

Answer from Coastalfields: While it has not yet been proven that pesticidal viruses have ever or will ever hurt people, it is a risk not worth taking.

MSN News just published an article ( New evidence shows viruses might cause one of every five cases by Korey Capozza) documenting research that was recently published on the connection between viruses and cancer. The research indicates that one in five cancers can be linked to viral infection. Viruses are not the only culprit; some bacteria have also been linked to cancer. Viruses have been definitively linked to cancers such as prostate cancer, cervical cancer, liver cancer, and mouth, throat, and larynx cancers.

Actually, researchers have known for years how viruses cause cancer. The recent news is surprising, however, because of the previously unknown extent of viral influence.

How viruses cause cancer is actually quite simple. A virus is essentially a strand of genetic material stored inside a "viral body." In the process of reproducing, the viral body will attach itself to a "host" cell (such as a human liver cell), and insert its genetic material into that cell. The viral genetic material is then incorporated into the host cell's genes. This new set of genes is not "normal," and is able to multiply at an unnatural rate. When the body is unable to fight this growth of infected cells, it is called cancer.

The viruses that cause cancer are sometimes transmitted by sexual intercourse, and sometimes just by breathing and eating. Some of them live free in the environment, waiting to attach to a host cell.

Some viruses also come from the laboratory: these are usually "helpful" viruses used in medical treatments. Scientists are able to modify the genetic material of some viruses to insert genes that will aid an ill person in fighting a disease. This is often referred to as "gene therapy."

Unfortunately, some scientists have also developed cancer viruses that are designed for killing: these viruses are used as pesticides in agriculture. Through the same technology that allows gene therapy, viruses are being modified to kill certain "pest" insects when released on a farm. These "living pesticides" are especially popular in organic farming because they require no chemical pesticide application, and will continue to work for years when they establish themselves in the environment.

This may sound like a sophisticated advance in pest control, but it might be dangerous to people. In order to make the viruses better at killing insects, the viruses are sometimes modified with genes to produce scorpion toxin or human cancer! (Independent Science Panel: GM viruses as biopesticides, 2003.) These lab modified viruses are then released to the environment, where they can spread unchecked across the land, and through the water and air.

While these viruses are supposed to be safe for people because they only use host cells of the targeted insect, there is no way to monitor if they are adapting to a viral strain that could infect people. Life is always changing and evolving, during a single generation and over the course of many generations. With viruses, generations can pass in a very short time, and the same geneticist that created a virus for agricultural purposes may live to see it evolve at a very rapid rate into something entirely unexpected. Since all life, including viruses, are constantly adapting to survive in the best way possible, it is certainly possible that these modified pesticide viruses may someday adapt to be able to live in more hosts than just that one insect!

Many cancer causing viruses are already circulating in the environment. Using viruses as pesticides that may someday change to "humanicides" is an unnecessary and foolhardy risk. Coastalfields profitably raises crops with no pesticides whatsoever. Any attempt by humanity to destroy nature, whether it is through chemicals or the genetic engineering of viruses, will result in humanity's own destruction.