First GM Crop with Human Genes

[Guest guest]

Notice how they say, " Don't won't worry, it is for the good of the

people... " They always claim a humanitarian cause- like the

fluoride. And then tell us not to be concerned about something that

on a basic gut level is and should be abhorrent- eating human

genes..

Does anyone, who didn't before this week, now see the conditioning?

Misty L. Trepke

http://health.

 

 

Published on Tuesday, March 6th, 2007 by the DailyMail/UK

The Rice With Human Genes

by Sean Poulter

 

The first GM food crop containing human genes is set to be approved

for commercial production.

 

The laboratory-created rice produces some of the human proteins

found in breast milk and saliva.

 

Its U.S. developers say they could be used to treat children with

diarrhoea, a major killer in the Third World.

 

The rice is a major step in so-called Frankenstein Foods, the first

mingling of human-origin genes and those from plants. But the U.S.

Department of Agriculture has already signalled it plans to allow

commercial cultivation.

 

The rice's producers, California-based Ventria Bioscience, have been

given preliminary approval to grow it on more than 3,000 acres in

Kansas. The company plans to harvest the proteins and use them in

drinks, desserts, yoghurts and muesli bars.

 

The news provoked horror among GM critics and consumer groups on

both sides of the Atlantic.

 

GeneWatch UK, which monitors new GM foods, described it as " very

disturbing " . Researcher Becky Price warned: " There are huge, huge

health risks and people should rightly be concerned about this. "

 

Friends of the Earth campaigner Clare Oxborrow said: " Using food

crops and fields as glorified drug factories is a very worrying

development.

 

" If these pharmaceutical crops end up on consumers' plates, the

consequences for our health could be devastating.

 

" The biotech industry has already failed to prevent experimental GM

rice contaminating the food chain.

 

" The Government must urge the U.S. to ban the production of drugs in

food crops. It must also introduce tough measures to prevent illegal

GM crops contaminating our food and ensure that biotech companies

are liable for any damage their products cause. "

 

In the U.S., the Union of Concerned Scientists, a policy advocacy

group, warned: " It is unwise to produce drugs in plants outdoors.

 

" There would be little control over the doses people might get

exposed to, and some might be allergic to the proteins. "

 

The American Consumers Union and the Washingtonbased Centre for Food

Safety also oppose Ventria's plans.

 

As well as the contamination fears there are serious ethical

concerns about such a fundamental interference with the building

blocks of life.

 

Yet there is no legal means for Britain and Europe to ban such

products on ethical grounds.

 

Imports would have to be accepted once they had gone through a

scientific safety assessment.

 

The development is what may people feared when, ten years ago, food

scientists showed what was possible by inserting copies of fish

genes from the flounder into tomatoes, to help them withstand frost.

 

Ventria has produced three varieties of the rice, each with a

different human-origin gene that makes the plants produce one of

three human proteins.

 

Two - lactoferrin and lysozyme - are bacteria-fighting compounds

found in breast milk and saliva. The genes, cultivated and copied in

a laboratory to produce a synthetic version, are carried into

embryonic rice plants inside bacteria.

 

Until now, plants with human-origin genes have been restricted to

small test plots.

 

Ventria originally planned to grow the rice in southern Missouri but

the brewer Anheuser-Busch, a huge buyer of rice, threatened to

boycott the state amid concern over contamination and consumer

reaction.

 

Now the USDA, saying the rice poses " virtually no risk " . has given

preliminary approval for it to be grown in Kansas, which has no

commercial rice farms.

 

Ventria will also use dedicated equipment, storage and processing

facilities supposed to prevent seeds from mixing with other crops.

 

The company says food products using the rice proteins could help

save many of the two million children a year who die from diarrhoea

and the resulting dehydration and complications. A recent study in

Peru, sponsored by Ventria, showed that children with severe

diarrhoea recovered a day and a half faster if the salty fluids they

were prescribed included the proteins.

 

The rice could also be a huge money-spinner in the Western world,

with parents being told it will help their children get over

unpleasant stomach bugs more quickly.

 

Ventria chief executive Scott Deeter said last night: " We have a

product here that can help children get better faster. "

 

He said any concerns about safety and contamination were " based on

perception, not reality " given all the precautions the company was

taking.

 

Mr Deeter said production in plants was far cheaper than other

methods, which should help make the therapy affordable in the

developing world.

 

He said: " Plants are phenomenal factories. Our raw materials are the

sun, soil and water. "

 

©2007 Associated Newspapers Ltd