QOD: "the benefits of biotechnology are innumerable and clearly visible... The benefits of biotechnology percolate to every section and institution of the society ”” it is sheer bliss for all." - India's business paper 'The Economic Times'
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We understand that this morning on UK Radio 4's 'Farming Today' programme it was said that GM maize crops have been failing in Ohio, with yellowing leaves and no crop, because of two new viruses, believed to be due to GM. English Nature said that they were aware of this, and were looking into it.
See Mark Griffith's important analysis on this from the beginning of this week: http:www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/NewUScornviruses.htm
excerpt:
What has caused these two new corn viruses - which continue to baffle crop scientists - to emerge simultaneously in the US (see Ohio State University report below)?
Back in 1994 when Calgene's GM Flavr Savr tomato was first commercialised Dr. Joseph Cummins, Professor Emeritus in genetics from the University of West-Ontario, Canada, warned the biotechnology community:
"Probably the greatest threat from genetically altered crops is the insertion of modified virus and insect virus genes into crops. It has been shown in the laboratory that genetic recombination will create highly virulent new viruses from such constructions. Certainly the widely used cauliflower mosaic virus [CaMV] is a potentially dangerous gene. It is a pararetrovirus meaning that it multiplies by making DNA from RNA messages. It is very similar to the Hepatitis B virus and related to HIV."
What is 'interesting' now about the new corn viruses that have suddenly arrived in the US is that:
1. One of them is considered to be a particular 'mystery' as it has the characteristics of a tomato virus, not a grain crop virus, and the other remains unidentified.
2. The particular item of concern to Professor Cummins back in 1994 regarding the Flavr Savr tomato (see http://home1.swipnet.se/~w-18472/jccamvir.htm ) was its incorporation of a genetic sequence from the Cauliflower Mosaic Virus.
This material is now used in most types of GM crops (i.e.those incorporating recombinant DNA) that have already been approved for commercial use, including corn varieties grown in the US. The material is in a novel form which allows it to operate in a wide range of host genetic environments which otherwise would not be possible in its natural state.
The question arises as to whether the widespread use of this promiscuous viral element could contribute to the creation of some kind of pathogenic bridge, BSE style, between different plant viruses and their host species.
3. Is it a coincidence that two new corn viruses should emerge simultaneously a short time after the introduction of GMcorn and other crops incorporating the CaMV promoter?
Professor Cummins has subsequently cited an alarming list of references documenting the phenomenon of 'viral recombination' arising with such transgenic constructs (see: http://www.natural-law.ca/genetic/NewsMar-Apr99/GEN4-24JoeVirusMonsn.html ).
The UK's leading plant biotechnology laboratory, the John Innes Centre, has since published research confirming that the CaMV promoter has a 'recombination hotspot'. According to the John Innes Centre Annual Report 1998/99, p 22-23:
"Transgene rearrangements often occur at regions rich in DNA secondary structure, such as the CAMV 35S promoter, which can form the cruciform structure shown above. This allows recombination to occur......"
4. It is clear that plant pathologists in the US don't know what is going on with the arrival of these two new corn viruses despite 18 months work on at least one of them.
5. If a GM linkage were to be found with the new corn viruses would the authorities dare tell us or would the discovery get the 'Pusztai' treatment (despite calls from the Royal Society to do so, no-one has ever dared try and repeat Dr Pusztai's experiment on the recombinant DNA potatoes concerned in case it confirmed what Dr Pusztai had concluded)?
In this context it is worth remembering that George W. Bush's new Agriculture Secretary, Ann Veneman, was previously a director of the Californian biotechnology company, Calgene, which developed the Flavr Savr tomato - the first commercial recombinant DNA crop to incorporate the Cauliflower Mosaic Virus promoter (for more details on Veneman's agri-trade background see: http://www.calbar.org/2sec/3bus/4agri/data.htm ).
Meanwhile concerns regarding the unknown causes of the new corn viruses in the US can only be based on speculation at this stage in the absence of a verified explanation.
Nonetheless, in accordance with the precautionary principle, it is worth considering the reflections of other scientists on the possibility of the creation of new diseases through the introduction into the environment of recombinant DNA organisms (RDOs) which incorporate transgenic viral sequences: