Genetically Engineered Foods Archives

More about Frankenfoods. Archive.

Notice how they say, "Don't won't worry, it is for the good of the
people..." They always claim a humanitarian cause- like the
fluoride. And then tell us not to be concerned about something that
on a basic gut level is and should be abhorrent- eating human
genes..
Does anyone, who didn't before this week, now see the conditioning?
Misty L. Trepke
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/searching-alternatives

Published on Tuesday, March 6th, 2007 by the DailyMail/UK
The Rice With Human Genes
by Sean Poulter

The first GM food crop containing human genes is set to be approved
for commercial production.

The laboratory-created rice produces some of the human proteins
found in breast milk and saliva.

Its U.S. developers say they could be used to treat children with
diarrhoea, a major killer in the Third World.

The rice is a major step in so-called Frankenstein Foods, the first
mingling of human-origin genes and those from plants. But the U.S.
Department of Agriculture has already signalled it plans to allow
commercial cultivation.

The rice's producers, California-based Ventria Bioscience, have been
given preliminary approval to grow it on more than 3,000 acres in
Kansas. The company plans to harvest the proteins and use them in
drinks, desserts, yoghurts and muesli bars.

The news provoked horror among GM critics and consumer groups on
both sides of the Atlantic.

GeneWatch UK, which monitors new GM foods, described it as "very
disturbing". Researcher Becky Price warned: "There are huge, huge
health risks and people should rightly be concerned about this."

Friends of the Earth campaigner Clare Oxborrow said: "Using food
crops and fields as glorified drug factories is a very worrying
development.

"If these pharmaceutical crops end up on consumers' plates, the
consequences for our health could be devastating.

"The biotech industry has already failed to prevent experimental GM
rice contaminating the food chain.

"The Government must urge the U.S. to ban the production of drugs in
food crops. It must also introduce tough measures to prevent illegal
GM crops contaminating our food and ensure that biotech companies
are liable for any damage their products cause."

In the U.S., the Union of Concerned Scientists, a policy advocacy
group, warned: "It is unwise to produce drugs in plants outdoors.

"There would be little control over the doses people might get
exposed to, and some might be allergic to the proteins."

The American Consumers Union and the Washingtonbased Centre for Food
Safety also oppose Ventria's plans.

As well as the contamination fears there are serious ethical
concerns about such a fundamental interference with the building
blocks of life.

Yet there is no legal means for Britain and Europe to ban such
products on ethical grounds.

Imports would have to be accepted once they had gone through a
scientific safety assessment.

The development is what may people feared when, ten years ago, food
scientists showed what was possible by inserting copies of fish
genes from the flounder into tomatoes, to help them withstand frost.

Ventria has produced three varieties of the rice, each with a
different human-origin gene that makes the plants produce one of
three human proteins.

Two - lactoferrin and lysozyme - are bacteria-fighting compounds
found in breast milk and saliva. The genes, cultivated and copied in
a laboratory to produce a synthetic version, are carried into
embryonic rice plants inside bacteria.

Until now, plants with human-origin genes have been restricted to
small test plots.

Ventria originally planned to grow the rice in southern Missouri but
the brewer Anheuser-Busch, a huge buyer of rice, threatened to
boycott the state amid concern over contamination and consumer
reaction.

Now the USDA, saying the rice poses "virtually no risk". has given
preliminary approval for it to be grown in Kansas, which has no
commercial rice farms.

Ventria will also use dedicated equipment, storage and processing
facilities supposed to prevent seeds from mixing with other crops.

The company says food products using the rice proteins could help
save many of the two million children a year who die from diarrhoea
and the resulting dehydration and complications. A recent study in
Peru, sponsored by Ventria, showed that children with severe
diarrhoea recovered a day and a half faster if the salty fluids they
were prescribed included the proteins.

The rice could also be a huge money-spinner in the Western world,
with parents being told it will help their children get over
unpleasant stomach bugs more quickly.

Ventria chief executive Scott Deeter said last night: "We have a
product here that can help children get better faster."

He said any concerns about safety and contamination were "based on
perception, not reality" given all the precautions the company was
taking.

Mr Deeter said production in plants was far cheaper than other
methods, which should help make the therapy affordable in the
developing world.

He said: "Plants are phenomenal factories. Our raw materials are the
sun, soil and water."

©2007 Associated Newspapers Ltd

------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~-->
Something is new at Yahoo! Groups. Check out the enhanced email design.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/kOt0.A/gOaOAA/yQLSAA/OnSolB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~->

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/searching-alternatives
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/searching-alternatives/

<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional

<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/searching-alternatives/join
(Yahoo! ID required)

<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:searching-alternatives-digest@yahoogroups.com
mailto:searching-alternatives-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
searching-alternatives-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/