permaculture

[Jaime Juantara <jaimejuantara@yahoo.com>]

Hi Everyone,
Just a quick invite to you all. I'm hosting a salon at
Farmlab tomorrow at 12:00 PM about the Farmlab AgBin Garden we are managing 
in the
Cornfield. It's an experiment in mobile community gardening and could
make for a very interesting discussion. A wholesome meal and some
indoor and outdoor fun should make for a good break in the day for many
of you.


http://farmlab.org/2008/07/farmlab-public-salon-flag-community.html

I hope to see you there.
Ciao,
Jaime


-- 
Jaime Lopez Wolters
Farmlab Agriculturist
E-mail: jaimejuantara@gmail.com
Tel: (213)999-0819


      
>From lflj@intrex.net  Fri Sep  5 01:44:31 2008
Return-Path: <lflj@intrex.net>
X-Original-To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
Delivered-To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
Received: by lists.ibiblio.org (Postfix, from userid 3002)
        id 43A174C02C; Fri,  5 Sep 2008 01:44:31 -0400 (EDT)
X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.2.3 (2007-08-08) on malecky
X-Spam-Level: *
X-Spam-Status: No, score=1.2 required=5.0 tests=SARE_LWSHORTT
        autolearn=disabled version=3.2.3
Received: from fmailhost03.isp.att.net (fmailhost03.isp.att.net
        [207.115.11.53])
        by lists.ibiblio.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 720CD4C019
        for <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>;
        Fri,  5 Sep 2008 01:44:28 -0400 (EDT)
Received: from [10.0.0.8]
        (adsl-065-005-197-216.sip.rdu.bellsouth.net[65.5.197.216])
        by isp.att.net (frfwmhc03) with ESMTP
        id <20080905054423H0300243ome>; Fri, 5 Sep 2008 05:44:25 +0000
X-Originating-IP: [65.5.197.216]
Message-ID: <48C0C735.9000806@intrex.net>
Date: Fri, 05 Sep 2008 01:44:21 -0400
From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lflj@intrex.net>
Organization: Venaura Farm
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US;
        rv:1.7.8) Gecko/20050511
X-Accept-Language: en-us, en
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: Sustainable Agriculture Network Discussion Group
        <SANET-MG@LISTS.IFAS.UFL.EDU>, 
        permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Subject: [permaculture] Good reason to avoid GM food.
X-BeenThere: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.9
Precedence: list
Reply-To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
List-Id: permaculture <permaculture.lists.ibiblio.org>
List-Unsubscribe: <http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/permaculture>,
        <mailto:permaculture-request@lists.ibiblio.org?subject=unsubscribe>
List-Archive: <https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/permaculture>
List-Post: <mailto:permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
List-Help: <mailto:sympa@lists.ibiblio.org?subject=HELP>
List-Subscribe: <http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/permaculture>,
        <mailto:permaculture-request@lists.ibiblio.org?subject=subscribe>
X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 05 Sep 2008 05:44:31 -0000


[Maybe Joe Cummins can provide the website URL for this article.]
(forwarded post):

Good reason to avoid GM food.

According to the CDC:  "Morgellons is an unexplained and debilitating
condition that has emerged as a public health concern.  Recently, the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has received an
increased number of inquiries from the public, health care providers,
public health officials, Congress, and the media regarding this
condition.   Persons who suffer from this condition report a range of
coetaneous symptoms including crawling, biting and stinging sensations;
granules, threads or black speck-like materials on or beneath the skin;
and/or skin lesions (e.g., rashes or sores) and some sufferers also
report systemic manifestations such as fatigue, mental confusion, short
term memory loss, joint pain, and changes in vision"

Here's one of the key portions of this long report:

Citovsky's team took scanning electron microscope pictures of the fibres
in or extruding from the skin of patients suffering from Morgellons disease,
confirming that they are unlike any ordinary natural or synthetic fibres.

Figure 1. Scanning electron microscope images of fibres from skin biopsies
of patients with Morgellons Disease -  a, white fibre with calcite,
scale bar 10 mm; b, green fibre with alumina 'rock' protruding, scale bar 20
mm; c, various ribbon-like, cylindrical and faceted fibres all coated with
minerals, scale bar 10 mm; d, skin lesion with fibres stabbing through the
epidermis, scale bar 300 mm
They also analysed patients for Agrobacterium DNA. Skin biopsy samples
from Morgellons patients were subjected to high-stringency polymerase
chain reaction (PCR) tests for genes encoded by the Agrobacterium
chromosome and also for Agrobacterium virulence (vir) genes and T-DNA
on its Ti plasmid. They found that "all Morgellons patients screened
to date have tested positive for the presence of Agrobacterium, whereas this
microorganism has not been detected in any of the samples derived from
the control, healthy individuals." Their preliminary conclusion is that
"Agrobacterium may be involved in the etiology and/or progression"
of Morgellons Disease.

