Fwd: Regulatory Sham on Bt-Crops

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Mon, 1 Dec 2003 17:25:48 GMT

 

Regulatory Sham on Bt-Crops

press-release

 

The Institute of Science in Society

Science Society Sustainability

http://www.i-sis.org.uk

 

General Enquiries sam

Website/Mailing List press-release

ISIS Director m.w.ho

===================================================

 

 

ISIS Press Release 01/12/03

Regulatory Sham on Bt-Crops

***********************

Prof. Joe Cummins exposes the regulatory sham involved in GM crops containing a

range of biopesticides

 

Sources for this report are available in the ISIS members site

(http://www.i-sis.org.uk/full/RSOBTCFull.php). Full details here

(http://www.i-sis.org.uk/membership.php)

 

At 80 million planted acres, corn is the largest crop grown in the US and

accounts for one fifth of total agricultural cropland. Over the past years,

conventional insecticides have been applied to between 14 to18 million acres of

corn to control corn root worm (CRW). This single corn pest accounts for over

14% of insecticide applications to agricultural crops. Infested acreage is

increasing due to extended diapause and change in the insect’s behaviour as the

CRW lays its eggs in soybean fields, which are planted in rotation with corn.

Currently, the main genetically modified (GM) corn contains the Bacillus

thuringiensis (Bt) toxin gene Cry1Ab to control corn borer, but does not control

CRW. CRW control has been the recent focus among the corporations developing GM

crops. All candidate crops are being raced to market with the cooperation of

regulatory authoritatives in the US and Canada. The emphasis is on speedy

evaluation and keeping down costs rather than to ensure safety to consumers and

to the environment. Safety testing is done using toxins produced in bacteria

acknowledged to be somewhat different from those produced in the corn plants.

This is deemed to be " sound science " by the regulators.

GM corn with genes providing protection against CRW will soon reach the market.

Monsanto corporation has focused on the Bt toxin Cry3Bb and has recently

developed synthetic Bt toxins that combine amino acid sequences from native

Cry1Ac and Cry1F crystal protein, which have enhanced broad range specificity

lacking in either toxin individually. Dow corporation has been developing corn

with Cry34Ab/Cry 35Ab combined toxin. Monsanto’s Cry3Bb-corn is ready for

commercial release and the others will soon follow.

Patents describing the production of Bt-Cry3Bb describe the production of the

synthetic Bt genes both used to produce the toxin produced in bacteria and the

toxin produced in corn plants. The synthetic Bt-cry3Bb is altered from the

bacterial gene by insertion of the cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) promoter and

enhancers, the leader sequence of wheat chlorophyll a/b binding protein, the

rice actin intron, and the 3’ transcription terminator sequence of wheat heat

shock protein 17.3. Along with the sequences above, many code words for amino

acids were altered to enhance translation in the plant cell, and some amino

acids were changed to enhance performance in the plant cell. An antibiotic

resistance marker nptII, also with the CaMV promoter and the NOS transcription

terminator from Agrobacterium tumefacians nopaline synthetase gene was inserted

into the corn chromosome along with the Bt-cry3Bb construct The genetic insert

in corn was called MON 863. The US Food and Drug Administration

(FDA) noted that the Bt toxin in Mon 863 differed from the bacterial toxin by

seven amino acids and by an additional amino acid, alanine in the second

position from the start of the protein.

US Environment Protection Agency has considered a large number of documents on

human health and environmental impacts of Mon 863 corn. The petition to

establish a tolerance exemption for Bt-Cry3Bb argued that it was not necessary

to set a tolerance level because the toxin was not toxic to mammals. But the

studies supporting the exemption were done with toxin produced in bacteria that

are not identical to the product in Mon 863 corn. The biopesticides registration

action document for event MON863 Bt-Cry3Bb1 corn provided information on product

characterization. The action document on environmental assessment included

evidence on non-target wildlife, but reviewed data from the bacterial Bt-

Cry3Bb1 toxin, and not the toxin produced in MON863 corn. EPA has also provided

a fact sheet on Bt-Cry3Bb1 protein and the genetic material necessary for its

production.

Canada approved MON863 corn for livestock feed on March 5, 2003. Limited

information was provided in the Canadian decision document, and the fact that

the safety investigations had been based on a product significantly different

from the toxin in MON863 corn was not mentioned. The approval of GM crops

bearing toxins whose safety tests have been based on tests of surrogate products

appears to have grown so commonplace among regulators that it is not worthy of

mention.

Dow Agroscience Corporation has been developing a binary toxin mixture

containing Bt- Cry34Ab1 and Bt-cry35Ab1 effective against CRW. Initial safety

tests using toxins produced in bacteria showed that the mixture was digestible

by mammals and for that reason unlikely to be allergenic. The petition to EPA

for tolerance exemption, and the granted temporary exemption noted that the

proteins were obtained from bacteria but believed to be similar to the proteins

produced in corn (the product being regulated) because the products had similar

gel electrophoresis mobility. The actual differences between the synthetic genes

in corn and the protein they produce and the protein toxins produced in bacteria

from the native gene have not yet been disclosed.

Monsanto recently (Nov. 11,2003) disclosed methods for the construction of B.

thuringiensis hybrid delta-endotoxins comprising amino acid sequences from

native Cry1Ac and Cry1F crystal proteins. These hybrid proteins, in which all or

a portion of Cry1Ac domain 2, all or a portion of Cry1Ac domain 3, and all or a

portion of the Cry1Ac protoxin segment is replaced by the corresponding portions

of Cry1F, possess not only the insecticidal characteristics of the parent

delta-endotoxins, but also have the unexpected and remarkable properties of

enhanced broad-range specificity not displayed by either of the native

delta-endotoxins. The hybrid toxins incorporated into transgenic plants express

broad-spectrum insecticidal activity against a variety of coleopteran, dipteran,

and lepidopteran insects. Presumably, the deployment of the synthetic genes,

described above, is meant to provide protection against all of the major insect

pests of corn. It seems likely that the mammalian toxicity tests

and the test of impact on non-target animals will be done with the protein

produced in bacteria not the one produced in corn plants.

In spite of the clear differences between the genes and the insecticide toxin

proteins produced in bacteria and those produced in transgenic plants the US and

Canadian regulators have agreed with the corporations manufacturing the GM crops

that the products are substantially equivalent. So long as the final toxins are

similar the bacterial toxins can be used as surrogates for the crop toxin in

safety testing. The regulators made little or no effort to directly test the

validity of their presumptions. They are placing the burden of proof that the

toxins in the GM crops are unsafe for mammals and the environment on the

shoulders of the public, not the corporations who profit from the GM crops. In

the final analysis, the regulators are providing essential public relations

benefits for the corporations but not adequately protecting the public. And so

long as GM crops are not labeled in the market, the errors of the regulators

will go undetected.

 

 

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http://www.i-sis.org.uk/RSOBTC.php

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General Enquiries sam

Website/Mailing List press-release

ISIS Director m.w.ho

 

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