GM Microbes Invade North America

[undergroundpanther]

GM Microbes Invade North America

While the attention of the world is focused on genetically modified (GM) crops, GM microbes have been released for at least six years with little or no public awareness or debate. Prof. Joe Cummins reports.A number of GM microbes are being widely deployed since their first release six years ago.

Sinorhizobium meliloti is a bacterium added to soil or inoculated into seeds to enhance nodule formation and nitrogen fixation in the roots of legumes. It was released for commercial production in 1997.

The other commercial GM microbes are designated as bio-pesticides. These include GM Agrobacterium radiobacter k1026, used to prevent crown gall disease in fruit and vegetable plants, and Pseudomonas fluorescens modified with a number of different Cry delta-endotoxin genes from different subspecies of Bacillus thruingiensis (Bt). The modified P. fluorescens cultures are killed by heat pasteurization and provides a persistent biopesticide preparation that degrades much slower in sunlight than Bt.

Neither the people selling nor those using the preparations are necessarily aware that the microbes are genetically modified, however. Even organic farmers may be using them inadvertently.


http://www.i-sis.org.uk/GMMINA.php

GM Microbes..Fuck.Shit.Damn..Fucking greedy ass rich people are fucking up the food supply beyond repair. They will fuck it up if they are allowed to keep this tinkering shit up. Fuck their profits.The Market is EVIL. It makes people into soulless merchants who are only loyal to mo'MONEY. Fuck this shit.
How many people have to sicken or die before we WAKE UP and force the corporations to stop and tell all that"proprietary information" to us, so we can fix the fucking biological mess they are making and save our WORLD from THEM!

Shit it may already be too late..Who the fuck Knows.Think of the viruses being sprayed on meat..is it JUST a simple virus that destroys E Coli or is it Bio-engineered? We'll never know, will we?
Also The Organic Spinach E Coli thing....wonder what was up with that..Organic does not equal safe,anymore our world is totally CONTAMINATED..THINK...Whatever shit is dumped on one part of the Earth infects the whole Earth, eventually it will come to YOU.. because this is ONE planet and we all share it,share in it's bounty and in it's sickness.

So get with it, private property is a LIE,Property lines are an arbritrary ILLUSION we are taught to believe in and was made up and enforced to socially control space and how people congregate and to give the resouces to the rich. Civilization itself is all skewed in favor of the richest most domineering thugs,the socialized psychopaths in "leadership" positions in our sick culture..

In REALITY There is no compartmentalizing parts of the Earth,with"zoning" There are no ZONES.. The Jaguars from Mexico,Kudzu vines, know this..But we play pretend about it and think the toxins 50 miles away cannot hurt us.What LIES we tell ourselves..what misplaced trust..

All the Bio Engineered Bacteria, and toxic Chemicals from Munition sites or Chemical plants could care less about your property 'rights' they will spread and leach toxins into YOUR water ,air,land, food or body ,all over this Earth,regardless of where you think your 'boundaries' are drawn!

[FogerRox]

1. GM anything..... needs to be stopped ASAP.

[Odin2005]

6. Diabetics get insulin from GM E. Coli.

The fearmongering around genetic engineering needs to stop, NOW. A few Luddies are using abuses of the technology by greedy corporations to convince people the technology itself is bad. I am a Biotech major, so I know how this stuff works, GMOs are fine as long as there are regulations in place to prevent abuse. The problem is that there are no regulations.

[fed-up]

7. are you paid to spout this pro GMO crap???? n/t

[Odin2005]

8. What? Hell no.

:eyes:

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

18. Perhaps they should be using crystals and bovine feces tincture instead.

All natural, you know.

[Jcrowley]

2. Eating Cauliflower Mosaic Virus infected vegetables

Eating Cauliflower Mosaic Virus infected vegetables does not prove that that Cauliflower Mosaic Virus Promoter in genetically modified crops is safe

Prof. Joe Cummins

Recently researchers from the John Innes Centre (JIC) for plant research in Great Britain have again claimed that the Cauliflower Mosaic Virus (CaMV) promoter used to genetically modify virtually all of the transgenic crops now marketed or being tested for marketing has been proven to be safe for human consumption because humans have been consuming virus infected crucifers for a long time. It is worth pointing out that virus infected crucifers are not tasty items and they are avoided by most animal predators including humans. JIC may be exceptional in consuming large quantities of virus infected crops and certainly those laboring at the institute are worthy of fuller study. Even if virus infected crucifers could be prepared and consumed as dietary treats the fact is that the behavior and potential hazard of the CaMV promoter in transgenic crops is unrelated to the replication and behavior of the virus in the plant cell. It is simply unreasonable to maintain that the the integrated CaMV promoter in transgenic crops behaves the same way in the virus replication cycle as it does in the chromosome of the transgenic crop.

