- Alternative Health Notes
by Rachel Naba
Fatty Acids Produced by GM Crops
Due to excessive fishing, fish stocks worldwide are declining. Instead of solving the problem at the root and eliminating unnecessary fishing, scientists have chosen to tackle the problem in a more "modern" way. They have now genetically engineered plants so that they will produce the fatty acids that fish naturally provide. They also claim that these crops will provide a more environmentaly sound source of the fatty acids than the fish themselves!
Bristol and Oxford Universities researchers put genes for three fatty acides into a relative of the cabbage called Arabidopsis. The project was partially funded by BASF, a German biotechnology company.
People may be eating more fish due to a recommendation by scientists and nutritionists that eating certain typs of fish will provide essential fatty acids that help reduce the risk of heart disease. The fatty acids have also been shown to help diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis.
GM Wheat Production Halted
Monsanto, the US-based biotech giant, has put its plans to market Roundup Ready wheat, a genetically modified wheat crop, because of public resistance. Anti-GM activists are celebrating.
Foreign buyers of US wheat have largely said that they will not buy wheat that has been genetically modified in any way. The BBC has reported that there has been a huge resistance to GM wheat all over the world. Monsanto plans to concentrate on GM soy and corn now that its GM wheat market has been eliminated.
Fatherless Mouse
We would like to introduce Kaguya, the first mammal to ever be born without an egg being fertilized. Kaguya is a mouse, and she is the daughter of two mothers. She has been created by Japanese and Korean scientists using a new procedure that is as controversial as cloning.
Kaguya has been created using genes from two female mice. The process is known as parthenogenesis, and occurs naturally in insects, reptiles and birds. Previous attempts at this process have produced a fetuses, but none have survived until now. Scientists currently claim that this procedure is too dangerous and unethical to use for producing human babies. They plan to develop this science to create stem cells without destroying embryos and for breeding farm animals without the use of males.
License to Clone
Creators of Dolly the sheep are now applying for a licence to clone human embryos. Professor Ian Wilmut, creator of Dolly the sheep, claims that he wants to use the human embryos to study motor neurone disease. He told the BBC "Because at this early stage the embryo does not have the key human characteristc of being aware, to me it would be immoral not to take this opportunity to study diseases."
Many people donšt believe the researcheršs claims of not wanting to make human babies, as he has publically voiced his support of human cloning in the past.
