By Andre Leu
The GMO protagonists would like you to believe that it
is a simple matter of selecting the gene that is needed and neatly inserting
it into the target species. This is a completely false perception promoted by
the GMO industry. All current GMOs are a complex construction of segments of
bacterial and viral genes.
The simplistic propaganda of just inserting a single gene to get a desired trait
into a plant, animal or microorganism is a massive lie. At this stage our science
is not sophisticated enough to insert a single gene and get it to work. Researchers
use what can be best described as a shotgun approach. They either shoot the
genetic material into the target cells, insert it after weakening the cell membrane
with an electric shock/chemical, or use a modified microorganism to infect the
target cell with the new genes.
The problem with these approaches is that the researchers do not know where the new genes have landed and if they will work.
Antibiotic Resistance Marker Genes
The most common method of discovering if the new gene will work
involves using Antibiotic Resistance Marker Genes. These genes come from bacteria
that are resistant to antibiotics. The marker genes are attached to the gene
with the desired trait (herbicide resistance as an example) and they are shot
into the target cells. These cells are then cultured and an antibiotic is added.
The cells that live have adopted the new genes as they a resistant to the antibiotic.
These are then grown out as plants. The big problem with these plants is that
every part of the plant has genes for antibiotic resistance. Many scientists
and medical professionals have expressed concerns about these genes being horizontally
transferred into the gut and mouth bacteria of humans and animals eating genetically
modified food. They are worried that this could create bacteria that are resistant
to the antibiotics needed to cure infections.
Horizontal gene transfer is where microorganisms take up genes directly through
their cell walls rather than by the normal method of reproduction. It has been
shown to occur with the antibiotic resistant super bugs that are now found in
many hospitals.
When the potential danger of this was pointed out to the genetic scientists
they dismissed it as impossible. Several studies have since shown that these
antibiotic resistance genes can be transferred to bacteria in as little as two
hours after eating genetically modified food.
New Scientist in July 2002 reported on a scientific experiment that showed
that this can happen to bacteria in the human digestive system: For the first
time, it has been proved that bacteria in the human gut can take up DNA from
genetically modified food.
Currently every commercially released GMO plant has the antibiotic resistance
genes in every cell. They should be banned for this reason alone.
Queensland researchers have developed a fluorescent marker gene that comes from
a jellyfish. This gene can be used to select the cell with the desired trait
as they fluoresce under an ultraviolet light. This will be a major improvement
in the safety of GMOs over the current technology, however it does not address
the most serious problem.
The cauliflower mosaic virus promoter. (CaMV)
When foreign DNA is inserted into organisms, three things usually
happen. The most common one is that the foreign DNA is digested to provide energy
and building blocks for the cell. It can also be rejected. The other response
is to close over the foreign DNA and deactivate it.
All of these responses are defence mechanisms to overcome attacks by pathogens
(disease). The host organism defends itself by getting rid of the foreign material.
This is the reason why transplant recipients have to take anti rejection drugs.
When the cells in our bodies are invaded by organisms that have foreign DNA
a whole range of responses, collectively known as the immune systems can be
activated to repel or destroy the invaders.
These are the things that tend to happen when foreign genes are shot/infected
into a cell. They tend to be digested, rejected or closed over. Either way this
means that the target organism will not have the desired trait from the new
gene.
To overcome this, genetic scientists build a construction with a section of
the cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) along with the new gene and the antibiotic
resistant marker gene. The CaMV gives the signal that activates or promotes
the new gene. It ensures that the gene is active so that its desired trait,
like herbicide resistance, works in the new plant.
There are several problems with this. Every current GMO plant is part virus.
Every cell of their bodies contains active sections of a virus. With billions
of these plants now released into the environment, many scientists believe that
there is a great risk of horizontal transfer of the viral genetic code from
GMO plants into invading viruses, creating new virulent transgenic viruses.
The Union of Concerned scientists states: Recombination can occur between
the plant-produced viral genes and closely related genes of incoming viruses.
Such recombination may produce viruses that can infect a wider range of hosts
or that may be more virulent than the parent viruses.
