New Report Highlights Huge Gaps in GM Crop Science

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New Report Highlights Huge Gaps in GM Crop Science

" GM WATCH " <info

Fri, 29 Oct 2004 13:02:28 +0100

 

 

 

New Report Highlights Huge Gaps in GM Crop Science

http://www.gmwatch.org

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This important new report, based on the peer-reviewed scientific

literature and USDA documents, shows that the genetic engineering of

crops

already approved and in the food chain, has caused large scale genetic

rearrangements of host DNA at transgene insertion sites as well as many

hundreds to thousands of individual mutations scattered throughout the

genome of each new transgenic plant.

 

The significance of all this genetic damage is that food safety of

edible crops relies crucially on genetic stability, not least because,

" Most crop plants are a complex mixture of biologically active chemicals

with both positive and negative health effects, they may be bred from

inedible ancestors and many have poisonous tissues or organs. "

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Contact: Jonathan Latham 01531 670 313 or Email:

A.Wilson

 

October 2004, Embargo: Oct 28

 

 

PRESS RELEASE

 

New Report Highlights Huge Gaps in GM Crop Science

 

A new report (1) on the impact of GM on the genetics of the modified

crops by an independent group of scientists has highlighted huge gaps in

scientific knowledge and the need to greatly improve scientific

assessment procedures before GM crops are licensed.

 

The report, by the group EcoNexus (2), is based on the peer-reviewed

scientific literature and USDA (3) documents. It examines the

consequences of genetic modification events for the integrity of

transgenic plant

genomes (4) and suggests that significant genetic damage can arise.

The consequences can include:

 

* large scale genetic rearrangements of host DNA at transgene insertion

sites

* many hundreds to thousands of individual mutations scattered

throughout the genome of each new transgenic plant

 

The authors (5) suggest that these changes are caused through genetic

engineering itself, i.e. by transgene insertion and the procedures plant

cells are subjected to in order to insert the transgene.

 

Most crop plants are a complex mixture of biologically active chemicals

with both positive and negative health effects, they may be bred from

inedible ancestors and many have poisonous tissues or organs.

Consequently, food safety of edible crops relies crucially on genetic

stability

and predictability rather than being an inbuilt property of crop plants.

Therefore, the discovery of these genetic changes arising from GM, the

authors suggest is highly significant and has major implications for

the safety of transgenic crops.

 

The report analyses crops that are already on the market around the

world based on documents obtained from the USDA. It finds that

regulators

fail to require adequate analysis of transgene insertion sites and that

there is no mechanism to detect random genetic damage induced by

transformation.

 

These omissions appear to result from failure to appreciate the

magnitude of genetic damage sustained by transgenic plants. They

indicate that

there are massive gaps in the regulatory systems which are supposed to

ensure transgenic crops are safe and that regulators have been guilty

of making dubious assumptions about the similarities between transgenic

crops and plants developed by traditional plant breeding.

 

Commenting for EcoNexus one of the report's authors Dr Jonathan Latham

said:

 

" This genetic unpredictability should be treated very seriously indeed.

Once inserted, the mutations highlighted in this report cannot easily

be eliminated from transgenic crops and nor can their consequences for

food safety and the environment easily or reliably be determined.

Consequently, they present a major challenge to the plant biotechnology

industry. Their elimination will require major changes to plant

transformation methods " .

 

ENDs

 

 

Notes for editor:

 

(1). This new report (Genome Scrambling – Myth or Reality?

Transformation-induced mutations in transgenic crop plants) is 36

pages long and

available as a pdf file at www.econexus.info . It is written by Dr.

Allison Wilson, Dr. Jonathan Latham and Dr. Ricarda Steinbrecher of

EcoNexus.

 

(2) EcoNexus is a not-for-profit public interest research organisation

and science watchdog. It offers a rigorous scientific critique of

genetic engineering (GE) and genetically modified organisms. It

investigates

and reports on the impacts of GE on the environment, health, food

security, agriculture, human rights and society. EcoNexus also

examines the

influence of transnational corporations (TNCs) on development issues

and scientific, social, economic and political processes. It is based in

the UK and collaborates with a diversity of networks nationally and

internationally.

 

 

(3) USDA, United States Department of Agriculture.

 

(4) Genome, the sum total of the genetic material (DNA) of an organism.

 

(5) The authors:

 

Dr. Allison Wilson is a plant molecular geneticist. She has a degree in

biological sciences from Cornell University, USA, (1985) and did her

dissertation (PhD) on hormone-resistant mutants in Arabidopsis at Indiana

University, Bloomington, USA. She carried out post-doctoral research in

genetics and molecular biology for 5 years. She has published papers in

scientific journals and given talks on her research at international

meetings. She has also written entries for the Encyclopaedia of Molecular

Biology (1999, TE Creighton, Ed). Her main area of expertise is plant

genetics and molecular biology.

 

Dr. Jonathan Latham is a molecular biologist and plant virologist. He

has a degree in biology from Bath University (1989), an MSc from the

University of Wales, Aberystwyth and a PhD in plant virology from the

John

Innes Institute, Norwich, UK. He was subsequently a postdoctoral

researcher in the Dept. of Genetics at the University of Wisconsin

(Madison,

USA). Currently, he is investigating the use of plant virus genes to

make GM plants.

 

Dr. Ricarda Steinbrecher has a masters degree (first class honours) in

biology with a focus on developmental biology and microbiology, from

the University of Kiel, Germany (1985) and a PhD in molecular genetics

from the University of London. She has specialised in gene regulation

since 1982 and has worked as a research scientist in the field of

mutational analysis, gene identification and gene therapy in

university and

hospital settings. Since 1995 she has focused on genetic engineering in

food and farming, its risks and potential consequences on health, food

security and the environment.

She has been closely involved with the international negotiations and

implementation of the Cartagena Biosafety Protocol since 1995. She has

been advisor and consultant to many national and international

organisations and is co-founder of the Genetic Engineering Alliance

and its GM

Freeze Campaign in the UK.

 

Ricarda Steinbrecher is co-author of the book " Hungry Corporations –

transnational biotech companies colonise the food chain " , published in

2003, and is author of many scientific papers, briefings, commentaries

and reports.

 

Contact: Jonathan Latham 01531 670 313 or Email:

A.Wilson

Additional Quote: " No one would do an autopsy by only examining the

bullet. So it is with GM crops. You can't do a risk assessment by only

looking at the transgene " (Jonathan Latham PhD)

 

 

 

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