of three foreign genetic elements in it. The company has a licence for only two.’
‘ That sounds serious,’ said Roberta.
‘ On the face of it,’ said Steven.
‘ What does that mean?’
‘ I’m no expert in genetics but “genetic element” doesn’t necessarily mean the same thing as, gene, does it?’
‘ I suppose not,’ agreed Roberta. ‘But it usually does.’
‘ Exactly, it usually does, so people would read the report as saying that three foreign genes were present instead of two and conclude that it must be a different crop from the one on the licence certificate?’
‘ I suppose that might well be the case,’ agreed Roberta, looking puzzled. ‘Is that not what happened here then?’
‘ Take a look at the foreign elements in the sequence,’ said Steven.
‘ I can’t tell what the foreign genes are just by looking at the sequence,’ protested Roberta. ‘I’d have to compare it with the standard oilseed rape genome and then do a computer search for differences.’
‘ I’ve already done that,’ said Steven. ‘I’ve highlighted the three foreign sequences on this.’ Steven took out his print-out copy of the sequence from his briefcase. ‘What would you say about the third one?’ he asked. Steven directed her to a highlighted section of the sequence.
‘ Oh, I recognise that all right,’ said Roberta. ‘That’s a marker, a tetracycline transposon marker; we use it all the time.’
‘ Not what you would class as a foreign gene, then?’
‘ Hardly.’
‘ This is the third genetic element Dr Millar reported as being present in the Agrigene crop.’
‘ What on earth made him do that?’ wondered Roberta.
‘ That’s what I came here to ask him,’ said Steven.
‘ I can see why,’ said Roberta with a shrug. ‘Frankly, I just can’t imagine why he would do something like that and I can certainly see how it might have caused confusion. Did it?’
‘ It did indeed.’
‘ But the DNA sequence itself would be an exact match for the one associated with the licence,’ said Roberta, seeing immediately what Steven himself had seen at the outset.
‘ If it had been possible to compare them,’ he said, not really wanting to tell Roberta that both copies had gone missing under mysterious circumstances. ‘Unfortunately, Dr Millar’s report was all the authorities had to go on.’
‘ But even at that, surely someone must have pointed out that one of these “genetic elements” was just a harmless marker?’
‘ I’m sure they did - and they’re probably still trying to, but after hearing what the report said in simple terms, nobody wanted to listen to what they thought was a lot of scientific gobbledegook and prevarication from a big bad biotech company. Two elements good, three elements bad, was what they took from the ministry lab report and that was good enough for the opposition to start going doo lally and demanding that the trial be stopped and the crop destroyed.’
‘ So what’s happening now?’
‘ The company is putting up a fight. It’s resorted to law to block any move to halt the trial or destroy the crop and is now using solicitors to argue their case instead of scientists. Luckily for them the prosecution case is not exactly coherent right now because of some Westminster – Holyrood rivalry.
‘ Tell me about it,’ said Roberta raising her eyes heavenwards. ‘These days I think I have more MPs than I have relations! Still, if they’re fighting with each other, they’re not doing the rest of us much harm, that’s the way I look at it.’
‘ But administrative paralysis can have its down side,’ said Steven, thinking of the current situation in Blackbridge.’
‘ I suppose you’re right,’ said Roberta. ‘But I’m afraid I don’t see what I can do to help?’
‘ No,’ agreed Steven. ‘This one is down to Dr Millar on his own. You wouldn’t know who asked him to perform the DNA analysis on the crop in the first place, would
‘ That sounds serious,’ said Roberta.
‘ On the face of it,’ said Steven.
‘ What does that mean?’
‘ I’m no expert in genetics but “genetic element” doesn’t necessarily mean the same thing as, gene, does it?’
‘ I suppose not,’ agreed Roberta. ‘But it usually does.’
‘ Exactly, it usually does, so people would read the report as saying that three foreign genes were present instead of two and conclude that it must be a different crop from the one on the licence certificate?’
‘ I suppose that might well be the case,’ agreed Roberta, looking puzzled. ‘Is that not what happened here then?’
‘ Take a look at the foreign elements in the sequence,’ said Steven.
‘ I can’t tell what the foreign genes are just by looking at the sequence,’ protested Roberta. ‘I’d have to compare it with the standard oilseed rape genome and then do a computer search for differences.’
‘ I’ve already done that,’ said Steven. ‘I’ve highlighted the three foreign sequences on this.’ Steven took out his print-out copy of the sequence from his briefcase. ‘What would you say about the third one?’ he asked. Steven directed her to a highlighted section of the sequence.
‘ Oh, I recognise that all right,’ said Roberta. ‘That’s a marker, a tetracycline transposon marker; we use it all the time.’
‘ Not what you would class as a foreign gene, then?’
‘ Hardly.’
‘ This is the third genetic element Dr Millar reported as being present in the Agrigene crop.’
‘ What on earth made him do that?’ wondered Roberta.
‘ That’s what I came here to ask him,’ said Steven.
‘ I can see why,’ said Roberta with a shrug. ‘Frankly, I just can’t imagine why he would do something like that and I can certainly see how it might have caused confusion. Did it?’
‘ It did indeed.’
‘ But the DNA sequence itself would be an exact match for the one associated with the licence,’ said Roberta, seeing immediately what Steven himself had seen at the outset.
‘ If it had been possible to compare them,’ he said, not really wanting to tell Roberta that both copies had gone missing under mysterious circumstances. ‘Unfortunately, Dr Millar’s report was all the authorities had to go on.’
‘ But even at that, surely someone must have pointed out that one of these “genetic elements” was just a harmless marker?’
‘ I’m sure they did - and they’re probably still trying to, but after hearing what the report said in simple terms, nobody wanted to listen to what they thought was a lot of scientific gobbledegook and prevarication from a big bad biotech company. Two elements good, three elements bad, was what they took from the ministry lab report and that was good enough for the opposition to start going doo lally and demanding that the trial be stopped and the crop destroyed.’
‘ So what’s happening now?’
‘ The company is putting up a fight. It’s resorted to law to block any move to halt the trial or destroy the crop and is now using solicitors to argue their case instead of scientists. Luckily for them the prosecution case is not exactly coherent right now because of some Westminster – Holyrood rivalry.
‘ Tell me about it,’ said Roberta raising her eyes heavenwards. ‘These days I think I have more MPs than I have relations! Still, if they’re fighting with each other, they’re not doing the rest of us much harm, that’s the way I look at it.’
‘ But administrative paralysis can have its down side,’ said Steven, thinking of the current situation in Blackbridge.’
‘ I suppose you’re right,’ said Roberta. ‘But I’m afraid I don’t see what I can do to help?’
‘ No,’ agreed Steven. ‘This one is down to Dr Millar on his own. You wouldn’t know who asked him to perform the DNA analysis on the crop in the first place, would
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