A variety of GMO potatoes has the ability to fend off the fungus which resulted in the Irish Potato Famine and, not surprisingly, it's meeting resistance which lags far behind where genome science actually lives. (RT: Controversial new ‘anti-famine’ GMO potato strains approved)
The US Department of Agriculture has given its seal of approval to two new strains of genetically engineered potatoes. By using double stranded RNA, the potatoes have been engineered to resist the pathogen responsible for the Irish potato famine.
There could be two new potatoes hitting the soil next spring after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) signed off on two more genetically modified potatoes from Simplot, an agribusiness based in Idaho, on Monday.
The only obstacle for the new potatoes becoming available on the market is a voluntary review process from the FDA, much to the chagrin of GMO skeptics.
The fact that these potatoes contain potentially sensitive modifications that have been approved by the FDA highlights a systemic problem, Smith says.
Since cells do not produce double-stranded RNA during normal nucleic acid metabolism, natural selection has favored the evolution of enzymes that destroy dsRNA on contact. The best known class of this type of enzymes is Dicer. It is hoped that broad-spectrum anti-virals could be synthesized that take advantage of this vulnerability of double-stranded RNA viruses.
The US Department of Agriculture has given its seal of approval to two new strains of genetically engineered potatoes. By using double stranded RNA, the potatoes have been engineered to resist the pathogen responsible for the Irish potato famine.
There could be two new potatoes hitting the soil next spring after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) signed off on two more genetically modified potatoes from Simplot, an agribusiness based in Idaho, on Monday.
The only obstacle for the new potatoes becoming available on the market is a voluntary review process from the FDA, much to the chagrin of GMO skeptics.
- RT
Prior to the anti-GMO guy, here's what's actually happening into research regarding double-stranded RNA.
Note: here's the actual state of one aspect of research into double-stranded RNA. (NCBI: Double-Stranded RNA Is Produced by Positive-Strand RNA Viruses and DNA Viruses but Not in Detectable Amounts by Negative-Strand RNA Viruses)
Here's the statement from the anti-GMO guy:
Smith explained, “Scientists around the world are aware that double stranded RNA can also find matches in human DNA and potentially silence and reprogram our gene expression.”
The fact that these potatoes contain potentially sensitive modifications that have been approved by the FDA highlights a systemic problem, Smith says.
- RT
You can discover for yourself with five minutes or less of research that an entire class of viruses is identified as being possessed of double-stranded RNA. It doesn't appear Smith did that but you can. (WIKI: Double-stranded RNA viruses)
Anti-virals
Since cells do not produce double-stranded RNA during normal nucleic acid metabolism, natural selection has favored the evolution of enzymes that destroy dsRNA on contact. The best known class of this type of enzymes is Dicer. It is hoped that broad-spectrum anti-virals could be synthesized that take advantage of this vulnerability of double-stranded RNA viruses.
- WIKI
“They haven’t done the research or homework about the health dangers,” he said of the FDA.
Double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) longer than 30 bp is a key activator of the innate immune response against viral infections. It is widely assumed that the generation of dsRNA during genome replication is a trait shared by all viruses. However, to our knowledge, no study exists in which the production of dsRNA by different viruses is systematically investigated. Here, we investigated the presence and localization of dsRNA in cells infected with a range of viruses, employing a dsRNA-specific antibody for immunofluorescence analysis. Our data revealed that, as predicted, significant amounts of dsRNA can be detected for viruses with a genome consisting of positive-strand RNA, dsRNA, or DNA. Surprisingly, however, no dsRNA signals were detected for negative-strand RNA viruses. Thus, dsRNA is indeed a general feature of most virus groups, but negative-strand RNA viruses appear to be an exception to that rule.
Smith does not share that optimism, saying, “I certainly won’t be eating this potato and I strongly recommend that no one be used as a human guinea pig.”
- RT
- NCBI
Someone's not doing any research but it sure as hell isn't the scientists dodging it, Master Smith.
Regarding optimism regarding healthier food products, there was this comment:
- RT
Do whatever you like, Simple Simon, and you will because facts have not dissuaded you previously and likely they won't now. There's not one credible piece of evidence to support skipping the spuds in anything the bounder has presented. You can find plenty of reasons to skip McDonald's french fries but GMO is not a sensible part of that logic.
This guy Smith is one more example of why the Rockhouse only uses Science Daily as a resource for current scientific research.
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