Preliminary findings suggest a link between Morgellons Disease and
Agrobacterium, a soil bacterium extensively manipulated and used in
making GM crops; has genetic engineering created a new epidemic? You can
read the link at http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9891

A fully illustrated and referenced version is posted on ISIS members'
website. Details here.

An electronic version of the complete report, or any other complete ISIS
report, can be sent to you via e-mail for a donation of £3.50. Please
e-mail the title of the report to: report@i-sis.org.uk
  *CDC launch investigation on Morgellons' Disease*

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in the United States announced the
launch of an investigation on 'Morgellons Disease' in January 2008 [1],
after receiving thousands of complaints from people with this
bewildering condition, which it describes as follows [2]: "Persons who
suffer from this unexplained skin condition report a range of cutaneous
(skin) symptoms including crawling, biting and stinging sensations;
granules, threads, fibers, or black speck-like materials on or beneath
the skin, and/or skin lesions (e.g., rashes or sores). In addition to
skin manifestations, some sufferers also report fatigue, mental
confusion, short term memory loss, joint pain, and changes in vision."

Morgellons Disease first became known in 2001, when Mary Leitao created
a web site describing the illness in her young son, which she named
after a 17th century medical study in France describing similar symptoms
[3]. Until then, people with Morgellons Disease have been diagnosed as
cases of "delusional parasitosis", in which the symptoms are deemed
entirely imaginary, and lesions allegedly due to self-inflicted wounds.

Indeed, the debate over Morgellons Disease has continued in the pages of
medical and scientific journals right up to the CDC's announcement [4-7]

Dr. Michele Pearson, principal investigator for the CDC said [1] that
the primary goals of the study are "to learn more about who may be
affected with this condition, the symptoms they experience and to look
for clues about factors that might contribute to the condition," adding
that the condition is "complex", and "may be due to multiple factors."

In response to questions from journalists at the CDC press conference,
Pearson said:

" We are aware that many patients have suffered from this condition.
And, I can tell you that here at CDC, we have really been seeing an
increasing number of these reports over the past year or so."

CDC's investigation is to be carried out in conjunction with Kaiser
Permanente's Northern California Division of Research and the US Armed
Forces Institute of Pathology.

Dr. Joe Selby, Director of the Kaiser Permanente's Northern California
Division of Research, said the study would proceed in three stages. In
the first stage, they will identify all members who may have seen a
Kaiser Permanente physician with symptoms suggestive of this condition
at any point during the 18 months between July 1 2006 and December 31,
2007, and determine whether they meet eligibility criteria for the
study. In stage two, all eligible members will be invited to complete a
comprehensive web based or telephone survey conducted by the CDC that
examines the duration and severity of a variety of symptoms. And in
stage three, those with active symptoms will be invited to the division
of research for an extensive clinical examination including collection
of skin biopsies, blood and urine samples.

In a paper [6] published in 2006, researchers from the Morgellons
Research Foundation [3] identified the states of California, Texas and
Florida as having the highest number of cases of Morgellons disease in
the United States. Primary clusters were noted in Los Angeles and San
Francisco (California) and Houston, Dallas and Austin (Texas).
California accounted for 26 percent of cases in the US, but all 50 US
states and 15 other nations, including Canada, the UK, Australia, and
the Netherlands, have reported cases of Morgellons disease. The two main
occupational groups reporting symptoms are nurses and teachers, with
nurses outnumbering teachers three to one. The risk factor common to
both groups is suspected to be the possibility of transmitted infectious
agents.

Skin lesions and fibres may not be readily apparent in all individuals
with the disease, as family members of patients often report similar
systemic disease symptoms without skin symptoms. Families in which all
members are affected often have suspected simultaneous exposure to an
inciting agent. Contact with soil or waste products appears to be
associated with the disease. Cases have been reported in cats and dogs,
as well as horses.

What finally prompted CDC to investigate the disease? The Morgellons
Research Foundation [3] was set up in 2002 in honour of Mary Leitao, the
Foundation's executive director. It publicises the plight of patients
with similar conditions and operates a registry of afflicted families.
The Foundation also funds scientific research. It has a Medical Advisory
Board of seven with M.D. degree and two with nursing degrees. In
addition, it has a Board of Nursing with five other nurses, and a
Scientific Advisory Board of six scientists, all with Ph.D. degree; one
of which is Vitaly Citovsky.  It may have been Citovsky's discovery last
year that finally persuaded the CDC to announce an investigation.