CaMV is a pararetrovirus which means that it transmitted as a double stranded DNA virus that replicates using reverse transcription of RNA into DNA. The replication of CaMV is similar to the replication of a related pararetrovirus Hepatitis B (Seeger and Mason 2000). In CaMV replication the infecting virus enters the plant cell then transfers a copy of the viral DNA to the plant cell nucleus where it forms a nuclear plasmid that very rarely (possibly never) integrates into the chromosome. The viral DNA is transcribed releasing both messenger RNA for making virus components and RNA copies of the viral chromosome that are translocated to the cytoplasm where the RNA copies of the viral chromosome are packaged in virion like particles. Within the virion like particles the RNA is reverse transcribed to make the viral DNA that is released from the plant cell in the mature virus (reviewed in Poogin et al 1998).

When CaMV genes are inserted into the DNA of the plant chromosome those genes may recombine with infecting CaMV virus. Wintermantel and Schoelz (1996) found that recombination was observable in every plant when virus invaded transgenic plants with CaMV genes inserted on plant chromosome. They believed that most observed recombination occurred in the cytoplasm during reverse transcription and that there was little chance for recombination between invading virus and CaMV transgenes on the chromosome. Genes such as human interferon have been inserted in CaMV virus and were found to produce interferon in virion like particles but the human genes were not reported to have recombined with plant chromosomesDeZoeten et al (1989).Plant gene replacement vectors based on CaMV have been discussed for nearly twenty years but have not proven highly useful because the only small DNA inserts have proven feasible but recently Viapana et al (2001) have experienced improved success by employing helper virus.

<snip>

In conclusion , authorities from JIC base their belief in the safety of CaMV promoter in transgenic crops on their belief that people and animals massively consume virus infected crops without apparent discomfort. The natural history of CaMV replication in plants clearly shows that the CaMV promoter installed in crop chromosomal DNA is entirely different from CaMV virus replication so that the presumed safety of eating CaMV in crops has no real bearing on the safety of genetically engineered crops with CaMV promoter. In fact JIC seems to be suffering from "tunnel vision" and directing research away from the real problems with crop genetic technology. The JIC argument surely impresses science administrators and government bureaucrats who, unfortunately, control research funding and gullible journalists who influence public opinion. Even though the discussion between us and JIC has grown repetitious ultimately the inappropriateness of the JIC pronouncements will be widely recognized and then progress can be made in judging the safety of transgenic crops with CaMV promoter.

http://www.i-sis.org.uk/eatingcamv-pr.php

[Jcrowley]

3. Klebsiella planticola--The Gene-Altered Monster That Almost Got Away

Klebsiella planticola--The Gene-Altered Monster That Almost Got Away

The Deadly Genetically Engineered Bacteria that Almost Got Away: A Cautionary Talle

Web Note: In the early 1990s a European genetic engineering company was preparing to field test and then commercialize on a major scale a genetically engineered soil bacteria called Klebsiella planticola. The bacteria had been tested--as it turns out in a careless and very unscientific mannner--by scientists working for the biotech industry and was believed to be safe for the environment. Fortunately a team of independent scientists, headed by Dr. Elaine Ingham of Oregon State University, decided to run their own tests on the gene-altered Klebsiella planticola. What they discovered was not only startling, but terrifying-- the biotech industry had created a biological monster--a genetically engineered microorganism that would kill all terrestrial plants. After Ingham's expose, of course the gene-altered Klebsiella planticola was never commercialized. But as Ingham points out, the lack of pre-market safety testing of other genetically altered organisms virtually guarantees that future biological monsters will be released into the environment. Moreover it's not only genetic engineering that poses a mortal threat to our soil ecology, the soil food web, as Ingham calls it. Chemical-intensive agriculture is slowly but surely poisoning our soil and our drinking water as well.

<snip>

One of the experiments that Michael Holmes did for his Ph.D. work was to bring typical agricultural soil into the lab, sieve it so it was nice and uniform, and place it in small containers. We tested it to make sure it had not lost any of the typical soil organisms, and indeed, we found a very typical soil food web present in the soil. We divided up the soil into pint-size Mason jars, added a sterile wheat seedling in every jar, and made certain that each jar was the same as all the jars. Into a third of the jars we just added water. Into another third of the jars, the not-engineered Klebsiella-planticola, the parent organism, was added. Into a final third of the jars, the genetically engineered microorganism was added.

The wheat plants grew quite well in the Mason jars in the laboratory incubator, until about a week after we started the experiment. We came into the laboratory one morning, opened up the incubator and went, "Oh my God, some of the plants are dead. What's gone wrong? What did we do wrong?" We started removing the Mason jars from the incubator. When we were done splitting up the Mason jars, we found that every one of the genetically engineered plants in the Mason jars was dead. Wheat with the parent bacterium, the normal bacterium, was alive and growing well. Wheat plants in the water-only treatment were alive and growing well.

