Wired reports that researchers at Georgetown University are working on a vaccine to protect against HPV (and thus Cervical Cancer).
The problem is that the vaccine is difficult to produce, and costs $300/treatment. The solution? Hack Tobacco. Researchers at NC State are working on transgenic tobacco breeds that could produce things like this vaccine. The benefits? Tobacco produces 90 tons of biomass per acre per year, providing a possible source of income to tobacco farmers as smoking gets more heavily taxed (and less fashionable).
All of the standard issues of raising GM crops still apply. However, producing cancer vaccines is a lot more defensible than stay-fresh glow-in-the-dark flavor-free strawberries...