The Agrobacterium connection
Vitaly Citovsky is a professor of molecular and cell biology at Stony
Brook University in New York (SUNY). He is a world authority on the
genetic modification of cells by Agrobacterium, a soil bacterium causing
crown gall disease in plants, that has been widely used in creating
genetically modified (GM) plants since the 1980s because of its ability
to transfer a piece of its genetic material, the T-DNA on its
tumour-inducing (Ti) plasmid to the plant genome (see later for details).

Citovsky's team took scanning electron microscope pictures of the fibres
in or extruding from the skin of patients suffering from Morgellons
disease, confirming that they are unlike any ordinary natural or
synthetic fibres (see Fig. 1, assembled from Citovsky's website [8]).

Figure 1. Scanning electron microscope images of fibres from skin
biopsies of patients with Morgellons Disease -  a, white fibre with
calcite, scale bar 10 mm; b, green fibre with alumina 'rock' protruding,
scale bar 20 mm; c, various ribbon-like, cylindrical and faceted fibres
all coated with minerals, scale bar 10 mm; d, skin lesion with fibres
stabbing through the epidermis, scale bar 300 mm
They also analysed patients for Agrobacterium DNA. Skin biopsy samples
from Morgellons patients were subjected to high-stringency polymerase
chain reaction (PCR) tests for genes encoded by the Agrobacterium
chromosome and also for Agrobacterium virulence (vir) genes and T-DNA on
its Ti plasmid. They found that "all Morgellons patients screened to
date have tested positive for the presence of Agrobacterium, whereas
this microorganism has not been detected in any of the samples derived
from the control, healthy individuals." Their preliminary conclusion is
that "Agrobacterium may be involved in the etiology and/or progression"
of Morgellons Disease.
The unpublished findings have been posted on a website [8] since January
2007. They were further publicized in the "first ever" Morgellons
conference in Austin Texas, attended by 100 in March 2008 [9]. A growing
list of people are registered with Morgellons Disease, totalling 12 106
worldwide recorded by Morgellons Research Foundation [3], as of 12 April
2008.

San Francisco physician, Raphael Stricker, one of only a few doctors who
believe the disease is real, said [9]. "There's almost always some
history of exposure to dirt basically either from gardening or camping
or something."  He is one of the co-authors on the Agrobacterium
research done in SUNY, which reported finding Agrobacterium DNA in all 5
Morgellons patients studied. Stricker suggests it is transmitted by
ticks, like Lyme disease, and in a recent survey of 44 Morgellons
patients in San Francisco, 43 of them also tested positive for the
bacterium causing Lyme disease. Another factor consistent with
Agrobacterium being a causative agent, if not the causative agent, is
that when patients are treated with antibacterials for their Lyme
disease, remission of Morgellons symptoms is seen in most of them [6].

Stricker also told his audience that Agrobacterium lives in the soil,
and is known to cause infections in animals and human beings with
compromised immune systems. It can cause skin lesions when injected into
Swiss mice, a strain that is immune deficient, he said.
At this point, the findings on the Agrobacterium connection are still
preliminary, as only seven patients have been studied. Nevertheless, the
implications are far-reaching if this connection is confirmed, as
existing evidence (reviewed below) suggests a link between Agrobacterium
and genetic engineering in the creation of new disease agents, and it is
paramount for the CDC investigation to include this aspect, if only to
rule it out.

Agrobacterium and the genetic engineering connection
Agrobacterium not only infects human and other animal cells, it also
transfers genes into them. It was SUNY professor Citovsky and his team
that made the discovery some years ago [10]. Until then, the genetic
engineering community had assumed that Agrobacterium did not infect
animal cells, and certainly would not transfer genes into them.

Agrobacterium was found to transfer T-DNA into the chromosomes of human
cells.

In stably transformed HeLa cells, the integration occurred at the right
border of the T-DNA, exactly as would happen when it is being
transferred into a plant cell genome, suggesting that Agrobacterium
transforms human cells by a mechanism similar to that involved in
transforming plants cells (see Box 1). Human cancer cells, neurons and
kidney cells were all transformed with the Agrobacterium T-DNA.
Commenting on this research in 2001, Joe Cummins had warned of hazards
to laboratory and farm workers [11] (i-sis news11/12)

The Agrobacterium vector system for gene transfer
Since the discovery in the 1970s that Agrobacterium can transfer genes
into plants causing crown gall disease, the soil bacterium has been
developed into a vector for inserting desirable genes into the plant
genome to create transgenic (GM) plants [12].

