Abstract
The arguments about the applications of GM technology rage on, and now US-based artist Eduardo Kac has caused a further media stir through his recent explorations in ‘transgenic art’. His first such work, displayed in 1999, featured Escherichia coli transformed with genes encoding jellyfish green-fluorescent protein (GFP) derivatives. He also proposed the making of a transgenic dog, to be christened GFP-K9. An editorial in Nature Biotechnology (October 1999) suggested that this work could help promote the sensible discussion of GM issues, despite the obvious potential for trivialization. Now, instead of GFP-K9, a rabbit expressing GFP has been successfully made in collaboration with scientists in France, which Kac wants to take home as a family pet. The future for ‘GFP Bunny’ is unclear, owing to the legal issues regarding the release of such an organism. This has provoked another editorial, this time in the Boston Sunday Globe (24 September 2000), which seriously questions the wisdom of making transgenic animals for nonscientific endeavors. Whatever the case, Kac has certainly added some new spice to the debate about the role of genetically modified organisms in society. Check out www.ekac.org for more details.
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