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Walt
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http://www.searching-alternatives.com
Scientists Witness Migration Of GM Cell Material
By Steve Connor Science Editor
The Independent - UK
2-5-3
A technique for producing "environmentally friendly" GM crops has
been called into question by a study showing how easily alien genes
can be transferred around a plant.
Scientists have found that genes can jump from one region of a plant
cell to another, making more likely the prospect of an introduced
gene contaminating the plant's pollen and escaping into the wild.
The research, led by Jeremy Timmis of Adelaide University in
Australia, focused on the DNA of chloroplasts ñ the photosynthetic
structures inside a plant cell ñ which lie outside a plant's
nucleus.
Some researchers have suggested that by modifying the DNA of
chloroplasts, GM crops might be created with beneficial traits that
cannot be transferred to the plant's pollen and be released into the
wild. Pollen is made using DNA from the cell's nucleus.
But Dr Timmis has shown in a study published in the journal Nature
that genes introduced into the DNA of a chloroplast can indeed jump
into the chromosome of the cell's nucleus. By modifying the genes of
chloroplasts, therefore, the theoretical possibility exists to
generate GM pollen that could cross-fertilise with related species
of plants, producing GM wild flowers or "superweeds" resistant to
weedkiller.
Dr Timmis's team used a gene that confers resistance to an
antibiotic as a "marker", to see how frequently this alien DNA could
move from the chloroplast to the nucleus of a tobacco plant. They
found DNA is transferred at a frequency of one in approximately
16,000 tobacco pollen grains.
Peter Riley, of Friends of the Earth, said: "This research suggests
that this is a bit of a shock to scientists. They didn't expect the
genes to jump from chloroplast to nucleus so readily. It underlines
the fact that we must know more about plant genetics before we start
manipulating the DNA of crops."
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_medical/story.jsp?
story=375935
In Reply to: Fouling our nest. (Archive in genetically engineered foods.) posted by Walt Stoll on February 06, 2003 at 13:26:26:
Gmo foods are probably the biggest hurdle we face today as a species trying to survive the implecations of it's own greed and ignorance.
Probably one of the biggest dangers when it comes to GMO’s is the fact that the technology has not been around long enough to know exactly what all the dangers may be. Since most of the study of GMO’s is concentrated in the field of altering the foods that we eat, we might not be aware of the dangers and consequences that could come from changing their genetic make-up. One major area of concern with GMO’s is environmental implications. Things in nature depend on each other and are all intertwined. If a plant is engineered in a certain way to improve one thing, something else that comes in contact with it could prove to be negative. In other words, the competitiveness of the genetically modified plants would be too much for the non-modified plants to bear and the consequences could be irreversible. It would also be difficult to test these GMO's without harming the environment that they are being tested in. The domino effect can always cause a lot more harm than good. If you are trying to enhance a plants resistance to pests, that characteristic might leak over to a harmful weed and that weed will also inherit the ability to resist pest and the weed will flourish. There is also a question concerning allergenicity. Many alterations to genes can produce unknown and unexpected side effects. These altercations may make a certain food harmful to someone when it was not that way before the altercation was made.
There are also non-scientific risks concerning GMO’s. This is an issue that has to do with dependency. People are well aware that the space between first world industrialized countries and third world developing countries is great. It can also be assumed that the advanced technology that is capable of carrying out the alteration of an animal’s gene code is strictly taking place in the powerful first world nations. People fear that nations will exploit these technological advances and take advantage of the weaker nations that are the ones who actually need the benefit of the science. This could lead to even more power the mighty western nations could boast. Anything that is cutting edge requires large amounts of money. This means that the keys to the technology will be held tightly in the hands of big business. It could quite possibly end up that the whole goal of GMO’s would be in the area of profiteering, rather than the goal of humanitarianism.
Here is a link worth reading for those interested
http://www.ogmdangers.org/docs/geDebate1.htm
Peace
Bob
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