Hidden Viral Gene Discovered In GMO Crops

Jeremiah Cornelius writes "Researchers with the European Food Safety Authority discovered variants of the Cauliflower mosaic virus 35S in the most widely harvested varieties of genetically-modified crops, including Monsanto's RoundupReady Soy and Maze. According to the researchers, Podevin and du Jardin, the particular 'Gene VI' is responsible for a number of possible consequences that could affect human health, including inhibition of RNA silencing and production of proteins with known toxicity. The EFSA is endorsing 'retrospective risk assessment' of CaMV promoter and its Gene VI sequences — in an attempt to give it a clean bill of health. It is unknown if the presence of the hidden viral genes were the result of laboratory contamination or a possible recombinant product of the resultant organism. There are serious implications for the production of GMO for foodstuffs, given either possibility."

Comments

Is it in non GMO?

[Anonymous Coward]

But is it found in non-GMO plants? We've seen latent genes from virii in many plants and animals.

Why was that viral gene inside in the first place?

[Taco Cowboy]

There are many questions one should ask:

* 1. Why is that viral gene in there?

* 2. Was it put there by accident or by purpose?

* 2(a). If by accident, how, when, what happened?

* 2(b). If by purpose, why, and by whom?

* 3. How come the American scientists never detected this viral gene?

* 3(a). Was it because of incompetence, or was it because the American scientists were not allowed to publish their finding, if they had found it before the Europeans?

Re:Anything that screws monsanto

[nrasch]

...Will also screw those eating their products. Please resist the temptation to treat this so light-heartedly as just another case of hubris. These things affect not just one or two lives, but entire communities and even a couple of generations.

Oh I wouldn't worry about the light-heated treatment of hubris. I'm sure Monsanto will pull of bunch of political strings, make some key campaign donations, and this whole thing will be forgotten. Maybe you forgot how things work here in the USA....

In the meantime, be sure to stock up on corn and soy products!

Re:Anything that screws monsanto

[Will.Woodhull]

Wrong.

There are more than enough foods produced world wide to feed everybody. There is no effective way to gather the excess of one region and distribute it to those in need in another region.

Further, the monoculture approach that is used with GM crops damages good farm land. Monsanto's fix for that, involving the increased use of petroleum based pesticides and fertilizers, completes the destruction of the damaged soils. As a farmer once told me almost 50 years ago, "All they use the dirt for is to hold the stalks up." Things have gotten worse since his day.

Monsanto's approach is not a sustainable agriculture.