Genetics & Food: Evolution 2.0

Humans have altered nature for thousands of years. Farmers have trimmed weeds into ever more productive grains and bred bigger, tastier animals. Is genetic engineering only the next evolutionary step or a step too far?

It really depends on how you ask the question: Would you like tastier tomatoes, healthier ham, and vegetables full of vitamins? Who wouldn’t raise a hand?

Now let’s rephrase it: Would you rather buy conventional food or genetically modified products? That’s usually when the enthusiasm fades.

Insulin, the only known treatment for diabetes, has been produced by genetically modified bacteria for 20 years. Before the advent of genetic engineering, patients had to use insulin from the pancreas of dead pigs and cows, which occasionally led to allergic reactions.

Insulin has become the GM success story, but it wasn’t an easy ride, recalls Johannes Klose, Scientific Advisor at Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty. “It took [the life-sciences company] Hoechst nearly 10 years to get their first insulin facility running. Nowadays, nobody would be scared. Millions of people use genetically engineered insulin.”

While a conservative and skeptical Europe remains a virtually GMO-free region, America has long accepted GM crops. Some 70 percent of the world’s soybean production and one quarter of all corn is genetically modified, and almost exclusively grown in the United States, Brazil, and Argentina. The Center for Food Safety estimates that up to 85 percent of U.S. corn is genetically engineered as are 91 percent of soybeans.

Its not that Americans don’t care, says Klose, they just don’t know. Whereas the European Union labels all products containing more than 0.9 percent of GM food stuff, no such labels exist in the United States. Once a new GM product has passed controls at the Food and Drug Administration, it is deemed safe to eat and enters the market unrecognizable.

According to the American Institute of Biological Sciences there are “no peer-reviewed publications of clinical studies on the human health effects of GM food.” It is nearly impossible to test the long-term effects on human health and the environment. “You would have to monitor this for decades, but you cannot do this because this would put people at risk,“ says Klose.

By Thilo Kunzemann
October 16, 2009
Source: Allianz

Gillibrand Unveils Comprehensive Food Safety Improvement Plan

Contaminated Food Kills 5,700 Americans Each Year – Nation’s Food Safety Laws Have Not Been Overhauled In A Century

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, the first New York senator to sit on the Senate Agriculture Committee in nearly 40 years, announced a comprehensive plan to overhaul the nation's food safety laws by improving inspection, recall response, and public education. A cornerstone of Senator Gillibrand's plan is new legislation to mandate E. coli inspections of ground beef.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), every year an estimated 87 million Americans are sickened by contaminated food, 371,000 are hospitalized with food-borne illness, and 5,700 die from food-related disease. While the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has made some progress improving food safety regulations, the nation's food safety laws have not been significantly overhauled in more than a century, according to the Congressional Research Service.

"In America, in 2009, it is unconscionable that food is still going straight to our kitchens, school cafeterias and restaurants without being properly tested to ensure its safety," Senator Gillibrand said. "It's spreading too many diseases and costing too many lives. We need to do a better job of catching contaminated food before it ever comes close to a kitchen table. My plan addresses the gaps in the inspection process and improves recalls and public education, so parents have access to the information to keep their families safe."

Across New York State, approximately 5 million people are afflicted with a food-borne illness each year.

READ Senator Gillibrand's new report on food safety.
Report at: http://gillibrand.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Food%20Safety%20Report.pdf

• In New York City, an estimate of nearly 2.1 million are afflicted with a food-borne illness each year;
• In Western New York, an estimate of nearly 360,000 are afflicted with a food-borne illness each year;
• In the Rochester-Finger Lakes Region, an estimate of over 310,000 are afflicted with a food-borne illness each year;
• In Central New York, an estimate of over 250,000 are afflicted with a food-borne illness each year;
• In the Southern Tier, an estimate of nearly 170,000 are afflicted with a food-borne illness each year;
• In the Capital Region, an estimate of over 280,000 are afflicted with a food-borne illness each year;
• In the North Country, an estimate of nearly 125,000 are afflicted with a food-borne illness each year;
• In the Hudson Valley, an estimate of an estimate of over 570,000 are afflicted with a food-borne illness each year;
• On Long Island, an estimate of over 715,000 are afflicted with a food-borne illness each year.

Source: Senator Kirsten Gillibrand
October 14, 2009

Make Our Food Safe

Every year, millions of Americans are sickened from consuming contaminated food, hundreds of thousands are hospitalized, and thousands of these people die.

Continued outbreaks of foodborne illness over the last several years – from spinach to peppers to peanut products – have demonstrated that these outbreaks are not random, unpreventable occurrences, but are due to widespread problems with our food safety system.

Our current food safety system is broken and has been in need of reform for decades. And this year, Congress has the opportunity to change course and help protect children, families, senior citizens and all others from foodborne illness.

Source: MakeOurFoodSafe.org

FDA's Growing Role Regulating Health 2.0, Health IT

Many involved in the world of health IT know that federal regulation is part of the deal. Issues of health information privacy have been subject to an array of federal and state laws for decades. HIPAA, the Federal Privacy Act, laws governing Medicaid, Medicare, the Veterans Health Administration, funds used for the treatment of mental illness, sexually transmitted infections and on and on all have privacy provisions. There is a similar regulatory scheme for data security, again including HIPAA, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and other laws.

More recently, Congress began authorizing HHS and its Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT to fund and regulate electronic prescribing standards, health IT standards, certification, "meaningful use", information exchange and other provisions found in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Regulation of Health 2.0?
What many do not know is that FDA likely will play an increasingly important role in regulating health IT. We're reminded of this most immediately by the recent announcement that FDA is holding a public meeting regarding the "Promotion of FDA-Regulated Medical Products Using the Internet and Social Media Tools." The official announcement appears in the Sept. 21, 2009, Federal Register.

This hearing, set for mid-November 2009, in Washington D.C., is intended to help guide FDA in making policy decisions on how the Internet and social media tools (e.g., blogs, microblogs, podcasts, social networking sites, online communications, video sharing, widgets, and wikis) can be used to promote FDA-regulated medical products -- including human and animal drugs and biologics, and medical devices -- in a truthful, non-misleading, and balanced manner.

Specific questions that will be addressed at the meeting include:

• For what online communications will manufacturers, packers or distributors be held accountable?
• How can manufacturers, packers and distributors fulfill regulatory requirements (e.g., fair balance) in their Internet and social network promotions?
• What parameters should apply to the posting of corrective information on Web sites controlled by third parties?
• When is the use of links appropriate?

By Bruce Merlin Fried
October 2, 2009
Source: iHealthBeat