GM pea project discontinued during risk assessment

A CSIRO project using modern genetic methods to protect peas against insect pests has been terminated during the risk assessment process. GM project risk assessment in Australia is mandated by the Gene Technology regulatory agency OGTR.

A CSIRO press release today explains that six performance trials on these GM peas were conducted under field conditions between 1996 and 2001. These trials showed that alpha-amylase inhibitor containing GM pea crops were 99.5 per cent protected against pea weevil damage, and had crop yields that are comparable to non-GM field peas.

Unfortunately though, CSIRO investigators found that the insect feeding inhibitor in these GM peas has a different molecular structure than the native inhibitor present in bean plants.

Immune response study

The bean alpha-amylase inhibitor protein has been studied extensively over many years and has shown no health risk to humans or animals. However as part of its risk assessment, CSIRO asked the John Curtin School of Medical Research in Canberra (JCSMR) to help examine whether the pea form of the alpha-amylase inhibitor protein caused an immune reaction in mice.

Mice were fed either beans, non-GM peas or alpha-amylase inhibitor GM peas twice a week for four weeks. In a separate experiment, the reaction to the pea alpha-amylase inhibitor protein was compared to bean alpha-amylase inhibitor protein when administered to the mice lungs.

Mice fed beans did not show evidence of an immune reaction. Similarly, mice fed non-GM peas did not demonstrate any immune reaction.

Mice exposed to alpha-amylase inhibitor GM-peas showed evidence of an immune response after two weeks, with the response increasing at four weeks. The reaction in mice was evident by inflammation in the lungs and increased serum antibody levels. The research also showed that after eating the GM peas, there was evidence that the pea alpha-amylase inhibitor protein primed the mice to react to other food antigens.

Given the findings about immune responses in this research, CSIRO has now made a decision to discontinue work on GM peas with alpha-amylase inhibitor, and is finalising arrangements with the OGTR for the disposal of GM field peas produced during the project.

The findings of this risk assessment study emphasise the effectiveness of case-by-case evaluation of GM plants and the important role science can play in decision-making around the introduction of GM crops

The details of the work that led to the project’s termination were just recently published by an American Chemical Society journal:

Transgenic Expression of Bean α-Amylase Inhibitor in Peas Results in Altered Structure and Immunogenicity

Vanessa E. Prescott, Peter M. Campbell, Andrew Moore, Joerg Mattes, Marc E. Rothenberg, Paul S. Foster, T. J. V. Higgins, and Simon P. Hogan JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL AND FOOD CHEMISTRY

Volume 53, Issue 23 (November 16, 2005) pages 9023 - 9030

See also
CSIRO site
Regulatory Agency rules, other comments

The Plant Journal (2001) 27(6), 503-528
Assessment of the food safety issues related to genetically modified foods
Harry A. Kuiper, Gijs A. Kleter, Hub P. J. M. Noteborn and Esther J. Kok
National Institute for Quality Control of Agricultural Products (RIKILT), Wageningen University and Research Centre, Wageningen, the Netherlands

Editorial comment in Nature Biotechnology

Update March 2006:
GMO wheat from CSIRO has potential to improve bowel health.

April 2010

Discussion of CSIRO GM pea project at Academics Review

2013 Update: Potential allergy findings revised