According to Dr Mae-Wan Ho of the Institute of Science in Society, London: GM
constructs are designed to cross species barriers and to invade genomes. In
other words, GM constructs are more likely to transfer horizontally. Genetic
engineering will accelerate the generation of new viruses and bacteria.
When GMO scientists and researchers are questioned on this the standard reply
is that the cauliflower mosaic virus is harmless and doesn’t affect humans.
We know that many harmless viruses change into to forms that can be serious.
The flu is the classic example. Fifty years ago AIDS was restricted to monkeys
and didn’t effect humans. SARS is a slightly modified common cold virus and
is now a seriously fatal disease with the potential for massive epidemics.
According to Helen Pearson writing in the journal Nature, April 2003:
“In a simple overnight experiment, researchers transformed a coronavirus
that is lethal to cats into one that infects mouse cells by replacing a single
gene. The result strengthens the idea that the SARS coronavirus might have arisen
when an animal and human virus met and swapped genes, says the study's lead
scientist"
The fact is no scientist can predict what would happen if transgenic viruses
and bacteria emerged from GMO plants. It was only a short time ago these same
scientists were saying pollen drift from GMOs would not affect nearby crops
and that the horizontal transference of antibiotic resistant genes from GMOs
into gut microorganisms was not possible. Dr. Mae-Wan Ho further states: This
CaMV promoter is also known to work for genes all across the living world: in
plants, bacteria, fungi, and, as we discovered recently in the literature more
than 10 years old, also in frog eggs and human cells. It is able to substitute,
in part or in whole, for the promoter of many other viruses. Viruses are not
only everywhere in the environment, they also lie dormant in the genomes of
all organisms, bacteria, plants and animals without exception. And there is
evidence that such dormant viruses can be reactivated as a result of genetic
recombination.
Unstable GM Constructs
A serious problem with the CaMV is that it has been proven to
be unstable within the chromosomes of GMO plants. Researchers from the John
Innes Center, UK one of the world’s major biotechnology research centres, have
found that during field trails of GM plants, that later generations became unstable
and variable.
The CaMV moves from one part of a chromosome to another and activates the new
gene next it. This means it randomly causes genes within the plant to work in
ways that would not normally occur. It could lead to all sorts of future problems
like making plants that have small amounts of beneficial phyto nutrients, express
them in toxic amounts, cause hormones and other regulatory functions to be pushed
out of balance and cause future chaos in the genetic make up plants and animals
that we do not understand. It is the equivalent of Russian Roulette with DNA.
Conclusion
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho sums up the potential dangers of this technology:
GM constructs are designed to cross species barriers and to invade genomes.
In other words, GM constructs are more likely to transfer horizontally.
Horizontal gene transfer will increase the opportunity for genetic recombination.
The GM constructs are already of mixed origins, with base sequences similar
to the genetic material of many pathogenic bacteria and viruses. That, again,
as every geneticist should know, will greatly increase the probability for genetic
recombination, and with a wide assortment of bacteria and viruses.
What is most concerning with this is that this viral promoter
gene and other GM constructs have escaped into the wild relatives of GMO plants
and also contaminated a sizeable proportion of non GMO crops like corn, canola
and soybeans.
The potential danger is being completely ignored by regulatory authorities,
with no ongoing research looking at these potential pathogenic transgenic viruses
and bacteria.
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho warns: The scientists set up guidelines, based largely on
assumptions, all of which have fallen by the wayside as the result of new scientific
findings. Instead of tightening the guidelines, our regulators have relaxed
them as commercial pressures built up. It does not take a great feat of imagination
to see why genetic engineering will accelerate the generation of new viruses
and bacteria.
We a looking at a large scale uncontrolled experiment and we do not know the outcomes. Logic and commonsense would state that we need a moratorium on the release of all GMOs until there is good quality, long term peer reviewed science that ensures that there are no risks. To do otherwise is to leave a massive problem for future generations.
Never forget that the scientist who invented DDT received a Noble Prize. We are still paying the hidden price of a lack of understanding of the long term consequences of this discovery.