Team:Tec-Monterrey/teamha/onlinearticles/english

Myth: Transgenic maize can cause secondary effects or malformations in humans.
One of the reasons of the origin of this myth is the corn marketed as StarLink™ that produces a protein endotoxin as insecticide. Because of the concern that this could be allergenic, even if the US Environmental Protection Agency could not find certainty of no harm to humans, the corn wasn’t approved for the use as food.
Fact: The conventional maize is transgenic. A transgenic organism is an organism that contains a gene or genes transferred from another organism (this could be between the same or different species). According to an article by the CANIA (an institute of nutrition of Venezuela), the crops of maize are the ones with the highest level of domestication in cultivated plants. This means that man, considering the properties like the size or the resistance to heat, selects the crops. The selection of the best species is necessary to improve the quality of the product.
Because of the culture features, a lot of options are available, either natural or induced, causing the existence of many varieties and hybrids. Then, we can call all this hybrids “transgenic”, because they contain genes from others plants. Therefore, all the corn that we consume is a transgenic organism with a mixture of genes that our ancestors considered the best options to improve the maize.
The corn marketed as StarLink™ is not only an example of genetically modified organism (GMO) with issues, but also an example of the regulations of the GMO doesn’t allow the release of products harmful for humans.


Myth: Biotechnological modifications of crops and foods are very different from traditional methods.
Reality: Biotechnology has helped the traditional agricultural methods. In the last 10,000 years, people have used their knowledge to improve food production. Farmers used to cross their plant to obtain features of interest. But this method was highly inaccurate since a lot of effort was placed in obtaining a desired feature.
Genetic modification is a more efficient and accurate tool that has allowed scientifics to find the specific gen they need for a particular trait. Later on, this gen could be cloned and introduced to a plant which would get the desirable characteristic.
It´s not that easy for the plant to express the desirable feature, even tough, genetic modification has allowed the next advances:

• Resistant plant to insects.
• Resistant stems for high wind
• Higher yields of production

To get more information, visit actionbioscience.org and read the article: Biotechnology in crops: Issues for the developing world, and Crop Biotechnology: Feeds for livestock from the university of California.


Fact: No genetically modified organism is released if it doesn’t comply with the regulation required.
In the United States the regulation of genetically engineered (GE) foods is divided among three federal agencies: the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) (oversees GE crop field trials); the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)(for selectable marker genes and proteins in crop development); the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) (conducts voluntary consultations on other aspects of GE foods with the companies that choose to consult with it). For more information about these agencies, please consult the review “Safety Testing and Regulation of Genetically Engineered Foods” in Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering Reviews (http://www.saveourseeds.org/downloads/schubert_safety_reg_us_11_2004.pdf).
In Mexico, the regulation of biotechnology products is based in the Mexican Constitution that establishes the general guidelines to be followed by government dependencies, like the Ley General de Salud (Health General Law), Ley Federal de Sanidad Vegetal (Federal Law of Vegetal Sanity), Ley federal sobre Metrología y Normalización (Federal Law about Metrology and Normalization), Ley Federal sobre Producción, Certificación y Comercio de Semillas (Federal Law about Production, Certification and Trade of Seeds), Normas Oficiales Mexicanas (NOM) (Official Mexican Standards) and other regulatory systems. An important law that regulates most of the crops in Mexico is the Ley de Bioseguridad de Organismos Genéticamente Modificados (Biosecurity Law for Genetically Modified Organisms). The law regulates the activities of confine employ, experimental, pilot program and commercial release, marketing, import and export of GM organism. For more information, you can consult it here: http://www.diputados.gob.mx/LeyesBiblio/pdf/LBOGM.pdf. For more information about Biotechnology and Biosecurity in Mexico check the review of the Mexican Congress here: http://www.diputados.gob.mx/cronica57/contenido/cont13/anali5.htm


NOTE 5: Myth: The production of resistant crops to pests and weeds will create immune “super insects”.
Reality: There is no scientific study that suggests this scenario may happen as a result of a genetically engineered crop production. Even so, there are a plenty of systems to prevent this scenario: crop rotation, hybrid rotation, and pest integral manage. Insects and weeds are not the same as they were in the past, but biotechnology could potentially improve their management so they do not gain a resistant.
To get more info see: Crop rotation form Penn State university and the site oisat.org


NOTE 6
Myth: The long-term effects produced by biotechnological generated food are unknown.
Reality: A lot of years of research have allowed the scientists to know the enormous benefits biotechnological food provides. The scientific consensus says that the risks associated with foods derived from biotechnology are fundamentally the same for other foods. Current science shows that foods produced through biotechnology are safe for consumption and there are a plenty of regulatory authorities like the FDA, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and EPA have determined that these products are safe to enter the food supply.
To get more info visit the sites of FDA, EPA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture


Controversy on Stem Cells
Stem cells have been an object of interest in many biotechnology researchers on the last years. Stem cells have tremendous potential to treat tumors, tissue regeneration, diabetes, Parkinson, neuronal regeneration and hearth attacks. Stem cells are cells that can divide and differentiate into diverse cells types.
The main discussion around stem cells are because of their origin. In the beginning, they came from embryos which were destroyed after the cells were obtained. The problem is that life begins once the embryo is fertilized.
What most people don’t know is that there are different types of stem cells: Embryonic and Adult. The embryonic stem cells are obtained from a fertilized embryo; meanwhile, adult stem cells are obtained from other sources such as teeth, bone marrow and umbilical cords. These type of cells could be used to avoid controversy and they may also be used in therapeutic treatments.
To get more information, see the article: Las células madre embrionarias totipotenciales by Guzmán and Solís from UNAM Gaceta Biomédica 2006.