We simply must stop them NOW!

[Guest guest]

All info mentioned below can be found here

http://lymebusters.proboards39.com/index.cgi?board=general & action=print & thre

ad=218

Ingrid

A Swarm of Biobugs on the Horizon

Some of the projects to genetically modify insects

Insect Goal Progress So Far The Big Hurdle

Mosquito (Aedes aegypti) Replace disease-carriers with breeds resistant to

malaria and dengue-fever parasites. Raikhel of Michigan State

rewired it to produce antimicrobial defensin. of University of

California, Irvine, is trying to get it to make anti-bird-malaria

antibodies. Figuring out how to drive disease-fighting genes into wild

strains.

Medfly (Ceratitis capitata) Use gene warfare to prevent this agricultural

pest from infesting the U.S. Alfred Handler of USDA has spliced in the

jellyfish gene marker and is trying to express a sperm-killing gene in the

Medfly's testes. Some efforts underway in Greece. Making biobugs that aren't

killed by the fatal trait they're supposed to pass along to offspring.

Kissing Bug (Rhodnius prolixus) Replace with a version incapable of

spreading Chagas' disease. CDC and Yale have caused bacteria in its gut to

make substance that kills the disease's protozoa. Slated for testing in a

greenhouse in March. Settling whether it is safe and ethical to release

biobugs that bite people.

Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) Protect this struggling bug, vital for

pollinating many crops, from diseases and pests. Research at very early

stages in the U.S., Japan and Europe. Ohio State researchers have attached

jellyfish gene to bee sperm and it was inherited by offspring. Learning how

to integrate foreign genes into bee chromosomes.

Silkworm (Bombyx mori) Increase its silk output and modify for making

medically important proteins. Researchers in Canada and Japan have

successfully used different transposable elements in it. Find foreign genes

for transplanting into the bug.

Sources: Insect Molecular Biology journal, Insect Transgenesis: Methods and

Applications, and researchers.

and

Needle Program

The most controversial biobug is one being designed in n Crampton's lab

at the University of Liverpool in England. He is trying to modify a mosquito

so it could deliver vaccine to people and livestock when it bit. In tropical

regions, such an insect could potentially safeguard millions of poor people,

out of reach of traditional medicine, from scourges such as polio and

measles. " This is a way to vaccinate children who simply won't be vaccinated

otherwise, " Dr. Crampton says. A partnership called Insecta Ltd. is raising

money for his work, and the European Union has granted him a patent on his

idea.

A few months ago, Dr. Crampton created the prototype of a mosquito whose

spittle contains a tiny bit of the protein cover that encases the malaria

parasite. If it bites a mouse, the mouse would receive just enough of the

protein to prompt its immune system to make antibodies. Then when another

mosquito, one carrying the malaria parasite, sucked blood from this mouse,

this insect would take up the antibodies. In its gut, they would attack the

malaria parasites.

This is just a preliminary model in Dr. Crampton's program to develop a

flying syringe. Many refinements are needed before he could ever use an

insect to deliver vaccines to people. But already some scientists have

concerns, among them: If people were bitten by numerous mosquitoes, each

carrying a vaccine, might they get too big a dose?

and

about carbon nanofibers:

http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5611

2.GM plants use carbon nanofibres

Azonano.com, August 15, 2005

http://www.azonano.com [see alternative url at end]

Researchers are developing new techniques that use nanoparticles for

smuggling foreign DNA into cells.

For example, at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the US Department of Energy

lab that played a major role in the production of enriched uranium for the

Manhattan Project, researchers have hit upon a nano-technique for injecting

DNA into millions of cells at once. Millions of carbon nanofibres are grown

sticking out of a silicon chip with strands of synthetic DNA attached to the

nanofibres. Living cells are then thrown against and pierced by the fibres,

injecting the DNA into the cells in the process.

Its like throwing a bunch of baseballs against a bed of nails...We literally

throw the cells onto the fibers, and then smash the cells into the chip to

further poke the fibers into the cell. - McKnight, engineer, Oak

Ridge Laboratory

Once injected, the synthetic DNA expresses new proteins and new traits. Oak

Ridge has entered into collaboration with the Institute of Paper Science and

Technology in a project aimed to use this technique for genetic manipulation

of loblolly pine, the primary source of pulpwood for the paper industry in

the USA.

Unlike existing genetic engineering methods, the technique developed by Oak

Ridge scientists does not pass modified traits on to further generations

because, in theory, the DNA remains attached to the carbon nanofibre, unable

to integrate into the plants own genome. The implication is that it would be

possible to reprogram cells for one time only. According to Oak Ridge

scientists, this relieves concerns about gene flow associated with

genetically modified plants, where genes are transferred between unrelated

organisms or are removed or rearranged within a species.

If the new technique enables researchers to selectively switch on or off a

key trait such as fertility, will seed corporations use the tiny terminators

to prevent farmers from saving and re-using harvested seed - compelling them

to return to the commercial seed market every year to obtain the activated

genetic trait they need?

This approach also raises a number of safety questions: what if the

nanofibres were ingested by wildlife or humans as food? What are the

ecological impacts if the nanofibres enter the cells of other organisms and

cause them to express new proteins? Where will the nanofibres go when the

plant decomposes in the soil?

