Characterization of scientific studies usually cited as evidence of adverse effects of GM food/feed

No bioaccumulation of Cry protein in the aphidophagous predator Harmonia axyridis

The uptake of insecticidal Cry1Ab from genetically engineered (GE) maize, via herbivore Rhopalosiphum padi, to a predator Harmonia axyridis and its potential intergenerational transfer were investigated. Cry1Ab concentration was found to be 400-fold lower in R. padi compared to GE maize, and more than two-fold lower in H. axyridis. For 62% of H. axyridis samples, Cry1Ab was under the limit of detection (LOD), for another 13% were under the limit of quantification (LOQ). The concentration of Cry1Ab was similar between H. axyridis exposed short-term and long-term with the exception of adults after long-term. There was no correlation between Cry1Ab in females and eggs and neonates. The performance of H. axyridis was comparable between Cry1Ab and control. Histological investigation did not show any pathological changes in the digestive and reproductive systems. The detected route of exposure is unlikely to be important for functional biological control by H. axyridis in agroecosystem.

Misinformation in the media: global coverage of GMOs 2019-2021

Misinformation is a serious problem in scientific debates ranging from climate change to vaccines to nuclear power. In this study we quantitatively assess the phenomenon of misinformation - defined as information which is at variance with widely-accepted scientific consensus - on genetically modified crops and food ("GMOs") in the mainstream and online news media over a two-year period. We found an overall falsehood rate of 9% with a potential readership of 256 million. None of the misinformation was positive in sentiment; most was negative. About a fifth of Africa's media coverage on GMOs contained misinformation, a worrying finding given the potential for genetic engineering to deliver improved nutrition and food security in the continent. We conclude that misinformation about GMOs in the mainstream media is still a significant problem, and outranks the proportion of misinformation in other comparable debates such as COVID-19 and vaccines.

Labeling of Genetically Modified (GM) Foods in Peru: Current Dogma and Insights of the Regulatory and Legal Statutes

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected and afflicted human lives and been a transformative catalyst leading to closure of many companies, disrupting mental health, and reducing access to food and exacerbating food insecurity. This presents an opportunity to reflect on and examine genetically modified (GM) foods and their effective legislative regulation for the benefit of consumers. This review presents a detailed analysis of GM foods' regulation in Peru and the analysis of certain specific cases that show the need for greater regulation of the industry.

Lessons learned from the introduction of genetically engineered crops: relevance to gene drive deployment in Africa

The application of gene drives to achieve public health goals, such as the suppression of Anopheles gambiae populations, or altering their ability to sustain Plasmodium spp. infections, has received much attention from researchers. If successful, this genetic tool can contribute greatly to the wellbeing of people in regions severely affected by malaria. However, engineered gene drives are a product of genetic engineering, and the experience to date, gained through the deployment of genetically engineered (GE) crops, is that GE technology has had difficulty receiving public acceptance in Africa, a key region for the deployment of gene drives. The history of GE crop deployment in this region provides good lessons for the deployment of gene drives as well. GE crops have been in commercial production for 24 years, since the planting of the first GE soybean crop in 1996. During this time, regulatory approvals and farmer adoption of these crops has grown rapidly in the Americas, and to a lesser extent in Asia. Their safety has been recognized by numerous scientific organizations. Economic and health benefits have been well documented in the countries that have grown them. However, only one transgenic crop event is being grown in Europe, and only in two countries in that region. Europe has been extremely opposed to GE crops, due in large part to the public view of agriculture that opposes “industrial” farming. This attitude is reflected in a highly precautionary regulatory and policy environment, which has highly influenced how African countries have dealt with GE technology and are likely to be applied to future genetic technologies, including gene drives. Furthermore, a mistrust of government regulatory agencies, the publication of scientific reports claiming adverse effects of GE crops, the involvement of corporations as the first GE crop developers, the lack of identifiable consumer benefit, and low public understanding of the technology further contributed to the lack of acceptance. Coupled with more emotionally impactful messaging to the public by opposition groups and the general tendency of negative messages to be more credible than positive ones, GE crops failed to gain a place in European agriculture, thus influencing African acceptance and government policy. From this experience, the following lessons have been learned that would apply to the deployment of gene drives, in Africa:

It will be important to establish trust in those who are developing the technology, as well as in those who are making regulatory decisions. Engagement of the community, where those who are involved are able to make genuine contributions to the decision-making process, are necessary to achieve that trust. The use of tools to facilitate participatory modeling could be considered in order to enhance current community engagement efforts.

