Some food (pun intended) for thought illustrating that agricultural genetic
engineering, rather than being the answer to the world's problems, is instead
a new source of environmental and health problems.

Tom

Subj:         article on edible vaccines
Date:   01-06-06 17:41:13 EDT
From:   [log in to unmask] (Jim Diamond)
Sender: [log in to unmask] (Biotech Forum)
Reply-to:   [log in to unmask] (Biotech Forum)
To: [log in to unmask]

       For those interested, WebMD has just put up an article on GE'd oral
vaccine--a more approachable version of a June Nature Biotechnology article.
Straight to the source: <A
HREF="http://my.webmd.com/content/article/1728.81009">http://my.webmd.com/cont

ent/article/1728.81009</A>
       COMMENTS: One of the viruses mentioned here is rotavirus, which is a
big killer of young children in the underdeveloped world, and a leading cause
of hospitalization even in the U.S.  You may recall that a rotavirus vaccine
was recently developed and added to the standard recommended shots for 2
months old--and after brief use, was withdrawn from the market because it
caused an increase of bowel intususceptions--a dangerous telescoping of the
bowel into itself which can be fatal if not quickly detected and treated.
This shows that even the most careful safety evaluations are subject to
error.  I'm mentioning it because it probably means that a small overdose of
the "edible vaccine" (which wasn't tested on babies) might easily have the
same result.  Thus handing out magic potatoes to remote villages is not
likely to be a desirable thing.  No matter how advanced the genetic science,
there will still be such a thing as a dose/response relationship, and there
will still be the possibilities of unintended consequences.
             Jim Diamond

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