Breeders of animals and plants hybridise two or more species with the characteristics they desire and select from the output, by a process of continual improvement, until the desired result is achieved. This process is EXACTLY what nature does.
I often hear the argument that GMO research is just doing what nature does, only quicker.
GMO is entirely different and modification can take several forms: Splicing in a new (foreign) gene, knocking out an existing gene, modifying an existing gene, tunring on or off a gene, or enhancing or suppressing gene expression.
Not only does GMO manipulation directly modify the host DNA rather than letting a natural process evolve, sometimes insertion of foreign DNA really means foreign, like splicing two genes from a daffodil and one gene from a bacterium into rice, dubbed "golden rice," or using nematode or insect dsRNA to fight plant parasites.
Public health regulators, like the FDA, who are largely staffed and funded by the GMO industry, have pronounced GMO as safe for humans, based on research funded by the very GMO industry they are supposed to regulate. Some of this research has been criticised by scientists outside the industry as self-serving and none of the industry funded research has studied the long term effects of GMOs. One french study that did study the long term effects showed alarming results of tumors in rats Click here.
Does any of the above sound like nature, only quicker, to you?
The following is an extract from the above book, Seeds of Deception by Jeffry M. Smith detailing some of the potential problems of gene insertion:
Section 2: Gene insertion disrupts the DNA and can create unpredictable health problems
2.1 Foreign genes disrupt the DNA at the insertion site
1. When genes are inserted at random in the DNA, their location can influence their function, as well as the function of natural genes.
2. "Insertion mutations" can scramble, delete or relocate the genetic code near the insertion site.
3. Evaluation of insertion sites have shown relocations of up to 40,000 DNA base pairs, mixing together of foreign and host DNA, large scale deletions of more than a dozen genes and multiple random insertions of foreign DNA fragments.
2.2 Growing GM crops using tissue culture can create hundreds or thousands of DNA mutations
1. The process of growing plant cells into GM plants may create hundreds or thousands of mutations throughout the genome.
2. While a change in a single base pair may have serious consequences, widespread changes in the genome can have multiple, interacting effects.
3. Most scientists working in the field are unaware of the extent of these mutations, and no studies have examined genome-wide changes in commercialized GM plants.
2.3 Gene insertion creates genome-wide changes in gene expression
1. One study using a micro-array gene chip found that 5% of the host's genes changed their levels of expression after a single gene was inserted.
2. The changes, which are in addition to the deletions and mutations already discussed, are not predictable and have not been fully investigated in the GM crops on the market.
3. These massive changes may have multiple health-related effects.
2.4 The promoter may accidentally switch on harmful genes
1. Promoters are switches that turn on genes.
2. The promoter used in nearly all GM crops is designed to permanently turn on the foreign gene at high output.
3. Although scientists had claimed that the promoter would only turn on the foreign gene, it can accidentally turn on other natural plant genes—permanently.
4. These genes may overproduce an allergen, toxin, carcinogen or antinutrient, or regulators that block other genes.
2.5 The promoter might switch on a dormant virus in plants
1. When certain viruses infect an organism, they splice themselves into the host's DNA.
2. These embedded viral sequences can be passed on to future generations and even inherited by future species.
3. Most ancient embedded viral sequences become mutated over time, but some may be intact, just not switched on.
4. If the GM promoter is inserted in the vicinity of a dormant virus, it might switch it on, resulting in virus production and a potential catastrophe.
2.6 The promoter might create genetic instability and mutations
1. Evidence suggests that the CaMV promoter, used in most GM foods, containsa recombination hotspot.
2. If confirmed, this might result in breakup and recombination of the gene sequence.
3. This instability of the inserted gene material might create unpredicted effects.
2.7 Genetic engineering activates mobile DNA, called transposons, which generate mutations
1. In plant DNA, mobile elements called transposons move from place to place, and can lead to mutations.
2. The tissue culture process used in genetic engineering activates transposons, and is a major factor for the resulting genome-wide mutations.
3. Transgenes in commercial GM crops tend to be inserted near transposons.
4. This insertion might alter the transgene expression.
2.8 Novel RNA may be harmful to humans and their offspring
1. Small RNA sequences can regulate gene expression, most commonly by silencing genes.
2. RNA is stable, survives digestion and can impact gene expression in mammals that ingest it.
3. The impact can be passed on to future generations.
4. Genetic modification introduces new DNA combinations and mutations, which increase the likelihood that harmful regulatory RNA will be accidentally produced.