Trusted, accurate information on gene drives should be made available to the general public, journalists, and scientists who are not connected with the field. Those sources of information should also be able to summarize and analyze important scientific results and emerging issues in the field in order to place those developments in the proper context. Engagement should involve more opportunities for participation of stakeholders in conceptualizing, planning, and decision-making.

Diversifying the source of funding for gene drive research and development, particularly by participation of countries and regional bodies, would show that country or regional interests are represented.

Efforts by developers and neutral groups to provide the public and decisionmakers with a more thorough understanding of the benefits and risks of this technology, especially to local communities, would help them reach more informed decisions.

A better understanding of gene drive technology can be fostered by governments, as part of established biosafety policy in several African countries. Developers and neutral groups could also be helpful in increasing public understanding of the technology of genetic engineering, including gene drives.

Effective messaging to balance the messaging of groups opposed to gene drives is needed. These messages should be not only factual but also have emotional and intuitive appeal.

Flawed scientific studies block progress and sow confusion

Research in crop science in recent years has advanced at an unprecedented rate, and the intermingling of old and new crop breeding technologies has made the term "genetically modified" - and its variant, Genetically Modified Organism, or "GMO" - virtually obsolete. A kind of pseudo-category, it is primarily used pejoratively to refer to the use of the newest, most precise, most predictable, molecular genetic techniques. Prodigious amounts of time, effort and care have been expended to ensure that crops developed for commercialization using molecular techniques are safe, and that new traits are beneficial. Â Yet, despite these advances, some skepticism persists about them, partly due to the publication of fraudulent, poorly designed, and biased studies by a few "rogue scientists" whose intention is to contaminate the scientific literature and sow mistrust about molecular genetic modification among regulators and the public. We discuss how such flawed studies make it to publication and how the scientific community can combat such disinformation.

Individual differences in receptivity to scientific bullshit

Pseudo-profound bullshit receptivity is the tendency to perceive meaning in important-sounding, nonsense statements. To understand how bullshit receptivity differs across domains, we develop a scale to measure scientific bullshit receptivity — the tendency to perceive truthfulness in nonsensical scientific statements. Across three studies (total N = 1,948), scientific bullshit receptivity was positively correlated with pseudo-profound bullshit receptivity. Both types of bullshit receptivity were positively correlated with belief in science, conservative political beliefs, and faith in intuition. However, compared to pseudo-profound bullshit receptivity, scientific bullshit receptivity was more strongly correlated with belief in science, and less strongly correlated with conservative political beliefs and faith in intuition. Finally, scientific literacy moderated the relationship the two types of bullshit receptivity; the correlation between the two types of receptivity was weaker for individuals scoring high in scientific literacy.

Is Opposition to Genetically Modified Food "Morally Absolutist"? A Consequence-Based Perspective

Genetically modified foods (GMFs) have met with strong opposition for most of their existence. According to one account-the consequence-based perspective (CP)-lay people oppose GMFs because they deem them unsafe as well as of dubious value. The CP is backed by the data and offers a clear solution for easing GMF opposition. However, several scholars have claimed that the CP is faulty, that lay opposition derives from largely nonrational factors and is consequence blind. One recent statement of this, the moral-absolutism perspective (MAP), contends that GMFs' opponents are principled "moral absolutists" who think that GMFs should be banned no matter their value or risk. Herein we critically weigh key arguments for this proposal. We also present five new studies that probed the clearest data that seem to favor the MAP-opponents affirming the statement that GMFs should be "prohibited," no matter their value or risk. These studies jointly show that (a) most presumed absolutists do not understand the key question and/or (b) cannot validly answer it. We show that taking due steps in clarifying the question and screening for those participants who cannot validly answer it cuts down absolutism to near zero. Finally, we demonstrate that helping GMFs' opponents imagine a world wherein GMFs are safe and constructive makes the majority willing to welcome GMFs in this context.

