MEAT from transgenic pigs destined for destruction was turned into sausage
and eaten by at least nine people in Florida. It may be the first time people in
the US have eaten genetically modified meat.
This month Florida prosecutors have launched an investigation into the
incident, which began when a University of Florida employee stole three dead
experimental pigs. Unaware of the meat鈥檚 origin, a butcher made sausages from
it. Helen Griffin, who ate about 5 pounds of the sausages with a friend, thought
they 鈥渢asted real good鈥�.
No ill effects were reported, but officials at the National Institutes of
Health are nevertheless trying to work out if the meat was a health risk. The
pigs had been genetically modified to carry a copy of the rhodopsin gene, which
is involved in eye function. Philip Collis, a biosafety officer at the
university, says it is unlikely the rhodopsin gene could have made the meat
dangerous.
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If there was any concern, says Collis, it鈥檚 that the pigs had been injected
with barbiturates before they were killed. The drug could have triggered an
adverse reaction in those eating the meat.
However, the event seems to be an isolated one. 鈥淭his is the only case of its
kind we know of,鈥� says NIH spokesman Donald Ralbovsky. Still, University of
Florida officials are ensuring that in the future, GM animals are spray-painted
after being killed, so it鈥檚 clear they should not be eaten, says Collis.
Freak incidents aside, government agencies are beginning to look at the
imminent introduction of GM animal products into the human food supply. A new
committee at the National Academy of Sciences, formed at the request of the Food
and Drug Administration, will meet later this year. The FDA is urging GM food
researchers to cooperate with the agency.