Important!!!! Research Shows New_Dangers of Genetically Modified Food

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GMW:_Research_Shows_New_Dangers_of_Genetically_Modified_Food

Thu, 26 Feb 2004 13:15:10 GMT

 

GM WATCH daily

http://www.gmwatch.org

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New Dangers of Genetically Modified Food

 

*Inhaled GM maize pollen may cause disease

*GM food promoter transfers to rat cells

*GM vaccines recombine into unpredictable hybrid viruses in human and animal

cells

 

The researcher, geneticist Prof Terje Traavik, is an advisor to the Norwegian

government.

 

2 items:

*New Dangers of Genetically Modified Food

* New research on survival of CaMV promoter in rat tissues - summary

 

see also: Filipino farmers show GM pollen reaction, says scientist (Reuters)

http://www.cropchoice.com/leadstry.asp?RecID=2404

'First evidence' of GM health-risk (Farmers Weekly interactive - registration

required)

http://www.fwi.co.uk/article.asp?con=13924 & sec=18 & hier=2

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http://www.biotechimc.org/or/2004/02/2649.shtml

For Immediate Release Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 24 February, 2004—Data from three

groups of studies

currently being conducted by the Norwegian Institute for Gene Ecology, in

Tromsö, Norway, reveal potentially serious health dangers of genetically

modified (GM) foods and vaccines.

 

Jeffrey M. Smith, Director of the Institute for Responsible Technology,

presented a summary of the findings and their implications for human health to

delegates at the UN Cartagena Protocol for Biosafety meeting. Smith also

presented additional evidence of health dangers from his recently published

book, Seeds of Deception, including new information that incriminates the

genetic engineering of the food supplement L-tryptophan as the cause of an

epidemic in the U.S. in the 1980s, which took the lives of about 100 Americans

and caused 5-10,000 to fall sick or become disabled.

 

The Norwegian findings are summarized below and are elaborated in accompanying

documents. Bt-maize (Dekalb 818 YG), during pollination, may have triggered

disease in people living near the maize

field in the Philippines.

 

The cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) promoter, used in most GM foods, was found

intact in rat tissues two hours, six hours, and three days after it was mixed

into a single meal, and was also confirmed to be active in human cells.

 

Genetically engineered pox viruses in cell cultures recombined with natural

viruses to create new hybrid viruses with unpredictable and potentially

dangerous characteristics.

 

Terje Traavik, PhD, Director of the Norwegian Institute for Gene Ecology,

announced the findings at a meeting held on February 22 in Kuala Lumpur,

sponsored by the Third World Network. The studies are ongoing and not yet

published, but Traavik says, " Publication of results typically requires a

waiting period of up to one year or more. With such evidence of possible human

health impacts of foods already on the market, we believed that waiting to

report our findings through publication would not be in the public’s interest. "

Traavik acknowledged that unpublished results are considered preliminary, but

the findings, he said, are considered reliable and warrant immediate

investigation.

 

Traavik presented the data the day before the UN conference on biosafety began

so that the results could be taken into consideration when drafting regulatory

guidelines.

 

Smith put the Norwegian findings into context by presenting related findings. He

said, " The fact that the CaMV promoter can transfer to mammalian cells might

explain the excessive cell growth found in the stomach and intestines of animals

from other GM feeding trials, and raises additional concerns that GM foods might

encourage genetic instability and mutation, accidental expression of allergens

or toxins from non-target genes, and even activation of dormant viruses. " Smith

said that the link between Bt-maize pollen and disease in the Philippino

villagers is supported by other studies on Bt-toxin and the crops genetically

engineered to express it. Smith said, " Because Bt-toxin appears to increase the

sensitivity of mammals to other allergens or immunogens, we must investigate

whether Bt-crops contribute to the unexplained rise of allergies. "

 

Smith also provided evidence that the L-tryptophan epidemic had started four

years earlier than is

generally cited, and was linked to a series of genetically modified bacterial

strains used by a Japanese manufacturer between 1984 and 1989. This information

undermines the alternative explanation that the epidemic was created as a result

of a change in the manufacturing methods introduced in 1989.

