Hawaii Genetic Engineering Action Network
Focus
on Papaya 
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HI
GEAN
Hawaii Genetic Engineering Action Network Focus
on Papaya |
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- Prof. Joe Cummins
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"Plenty Papaya Problems" on the Big Island of Hawaii The twice-monthly newpaper Hawaii Island Journal is locally owned and independent, suffering no constraints from offshore corporate management. In the spirit of family-owned, community-based newspapers of yesteryear, the Journal gives voice to activists fighting to protect Hawaii's environment and culture. The Journal's mission, posted on its web site,is to "slay dragons" and "promote political activism, champion native Hawaiian causes, take David's side against Goliath and spotlight dollar-driven schemes that imperil the island's character, culture and charm." One such scheme, to replace traditionally-grown papaya with genetically engineered varieties, is examined in depth by Journal reporter Alan D. McNarie in the April 1 issue ("Plenty Papaya Problems"). This very balanced article recounts the growth of the island papaya industry to its peak in the 1980s, its near-ruin by ringspot virus, and its attempted rescue by university researchers who developed so-called disease-resistant GE varieties, such as Rainbow and SunUp. The future of GE papaya is being challenged, McNarie reports, by the revelation that GE varieties are more susceptible to a serious fungal disease called phytophthera than are non-GE varieties. In addition, Japan won't buy the papaya until tests prove it doesn't contain toxic allergens, and traditional and organic farmers are worried their crops face contamination and ruin by pollen-drift from secret GE test sites. Read this article at http://hawaiiislandjournal.com/
The
Allergenic GM Papaya Scandal
How Prof. Joe Cummins (jcummins@uwo.ca) uncovered the great scandal of how US regulatory agencies approved a GM papaya even though it carries a viral gene known to be a potential allergen. Recently the United States regulatory bodies - Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA, APHIS), the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) - united in approving the commercial production of "Sunset" transgenic papaya that's resistant to papaya ringspot virus. It is modified with a gene for papaya ring spot virus coat protein, the expression of which prevents the virus from replication by silencing the virus' own gene [1]. The possibility that genetically modified (GM) crops may introduce novel allergens has been raised by many critics, and as part of the approval process, potential allergens have to be identified before the crops are released commercially. But the GM papaya was approved despite a recent report [2] showing that the papaya ringspot virus coat protein is a potential allergen because it contained a string of amino acids identical to a known allergen. The US General Accounting Office (GAO) Report to Congress on Genetically Modified Foods [3] assured Congress and the public that the regimen of safety tests submitted to the FDA are adequate. "Companies that may wish to submit new GM foods for FDA evaluation perform a regimen of tests to obtain safety data on these foods, the degree of similarity between the amino acid sequences in the newly introduced proteins of the GM food and the amino acid sequences in known allergens, toxins, and anti-nutrients." GAO believed that when the sequence of a transgenic protein is found to be similar to that of allergens, further studies would be carried out, at the very least, before the GM crop or product is commercially released. I contacted James Maryanski of the FDA by e-mail on 22 January, to alert him of the allergenic potential of the papaya virus coat protein and the relevant publication. In his reply (27 January), he wrote, "FDA and EPA are aware of this recently published paper, though we have not had an opportunity to fully assess the findings of the paper. FDA is conducting a review of available scientific literature and intends to use this information to prepare draft guidelines for industry. Please note that the traits used to confer resistance to viral disease in papaya are pesticidal traits (plant incorporated protectants) regulated by EPA, not by FDA." So, I was sent off to EPA, and guess what I found. The EPA's public information stated that coat protein of papaya ringspot virus and the genetic material necessary for its production had been granted "an exemption from the requirement of tolerance" [4] in 1997, which essentially means it is exempt from safety assessment, based on the belief that the material was safe for consumption by humans and animals. No mention was made of recent study on the amino acid sequence of the virus protein. For its part, the USDA APHIS also awarded Sunset Papaya a non-regulated status [5] in 1996, because the reviewers believed that the GM crop was not harmful. These bureaucrats remind me of the old jive doggerel by J. Cramer and J.Whitney, Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens, "One night Farmer Brown was takin' the air
GAO seems to be woefully misinformed about the safety assessment of GM crops, and may have modeled itself after giant accounting corporations such as RD Anderson. This is a wakeup call for Congress and the public everywhere, who may have been misled into believing that GM food is the most strictly regulated of all foods, and that the US regulatory system is the best in the world. 1. Tennant P, Fermin G, Fitch
M, Manshardt R, Slighton J and Gonsalves D.
2. Kleter G and Peijnenburg A.
Screening of transgenic proteins expressed
3. United States General Accounting
Office Report to Congressional
4. Rules and Regulations. Coat
protein of Papaya Ringspot Virus and the
5. USDA-APHIS Petition 96-051-01P
for the determination of nonregulated
Review the Study by Prof. Joe Cummins The APHIS review permitting commercial production of GM papaya did not look into the allergenicity of the protein from the ring spot virus transgene, as shown in their review: |
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