Animal Biotechnology Myths & Facts

Myth: Only humans can benefit from medical biotechnology.
Fact: According to USDA, there are 105 licensed biotech products for animals. These products include veterinary vaccines, biologics and diagnostic kits. The animal health industry invests more than $400 million a year in research and development. Current sales of biotech-based products for use in animal health generate $2.8 billion (out of a total market for animal health products of $18 billion).

Myth: Biotech and cloned animals are still years away - improving animals through biotechnology, or cloning them is science fiction.
Fact: The first biotech animal to be sold to the public reached the market in January 2004; GloFish are biotech ornamental fish that contain a gene from a sea anemone. Under black light, the GloFish fluoresce in a brilliant red color. The first cloned-to-order pet, a cat, was delivered to its owner in December 2004. Both biotech GloFish and cloned cats are currently available for purchase by the public. Additionally, there are currently several hundred cloned dairy and beef cattle, though their food products have not been sold to the public. Sheep, cattle, goats, pigs, mice, rabbits, horses, rats, cats and mules have all been successfully cloned in laboratory settings.

Myth: Pets do not benefit from biotechnology at all.
Fact: Companion animals, better known as pets, benefit greatly from vaccines and diagnostic tests based on biotechnology. Biotech-based products to treat heartworm, arthritis, parasites, allergies and heart disease, as well as vaccines for rabies and feline HIV are used daily by veterinarians. Gene therapy has been used to help restore sight to blind dogs, as well as for melanoma, canine lymphoma and bone cancer. Also, some biotechnology companies offer DNA sequencing of purebred animals, such as dogs, for identification purposes.

Myth: Biotech and cloned animals are different from normal animals.
Fact: Studies and experience have shown that biotech animals are animals that eat, drink and behave in ways we are familiar with in their conventional counterparts.

Myth: Animals cannot benefit from biotechnology.
Fact: Biotechnology provides new tools for improving animal health and increasing livestock and poultry productivity. These improvements come from the enhanced ability to detect, treat and prevent diseases and other problems. Additionally, feed from biotech crops are better designed to meet the dietary needs of different farm animals, improve feed efficiency and reduce waste. Just like other assisted reproduction techniques such as artificial insemination, embryo transfer and in vitro fertilization, cloning can also significantly improve animal breeding programs and decrease the occurrence of hereditary diseases and improve the health of animals.

Myth: Wild animals cannot benefit from cloning technology.
Fact: Worldwide, researchers have used cloning technologies to conserve endangered species. In the last four years, scientists have successfully cloned at least three endangered animals: the European mouflon, the guar, and the banteng, the latter of which is viewable to the public at the San Diego Zoo. Several zoos and animal conservation organizations, including the San Diego Zoo, the Zoological Society of London and the Cincinnati Zoo have created "Frozen Zoos" or genetic databases to cryogenically stores samples of DNA, gametes and cell tissues from endangered or threatened mammals, birds and reptiles.

Myth: Biotech will cause disease outbreaks such as avian flu, mad cow disease and West Nile virus in animals and insects, which will be transferred to humans.
Fact: Diseases such as avian flu, mad cow disease and West Nile virus are not related to, nor caused by biotechnology. In fact, researchers are working to find ways to apply biotechnology to eliminate some of these diseases. Scientists in Korea have created biotech cows that may be resistant to mad cow disease, and some research has been done to develop biotech mosquitoes that will no longer infect humans with malaria and other blood-borne diseases.

Myth: Organ transplants from animals are an unreal fantasy.
Fact: Xenotransplantation, or organ transplants from one species to another, is not a new concept, and could be perfected in our lifetime. The idea of xenotransplantation goes back several decades; in fact, in 1984, a U.S. pediatric patient received a baboon heart which worked for 20 days. Today, doctors regularly use valves from pigs' hearts for human heart valve transplants and pigs' skins for skin grafts for human burn victims. Although organ transplants are much more complicated, extensive research has been done on the potential for using biotech animals as blood or organ donors for humans. Biotechnology has been used to address rejection of donor tissues and organs, and biotech pigs have been developed with organs that might resist rapid rejection by the human immune system.