 

Contact: Terje Traavik, PhD +47 9581 7537, terjet,

 

Jeffrey Smith (KL) +60 (0)12-333-7495 jeffrey

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New research on survival of CaMV promoter in rat tissues

Terje Traavik Ph.D

 

Summary

 

The cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) promoter was found intact in rat tissues

after a single meal, and was also confirmed to be active in human cells.

 

The full 1100 base pairs of the CaMV promoter was found:

*In stomach cells and in intestinal (mesenteric) lymph nodes two hours after

eating;

*In mesenteric lymph nodes, kidney, and liver cells six hours after eating;

and

*In mesenteric lymph nodes, spleen, and liver cells three full days aftereating.

 

Future tests will determine if the CaMV is active.

 

Seven groups of six rats each were intragastrically intubated (fed through a

tube to the stomach) with a balanced diet. Added to the a small portion of

the diet was a single dose of a genetic construct similar to those used to

create genetically engineered crops. This construct included a gene that codes

for a green fluorescent protein. The negative control group had no promoter

attached to the green fluorescent protein gene at all; the positive control used

human cytomegalovirus promoter known to be active in all mammalian cells. The

test group had the CaMV 35S promoter coupled to the gene. The design tested the

DNA construct in both circular and linear form. A final control was not fed any

DNA at all. About half of the CaMV fed rats in each of the circular and linear

DNA groups were found to contain intact CaMV.

 

Tissue samples remaining to be tested will soon determine if the CaMV is active,

causing the expression of the green fluorescent protein.

 

In a separate but related study, the same three constructs described above were

added directly to human intestinal epithelial cells (both small and

large intestines), rat cells, and fish cells, in vitro. The fluorescent gene was

expressed in all the cells tested.

 

Implications for human health

 

The CaMV promoter is attached to inserted foreign genes in nearly all

genetically engineered foods. It overpowers the cellsí own self-regulatory

mechanisms so as to permanently turn on the foreign inserted gene and produce

large amounts of the transgene proteins. Without the promoter, the

gene would likely be dormant in the DNA, unexpressed. Scientists use the CaMV

because it is aggressive and because it works in the DNA of all types of plants.

 

The assumptions used by biotech advocates as the basis of safety claims were

that the CaMV:

*Is stable

*Will only turn on the gene to which it was attached

*Is plant specific and will not function in mammals, including humans, and

*Will not transfer from food to gut bacteria or internal organs;

 

Each of these assumptions have been contradicted.

 

1. Studies also show that the promoter creates a 'hotspot' in the DNA. This

means that the whole chromosome can become unstable. This may cause breaks in

the strand or exchanges of genes with other chromosomes. Research reported in

June 2003 confirmed that genetically engineered crops exhibited broken DNA

sections at the CaMV.

 

2. The CaMV promoter may turn on native genes over long distances up and down

the strand of DNA. It can even turn genes on in a different chromosome.

This can create a flood of proteins that may create toxins, allergens,

carcinogens, or nutritional changes.

 

Some scientists believe that the CaMV promoter, in conjunction with other

genetic material, might also create a growth factor that could result in

excessive cell growthóa potentially pre-cancerous condition. A study by Ewen and

Pusztai demonstrated significant cell growth in the stomach and

intestines of rats fed a genetically engineered potato. An Egyptian study also

showed evidence of cell growth in rats fed a Bt potato, and a feeding

study on genetically modified peas showed greater weights of rat intestines,

supporting the possibility of extra cell growth.

 

While scientists believed that the aggressive nature of the CaMV promoter might

have been responsible for these results, it was not confirmed whether the CaMV

promoter was able to transfer intact to organs and whether it would be active in

human cells.

 

The new evidence confirms the transfer and potential activity. The new evidence

does not, however, show any specific links to cell growth, nor does it confirm

that unstable hotspots or the turning on of dangerous genes will moccur in

mammalian DNA.

 

Waking Sleeping Viruses

 

Embedded into the DNA of many organisms, including humans, are ancient viruses

that have worked their way in, perhaps in previous species. While

most of this viral material has eroded, some may be complete but simply not

turned on. In theory, the fact that the promoter can turn on genes up and

down the DNA, combined with the fact that it can transfer to human or animal

organs, means that it may be possible for it to turn on a previously dormant

virus.

 

Contact

New findings: Terje Traavik PhD, +47 9581 7537, terjet

Further discussion: Jeffrey Smith in KL, 012-333-7495,

jeffrey

 

 

 

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