Summaries of Dangers of CaMV Virus Used in Genetic Manipulation
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Mark Ritchie, President
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
mritchie@iatp.org www.iatp.org
Regarding the recent discussion about CaMV promoter in most GE foods, the
following is an excerpt from a report of a meeting of leading UK scientists
concerned with the question of the genetic engineering of food crops.
The meeting was held on March 31st 1999 at the invitation of UK Environment
Minister, Michael Meacher, in his office (Details of all participants follows.
Full report can be accessed at:
http://members.tripod.com/~ngin/articleMMo.htm).
Mae-Wan Ho's personal qualifications are listed below that.
......
Steven Tindale then asks about the CaMV promoter and its affects?
Dr Phil Dale said that we eat the CaMV all the time and it is present in many
of the vegetables that make up our staple diet. It does not have any
harmful effects.
Dr Mae-wan Ho refuted this remark and said that there is a great difference
between the CaMV we may eat everyday in vegetables and the CaMV promoter
used in GMOs [genetically-manipulated organisms]. Viruses are protected
in the environment by a protein coat which also confers species specificity.
The CaMV cannot enter mammalian cells because itŐs protein coat is specific
to plant cells. The CaMV promoter used in GMOs [genetically-manipulated
organisms] however, comes in the form of naked viral DNA and naked DNA of
any sort is highly infectious. The CaMV promoter is also highly conserved
and has been shown to have sequence homology with other viruses. It is
closely related to human Hepatitis B virus and also to retroviruses like
HIV. It is a very strong promoter, it shouts in a recipient genome to be
transcribed and that is why it is so widely used. It may recombine with
latent or infecting viruses within the host or beyond and give rise to new
super-viruses. The wide use of the CaMV promoter alone carries enough risk
to impose an immediate moratorium on GMOs [genetically-manipulated organisms].
Report on a Meeting of Molecular Biologists called by Michael Meacher
on March 31st 1999
Prepared by Angela Ryan
In attendance:
The Right Honorable Michael Meacher, Minister for the Environment
Paul Burrows, Chemicals and Biotechnology division, DETR
Steven Tindale, Sustainable Development, DETR
Adrian Butt, Intern, DETR
Scientists
Professor Don Grierson, Plant Molecular Geneticist, Nottingham
University
Dr Mae-wan Ho, Geneticist and Biophysicist, Open University
Angela Ryan, Molecular Biologist and assistant to Dr Mae-wan Ho, Open
University
Dr Michael Antoniou, Gene Therapist, Guys Hospital, London
Dr Mark Bailey, NERC Molecular Ecology Lab, IVEM Oxford [current Member
of ACRE]
Dr Andrew Lilley, NERC Molecular Ecology Lab, IVEM Oxford
Dr Ian Garner, PPL Therapuetics, Roslin Institute, Scotland. Member of
ACRE
Dr Phil Dale, John Innes Centre, Norwich. [former] Member of ACRE
Personal qualifications
Mae-Wan Ho, Reader in Biology at the Open University, B. Sc. (First
Class) 1964, and Ph. D. 1967, H K University; more than 30 years in
research and 25 years teaching experience; nearly 200 publications covering human
biochemical genetics, molecular genetics, evolution, developmental
biology, and biophysics.
http://www.soyinfo.com/haz/ho-camv1.shtml