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[SANET-MG] toxic DNA is a fact of life



16 July 2007
Prof. Joe Cummins
Toxic DNA a Fact of Life
In the USDA Animal and Plant health Inspection Service (APHIS) Findings of No Significant Impact and Decision Notices APHIS maintains that, in general DNA has no toxic properties based primarily on comments made by the Food and drug Administration (FDA) in a 1992 GRAS notice. That GRAS notice was based on observations on genetically modified (GM) microbes used to produce animal proteins. APHIS has not yet corrected that fallacious opinion. A number of genetic engineers who have produced deregulated microbes or crops also maintain that . DNA cannot be toxic. However, that conclusion ignores a large and growing body of scientific literature showing that DNA molecules are recognized by the immune system as a means of activating defence against pathogenic bacteria and viruses. A strong immune reaction is triggered ,even one leading to death of mammals has been observed. In the face of overwhelming evidence that certain DNA preparations are toxic to cells and to animals it is hard to phantom why government agencies are promoting a clear fallacy. For example, the abstract below shows that animals exposed to the DNA from bacteria and certain viruses produces a strong immune reaction even one leading to death: “The mammalian innate immune system has the ability to recognise and direct a response against incoming foreign DNA. The primary signal that triggers this response is unmethylated CpG motifs present in the DNA sequence of various disease-causing pathogens. These motifs are rare in vertebrate DNA, but abundant in bacterial and some viral DNAs. Because gene therapy generally involves the delivery of DNA from either plasmids of bacterial origin or recombinant viruses, an acute inflammatory response of variable severity inevitably results. The response is most serious for non-viral gene delivery vectors composed of cationic lipid-DNA complexes, producing adverse effects at lower doses and lethality at higher doses of complex.” ( Yew NS and Cheng SH. Reducing the immune stimulatory activity of CpG-containing plasmid DNA vectors for non-viral gene therapy. Expert Opin Drug Deliv. 2004 Nov;1(1):115-25). There is a huge body of research showing that DNA preparations may be toxic to mammals . For example a cursory search in PubMed www.pubmed.gov (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez) shows that the search terms DNA molecule inflammation yields 593 studies , the term DNA molecule cytotoxicity yields 463 studies and the term DNA CpG cytotoxicity yields 75 publications. It is clear that FDA, APHIS and some genetic engineers may purposefully ignoring a huge body of evidence that contradicts the official dogma. APHIS is promoting the erroneous view that DNA has no toxic properties for reasons that are not clear. It may be that the government bureaucrats are simply ill informed and anxious to deregulate a number of GM crops. Alternatively, it may be that APHIS superstitiously believes that the proclaimed bureaucratic dogma will actually protect APHIS and Industry from the real toxic effects of DNA.

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