GENETICALLY MANIPULATED ORANGES

A Florida Biochemist designs a citrus tree with THC.

In the summer of 1984, 10th-grader Irwin Nanofsky and a friend were driving
down the Apalachee Parkway on the way home from baseball practice when they
were pulled over by a police officer for a minor traffic infraction.

After Nanofsky produced his driver's license the police officer asked
permission to search the vehicle. In less than two minutes, the officer
found a homemade pipe underneath the passenger's seat of the Ford Aerostar
belonging to the teenage driver's parents. The minivan was seized, and the
two youths were taken into custody on suspicion of drug possession.

Illegal possession of drug paraphernalia ranks second only to open
container violations on the crime blotter of this Florida college town. And
yet the routine arrest of 16 year-old Nanofsky and the seizure of his
family's minivan would inspire one of the most controversial drug-related
scientific discoveries of the century.

Meet Hugo Nanofsky, biochemist, Florida State University tenured professor,
and the parental authority who posted bail for Irwin Nanofsky the night of
July 8, 1984. The elder Nanofsky wasn't pleased that his son had been
arrested for possession of drug paraphernalia, and he became livid when
Tallahassee police informed him that the Aerostar minivan would be
permanently remanded to police custody.

Over the course of the next three weeks, Nanofsky penned dozens of irate
letters to the local police chief, the Tallahassee City Council, the State
District Attorney and, finally, even to area newspapers. But it was all to
no avail.

Under advisement of the family lawyer, Irwin Nanofsky pled guilty to
possession of drug paraphernalia in order to receive a suspended sentence
and have his juvenile court record sealed. But in doing so, the family
minivan became "an accessory to the crime." According to Florida State law,
it also became the property of the Tallahassee Police Department Drug Task
Force. In time, the adult Nanofsky would learn that there was nothing he
could do legally to wrest the vehicle from the hands of the state.

sidebar ---

Biochem 101: How to design a Cannabis-equivalent citrus plant

Step One: Biochemically isolate all the required enzymes for the production
of THC.

Step Two: Perform N-terminal sequencing on isolated enzymes, design
degenerate PCR (polymerase chain reaction) primers and amplify the genes.

Step Three: Clone genes into an agrobacterial vector by introducing the
desired piece of DNA into a plasmid containing a transfer or T-DNA. The
mixture is transformed into Agrobacterium tumefaciens, a gram negative
bacterium.

Step Four: Use the Agrobacterium tumefaciens to infect citrus plants after
wounding. The transfer DNA will proceed to host cells by a mechanism
similar to conjugation. The DNA is randomly integrated into the host genome
and will be inherited.

end sidebar ---

It was in the fall of 1984 that John Chapman Professor of Biochemistry at
Florida State University, now driving to work behind the wheel of a used
Pontiac Bonneville, first set on a pet project that he hoped would
"dissolve irrational legislation with a solid dose of reason." Nanofsky
knew he would never get his family's car back, but he had plans to make
sure that no one else would be pulled through the gears of what he
considers a Kafka-esque drug enforcement bureaucracy.

"It's quite simple, really," Nanofsky explains, "I wanted to combine Citrus
sinesis with Delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol." In layman's terms, the
respected college professor proposed to grow oranges that would contain
THC, the active ingredient in marijuana. Fourteen years later, that project
is complete, and Nanofsky has succeeded where his letter writing campaign
of yore failed: he has the undivided attention of the nation's top drug
enforcement agencies, political figures, and media outlets.

The turning point in the Nanofsky saga came when the straight-laced
professor posted a message to Internet newsgroups announcing that he was
offering "cannabis-equivalent orange tree seeds" at no cost via the U.S.
mail. Several weeks later, U.S. Justice Department officials showed up at
the mailing address used in the Internet announcement: a tiny office on the
second floor of the Dittmer Laboratory of Chemistry building on the FSU
campus. There they would wait for another 40 minutes before Prof. Nanofsky
finished delivering a lecture to graduate students on his recent research
into the "cis-trans photoisomerization of olefins."

"I knew it was only a matter of time before someone sent me more than just
a self-addressed stamped envelope," Nanofsky quips, "but I was surprised to
see Janet Reno's special assistant at my door." After a series of closed
door discussions, Nanofsky agreed to cease distribution of the THC-orange
seeds until the legal status of the possibly narcotic plant species is
established.

Much to the chagrin of authorities, the effort to regulate Nanofsky's
invention may be too little too late. Several hundred packets containing 40
to 50 seeds each have already been sent to those who've requested them, and
Nanofsky is not obliged to produce his mailing records. Under current law,
no crime has been committed and it is unlikely that charges will be brought
against the fruit's inventor.

Now it is federal authorities who must confront the nation's unwieldy body
of inconsistent drug laws. According to a source at the Drug Enforcement
Agency, it may be months if not years before all the issues involved are
sorted out, leaving a gaping hole in U.S. drug policy in the meantime. At
the heart of the confusion is the fact that THC now naturally occurs in a
new species of citrus fruit.

As policy analysts and hemp advocates alike have been quick to point out,
the apparent legality (for now) of Nanofsky's "pot orange" may render
debates over the legalization of marijuana moot. In fact, Florida's top law
enforcement officials admit that even if the cultivation of Nanofsky's
orange were to be outlawed, it would be exceedingly difficult to identify
the presence of outlawed fruit among the state's largest agricultural crop.

Amidst all of the hubbub surrounding his father's experiment, Irwin
Nanofsky exudes calm indifference. Now 30-years-old and a successful
environmental photographer, the younger Nanofsky can't understand what all
of the fuss is about. "My dad's a chemist. He makes polymers. I doubt it
ever crossed his mind that as a result of his work tomorrow's kids will be
able to get high off of half an orange."

Checked-by: Richard Lake