http://www.observer.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,319418,00.html


The Observer
 GM genes 'jump species  barrier'
 GM food: special report

 Antony Barnett, public affairs editor
 Sunday May 28, 2000

 A leading zoologist has found evidence that genes
 used to modify crops can jump the species barrier
 and cause bacteria to mutate, prompting fears that
 GM technology could pose serious health risks.

 A four-year study by Professor Hans-Hinrich
 Kaatz, a respected German zoologist, found that
  the alien gene used to modify oilseed rape had
 transferred to bacteria living inside the guts of
 honey bees.

 The research - which has yet to be published and
 has not been reviewed by fellow scientists - is
 highly significant because it suggests that all
 types of bacteria could become contaminated by
 genes used in genetically modified technology,
 including those that live inside the human
 digestive system.

If this happened, it could have an impact on the
 bacteria's vital role in helping the human body
 fight disease, aid digestion and facilitate blood
 clotting.

 Agriculture Minister Nick Brown, who was
 yesterday advising farmers who have accidentally
 grown contaminated GM oilseed rape in Britain to
 rip up their crops, confirmed the potential
 significance of Kaatz's research. He said: 'If this is
 true, then it would be very serious.'

 The 47-year-old Kaatz has been reluctant to talk
 about his research until it has been published in a
 scientific journal, because he fears a backlash
 from the scientific community similar to that
 faced by Dr Arpad Pustzai, who claimed that
 genetically modified potatoes damaged the stomach
 lining of rats.  Pustzai was sacked and had his
 work discredited.

 But in his first newspaper interview, Kaatz told
 The Observer: 'It is true, I have found the
 herbicide-resistant genes in the rapeseed
  transferred across to the bacteria and yeast inside
 the intestines of young bees. This happened
  rarely, but it did happen.'

 Although Kaatz realised the potential 'significance'
 of his findings, he said he 'was not surprised' at
 the results. Asked if this had implications for the
  bacteria inside the human gut, he said: 'Maybe,
  but I am not an expert on this.'

Dr Mae-Wan Ho, geneticist at Open University
 and a critic of GM technology, has no doubts about
  the dangers. She said: 'These findings are very
 worrying and provide the first real evidence of
 what many have feared.  Everybody is keen to
 exploit GM technology, but nobody is looking at
 the risk of horizontal gene transfer.

We are playing about with genetic structures that
 existed for millions of years and the experiment
 is running out of control.'

 One of the biggest concerns is if the anti-biotic
 resistant gene used in some GM crops crossed over
 to bacteria. 'If this happened it would leave us
 unable to treat major illnesses like meningitis
 and E coli .'

 Kaatz, who works at the respected Institute for
 Bee Research at the University of Jena in
 Germany, built nets in a field planted with
 genetically modified rapeseed produced by AgrEvo.
 He let the bees fly freely within the net. At the
 beehives, he installed pollen traps in order to
 sample the pollen from the bees' hindlegs when
 entering the hive.

 This pollen was fed to young honey bees in the
 laboratory.  Pollen is the natural diet of young
 bees, which need a high protein diet.  Kaatz then
 extracted the intestine of the young bees and
 discovered that the gene from the GM rape-seed
 had been transferred in the bee gut to the
 microbes.

 Professor Robert Pickard, director-general of
  the Institute of the British Nutrition Foundation,
 is a bee expert as well as being a biologist and has
 visited the institute where Kaatz works.  He said:
  'There is no doubt that, if Kaatz's research is
 substantiated, then it poses very interesting
 questions and will need to be looked at very
 closely.

 'But it must be remembered that the human body
 has been coping perfectly well with strange DNA
 for millions of years. And we also know many
 people have been eating GM products for years
 without showing any signs of ill health.'


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-
Robt Mann
consultant ecologist
P O Box 28878   Remuera, Auckland 1005, New Zealand
                (9) 524 2949