Carbon nanofibres have been compared to asbestos fibres because they have

similar shapes. Initial toxicity studies on some carbon nanofibres have

demonstrated inflammation of cells. A study by NASA found inflammation in

the lungs to be more severe than in cases of silicosis, though Nobel

laureate Smalley, Chairman of Carbon Nanotechnologies Inc. gives

little weight to these concerns: We are confident there will prove out to be

no health hazards but this [toxicology] work continues.

http://www.checkbiotech.org/root/index.c....ge_nr=101 & pg=1

[Guest guest]

All info mentioned below can be found here

http://lymebusters.proboards39.com/index.cgi?board=general & action=print & thre

ad=218

Ingrid

A Swarm of Biobugs on the Horizon

Some of the projects to genetically modify insects

Insect Goal Progress So Far The Big Hurdle

Mosquito (Aedes aegypti) Replace disease-carriers with breeds resistant to

malaria and dengue-fever parasites. Raikhel of Michigan State

rewired it to produce antimicrobial defensin. of University of

California, Irvine, is trying to get it to make anti-bird-malaria

antibodies. Figuring out how to drive disease-fighting genes into wild

strains.

Medfly (Ceratitis capitata) Use gene warfare to prevent this agricultural

pest from infesting the U.S. Alfred Handler of USDA has spliced in the

jellyfish gene marker and is trying to express a sperm-killing gene in the

Medfly's testes. Some efforts underway in Greece. Making biobugs that aren't

killed by the fatal trait they're supposed to pass along to offspring.

Kissing Bug (Rhodnius prolixus) Replace with a version incapable of

spreading Chagas' disease. CDC and Yale have caused bacteria in its gut to

make substance that kills the disease's protozoa. Slated for testing in a

greenhouse in March. Settling whether it is safe and ethical to release

biobugs that bite people.

Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) Protect this struggling bug, vital for

pollinating many crops, from diseases and pests. Research at very early

stages in the U.S., Japan and Europe. Ohio State researchers have attached

jellyfish gene to bee sperm and it was inherited by offspring. Learning how

to integrate foreign genes into bee chromosomes.

Silkworm (Bombyx mori) Increase its silk output and modify for making

medically important proteins. Researchers in Canada and Japan have

successfully used different transposable elements in it. Find foreign genes

for transplanting into the bug.

Sources: Insect Molecular Biology journal, Insect Transgenesis: Methods and

Applications, and researchers.

and

Needle Program

The most controversial biobug is one being designed in n Crampton's lab

at the University of Liverpool in England. He is trying to modify a mosquito

so it could deliver vaccine to people and livestock when it bit. In tropical

regions, such an insect could potentially safeguard millions of poor people,

out of reach of traditional medicine, from scourges such as polio and

measles. " This is a way to vaccinate children who simply won't be vaccinated

otherwise, " Dr. Crampton says. A partnership called Insecta Ltd. is raising

money for his work, and the European Union has granted him a patent on his

idea.

A few months ago, Dr. Crampton created the prototype of a mosquito whose

spittle contains a tiny bit of the protein cover that encases the malaria

parasite. If it bites a mouse, the mouse would receive just enough of the

protein to prompt its immune system to make antibodies. Then when another

mosquito, one carrying the malaria parasite, sucked blood from this mouse,

this insect would take up the antibodies. In its gut, they would attack the

malaria parasites.

This is just a preliminary model in Dr. Crampton's program to develop a

flying syringe. Many refinements are needed before he could ever use an

insect to deliver vaccines to people. But already some scientists have

concerns, among them: If people were bitten by numerous mosquitoes, each

carrying a vaccine, might they get too big a dose?

and

about carbon nanofibers:

http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5611

2.GM plants use carbon nanofibres

Azonano.com, August 15, 2005

http://www.azonano.com [see alternative url at end]

Researchers are developing new techniques that use nanoparticles for

smuggling foreign DNA into cells.

For example, at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the US Department of Energy

lab that played a major role in the production of enriched uranium for the

Manhattan Project, researchers have hit upon a nano-technique for injecting

DNA into millions of cells at once. Millions of carbon nanofibres are grown

sticking out of a silicon chip with strands of synthetic DNA attached to the

nanofibres. Living cells are then thrown against and pierced by the fibres,

injecting the DNA into the cells in the process.

Its like throwing a bunch of baseballs against a bed of nails...We literally

throw the cells onto the fibers, and then smash the cells into the chip to

further poke the fibers into the cell. - McKnight, engineer, Oak

Ridge Laboratory

Once injected, the synthetic DNA expresses new proteins and new traits. Oak

Ridge has entered into collaboration with the Institute of Paper Science and

Technology in a project aimed to use this technique for genetic manipulation

of loblolly pine, the primary source of pulpwood for the paper industry in

the USA.

Unlike existing genetic engineering methods, the technique developed by Oak

Ridge scientists does not pass modified traits on to further generations

because, in theory, the DNA remains attached to the carbon nanofibre, unable

to integrate into the plants own genome. The implication is that it would be

possible to reprogram cells for one time only. According to Oak Ridge

scientists, this relieves concerns about gene flow associated with

genetically modified plants, where genes are transferred between unrelated

organisms or are removed or rearranged within a species.

If the new technique enables researchers to selectively switch on or off a

key trait such as fertility, will seed corporations use the tiny terminators

to prevent farmers from saving and re-using harvested seed - compelling them

to return to the commercial seed market every year to obtain the activated

genetic trait they need?

This approach also raises a number of safety questions: what if the

nanofibres were ingested by wildlife or humans as food? What are the

ecological impacts if the nanofibres enter the cells of other organisms and

cause them to express new proteins? Where will the nanofibres go when the

plant decomposes in the soil?

Carbon nanofibres have been compared to asbestos fibres because they have

similar shapes. Initial toxicity studies on some carbon nanofibres have

demonstrated inflammation of cells. A study by NASA found inflammation in

the lungs to be more severe than in cases of silicosis, though Nobel

laureate Smalley, Chairman of Carbon Nanotechnologies Inc. gives

little weight to these concerns: We are confident there will prove out to be

no health hazards but this [toxicology] work continues.

http://www.checkbiotech.org/root/index.c....ge_nr=101 & pg=1