How should a regulatory agency announce they have discovered
something potentially very important about the safety of products they
have been approving for over twenty years?
In the course of analysis to identify potential allergens in GMO
crops, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has belatedly
discovered that the most common genetic regulatory sequence in
commercial GMOs also encodes a significant fragment of a viral gene (Podevin and du Jardin 2012). This finding has serious ramifications for crop biotechnology and its
regulation, but possibly even greater ones for consumers and farmers.
This is because there are clear indications that this viral gene (called
Gene VI) might not be safe for human consumption. It also may disturb
the normal functioning of crops, including their natural pest
resistance.
The researchers themselves concluded that the presence of segments of
Gene VI “might result in unintended phenotypic changes”. They reached
this conclusion because similar fragments of Gene VI have already been
shown to be active on their own (e.g. De Tapia et al. 1993). In other
words, the EFSA researchers were unable to rule out a hazard to public
health or the environment.
From "Independent Science News": Read the article here. Highlights above are mine.
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