Problem formulation for gene drive mosquitoes designed to reduce malaria transmission in Africa: results from four regional consultations 2016-2018

Background

Gene drive mosquitoes have been proposed as a possible means to reduce the transmission of malaria in Africa. Because this technology has no prior use-history at this time, environmental risk assessments for gene drive mosquitoes will benefit from problem formulation—an organized and ordered process to identify protection goals and potential pathways to harm to the environment, or animal or human health. Recognizing this need, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), with support from African and international partners, organized four regional consultative workshops in Africa to initiate this process.

Methods

The workshops were attended by a diverse set of participants and stakeholders, including scientists, ethicists, health professionals, government regulators in the fields of environment health and biosafety as well government policymakers, who met for 4 days to deliberate on protection goals and pathways relevant to the use of gene drive mosquitoes for malaria control. The goal of the workshops was not to produce a comprehensive and detailed environmental risk assessment of gene drive mosquitoes, but rather to introduce problem formulation as a tool to the stakeholder community, and to serve as a starting point for conducting systematic environmental risk assessments in the future, identifying protection goals related to gene drive mosquitoes that are particular to African stakeholders.

Results

Participants in the workshops frequently identified human health and biodiversity as being relevant broad protection goals. Results of the deliberations provide insight into the concerns of African participants at an early stage in the development of gene drive organism/products that should be instructive to developers using this technology.

Conclusions

In general, the African participants of the consultations had a precautionary perspective with regard to environmental risk assessment of gene drive technology. As gene drive technology develops, protection goals will become further refined and candidate products will be further defined. These workshops represent only the beginning of a continuing process that will ultimately inform environmental risk assessment for gene drive mosquitoes to control malaria in Africa.

Evaluation of the effects of feeding glyphosate-tolerant soybeans (CP4 EPSPS) on the testis of male Sprague-Dawley rats

Glyphosate tolerant soybeans represent a large portion of soybeans grown and fed to farm animals around the world. Despite their widespread use for many years, some have raised questions regarding their safety because the soybeans were genetically modified. The CP4 EPSPS gene which imparts resistance to topical application of the herbicide glyphosate was introduced into soybeans. Application of glyphosate to soybean fields will reduce weed pressure and increase soybean yield. To assess their safety on the rat reproduction system, male Sprague Dawley rats were fed either glyphosate-tolerant (GM) soybean (40-3-2) or near-isogenic, non-GM (A5403) (control) soybean meal. The processed soybean meal was added to formulated rodent diets at 20% (w/w) and fed to rats for 90 days. Some rats from the control group were separately administered mitomycin C for 40 days and served as positive controls in the sperm abnormality test. Body weights and behavior were monitored daily, serum enzymes and histologic and EM appearance of the testis, and sperm morphology were also examined. After 90 days of feeding, no adverse effects were observed in rats fed glyphosate-tolerant soybeans.

Bacillus thuringiensis Cry5B protein as a new pan-hookworm cure

Hookworms are intestinal nematode parasites that infect nearly half a billion people and are globally one of the most important contributors to iron-deficiency anemia. These parasites have significant impacts in developing children, pregnant women and working adults. Of all the soil-transmitted helminths or nematodes (STNs), hookworms are by far the most important, with disease burdens conservatively estimated at four million DALYs (Disability-Adjusted Life Years) and with productivity losses of up to US$139 billion annually. To date, mainly one drug, albendazole is used for hookworm therapy in mass drug administration, which has on average ∼80% cure rate that is lower (<40%) in some places. Given the massive numbers of people needing treatment, the threat of parasite resistance, and the inadequacy of current treatments, new and better cures against hookworms are urgently needed. Cry5B, a pore-forming protein produced by the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) has demonstrated good efficacy against Ancylostoma ceylanicum hookworm infections in hamsters. Here we broaden studies of Cry5B to include tests against infections of Ancylostoma caninum hookworms in dogs and against infections of the dominant human hookworm, Necator americanus, in hamsters. We show that Cry5B is highly effective against all hookworm parasites tested in all models. Neutralization of stomach acid improves Cry5B efficacy, which will aid in practical application of Cry5B significantly. Importantly, we also demonstrate that the anti-nematode therapeutic efficacy of Cry5B is independent of the host immune system and is not itself negated by repeated dosing. This study indicates that Bt Cry5B is a pan-hookworm anthelmintic with excellent properties for use in humans and other animals.