Alien GM Genes Have Crossed the Species Barrier
A four-year study by Professor Hans-Hinrich
Kaatz, a respected German zoologist, found that the alien gene used to modify
oilseed rape had transferred to bacteria living inside the guts of honey bees. The research - which has yet to be published
and has not been reviewed by fellow scientists - is highly significant because
it suggests that all types of bacteria could become contaminated by genes used
in genetically modified technology, including those that live inside the human
digestive system.
If this happened, it could have an impact on the
bacteria's vital role in helping the human body fight disease, aid digestion
and facilitate blood clotting.
The 47-year-old Kaatz has been reluctant to
talk about his research until it has been published in a scientific journal,
because he fears a backlash from the scientific community similar to that faced
by Dr Arpad Pustzai, who claimed that genetically modified potatoes damaged the
stomach lining of rats. Pustzai was sacked and had his work discredited.
In a report published by the Observer, Kaatz
told The Observer: 'It is true, I have found the herbicide-resistant genes in
the rapeseed transferred across to the bacteria and yeast inside the intestines
of young bees. This happened rarely, but it did happen.'
Although Kaatz realised the potential
'significance' of his findings, he said he 'was not surprised' at the results.
Asked if this had implications for the bacteria inside the human gut, he said:
'Maybe, but I am not an expert on this.'
Dr Mae-Wan Ho, geneticist at Open University
and a critic of GM technology, has no doubts about the dangers. She said:
'These findings are very worrying and provide the first real evidence of what
many have feared. Everybody is keen to exploit GM technology, but nobody is
looking at the risk of horizontal gene transfer.
'We are playing about with genetic structures
that existed for millions of years and the experiment is running out of
control.'
One of the biggest concerns is if the
anti-biotic resistant gene used in some GM crops crossed over to bacteria. 'If
this happened it would leave us unable to treat major illnesses like meningitis
and E coli .'
Kaatz, who works at the respected Institute
for Bee Research at the University of Jena
in Germany, built nets in a field planted with genetically
modified rapeseed produced by AgrEvo. He let the bees fly freely within the
net. At the beehives, he installed pollen traps in order to sample the pollen
from the bees' hindlegs when entering the hive.
This pollen was fed to young honey bees in
the laboratory. Pollen is the natural diet of young bees, which need a high
protein diet. Kaatz then extracted the intestine of the young bees and
discovered that the gene from the GM rape-seed had been transferred in the bee
gut to the microbes.
