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Research raises concerns over functionality, cancer causing impact of GMOs
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Ashwani Maindola, New Delhi
August 31 , 2015
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Scientist Dr Shiva Ayyadurai’s recent research has raised alarming
questions on the functionality of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)
and their impact on plant behaviour as carcinogens.
The MIT
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology)-based Indian origin scientist’s
research has shown that GMOs have bad impact on molecular system of
plant which results in excessive accumulation of formaldehyde -
classified by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a probable
human carcinogen under conditions of unusually high or prolonged
exposure.
Dr Ayyadurai’s new study published in the peer-reviewed
Journal of Agricultural Sciences, 2015, applies modern computational
systems’ biology methods to reveal genetically-modified soy creates
significant disruption in basic cellular functions leading to a sharp
increase in levels of formaldehyde, a known carcinogen. In the GMO,
formaldehyde dramatically accumulates and glutathione, an antioxidant,
is depleted. The study is the first systems biology analysis of its
kind.
According to the research paper by Dr Ayyadurai and
Prabhakar Deonikar, published in the journal, the safety assessment of
GMOs is a contentious topic. Proponents of GMOs assert that GMOs are
safe since the FDA’s policy of substantial equivalence considers GMOs
“equivalent” to their non-GMO counterparts, and argue that GM is simply
an extension of a “natural” process of plant breeding, a form of
“genetic modification,” though done over longer time scales.
Meanwhile,
anti-GMO activists counter that GMOs were unsafe since substantial
equivalence was unscientific and outdated and it originated in the 1970s
to assess safety of medical devices, which were not comparable to the
complexity of biological systems, and contend that targeted GM was not
plant breeding.
Dr Ayyadurai, who was in Delhi recently to
propagate his research analysis, says, “The heart of the debate appears
to be on the methodology used to determine criteria for substantial
equivalence. Systems biology, which aims to understand complexity of the
whole organism, as a system, rather than just studying its parts in a
reductionist manner, may provide a framework to determine appropriate
criteria, as it recognises that GM, small or large, may affect emergent
properties of the whole system.
He explains, “ Herein, a
promising computational systems biology method couples known
perturbations on five biomolecules caused by the CP4 EPSPS GM of Glycine
max L. (soybean), with an integrative model of C1 metabolism and
oxidative stress (two molecular systems critical to plant function). The
results predict significant accumulation of formaldehyde and
concomitant depletion of glutathione in the GMO, suggesting how a
“small” and single GM creates “large” and systemic perturbations to
molecular systems equilibria.”
Dr Ayyadurai adds, “The results
from this study suggest a substantial difference in the molecular
systems of non-GMO and GMO versions of soybean, as observed in the
temporal dynamics of two biomarkers, formaldehyde and glutathione, which
predict metabolic disruptions in C1 metabolism.”
In non-GMO
plants, formaldehyde, a known toxin, remains at near zero levels, as it
is naturally cleared through a process of formaldehyde detoxification, a
molecular system resident in all plants, bacteria and fungi.
Concomitantly, glutathione, a known anti-oxidising agent, in non-GMO
plants, is naturally replenished and remains at non-zero steady state
levels, to support such system detoxification of formaldehyde. However,
in the GMO case of soybean, or RRS, there is a significant accumulation
of formaldehyde and a concomitant depletion of glutathione, suggesting
how a “small” and single GM can create “large” and systemic
perturbations to molecular systems equilibria.
He adds that the
results of this research were particularly relevant, as the United
States White House on July 2, 2015, had ordered a review of rules for GM
crops.
“The computational systems biology approach, herein, and
the resultant predictions, may inform regulatory agencies in their
efforts for “Improving Transparency and Ensuring Continued Safety in
Biotechnology,” to adopt a systems biology approach using a combination
of in silico, computational methods used herein, and subsequent targeted
experimental in vitro and in vivo designs, to develop a systems
understanding of “equivalence” using biomarkers, such as formaldehyde
and glutathione, which predict metabolic disruptions, as criteria for
modernising the safety assessment of GMOs, while fostering a much-needed
transparent, collaborative and scientific discourse,” states Dr
Ayyadurai.
Regulatory agencies, currently reviewing rules for
GMO safety, may wish to adopt a systems biology approach using a
combination of in silico, computational methods used herein, and
subsequent targeted experimental in vitro and in vivo designs, to
develop a systems understanding of “equivalence” using biomarkers, such
as formaldehyde and glutathione, which predict metabolic disruptions,
towards modernising the safety assessment of GMOs, according to the
synopsis of the research paper.
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