From that experiment, we might suspect that there's a problem with this genetically engineered microorganism. The logical extrapolation from this experiment is to suggest that it is possible to make a genetically engineered microorganism that would kill all terrestrial plants. Since Klebsiella-planticola is in the root system of all terrestrial plants, presumably all terrestrial plants would be at risk.

http://www.safe2use.com/ca-ipm/01-02-05-study.htm

[Bluebear]

4. Is that their new model?

:)

[mhatrw]

5. Don't FUCK with the microbial ecosystem!

We have no clue whatsoever we are doing here.

[NobleCynic]

9. Oh for crying out loud.

I think that there should be better controls over the introduction of GM organisms into the environment, but a little moderation of tone might be in order.

The potential benefits of these developments are too high to outright ban research and use of GM food technology. It is impossible and impractical to fight against all GM foods. Pick your fights. Maybe argue for stronger liability regarding contamination or cross polination of non GM crops. Maybe put GM foods under a multiyear testing program like is currently done with pharmaceuticals. Slow down and think about what can actually be done, about what is practical. Advancements in science can't be stopped, but they can be managed so that it comes in a safer and more controlled manner.

[Karenina]

10. testing??? with phamaceuticals???

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

Do you realize how many people DIE EACH YEAR from taking Big Pharma's offerings AS PRESCRIBED??? It's all about the $$$$$$$$$. The "benefits" of GMOs are all about the $$$$$$$$$.

[NobleCynic]

17. Lots of people die every year from taking meds.

You're right. However more deaths are prevented each year by modern medicines than are caused. When dealing with entire populations you have to deal with the cold hard math. Sure modern medicine kills alot of people. It saves more however, making it worth it to the population as a whole.

[buddhamama]

13. how do you control an organism

once you have released it into the environment?

the answer is: You can't!

the best you can hope for is to counteract the damages.

but time is of the essence. first, the negative effects have to be discovered and acknowledged. HA! What Corp in their right mind is going to do that? None.

It is pure arrogance to assume we can alter the molecular structure of an organism without repercussions.

[Karenina]

15. Thank you, Buddhamama.

[NobleCynic]

16. So do you suggest we end all research in the field of genetics?

Because the risk is too high? Man has been custom breeding crops and animals for thousands of years, this just expands our ability to do within a time frame more relevant to modern life.

So it isn't profitable for a corporation to do proper testing under the current legal system. What I'm saying is change the system so that corporations face stronger liability should their genetically modified organisms cause damage of any kind.

[buddhamama]

19. oh my

if i had a dollar for every time someone used this argument in support of GMOs i'd be a rich woman.

cross breeding, inter species breeding is NOT the same as genetically modifying an organism on a molecular level.

[NobleCynic]

20. Of course its not the same

One gets results over the course of centuries. One gets results in years, including ones that might not be possible through just breeding. The purpose behind both is the same.

Genetic modification allows change at a pace so quickly, and changes of such magnitude, that it is by its very nature has far more risk than simply breeding a species for desired traits. The question is are you willing to forgo all potential boons of this research because of the heightened risk, or are you going to ask whether or not the risk is justified by the results. More to the point is there a way to manage the risk so that it is more acceptable.

The technoloogy is not going to be stopped in any case. The financial interest in it is too great. Fighting genetic modification altogether is a lost cause. Fight for proper regulation of it.

[Odin2005]

21. Bingo!

The problem isn't the technology. The problem is the greedy shits running Monsanto et. al. who are able to abuse the technolgy for huge profits because of the lake of proper regulations. GMOs need to be strictly regulated to prevent abuse. Blamed the fucked up system, not the technology.

[xchrom]

11. k&r

[SpiralHawk]

12. Want clean food for your family? Join a CSA

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) offers a way for every human being to be directly involved in the care and healing of the earth, while also ensuring a supply of clean, healthy food for their families and their neighbors.

(snip)

http://www.chiron-communications.com/farms.html

[MadHound]

14. Then I suggest that you start protecting yourself, family and friends

Out here in the small, organic farm movement, we've been screaming about this for years, yet only now are people paying attention. If you want to help, join us and our efforts to keep our food GM free. This is a good place to start<http://www.smallfarmtoday.com/default.asp> and if you can, come to the National Small Farm Trade Show and Conference. You will see plenty of activism on this issue amongst a diverse group of people.

Also, use the power of your pocketbook. Buy your food at the local farmers' market, join a CSA, or if nothing else, grow your own garden with non GM, heirloom organic seeds. It is up to all of us to turn this monster back, and we've all got to do what we can. Whining and moaning while doing nothing isn't going to accomplish a thing.