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Homegrown genocide coming to a field near you?




Scientists Create GM Corn Which Prevents Human Conception
    By Robin McKie, Science Editor
    The Observer - London  9-9-1

            Scientists have created the ultimate GM crop: contraceptive
            corn. Waiving fields of maize may one day save the world
            from overpopulation.

            The pregnancy prevention plants are the handiwork of the San

            Diego biotechnology company Epicyte, where researchers
            have discovered a rare class of human antibodies that attack

            sperm.

            By isolating the genes that regulate the manufacture of
these
            antibodies, and by putting them in corn plants, the company
            has created tiny horticultural factories that make
            contraceptives.

             "We have a hothouse filled with corn plants that make
            anti-sperm antibodies," said Epicyte president Mitch Hein.

            "We have also created corn plants that make antibodies
            against the herpes virus, so we should be able to make a
            plant-based jelly that not only prevents pregnancy but also
            blocks the spread of sexual disease."

            Contraceptive corn is based on research on the rare
condition,
            immune infertility, in which a woman makes antibodies that
            attack sperm.

            "Essentially, the antibodies are attracted to surface
receptors
            on the sperm," said Hein. "They latch on and make each sperm

            so heavy it cannot move forward. It just shakes about as if
it
            was doing the lambada."

            Normally, biologists use bacteria to grow human proteins.
            However, Epicyte decided to use corn because plants have
            cellular structures that are much more like those of humans,

            making them easier to manipulate.

            The company, which says it will not grow the maize near
            other crops, says it plans to launch clinical trials of the
corn
            in a few months.

            Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2001