Myth: We are just exploiting animals by applying biotechnology to them.
Fact: The health and well-being of all animals can benefit from biotechnology. The health of companion animals can be significantly improved through the use of biotech vaccines, such as the rabies vaccine, and new diagnostic tests that can identify things such as feline HIV. Domesticated farm animals can greatly benefit from biotechnology through vaccines and diagnostic tests. Improved breeding programs enhanced by biotechnology can drastically improve herd health by eliminating hereditary diseases. Reproduction and breeding techniques influenced by biotechnology, such as in vitro fertilization, artificial insemination can even save endangered species by restoring shrinking populations.

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Plant Biotechnology Myths & Facts

Plant Biotechnology Myths & Facts

Myth: There are no biotech food products currently on the market.

Fact: Today, it is estimated that at least 70 percent of processed foods on grocery store shelves contain ingredients and oils from biotech crops. The first biotech crop, a tomato improved through biotechnology, was sold in 1994. The first biotech commodity crops - an insect resistant variety of corn - were grown and sold in 1996. Today, the most popular biotech crops are corn, soybean, cotton and canola.

Myth: Biotech foods are unsafe to eat.

Fact: Fact: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has determined that biotech foods and crops are as safe as their non-biotech counterparts. The American Medical Association, the American Dietetic Association, and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences have also declared biotech foods safe for human and animal consumption. In addition, since being introduced to U.S. markets in 1996, not a single person or animal has become sick from eating biotech foods. Other international groups that have concluded biotech foods and crops are safe are The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Health Organization, the International Council for Science, the French Food Agency, and the British Medical Association. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has also found several biotech varieties to be safe for human and animal consumption.

Myth: Biotech foods are not regulated or tested.

Fact: Biotech crops undergo intense regulatory scrutiny covering their growth in the fields to their delivery in the marketplace to ensure that they are safe for consumption and do not pose any environmental hazards. Biotech crops and their food products are regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Testing of biotech crops before they are introduced to market generally takes about 6-12 years at a cost of $6-12 million.

Myth: Meat, milk and eggs from livestock and poultry fed biotech feed products are not as safe as similar products from livestock and poultry fed conventionally produced feed.

Fact: Animal feed is often made from biotech crops, and the livestock and poultry that eat these feeds are nourished and healthy from eating biotech foods. The meat, milk and egg products from these farm animals are exactly the same as those from animals eating conventional feed products.In fact, livestock and poultry can actually benefit from feeds made from biotech crops. Some biotech feeds are nutritionally enhanced with added nutrients that improve animal size, productivity and growth. Other biotech feeds can increase digestibility. Biotech feeds also have a positive impact on the environment. Livestock producers are challenged with identifying how to dispose of more than 160 million metric tons of manure annually. Animal manure, especially that of swine and poultry, is high in nitrogen and phosphorus, which can contribute to surface and groundwater pollution. Several biotech feeds decrease phosphorus and nitrogen excretion, total manure excretion and offensive odors.

Myth: Organic or conventional crops are more nutritious or safer than biotech crops.

Fact: Organic and conventionally grown foods are nutritionally comparable to biotech crops. In the future, biotech crops may be even more nutritious. Scientists are working to develop biotech crops that may actually be more nutritious and healthy than conventional and organic crops. For instance, rice has been developed with higher levels of Vitamin A, and future biotech soybeans may produce lower levels of saturated fats and trans fats in oils. Researchers are working to develop allergy-free peanuts and soybeans which will benefit up to seven million Americans who suffer from food allergies.

Myth: Biotech foods taste different than foods made from conventional crops.

Fact: Biotech foods taste exactly the same as regular foods and organic foods. Studies have shown that they do not taste any different, appear any different, nor affect the human body differently. They are also nutritionally equivalent to organic and conventionally grown crops.

