Thanks to Alan for sending this info -- a disturbing dose of additional GE insanity. ----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, August 07, 2000 7:34 AM Subject: Genetically Engineered Spider Toxin Threatens Butterflies & People > Dear friends, > > Our press release on " Genetically Engineered Spider Toxin Threatens > Butterflies & People" has been recieved and acknowledged by the science > writers at the LA Times, NY Times, and the San Francisco Examiner. It has > been forwarded to Ralph Nader, Al Gore, Green candidates, and the office of > CA state senator Tom Hayden. > > We need a media coordinator for this issue and other volunteers. I also > need to raise some money to get us down to the LA convention to educate the > public on this issue. > > Please help if you can and forward the report which is below to as many > contacts as you can. > > If you are in the Bay area, please check out the San Francisco Mime Troupe > performance of Eating It, a spoof on genetically engineered organisms and > food. > > In peace, Alan > > > Genetically Engineered Spider Toxin Threatens Butterflies & People > > Please read the following press release and tell me if this isn't the most > insidious threat yet that you have ever heard of from those wonderboys in the > genetic engineering think tanks. This makes BT corn look like cotton candy. > Then decide if you can help get this out to the world and to the media. This > should be headline news. What do you think? > > For Immediate Release: July 19, 20000 > > Can a deadly spider replace chemical pesticides? Could this be a threat to > human livers and human health? > > Viruses given a gene for a toxin from one of the world's deadliest spiders > could replace chemical pesticides, say researchers in the US. They plan to > carry out field trials, although there are fears about the wisdom of > releasing such viruses. > > Glenn King of the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington and > his colleagues recently identified a unique family of toxins in the venom of > a funnel-web spider. These neurotoxins are lethal when injected into insect > tissues, yet have no effect if eaten by insects or other animals (Nature > Structural Biology, vol 7, p 505). > > King's team is now engineering the gene for one of these toxins into > baculoviruses, common viruses that infect certain moths and butterflies, and > have long been used as "biopesticides." When the modified baculovirus infects > a butterfly or moth, the insect's cells should start to produce the toxin, > killing it faster than wild viruses. Because the host butterfly or moth) dies > quickly, before much virus can replicate, the modified virus shouldn't > persist in the environment, say the researchers. Critics contend that the > risk to butterfly and human populations and survival is not worth taking > > "I welcome a potentially environmentally friendly pest control but it's > abundantly clear we need to be more firm about risk issues," comments George > McGavin, an entomologist at Oxford University. "If we are not 100 per cent > sure, it shouldn't be in the field." > > There have already been several field trials worldwide of baculoviruses given > a gene for a scorpion toxin (New Scientist, 21 January 1995, p 6). However, > most of the scorpion toxin made in infected insects fails to fold into the > correct shape, says King. By contrast, tests in bacteria suggest that almost > 100 per cent of the spider toxin should fold properly, making the virus > deadlier. > > King thinks engineering toxin genes into viruses is preferable to adding them > to plants, such as Bt maize. Not only does it mean that people do not have to > eat plants that produce insecticidal toxins, but only target insects will be > affected, he says. "These viruses can be exquisitely specific, right down to > infecting individual species," King claims. "This means that only the pest > insects will be killed whilst beneficial insects such as bees remain > unaffected." > > However, critics fear that the virus will spread into the environment and > affect other kinds of butterflies and moths. "A containment environment > could not possibly hold a virus," says McGavin, who opposed trials of a > scorpion toxin virus in Oxfordshire in the 1990s. "If you could get a > specific baculovirus it would be great, but baculoviruses do pass on {to > other species}." > > "This is problem that really concerns us, said Alan Moore of the Butterfly > Gardeners Association, a local group that advocates for the conservation of > butterflies and their habits. This is at least the third time that > Genetically Modified Organisms, GMOs have been targeted against butterflies > and this makes BT-corn look like cotton candy." > > Bt-corn has genes from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis spliced into the > plant genes and its toxin is carried by wind-driven pollen to the leaves of > milkweed where they can poison monarch caterpillars feeding on milkweed. "I > think this clearly shows transgenic corn could be a serious threat to > monarchs," said Rebecca Goldburg, a senior scientist with the New York-based > Environmental Defense Fund in a story published by the San Francisco > Chronicle about Bt-corn . "I doubt if it would push them over the edge by > itself, but it adds substantially to the other risks they face." > > Moore makes the point that the industry states that Bt-corn alone could not > push monarchs and other butterflies over the edge, but a combination of other > Monsanto and industry innovations just might. "Now we have Roundup ready > crops and spider poison enhanced butterfly pathogens to deal with. Roundup > ready crops are a direct threat in that they target milkweed, the monarch's > host plant, as well as a whole spectrum of annual and perennial weeds for > elimination. Many of these weeds are host plants for other butterflies as > well," says Moore. There are also fears that the toxin gene might be > transferred to other viruses. > > Jenny Cory of the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in Oxford agrees transfer > of the toxin gene is unlikely, but thinks further tests would be helpful. > "It's a vicious circle," she says, "you have to do a risk assessment before > you do the experiment but we don't know all the risks without doing field > experiments in the first place." > > "Soon after GM virus were developed for insect control it was found that > baculovirus were capable of infecting human liver cells," says Joe Cummins, > Prof. Emeritus at the University of Western Ontario. "For that reason > baculovirus vectors were developed to treat liver disease. Interestingly, the > fact that baculovirus can infect human liver cells seems to have been ignored > by those developing the virus for commercial pest control. I understand that > there has been a great deal of pressure to hasten approval of the GM > baculovirus for pest control." > > "Ecological considerations for the impact of recombinant baculovirus > insecticides have been studied extensively. Impact on non-target insects is > extrapolated from insects of related phylogeny, a practice difficult to > defend. The recombinant baculovirus were very persistent and capable of > reshaping an ecosystem." > > "Baculovirus is a circular DNA duplex, it replicates in the insect cell > nucleus and replication is prone to the generation of defective genomes by > deletion. The mode of virus replication seems to make the recombinant virus > highly unpredictable and prone to generating potentially undesirable > variants. This important finding has not yet influenced the risk analysis of > recombinant baculovirus insecticides and gene therapy vectors." > > "The most disconcerting finding is the one showing that replication of the > baculovirus is inherently unpredictable, says Cummins. "There may be some who > believe that we should all have unlabelled liver gene therapy with our salads. > > "We need to educate the American consumer on the threats of GMOs to human > health and butterflies, says Moore. That is why we have joined Bay Area > Rage, Global Exchange, the Bay Area Seed Interchange Library, the Berkeley > Ecology Center, and the Organic Consumers Association in bringing this issue > before the public. > > Prepared by New Scientist authors Mark Robins and Michael Le Page (New > Scientist issue: 17th June 2000), Butterfly Gardeners director Alan Moore, > and Prof. Joe Cummins of University of Western Ontario > > For more information contact the New Scientist Washington office > 202-452-1178 [EMAIL PROTECTED] <A HREF="http://www.newscientist.com "> > http://www.newscientist.com</A> > > Alan Moore/Butterfly Gardeners Association > 1563 Solano Ave. #477, Berkeley, CA 94707 > 510-528-7730 [EMAIL PROTECTED] <A > HREF="http://www.bashar.com/GSP/earth-proc.htm">www.bashar.com/GSP/earth-pro c. > htm</A> > > Prof. Joe Cummins/University of Western Ontario > 73 8 Wilkins St., Ontario N6C4Z9 Canada > (519) 681-5477 [EMAIL PROTECTED] > -------------end forwarded post------------- David Crockett Williams, C.L.U. 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