www.czu.cz ; www.raupp.info

CARBONDALE - Research conducted at Southern Illinois University Carbondale
supports the growing sentiment in the scientific community that genetically
modified organisms -- or GMOs as they're commonly called -- are safe for
human consumption and for the environment, November 2004 .

No traces of a "foreign" gene wound up in the flesh or blood of 56 piglets
fed genetically modified corn, SIUC researchers found.

While they did detect bits of the corn's transgene in the stomach contents
of 50 of the piglets, they found it in only one of the samples screened from
the small intestine, suggesting further that the additional gene generally
does not survive the digestive process.

This new study reinforced findings from earlier work with samples of
contents from the small intestine and feces of larger pigs in which SIUC
researchers found no remnants of the transgene at all.

"It seems like it degrades rapidly," said swine expert Gary A. Apgar of the
College of Agricultural Sciences.

"Most, if not all, of the transgenic material is gone by the time the
digesta is excreted. We found no evidence that it is absorbed (into the
animal), and the risk of its coming out in the environment in the form of
waste is non-existent because we failed to find the gene in either the colon
or the feces. While nothing can ever be guaranteed 100 percent safe, I think
there's no need for concern (about eating meat from animals fed transgenic
diets)."

Apgar believes the weight of scientific evidence supports the idea that GMOs
are safe.

"If we look at the amount of transgenic crops that have been created and the
lack to date of negative effects in the human and animal worlds, I think
that's confirming what we have seen here (in this study)," he said.

The SIUC study, conducted with the help of Janet M. Beagle, now a doctoral
student at Purdue University, is part of an overall look at GMOs as a
component of swine diets. The Council for Food and Agricultural Research and
the Illinois Corn Marketing Board paid for the research.

American farmers generally like GMOs, which provide improved yields, health,
pest resistance and the like. Federal statistics show that in 2002, 34
percent of the country's corn crop consisted of GMOs. Worldwide, more than
168 million acres are planted in biotech crops -- a 4,000 percent increase
over the last eight years, according to Truth about Trade & Technology, an
Iowa-based biotechnology advocacy group.

Much of the corn grown in this country -- more than 60 percent, according to
National Corn Growers Association statistics released last year -- becomes
animal feed.

"The number of crops that are genetically modified grown throughout the
world are increasing exponentially, but there's very limited data on what
happens 'downstream,'" Apgar said.

"There are a few rat studies, three swine studies, a couple of studies on
feedlot steers, but none of them are as comprehensive as our work. We're
taking a total systems approach, looking at every aspect of a single
animal -- meat, fecal material, blood, digesta -- at different ages."

Using a transgenic corn developed at SIUC but not available commercially,
Apgar and his graduate students first showed that pigs digested both regular
and modified corn in pretty much the same way.

When they looked for evidence of the gene in the pigs' stomach contents and
feces, they found nothing.

"That didn't tell us where it went -- just that it was no longer in the
digesta," Apgar said.

"So in this study, we looked at most of the places that gene could be -- the
GI (gastrointestinal) tract, the blood from the major vein out of the GI
tract into the liver, the liver itself and muscle tissue."

They used weanling pigs this time around instead of the 90-pound grower pigs
from the earlier study because the little ones are more efficient at turning
a pound of feed into a pound of gain, hence increasing the potential for the
transgene to be absorbed.

"That meant the potential for the gene to get through that limited digestive
capacity and be absorbed (into the animal) intact might be greater, too,"
Apgar said.

They also ran their tests twice, once with the analytical tool they'd used
in previous work and once with a more sophisticated version of it.

"(The upgraded version) has improved our detection limit while producing an
actual numeric value for what we're seeing," Apgar said.

Using the older tool, they found bits of transgene in 40 of the 56 stomach
samples and in one of the samples from the small intestine. While the more
sensitive equipment turned up evidence of the gene in 50 stomach samples,
screening of the small intestine samples still yielded only one positive
result. And even the more sensitive equipment could not detect traces of the
gene anywhere else.

"Overall, the findings are much more positive than negative," Apgar said.

"Is the fact that we found a single trace of transgenic DNA in the small
intestine significant? Not to me, but it might be to you if you're already
concerned about food safety. Until we can better characterize the
degradation of dietary DNA, we might be a little cautious, but at this point
I wouldn't say, 'Throw the brakes on.'"

[www.thesouthern.com]

------------------------------------------
Posted to Phorum via PhorumMail