A scientist called Dr Arpad Pusztai fed GE potatoes to rats in an experiment which has now become famous. The anti-GE protestors seized upon this as the evidence they had been waiting for: that GE foods were toxic. But the pro-GE side claimed that the experiments were poor science and were not properly carried out. After a huge row which went on for many months, Dr Pusztai was finally allowed to publish his results in a British medical journal (The Lancet). He concluded that 'the possibility that a plant vector (this is the gene which is inserted to make sure that any other new added genes switch on in the organism) in common use in some GM plants can alter the mucosa of the gastro-intestinal tract (that's the wet and slimy lining inside all animals' guts where the food they have eaten is absorbed into their bodies) and exert powerful biological effects (have strong effects such as poisoning) may also apply to GM plants containing similar constructs (other GMOs in common use which involve the same 'switch' [1].
The worry is with the construct ('plant vector'). This is the package of into the genes of the organism which scientists wish to modify, along with foreign . In Pusztai's case, this was a gene which made a plant-protecting toxin called lectin. The construct in Arpad Pusztai's potatoes includes a 'promoter' sequence from cauliflower mosaic which tells the GE potato plant to make lots of the lectin protein. He concluded that the construct may be to blame for the damage suffered by the rats, not the lectin toxins. So tests are obviously needed on these constructs alone, without the genes conferring the particular desired characteristic [2]. Of course, Pusztai's potatoes were never intended for people to eat. Even so, there are GE potatoes now being widely grown and eaten which use a similar 'construct' to make the plants produce another toxin called Bt. This poison kills caterpillars (or other bugs} which eat the plants. Yet there are serious worries about such plants [3].
These experiments and all the fuss surrounding them highlight the need for proper and also openness and honesty by both corporations and governments who like to keep all these things secret from our prying eyes. Ask no questions and you get told no lies. Remove the two 'no' words from that last sentence and you've just about got the way things have been up till now. It's you people who will be eating all this stuff... and you people who must ask the questions. You have a right to know what goes into the food you eat.
A scientist called Dr Arpad Pusztai fed GE potatoes to rats in an experiment which has now become famous. The anti-GE protestors seized upon this as the evidence they had been waiting for: that GE foods were toxic. But the pro-GE side claimed that the experiments were poor science and were not properly carried out. After a huge row which went on for many months, Dr Pusztai was finally allowed to publish his results in a British medical journal (The Lancet). He concluded that 'the possibility that a plant vector (this is the gene which is inserted to make sure that any other new added genes switch on in the organism) in common use in some GM plants can alter the mucosa of the gastro-intestinal tract (that's the wet and slimy lining inside all animals' guts where the food they have eaten is absorbed into their bodies) and exert powerful biological effects (have strong effects such as poisoning) may also apply to GM plants containing similar constructs (other GMOs in common use which involve the same 'switch' [1].