Why put human genes in rice?

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GMW: Why put human genes in rice?

" GM WATCH " <info

Thu, 28 Apr 2005 17:21:09 +0100

 

 

 

 

 

GM WATCH daily

http://www.gmwatch.org

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" A gene is a gene is a gene " (item 1)

 

" ...the human enzymes put into rice are responsible for causing most

kinds of human cancer " (item 2)

 

1.Why put human genes in rice? Prof Chris Leaver

2.Public relations triumph over science - Prof Joe Cummins

3.People who talk absolute nonsense - Prof G.D.W. Smith

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1.Why put human genes in rice?

Tim Radford

Thursday April 28, 2005

The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/thisweek/story/0,12977,1471420,00.html

 

Why not? A gene is a gene is a gene, says Christopher Leaver,

Sibthorpian professor of plant sciences at Oxford. [and a former

consultant to

Syngenta]

 

Plants, animals and humans often have very similar versions of the same

genes, to carry out the same function. Among these are genes that make

enzymes called cytochrome P450s, which break down and detoxify

poisonous chemicals. Japanese scientists have tested a human enzyme

(known as

CYP2B6) in rice and potatoes. This enzyme is known to break down more

than a dozen herbicides, pesticides and industrial chemicals. Farmers

use herbicides to suppress weeds, but the crops need to survive the

spraying.

 

CYP286 rice did well in tests involving the use of about 17 different

herbicides, according to Sakiko Hirose, of the National Institute of

Agrobiological Sciences in Tsukuba. " The liver detoxifies everything in

human beings, " Leaver says. " Plants have a lot of genes which also

detoxify. "

 

Rice is a staple, but the addition of a " human " gene hardly qualifies

as an invitation to cannibalism. " You could synthesise this thing, if

you knew the sequence, in the lab. It doesn't actually have to come from

a human, " he says. " It's DNA. It's a chemical. "

 

· What did you think of this article? Mail your responses to

life and include your name and address.

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2.Comment from Prof Joe Cummins on the same issue

 

The article brings to attention the use of human Cytochrome p450

genes to produce resistance to most herbicides. A numberer of such

cytochrome p450 genes have been released for field testing in Japan. The

article swallows the biotech industry public relations that there is

nothing

really wrong about putting human genes into rice.

 

The first thing that comes to mind is that the human enzymes put into

rice are responsible for causing most kinds of human cancer by

activating

certain pollutants into forms that attack the genes causing mutation.

The common products of automobiles, incinerators and forest fires called

PAHs are activated to cause cancer by the P450 enzymes. The fact that

the humanized rice is likely to be loaded with active genotoxins

(carcinogens) is not discussed by the academic journal editors who

provide

public relation for corporations.

 

Furthermore, the human genes are alerted in DNA sequence to be more

active in plants. The digestive fragments of altered human DNA may be

very

destructive to the human liver by disrupting the liver cytochromoe p450

genes as people eat the humanized rice.I am pointing out that the DNA

is different from the human DNA swallowed by cannibals (for example

Dahmer).

 

We have entered a dangerous era where public relations are favored over

scientific truth by those claiming to be the " real " scientists.

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3.People who talk absolute nonsense

 

http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=3283

14 March 2004

The Editor,

The Sunday Times,

 

Dear Sir,

 

Is GM Food Good for You?

 

The argument advanced by Charles Pasternak for the safety of GM food is

false [News Review, Sunday 14th March, page 2, article entitled " GM

food could be good for you " ]. Yes, the DNA of all living organisms is

made up of just four nucleosides, and yes, virtually all proteins are

made

up from just 20 amino acids. But this does not imply that everything

containing these basic building blocks is without risk to human beings.

 

The same units, arranged in different ways, are contained in the

smallpox virus, bubonic plague and influenza, deadly nightshade and other

poisonous plants, creatures such as poisonous jellyfish, scorpions,

deadly

snakes, sharks - and people who talk absolute nonsense.

 

Yours sincerely,

G.D.W. Smith (Professor), FRS.

Professor of Materials, Oxford University,

Department of Materials, Parks Road, Oxford

 

 

 

 

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