2.9 Roundup Ready soybeans produce unintentional RNA variations
1. A "stop signal" is placed after the transgene, telling the cell, "STOP TRANSCRIBING AT THIS POINT."
2. The stop is ignored in GM soy, resulting in longer than intended RNA.
3. It is transcribed from a combination of the transgene, an adjacent transgene fragment and a mutated sequence of DNA.
4. The RNA is further rearranged into four variations, any of which may be harmful.
5. The faulty "stop" signal may have triggered the rearrangements.
6. The same "stop" signal is used in other crops, and might lead to similar "read-throughs" and RNA processing.
2.10 Changes in proteins can alter thousands of natural chemicals in plants, increasing toxins or reducing phytonutrients
1. Plants produce thousands of chemicals which, if ingested, may fight disease, influence behavior or be toxic.
2. The genome changes described in this section can alter the composition and concentration of these chemicals.
3. GM soybeans, for example, produce less cancer-fighting isoflavones.
4. Most GM-induced changes in these natural products go undetected.
2.11 GM crops have altered levels of nutrients and toxins
1. Numerous studies on GMOs reveal unintended changes in nutrients, toxins, allergens and small molecule products of metabolism.
2. These demonstrate the risks associated with unintended changes that occur due to genetic engineering.
3. Safety assessments are not adequate to guard against potential health risks associated with these changes.
Another GMO technique is gene silencing:
Monsanto enters pharmaceutical business, acquires key 'gene silencing' technology for use in humans
The Monsanto company has forged a new partnership with Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company whose primary focus seems to be on figuring out how to best crack the genetic code so as to manipulate the way genes inherently express themselves. Based on the agreement the two companies have made publicly with one another, it appears as though Monsanto is planning to utilize Alnylam's proprietary gene-silencing technologies in its emerging agricultural pursuits.
In a recent press release, Monsanto disclosed that it has officially obtained "worldwide, exclusive rights" to use Alnylam's platform technology and intellectual property (IP) in its own agricultural products, and particularly in its new "BioDirect" line of products designed to treat seeds and crops with what the company has dubbed "biopesticides".
Monsanto wants to turn food crops into gene-altering 'drugs'
Alnylam specializes in a technology known as RNA interference (RNAi) that involves deliberately silencing the expression of genes throughout the body for the purpose of preventing the production of proteins that some scientists believe are responsible for causing disease. By artificially blocking production of these proteins, RNAi technology is believed to have the potential to effectively block the development of disease, which is why many major drug companies have also signed on as strategic partners with Alnylam.
But Monsanto" is an agricultural company, not a pharmaceutical company, which begs the obvious question as to why this multinational company has suddenly decided to shell out nearly $30 million with promises of perpetual royalty payments to gain access to this emerging technology. As it turns out, Monsanto has plans to roll out all sorts of new genetically-modified (GM) crops, crop pesticides and herbicides, and various other technologies with built-in RNAi modifications, which could turn future GM food crops into "drugs."
Many modern varieties of wheat, for instance, are problematic for people with gluten sensitivity or Celiac disease because they produce unnaturally high levels of a wheat protein known as gluten. By integrating genetic changes using RNAi; however, companies like Monsanto could theoretically produce a GM wheat variety that does not contain any gluten at all, which they could then market as the solution to gluten insensitivity.
Modifying food crops with RNAi is unsafe, unpredictable
But such experimental gene-tampering is already taking place elsewhere, and it is proving to be a complete failure. In Australia, for instance, field trials of a novel variety of GM wheat with RNAi alterations have been disastrous, as the modified gene expressions in the wheat are also modifying human genes in the liver. Researchers are now warning that human children who eat this GM wheat could actually die before reaching the age of five. (http://www.naturalnews.com)
A paper compiled by Greenpeace about the same strains of RNAi-modified wheat explain that RNAi modifications in general "are prone to unexpected and unpredictable effects that have not been considered in the risk assessments done by the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator." The paper goes on to explain that releasing RNAi-modified crops "poses severe, and potentially irreversible, risks to the environment and human and animal health."
You can read the full Greenpeace paper here: http://www.greenpeace.org
Many foods contain natural gene regulators, and modifying them could change the entire human genome
Researchers from Nanjing University in China recently conducted an unrelated study that found gene-altering properties in regular, non-GMO rice. It turns out that certain plant-based foods, or perhaps all of them, contain unique properties that naturally turn genes on or off throughout the body when ingested, depending on these foods' various nutritive functions. (http://www.theatlantic.com)
Synthetically altering these functions in the form of RNAi-modified GM crops, in other words, could result in disastrous consequences as the entire human genome is thrown off balance. As Ari Levaux from The Atlantic puts it, the discovery of food's natural gene-altering capacities illustrates how GM foods, and particularly those that have been RNAi-modified, "could influence human health in previously unanticipated ways."
In other words, Monsanto's latest endeavors involve tampering with plants at their most elemental level, which will in turn tamper with humans at their most elemental level as well. Sure, Monsanto has been inserting, removing, and splicing the genes of plants for decades; but RNAi modifications involve essentially reprogramming the way plants express their genes, which is uncharted territory as far as the consequences to the environment and humanity are concerned.
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