OT: GM Industry Puts Human Gene Into Rice

[Guest guest]

Looking at it in a non-emotional and logical fashion - I think we're

creating more problems than we're solving - and in the end, money and

greed is the reason behind it all - not the supposed altruistic pursuit,

by the companies doing the genetic modifications, of a " chicken in every

pot " (or a full rice cooker in every hut) ;-p

 

Crazy crap going on - no doubt!

 

*Smile*

Chris (list mom)

 

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On Behalf Of Butch Owen

 

Opinions, Politics, Commerce and Science are the players here. Bounce

Objectivity against Emotion and consider the Personal Interests at stake

and we can see how difficult it is to deal with the subject. Everybody

is an expert and everybody is right. ;-) Butch

 

GM Industry Puts Human Gene Into Rice

 

By Geoffrey Lean, Environment Editor

24 April 2005

 

Scientists have begun putting genes from human beings into food crops in

a dramatic extension of genetic modification. The move, which is causing

disgust and revulsion among critics, is bound to strengthen accusations

that GM technology is creating " Frankenstein foods " and drive the

controversy surrounding it to new heights.

 

Even before this development, many people, including Prince Charles,

have opposed the technology on the grounds that it is playing God by

creating unnatural combinations of living things.

 

Environmentalists say that no one will want to eat the partially

human-derived food because it will smack of cannibalism.

 

But supporters say that the controversial new departure presents no

ethical problems and could bring environmental benefits.

 

In the first modification of its kind, Japanese researchers have

inserted a gene from the human liver into rice to enable it to digest

pesticides and industrial chemicals. The gene makes an enzyme,

code-named CPY2B6, which is particularly good at breaking down harmful

chemicals in the body.

 

Present GM crops are modified with genes from bacteria to make them

tolerate herbicides, so that they are not harmed when fields are sprayed

to kill weeds. But most of them are only able to deal with a single

herbicide, which means that it has to be used over and over again,

allowing weeds to build up resistance to it.

 

But the researchers at the National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences

in Tsukuba, north of Tokyo, have found that adding the human touch gave

the rice immunity to 13 different herbicides. This would mean that weeds

could be kept down by constantly changing the chemicals used.

 

Supporting scientists say that the gene could also help to beat

pollution.

 

Professor Richard Meilan of Purdue University in Indiana, who has worked

with a similar gene from rabbits, says that plants modified with it

could " clean up toxins " from contaminated land. They might even destroy

them so effectively that crops grown on the polluted soil could be fit

to eat.

 

But he and other scientists caution that if the gene were to escape to

wild relatives of the rice it could create particularly vicious

superweeds that were resistant to a wide range of herbicides.

 

He adds: " I do not have any ethical issue with using human genes to

engineer plants " , dismissing talk of " Frankenstein foods " as " rubbish " .

He believes that that European opposition to GM crops and food is

fuelled by agricultural protectionism.

 

But Sue Mayer, director of GeneWatch UK, said yesterday: " I don't think

that anyone will want to buy this rice. People have already expressed

disgust about using human genes, and already feel that their concerns

are being ignored by the biotech industry. This will just undermine

their confidence even more. "

 

Pete Riley, director of the anti-GM pressure group Five Year Freeze,

said: " I am not surprised by this.

 

" The industry is capable of anything and this development certainly

smacks of Frankenstein. "

 

C2005 Independent News & Media (UK) Ltd.

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Opinions, Politics, Commerce and Science are the players here. Bounce

Objectivity against Emotion and consider the Personal Interests at stake

and we can see how difficult it is to deal with the subject. Everybody

is an expert and everybody is right. ;-) Butch

 

GM Industry Puts Human Gene Into Rice

 

By Geoffrey Lean, Environment Editor

24 April 2005

 

Scientists have begun putting genes from human beings into food crops in

a dramatic extension of genetic modification. The move, which is causing

disgust and revulsion among critics, is bound to strengthen accusations

that GM technology is creating " Frankenstein foods " and drive the

controversy surrounding it to new heights.

 

Even before this development, many people, including Prince Charles,

have opposed the technology on the grounds that it is playing God by

creating unnatural combinations of living things.

 

Environmentalists say that no one will want to eat the partially

human-derived food because it will smack of cannibalism.

 

But supporters say that the controversial new departure presents no

ethical problems and could bring environmental benefits.

 

In the first modification of its kind, Japanese researchers have

inserted a gene from the human liver into rice to enable it to digest

pesticides and industrial chemicals. The gene makes an enzyme,

code-named CPY2B6, which is particularly good at breaking down harmful

chemicals in the body.

 

Present GM crops are modified with genes from bacteria to make them

tolerate herbicides, so that they are not harmed when fields are sprayed

to kill weeds. But most of them are only able to deal with a single

herbicide, which means that it has to be used over and over again,

allowing weeds to build up resistance to it.

 

But the researchers at the National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences

in Tsukuba, north of Tokyo, have found that adding the human touch gave

the rice immunity to 13 different herbicides. This would mean that weeds

could be kept down by constantly changing the chemicals used.

 

Supporting scientists say that the gene could also help to beat pollution.

 

Professor Richard Meilan of Purdue University in Indiana, who has worked

with a similar gene from rabbits, says that plants modified with it

could " clean up toxins " from contaminated land. They might even destroy

them so effectively that crops grown on the polluted soil could be fit

to eat.

 

But he and other scientists caution that if the gene were to escape to

wild relatives of the rice it could create particularly vicious

superweeds that were resistant to a wide range of herbicides.

 

He adds: " I do not have any ethical issue with using human genes to

engineer plants " , dismissing talk of " Frankenstein foods " as " rubbish " .

He believes that that European opposition to GM crops and food is

fuelled by agricultural protectionism.

 

But Sue Mayer, director of GeneWatch UK, said yesterday: " I don't think

that anyone will want to buy this rice. People have already expressed

disgust about using human genes, and already feel that their concerns

are being ignored by the biotech industry. This will just undermine

their confidence even more. "

 

Pete Riley, director of the anti-GM pressure group Five Year Freeze,

said: " I am not surprised by this.

 

" The industry is capable of anything and this development certainly

smacks of Frankenstein. "

 

©2005 Independent News & Media (UK) Ltd.