to , here is an example how BT toxin can make the original problem worst. (long)

[Guest guest]

Bt toxin ‘as

potent as cholera toxin’

Bt

toxins are a large class of Cry proteins

found in the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), which have been

heavily exploited as ‘biopesticides’ in GE crops, on the untested

assumption that they are safe for species other than the target insect pests.

However,

researchers from the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Cuba,

reported in 1999 that recombinant Cry1Ac protoxin is a powerful immunogen (able

to produce an immune response) [4], and when fed to mice, induced antibody responses similar to those

obtained with the cholera toxin [5].

In 2000, the Cuban researchers teamed up

with scientists from the Autonomous University of Mexico and showed that Cry1Ac

actively binds to the inner surface of the mouse small intestine [6],

especially to the ‘brush border’ membranes on the side of the cells

that line the small intestine.

This contests the often-heard argument that Cry proteins don’t

affect mammals since they supposedly do not have receptors that bind the

truncated toxin in the gut. (for the record mouse & humans

are mammals)

StarLink maize

contaminates food supply

StarLink

maize, developed by Aventis, was approved by the US Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA) for animal feed and not for human consumption as it contains the

Bt toxin Cry9C, a potential allergen. In September 2000, an independent

scientific laboratory found traces of Cry9C in samples of taco shells sold in

US supermarkets.

Subsequently,

Cry9C was found in maize grain and other maize products in the food supply.

More than 300 brands of food products were recalled from supermarkets and

restaurants throughout the US.

Despite the EPA restrictions, StarLink had found its way into the food supply,

probably via mixing with other varieties during harvest, storage, handling and

distribution, and cross-pollination of nearby maize.

Some

people complained about allergic reactions after eating maize products

allegedly containing StarLink. While Aventis claimed that Cry9C protein and DNA

are neither toxic nor allergenic and therefore safe for human consumption, the

Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) Scientific Advisory

Panel (SAP), which reviewed scientific information concerning the allergenic

potential of Cry9C, concluded in December 2000 [7], and again in July 2001 [8],

that there is a “medium likelihood” that the Cry9C protein is a

potential allergen.

Aventis

voluntarily cancelled their registration for StarLink in October 2000; hence it

is no longer authorized for planting. Yet, traces of StarLink remain in the maize

supply, with US Department of Agriculture (USDA) records showing it in more

than 1% of samples submitted by growers and grain handlers over 2003 [9].

The

contamination by StarLink, less than 1% of the 2000 US maize acreage, caused

major disruption to domestic and export markets [10], with economic

repercussions. USDA and Aventis agreed on a buy-back programme, offering

farmers 25 cents a bushel over the market price, to divert contaminated maize

into the animal feed and non-food markets. USDA also bought back maize seed

from seed companies, at an estimated cost of $13 million. The total cost to

Aventis so far is about $1 billion, and the legal consequences continue -

Aventis agreed in 2003 to pay $110 million to settle claims from maize growers

who didn’t grow StarLink but were hurt by the declining market for US maize because of the

contamination.

Prohibited Gene-Altered Corn Found in Latin American &

Caribbean Food Aid Shipments

From: Environmental News, Service 2/16/05

Banned as Human Food, StarLink Corn Found in Food Aid

WASHINGTON, DC, February 16, 2005 (ENS) - More than 70 environmental,

consumer, farmer, human rights groups and unions from six Central American

and Caribbean countries held simultaneous

press conferences today to

denounce the presence of unauthorized genetically modified organisms (GMOs)

in food aid distributed by the UN World Food Program (WFP), and in

commercial imports of food originating mostly from the United States.

....

StarLink is banned for human consumption

due to

possible allergic reactions to the genetically altered protein it contains...

In

total over 50 samples of maize and soy from food aid in Nicaragua,

Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and from commercial imports in Costa Rica

and Dominican Republic

were sent to Genetic ID, an independent U.S.

laboratory, to verify whether GMOs were present.

GMOs

were found in more than 80 percent of all samples sent to the Laboratory.

" It is not acceptable that a maize which is illegal for

human consumption

worldwide is contained in food aid distributed in our country. Finding

StarLink four years after it was banned clearly shows that genetically

modified foods are not under control, " said Godinez of CEIBA in

Guatemala.

Lalama.

http://www.reversingautism.org

For

the record, all original ideas like BT connection and

other

opinions and hypothesis created by Lalama

relevant

to autism and expressed in this email are

Copyright by

Lalama 2005-2008.