How Genetically Modified Foods Could Affect Our Health in Unexpected Ways |
January 11, 2012 | Like this article? Join our email list: Stay up to date with the latest headlines via email. Chinese researchers have found small pieces of rice ribonucleic acid (RNA) in the blood and organs of humans who eat rice. The type of RNA in question is called microRNA (abbreviated to miRNA) due to its small size. Should the research survive scientific scrutiny -- a serious hurdle -- it could prove a game changer in many fields. That knowledge could deepen our understanding of many fields, including cross-species communication, co-evolution, and predator-prey relationships. This study had nothing to do with genetically modified (GM) food, but it could have implications on that front. Monsanto's website states, "There is no need for, or value in testing the safety of GM foods in humans." The Central Dogma resembles the process of ordering a pizza. We've known for decades that the Central Dogma, though basically correct, is overly simplistic. And,
What is MicroRNA?
MicroRNAs are a class of post-transcriptional regulators. They are short ~22 nucleotide RNA sequences that bind to complementary sequences in the 3’ UTR of multiple target mRNAs, usually resulting in their silencing. MicroRNAs target ~60% of all genes, are abundantly present in all human cells and are able to repress hundreds of targets each. MicroRNAs were first discovered in 1993 by Victor Ambros, Rosalind Lee and Rhonda Feinbaum during a study into development in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) regarding the gene lin-14. It was only in 2000 when let-7 was discovered to repress lin-41, lin-14, lin28, lin42 and daf12 mRNA during transition in developmental stages in C. elegans and that this function was phylogenetically conserved in species beyond nematodes, that it became apparent the short non-coding RNA identified in 1993 was part of a wider phenomenon. Since then over 4000 miRNAs have been discovered in all studied eukaryotes including mammals, fungi and plants.
Regulators Discover a Hidden Viral Gene in Commercial GMO Crops
by Jonathan Latham and Allison Wilson How should a regulatory agency announce they have discovered something potentially very important about the safety of products they have been approving for over twenty years? In the course of analysis to identify potential allergens in GMO crops, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has belatedly discovered that the most common genetic regulatory sequence in commercial GMOs also encodes a significant fragment of a viral gene (Podevin and du Jardin 2012). Cauliflower Mosaic Virus What Podevin and du Jardin discovered is that of the 86 different transgenic events (unique insertions of foreign DNA) commercialized to-date in the United States 54 contain portions of Gene VI within them. The researchers themselves concluded that the presence of segments of Gene VI “might result in unintended phenotypic changes”. In general, viral genes expressed in plants raise both agronomic and human health concerns (reviewed in Latham and Wilson 2008).
The CaMV promoter story
The CaMV promoter story The Biosafety Protocol concluded in Montreal reaffirms the precautionary principle but the problem is one of ensuring that the principle is implemented, as illustrated by the case of the CaMV promoter. The CaMV promoter is a gene-switch from the cauliflower mosaic virus which is incorporated into practically all current GM crops. Recent scientific findings reveal it may be highly unsafe. But many of the scientists themselves are refusing to read the implications of the findings or to draw the right conclusions in accordance with the precautionary principle. By Mae-Wan Ho The CaMV promoter - a recipe for disaster? THIS was the title of a scientific paper co-authored by myself and my colleagues, Angela Ryan from the Open University UK and Prof. We wrote a detailed rebuttal, which was likewise circulated and posted to the same website. Prof. What is a 'promoter'? A 'promoter' is a stretch of genetic material that acts as a switch for turning genes on. Worse
The Human Genome Project and eugenic concerns.
Eugenics and the human genome project
Christophe Larroque History 215B: “Artificial Life, From The Golem To Human Cloning” Professor Michael John Gorman November 13th, 2001 Eugenics And The Human Genome Project A First Step Towards Creating Made-to-Order Human Beings The Human Genome Project was the first endeavor undertaken by an international consortium to discover what the genetic information in every human being meant, where it was and how it could be used. The biological pursuit for identity found its genesis in Gregor Mendel’s discovery of the laws of inheritance. Eugenics developed in the early part of the twentieth century had not led to the discovery of human makeup but to an act exemplifying humanity’s sometimes dark nature. As technology and molecular biology progressed, the mapping of the human genome became less of an impossible to more of a daunting task. The Human Genome Project itself came into being thanks to the efforts of R. Genetics has sparked debate since its discovery by Mendel. Works Cited
16. Human Genome Project Opens the Door to Ethnically Specific Bioweapons – Top 25 of 2001
Washington Free Press, Jan./ Feb. 2000 Titles: Genetic Bullets, Ethnically Specific Bioweapons Author: Roy Blake Konformist, March 2000 Title: Ethnic Weapons for Ethnic Cleansing Author Greg North Coast Xpress, Fall 2000 The Human Genome Project and Eugenics Author Robert Lederman Corporate news coverage: Daily Telegraph (London) 7/7/00, Agence France Presse 1/21/99, The Gazette (Montreal) A-4, Baltimore Sun 1/22/99 A-18, The Salt Lake City Tribune 1/27/99 A-13, The Times Union (Albany) 2/2/99 D-2, Faculty/Community Evaluators: Rabbi Michael Robinson, Velma Guillory-Taylor, Ed.D. Student Researchers: Terrie Girdner, Karen Parlette, Jennifer Swift The Human Genome Project may now open the door to the development and use of genetic weapons targeted at specific ethnic groups. In October 1997, Dr. On November 15, 1998, the London Times reported that Israel claimed to have successfully developed a genetically specific “ethnic bullet” that targets Arabs. Websites:
2013 protests in Turkey
The 2013–14 protests in Turkey started on 28 May 2013, initially to contest the urban development plan for Istanbul's Taksim Gezi Park. The protests were sparked by outrage at the violent eviction of a sit-in at the park protesting the plan.[71] Subsequently, supporting protests and strikes took place across Turkey protesting a wide range of concerns, at the core of which were issues of freedom of the press, of expression, assembly, and the government's encroachment on Turkey's secularism. With no centralised leadership beyond the small assembly that organized the original environmental protest, the protests have been compared to the Occupy movement and the May 1968 events. The sit-in at Taksim Gezi Park was restored after police withdrew from Taksim Square on 1 June, and developed into an Occupy-like camp with thousands of protesters in tents, organising a library, medical center, food distribution, and their own media. Background[edit] Events leading up to the protests[edit]
