On Thu, 21 Apr 2005 19:30, Keith Thomas wrote:

>I don't often pass on items about books from new age publishers by hyped
>authors promoting silver bullet cures via non-paleo nutrition.  But the
>review here has a few gems, even if some aspects of the book itself may be
>dodgy.  The message of the book would appear to be consistent with the
>views of the Weston-Price crowd.
>
>http://www.i-sis.org.uk/probioticsRev.php
>
I should have guessed it: the Institute of Science in Society has followed its occasional practice of
issuing a second press release which builds on the earlier one (which I posted here yesterday).
Today's press release is a call for a ban on GM probiotics and is based on the co-evolution of
probiotics and the human gut.  The article itself (URL below) describes some of the mechanisms
used to modify probiotics.  But here are extracts which get the main points across as I see them.
This is the scariest GM story I have come across as there seems to be risk that use of GM
probiotics could separate our bodies from their Paleo past more than any other GM development I
have come across.

"The efficacy of probiotics has been clearly established in recent years. For example, double blind,
randomized trials with probiotics added to milk reduced respiratory infections and the severity of
illness among children in a day care setting . Another study showed that probiotic treatment
relieved diarrhea in children."
...........
"The cross-talk between the human host and the gut bacteria has evolved over millions of years.
Its contributions to the health of the human host depend on an intricate network of bacteria-
bacteria and bacteria-host interactions that, if thrown out of balance, will very likely result in
disease."
...........
"The prospect that genetic modification might "improve" probiotic microbes must be seriously
balanced against the potential of turning harmless, beneficial microbes into dangerous
pathogens."
..........
"Lactic acid bacteria (Lactobacillus spp) have been genetically modified to increase proteolytic
activity, to resist viruses, to metabolize complex carbohydrates or to enhance metabolism. The
only modified lactic acid bacterium approved under the EU directive so far is a strain with a
modified luciferase gene to detect antibiotic residues in milk, but that strain does not enter the
food chain because it is used on a small test sample of milk that is then destroyed."
..........
"It has been suggested that a random ‘gene-shuffling’ technique should be employed to improve
lactic acid bacteria for use as probiotics. Gene-shuffling is an inherently hazardous procedure that
can generate millions of recombinant bacteria in a matter of hours; it will be impossible to predict
how many of those might be lethal pathogens"
..........
"Experience tells us that interfering with the immune system can lead to nasty surprises, as in the
case of the harmless mousepox virus that turned into a lethal pathogen when a gene that was
supposed to boost antibody production was inserted into it."
..........
"Gene transfer was observed in the digestive system of previously germ free mice between
Lactobacteria  and Bifidobacteria, suggesting that GM probiotic strains would alter the entire
microbial ecology of the digestive tract in an unpredictable manner."
..........
"The study of bacteria colonizing the human gut has only just begun. There are ten times more
bacteria than there are cells in the intestine, consisting of more than 400 different species; the
overwhelming majority of the species still unknown. In view of our vast ignorance of gut ecology,
we cannot allow genetically modified probiotic bacteria to be used, unless and until we fully
understand the intricate ecological balances that have co-evolved with the human species. There
should be a ban on the use of any GM probiotic bacteria in human subjects."

This article can be found on the I-SIS website at http://www.i- sis.org.uk/BanGMprobiotics.php

Keith