From: Robert J. Bradbury (bradbury@aeiveos.com)
Date: Thu Jun 21 2001 - 11:24:54 MDT
Greg posted an article from the San Francisco Chronicle...
I thought I'd excerpt a portion of it to show *precisely*
why I'm against labeling food products as genetically
modified...
> America's left brain is frightened by Frankenfoods. While writing this
> column I got a call from a massage therapist in Marin who was pretty
> certain that soybean oil would contain traces of genetically engineered
> proteins. The therapist, who works with babies, thought the soybean oil
> might prompt an allergic reaction. She said she would continue using
> organic olive oil.
The question becomes whether or not this person could effectively
evaluate the "labels" even if they were present. I'll go through
the analysis you would need to do, so you can judge the knowledge
required --
- As pointed out in [4], "any type of food is potentially
allergenic"(!), including very common ones such as cow's milk,
nuts, legumes, eggs and seafood. It is specific proteins
that must be studied. Scientists have transferred a
protein from Brazil nuts into soybeans and that does increase
its allergenicity [5]. As noted in [8] this research program
was discontinued and the potentially allergenic soybeans have
NEVER BEEN SOLD [!]. Now given that there exist people who
are allergic to soy in general [6,7], one would have to ask
why the massage therapist was even thinking about using
"natural" soybean oil?
- Genetic engineers are well aware of the potential for causing
allergic reactions and the approval process attempts to
prevent the exposure of consumers to proteins that are
potentially allergenic. Most people are unaware of it, but
we are all potentially exposed to some level of the Bacillis
thuringiensis toxins from the insects that creep into the food
supply. The EPA has granted approval to foods with the Bt CryIA
protein because it is rapidly degraded and it attempted to restrict
exposure to Bt Cry9C (the active ingredient in Starlink corn)
because it is not.
- Babies have very poor immune systems. Much of their initial
immune system defense is provided by antibodies in their mother's
milk. So one interesting question would be whether or not the
mother has any food allergies, particularly to soybeans or other
nuts.
- There are different strains of soybeans. [Ref 9 lists 19 varieties.]
The baby could be exposed to different proteins if the massage
therapist simply switched to a different brand of oil. Do the
oil suppiers guarantee that the oil is derived from only one strain
of soybean and that it is known to be of low allergenicity?
- Are "normally" bred "conventional" crop varieties subjected to the
same tests and constraints as the genetically engineered varities?
Or is it simply assumed that since its "natural" it must be ok?
- There may be easy solutions to the potential problem. As documented
in [10] refining nut oil eliminates its allergenic properties.
The specific proteins that cause allergic reactions are becoming
identified. In cashew nuts, it is the protein "anacardein".
In sunflower seeds and Brazil nuts it is primarily the 2S albumin
protein. In peanuts, the protein is "Arah2" and a vaccine that
immunizes animals and weakens the allergic reaction has been developed.
As pointed out in [4], genetically engineered strains of rice
have been produced that are *less* allergenic than natural strains.
Scientists have shown processing methods for soybeans [7] that
remove the allergenic proteins. We can expect in the future
that genetic engineers will do the same for the natural crops.
So the future is likely to result in "unnatural" crops that
are *less* allergenic (and more nutritious) than the natural
varieties if the companies producing these products have
a sufficient ROI to continue the work. The Starlink fiasco,
has already cost Aventis $90 million and estimates as high
as $1 billion have been made. And it has not caused even
a single death! As discussed in [1], the problem may have
been in Aventis or the EPA expecting to be able to keep
the animal-approved and human-approved corn strains separate
from each other when you are dealing with millions of bushels
of corn. What Aventis should have done (and you can be sure
engineers will do in the future should they attempt something
like this again) is engineer in a marker (e.g. red corn kernels)
that allows easy separation of the products.
So, while I'm certainly in support of "freedom of speech"
I do not think you should put a "little" information into
the hands of people unqualified to effectively judge it.
You can just call me a global corporate supporting anti-populist
elitist if you like. When the genetic revolution in AgBio
is complete food will be cheaper and healthier. The number
of deaths attributable to food allergies in the U.S. on an
annual basis is 125, a number only slightly greater than the
85 people killed by lightning [11]. So unless the AgBio people
are engineering something that is much more toxic than our
existing food supply people should focus their attention on
things like firearms, drinking, swimming, fires and other
hazards that kill thousands annually and forget about the
labeling debate.
Robert
Refs:
1) The Starlink Situation
http://www.exnet.iastate.edu/Pages/grain/publications/buspub/0010star.PDF
2) BT (Bacillus thuringiensis) Resources
http://www.nalusda.gov/bic/BTTOX/bttoxin.htm
3) Insecticidal Genes: Part 2: Human Health Hoopla
http://www.tricity.wsu.edu/aenews/April00AENews/Apr00AENews.htm#anchor5338542
4) Why are some proteins allergenic? Implications for biotechnology.
Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr 1996 Jul;36(6):553-64
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov:80/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=8841731&dopt=Abstract
5) Identification of a Brazil-nut allergen in transgenic soybeans
N Engl J Med 1996 Mar 14;334(11):688-92
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov:80/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=8594427&dopt=Abstract
6) Identification of soybean allergins by immunoblotting in sera from
soy-allergic adults.
Int. Archives of Alergy Applications and Immunology 92:193-198
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov:80/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=2242931&dopt=Abstract
7) Soybean allergens and hypoallergenic soybean products.
J Nutr Sci Vitaminol (Tokyo) 2000 Dec;46(6):271-9
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov:80/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11227798&dopt=Abstract
8) Biotech Soybeans and Brazil Nut Protein
http://www.pioneer.com/biotech/brazil_nut/default.htm
9) Steyer seeds
http://www.steyers.com/soybeans/
10) "Nut allergy - The Basics"
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~aair/nuts.htm#SEC2
11) Death by Other Means
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jshaver/annarborflyers/deathbom.htm
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