GMW: Expert translation of article on children harmed by GM pharma rice trial

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GMW: Expert translation of article on children harmed by GM

pharma rice trial

" GM WATCH " <info

Tue, 15 Aug 2006 21:55:44 +0100

 

 

 

 

 

GM WATCH daily

http://www.gmwatch.org

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We now have an expert translation by Dr Michael Melampy of the article

in Spanish which reported on the impact of the Ventria GM rice

pharmaceutical trial in Peru.

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English translation by Michael Melampy, PhD. The Spanish original can

be found at:

http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6790

 

Transgenics: Children Already Suffer Their Effects

By Derry Diaz

Diario La Republica, online

Friday, July 14, 2006

www.larepublica.com.pe/index.php?option=com_content & task=view & id=116503

 

Two small children developed allergies after treatment with a

transgenic serum. Fabrizio and Jordano are part of a group of 140

children who

received a rehydration serum that contained human and plant genes.

Their mothers are requesting that the Ministry of Health monitor the

status of their sons.

 

The day that Diana Canessa Garay believed that she would lose her only

baby, a friendly hand appeared in the halls of Children's Hospital.

The hand belonged to a nurse who was saying that she had a remedy for

eight-month old baby Fabrizio's acute diarrhea.

 

For the desperate 24 year old mother, it was enough to hear that the

" rice serum " would stop the diarrhea for her to authorize use of the

treatment. They did not explain to her that the rehydration salt was of

transgenic origin and that its sale was prohibited because it was still

in the experimental phase.

 

Because the only thing that mattered was the immediate recuperation of

her baby, Diana Canessa signed a document on February 15, 2005. " They

only wanted to experiment with my little baby, they tricked me, " she

lamented now that her son suffers the first side effects of the

treatment.

 

Don't experiment with food

 

Trangenic foods are those that have been genetically manipulated in the

laboratory. Luis Gomero Osorio, a specialist in transgenic foods with

the Alternative Agriculture Network (RAAA), explains that genes from

the same species or different species are added to the food organism in

order to apparently improve its qualities.

 

In this manner, it is possible to produce corn with the flavor of

cheese or blue tomatoes or increase the productivity of crops.

Nevertheless, a large part of the international scientific community

and various

non-governmental organizations have warned that transgenic foods pose

risks to public health.

 

Ivonne Yañez, representative of the Network for a Latin America without

Transgenics, explains that when proteins modified by human intervention

are introduced in the food chain, they can set free allergies and other

ailments in persons who have consumed these foods.

 

Rice with human genes

 

The union of genes from the same species (generally in plants) is a

common practice in foreign countries, particularly in the U.S.

Nevertheless, the union of different species such as a plant and a

human is an

aberration according to Gomero. Despite this, the U.S. pharmaceutical

company, Ventria Biocience, completed such a union in rice. The rice was

inoculated with two human proteins that were then isolated in order to

develop a rehydration solution (see diagram). The goal is to obtain a

serum that helps to slow acute diarrhea and dehydration.

 

The commercialization of the serum has been rejected in the U.S. The

governmental agency that oversees the safety of medicines (the Food and

Drug Administration, FDA) has said no to Ventria's request to

commercialize the serum on three occasions.

 

Despite this history, the pharmaceutical company decided to run a test

on 140 Third World children. And what better place to do the test than

in Peru where no laws exist to control biogenetics and where the

Ministry of Health itself gives authorization?

 

The health centers selected for the test were the Children's Hospital

in Lima and the Trujillo Hospital.

 

According to Nelly Zavaleta, director of the study in Peru, the

experiment was successful in that the cases of diarrhea were controlled

immediately. Nevertheless, Zavaleta and the minister of health, Pilar

Mazzetti, declined to use the word " transgenics. " They prefer to say

that

the serum has a transgenic " origin. " And what is the difference?

Another expert in the field has refuted this difference, stating that the

serum is a transgenic with all of its letters " because its genes have

been

altered. "

 

Test for children

 

Allergies are the first side effects of the consumption of transgenic

foods. Fabrizio, who now is two, suffers them. " After they gave him

the serum, my baby became sickly and delicate. Now he is allergic to

everything, to chocolate, mandarin oranges. I don't know what will

happen

to him later. The Ministry of Health has to monitor his health, "

laments Diana. Another young mother, Johana Sanchez Turreate, also fears

for the life of her three year old son, Jordano, who also has developed

allergies after receiving the serum.

 

Executive branch must monitor the law

 

Just as predicted several days ago by the Association for Human Rights

(Aprodeh), on Wednesday the full Congress of the Republic approved the

controversial General Law for the Development of Biotechnology.

According to the Peruvian Association of Consumers (Aspec) this law

must be

monitored by the executive branch of the government or it will become an

open door for the indiscriminate influx into our markets of transgenic

foods that are produced on a large scale in foreign countries,

especially the U.S.

 

The Peruvian Medical Association adopted the same position. This union

of specialists was the organization that denounced the scandal

involving the experimentation with the 140 Peruvian children. The

case is

being investigated by the Attorney General's Office of Lima, headed by

Cesar de los Rios.

 

Analysis

 

They are exposed to many illnesses

By Flora Luna Gonzales

Biologist, Professor and Expert in Transgenics

 

There can be many side effects in the long run. Children who have

consumed this serum may suffer from diseases such as alzheimer's since

the

altered protein in the serum may cause an amyloid substance to be

deposited in neurons, altering their function. It may also cause

pulmonary

fibrosis since the elasticity of the altered protein may change and

affect the elasticity of the lung.

 

Children are exposed to many degenerative diseases to say nothing of

allergies.

 

What has been done with our children does not have a name. In no place

on earth have these types of experiments been done on people,

especially not on nursing babies. In other countries, the experiments

have been

done but on monkeys.

 

The Ministry of Health lies when it assures us that these experiments

with transgenic products have no future side effects for these

defenseless children. Clinical monitoring is necessary for the children

subjected to the experimentation. Today there is a global current of

opinion

that rejects the consumption of these foods and Peru cannot be an

exception to this.

 

 

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