Re: GE and Foot and Mouth

Your Scoop Outgoing News article of 22 Aug entitled “GE vaccine implicated in Foot and Mouth Incident” [http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/SC0708/S00056.htm] has all the hallmarks of authoritative science except for accuracy of the cited references, and the potpourri of unrelated anti-GE scaremongering that is associated with it.

The Associated Press release of 20 Aug (reference 1) actually made no reference to research into a GE vaccine being implicated as a source of the virus, but did indicate that the Pirbright research laboratory complex, which was implicated in the incident, houses vaccine-maker, Merial Animal Health. The GE association appears to be a colourful distortion of the facts by Claire Bleakley, the source of the information and a seasoned campaigner for GE-free New Zealand (in food and environment).

Furthermore, because vaccine production, whether GE or not, invariably involves reducing or eliminating virulence, it is difficult to understand the proposed link between GE and this particular outbreak of foot and mouth disease, except perhaps that these institutions house reference stocks of various strains of the virus that could be used in vaccine development.

To take this speculation about the source and nature of the virus release in the UK, and begin beating New Zealand’s transgenic research centres and ERMA with the information as if it were proven fact beggars belief.

Having dealt a warning to ERMA and all New Zealanders about the risks of GE vectors in research programmes, the article then goes on to elaborate on four unlinked serious adverse events associated with clinical trials involving GE vectors over a period of more than 8 years, an area well outside the “food and environment” brief of GE Free NZ. While each adverse event in a clinical trial is regrettable, to my knowledge, there is no evidence that adverse events are any more frequent in clinical trials involving GE products and vectors than in similar trials that do not involve GE. The question is really one of overall safety in relation to the regulatory framework, regardless of whether GE is involved or not.

To make the assertion that GE was involved in the foot and mouth incident simply because GE vaccines may have been under development at the Pirbright laboratories is unscientific and is irresponsible scaremongering.

Mike Berridge
Senior Scientist
Malaghan Institute of Medical Research

ENDS

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