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Re: humanized rice



Hi Greg,
The proteins are the products of human genes in the rice  but usually
the gene codes are tinkered with to enhance activity in plants and the
plant system of  protein modification  , in particular glycosylation, is
different than humans. FDA should approve the plant-human product
separately from the human product  but usually assumes that they are
substantially equivalent no matter how many people they kill. You made a
great point about wild birds and the answer is probably that FDA assumes
all birds are equivalent to chickens. FDA is beginning to serve , not as
a regulator, but as a public relations outlet for the corporations. In
Canada the corporations  recently  offered  pay incentives to
cooperative bureaucrats  and that offer was ignored or accepted by the
news media in Canada as being good business for the most part. We have
not yet found a way of making regulators regulate!!
Sincerely, Joe Cummins

Raquel & Greg wrote:

Thanks very much Dr. Cummins!

Do you know if these proteins have received FDA approval for human
consumption?  Or is there any chance that they will?  I find it
unbelieveable, and maddening, that Ventria is willing to destroy our
industry and my own livelihood for CHICKEN FEED!

Also, any idea what the effect on wild bird populations could be?  The
California rice industry has worked very hard to show that we are wildlife
friendly.  We are the main food source for migrating waterfowl on the
pacific flyway, and have been recognized as being very important for
shorebirds as well.  If lactoferrin and lysozyme act as antibiotics to
chickens, what will happen when we release that to the millions of wild
ducks and geese that feed in our fields?

Regards,
Greg Massa

----- Original Message -----
From: "jcummins" <jcummins@UWO.CA>
To: <SANET-MG@LISTS.IFAS.UFL.EDU>
Sent: Thursday, December 11, 2003 5:42 AM
Subject: [SANET-MG] humanized rice




Reply to Greg Massa,
Rice with genes for human lysozyme and lactofferin has been field tested
in California and from Greg's letter there seems to be pressure to
approve the product. Rice is somewhat inbred but known to pollinate
weedy relatives. I am enclosing below some references to papers on the
production of the humanized rice and the URL of its producer. I also
included a paper showing that lactofferin can kill.The human proteins in
rice will also have diiferent patterns of modifications such as
glycosylation that alter allergenicity However, there is an indication
that chicken feed may be the primary target of the rice.
Humanized rice is a pharm crop that will likely eliminate organic and
conventional rice production in California.
Sincerely, Joe Cummins
Brooke D. Humphrey, Ning Huang and Kirk C. Klasing (2002). "Rice
expressing lactofferin
and lysozyme has antibiotic-like properties when fed to chicks." Journal
of Nutrition 132: 1214-1218




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