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Genetic Engineering - An Exact Science…Or A Mutation Disaster Waiting To Happen?
Biotech advocates describe the process of genetic engineering as precise, in which genes-like Legos-cleanly snap into place. This is clearly a false premise.
Creating a GM crop can produce massive changes in the natural functioning of the plant's DNA. Native genes can be mutated, deleted, permanently turned on or off, or change their levels of protein expression.
Collateral damage may result in increasing the levels of an existing allergen, or even production of a completely new, unknown allergen within the crop. Both appear to be the case in GM soy.
Levels of one known soy allergen, trypsin inhibitor, were as much as 27% higher in raw GM soy.
Cooking soybeans normally reduces the levels of trypsin inhibitor, but GM varieties appear to be more heat-resistant. Levels in cooked GM soy were nearly as high as those found in raw soy, and up to seven times higher than in cooked non-GM soy.8 This suggests that GM soy allergen may be more likely to provoke reactions than natural varieties.
Another study verified that GM soybeans contain a unique, unexpected protein not found in non-GM soy controls. Scientists tested the protein and found that it reacted with the antibody IgE. IgE in humans plays a key role in a high proportion of allergic reactions, including those involving life-threatening anaphylactic shock. The fact that the unique protein created by GM soy interacts with IgE suggests it might also trigger allergies.
The same researchers measured the immune response of humans to soybeans using a skin-test often used by allergy doctors. Eight people reacted to GM soy. One of these did not react to non-GM soy. The sample size is small. But the implication that some people react only to GM soy is huge, and might account for the increase in soy allergies in the UK.
Eating More Herbicides In The Name Of "Progress"
By 2004, farmers used an estimated 86% more herbicide on GM soy fields compared to non-GM.9 Higher levels of herbicide residue in GM soy might cause health problems. In fact, many symptoms identified in the UK soy allergy study are also related to glyphosate exposure.
The allergy study identified irritable bowel syndrome, digestion problems, chronic fatigue, headaches, lethargy, and skin complaints including acne and eczema, all related to soy consumption.
Symptoms of glyphosate exposure include nausea, headaches, lethargy, skin rashes, and burning or itchy skin. It is also possible that glyphosate's breakdown product AMPA, which accumulates in GM soybeans after each spray, might contribute to allergies.
Sent: 02/08/2007
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