Myth: The United States does not require labeling of biotech foods.

Fact: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has a labeling policy that requires biotech foods to be labeled if the product is significantly changed nutritionally or uses material from a potential allergen. In other words, if a biotech product is nutritionally the same as a non-biotech product, there is no requirement for labels. However, if a biotech product uses a gene from a peanut, which is a known potential allergen, then it must be labeled. Today, the majority of biotech products in the marketplace are not labeled as such since they are nutritionally equivalent and are not derived from known allergens.

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VIT-D REDUCES HEART DISEASE AND DIABETES

High Levels of Vitamin D in Older People Can Reduce Heart Disease and Diabetes
Middle aged and elderly people with high levels of vitamin D could reduce their chances of developing heart disease or diabetes by 43%, according to researchers at the University of Warwick.

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TO PREVENT BREAST CANCER

Few Women Take Tamoxifen to Prevent Breast Cancer
Researchers with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) have found that the prevalence of tamoxifen use for the prevention of breast cancer among women without a personal history of breast cancer is very low.

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Viruses Helped Shape Human Genetic Variability

Viruses Helped Shape Human Genetic Variability
ScienceDaily (Feb. 19, 2010) — Viruses have played a role in shaping human genetic variability, according to a study published February 19 in the open-access journal PLoS Genetics. The researchers, from the Don C. Gnocchi and Eugenio Medea Scientific Institutes, the University of Milan and the Politecnico di Milano, Italy, used population genetics approaches to identify gene variants that augment susceptibility to viral infections or protect from such infections.

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Stem cell experiment reverses aging in rare disease

WASHINGTON, Feb. 17, 2010 (Reuters) — In a surprise result that can help in the understanding of both aging and cancer, researchers working with an engineered type of stem cell said they reversed the aging process in a rare genetic disease.
The team at Children's Hospital Boston and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute were working with a new type of cell called induced pluripotent stem cells or iPS cells, which closely resemble embryonic stem cells but are made from ordinary skin cells.
In this case, they wanted to study a rare, inherited premature aging disorder called dyskeratosis congenita. The blood marrow disorder resembles the better-known aging disease progeria and causes premature graying, warped fingernails and other symptoms as well as a high risk of cancer.
It is very rare and normally diagnosed between the ages of 10 and 30. About half of patients have bone marrow failure, which means their bone marrow stops making blood and immune cells properly.
One of the benefits of stem cells and iPS cells is that researchers can make them from a person with a disease and study that disease in the lab. Harvard's Dr. George Daley and colleagues were making iPS cells from dyskeratosis congenita patients to do this.
But, reporting in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature, they said the process of making the iPS cells appeared to reverse one of the key symptoms of the disease in the cells.
In this disease, the cells lose telomerase, an enzyme that helps maintain the telomeres. These are the little caps on the ends of the chromosomes that carry the DNA.
When telomeres unwind, a cell ages. This leads to disease and death

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LATEST IN THE WORLD OF BIOTECHNOLOGY

Chicken egg whites - answer to three-dimensional cell culture systems
More and more laboratories are seeking to develop three-dimensional cell culture systems that allow them to test their new techniques and drugs in a system that more closely mimics the way in which cells grow.

DNA Amplification and Detection Made Simple
Twenty-three years ago, a man musing about work while driving down a California highway revolutionized molecular biology when he envisioned a technique to make large numbers of copies of a piece of DNA rapidly and accurately. Known as the polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, Kary Mullis's technique involves separating the double strands of a DNA fragment into single-strand templates by heating it, attaching primers that initiate the copying process, using DNA polymerase to make a copy of each strand from free nucleotides floating around in the reaction mixture, detaching the primers, then repeating the cycle using the new and old strands as templates. Since its discovery in 1983, PCR has made possible a number of procedures we now take for granted, such as DNA fingerprinting of crime scenes, paternity testing, and DNA-based diagnosis of hereditary and infectious diseases.

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