More evidence that "substantial equivalence" is a scam -- two new papers
Another 2 papers showing that the concept of substantial equivalence is a scam -- this time with respect to GM rice and the "next generation" of GM potatoes. The potato study showed "several unintended metabolic modifications in the engineered tubers, providing evidence for potential compositional inequivalence between transgenic lines and WT controls." The rice study led to this statement by the Chinese authors: " The unintended compositional alterations as well as unintended change of physical characteristic in transgenic rice compared with nontransgenic rice might be related to the genetic transformation....." Surprise, surprise.
Safety assessment of nonbrowning potatoes: opening the discussion about the relevance of substantial equivalence on next generation biotech crops
Plant Biotechnology Journal 2010
Briardo Llorente 1 , Guillermo D. Alonso 1, Fernando Bravo-Almonacid 1 , Vanina Rodríguez 1 , Mariana G. López 2,3 , Fernando Carrari 2,3 , Héctor N. Torres 1 and Mirtha M. Flawiá 1
1 Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología Molecular, CONICET and FCEyN, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina 2 Instituto de Biotecnología, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agrícola, Castelar, Argentina 3 Partner group of the Max Planck Institute of Plant Molecular Physiology, Postdam-Golm, Germany
ABSTRACT It is expected that the next generation of biotech crops displaying enhanced quality traits with benefits to both farmers and consumers will have a better acceptance than first generation biotech crops and will improve public perception of genetic engineering. This will only be true if they are proven to be as safe as traditionally bred crops. In contrast with the first generation of biotech crops where only a single trait is modified, the next generation of biotech crops will add a new level of complexity inherent to the mechanisms underlying their output traits. In this study, a comprehensive evaluation of the comparative safety approach on a quality-improved biotech crop with metabolic modifications is presented. Three genetically engineered potato lines with silenced polyphenol oxidase (Ppo) transcripts and reduced tuber browning were characterized at both physiological and molecular levels and showed to be equivalent to wild-type (WT) plants when yield- associated traits and photosynthesis were evaluated. Analysis of the primary metabolism revealed several unintended metabolic modifications in the engineered tubers, providing evidence for potential compositional inequivalence between transgenic lines and WT controls. The silencing construct sequence was in silico analysed for potential allergenic cross- reactivity, and no similarities to known allergenic proteins were identified. Moreover, in vivo intake safety evaluation showed no adverse effects in physiological parameters. Taken together, these results provide the first evidence supporting that the safety of next generation biotech crops can be properly assessed following the current evaluation criterion, even if the transgenic and WT crops are not substantially equivalent.
Received 7 December 2009; revised 23 March 2010; accepted 5 April 2010.
======================
Unintended Compositional Changes in Transgenic Rice Seeds (Oryza sativa L.) Studied by Spectral and Chromatographic Analysis Coupled with Chemometrics Methods
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jf902676y
Zhe Jiao, Xiao-xi Si, Gong-ke Li, Zhuo-min Zhang and Xin-ping Xu School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510275, China § Biotechnology Research Center, Key Laboratory of Gene Engineering of the Ministry of Education, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510275, China
J. Agric. Food Chem., 2010, 58 (3), pp 1746-1754
Abstract
Unintended compositional changes in transgenic rice seeds were studied by near-infrared reflectance, GC-MS, HPLC, and ICP-AES coupled with chemometrics strategies. Three kinds of transgenic rice with resistance to fungal diseases or insect pests were comparatively studied with the nontransgenic counterparts in terms of key nutrients such as protein, amino acids, fatty acids, vitamins, elements, and antinutrient phytic acid recommended by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The compositional profiles were discriminated by chemometrics methods, and the discriminatory compounds were protein, three amino acids, two fatty acids, two vitamins, and several elements. Significance of differences for these compounds was proved by analysis of variance, and the variation extent ranged from 20 to 74% for amino acids, from 19 to 38% for fatty acids, from 25 to 57% for vitamins, from 20 to 50% for elements, and 25% for protein, whereas phytic acid content did not change significantly. The unintended compositional alterations as well as unintended change of physical characteristic in transgenic rice compared with nontransgenic rice might be related to the genetic transformation, the effect of which needs to be elucidated by additional studies.