  Agrobacterium transfers T-DNA - a small region of approximately 5 to 10
percent of a resident tumour-inducing (Ti) or root-inducing (Ri) plasmid
- into numerous species of plants; and as later turns out, also to
fungi, algae, and even animal and human cells [13, 14] (see main text).

Transfer requires three major elements [13]: T-DNA border direct repeat
sequences of 25 base pairs that flank the T-DNA and delineate the region
transferred into the host, the virulence (vir) genes located on the
Ti/Ri plasmid, and various genes on the bacterial chromosome. Plant
genes are also involved in the successful integration of T-DNA [15]. The
T-DNA contains oncogenes (cancer genes or gene for forming tumours) and
genes for synthesizing opines; none of which is essential for T-DNA
transfer, so they can be deleted and replaced with genes of interest and
selectable markers.

Furthermore, the vir genes and T-DNA region need not be on the same
replicating plasmid. This gave rise to the binary vector systems in
which T-DNA and the vir genes are located on separate replicating units.
The T-DNA containing unit is the binary vector and contains also the
origin(s) of replication that could function both in E. coli and
Agrobacterium tumefaciens, and antibiotic resistance marker genes used
to select for the presence of the binary vector in bacteria. The
replicating unit containing the vir genes is the 'helper' plasmid.
Strains of Agrobacterium harbouring the two separate units are
considered 'disarmed' if they do not contain oncogenes that could be
transferred to a plant.

The association of Morgellons Disease with dirt and soil where
Agrobacterium lives, the widespread use of Agrobacterium in genetic
engineering of plants, and the ability of Agrobacterium to infect human
cells, all point towards a possible role of genetic engineering in the
aetiology of Morgellans disease via Agrobacterium.

Extensive genetic manipulation of Agrobacterium does have the potential
to transform it into an aggressive human pathogen. Genetic engineering
is nothing if not enhanced and facilitated horizontal gene transfer and
recombination, which is widely acknowledged to be the main route for
creating new pathogens. Mae-Wan Ho was among an international panel of
scientists have raised this very issue in 1998, calling for a public
enquiry into the possible contributions of genetic engineering
biotechnology to the aetiology of infectious diseases which has greatly
increased since genetic engineering began in the 1970s [16].

The epidemiological data of Morgellons Disease are very incomplete, and
the Morgellons Research Foundation's registry of more than 12 000
families afflicted worldwide is almost certainly only a fraction of the
emerging epidemic. Still, it is significant that the majority of the
cases are in the United States, the first country to release GM crops
and remaining the top producer ever since.

There are other findings implicating Agrobacterium in transgenic plants
released into the environment, particularly during the early years of
field trials, when knowledge was poor and safety measures not as
stringent as they may be today.

Agrobacterium persists in transgenic plants and is a vehicle for gene escape
By the late 1990s, the Agrobacterium vector system became very widely
used, and many GM crops created were commercially released.

Scientists at the Kinsealy Research and Development Centre in Dublin,
Ireland, and the Scottish Crop Research Institute in Dundee, Scotland,
were concerned that the inserted genes in plants would spread to wild
populations by cross-pollination or by horizontal gene transfer to
unrelated species, which was by then well-documented in the scientific
literature.

They considered it "imperative" to address the risk posed in using
Agrobacterium as a tool in genetic engineering [17], given its ability
to transfer genes to plants. The transformation procedure involves
inoculating the cells or tissue explants with Agrobacterium and
co-cultivation the plant cells and bacterium for a short period,
followed by the elimination of the bacterium with antibiotics.

However, if all the bacteria were not eliminated, then "release of these
plants may also result in release of the Agrobacterium [with the foreign
genes]", which will serve as a vehicle for further gene escape, at least
to other Agrobacterium strains naturally present in the soil.

Although various antibiotics have been used to eliminate Agrobacterium
following transformation, the researchers stated that "very few authors
actually test to ensure that the antibiotics succeed."

The difficulty is compounded because the bacterium can remain latent
within the plant tissue. So putting transgenic plant material into
culture medium without antibiotics and finding no Agrobacterium is no
guarantee that the transgenic plant is free of the bacterium, as was
often assumed.

In their study, they investigated the ability of antibiotics to
eliminate Agrobacterium tumefaciens after transformation in three model
systems: Brassica (mustard), Solanum (potato), and Rubus (raspberry).
The antibiotics carbenicillin, cefataxime and ticaracillin were used
respectively to eliminate the bacterium at four times the minimum
bactericidal concentration, as recommended. They found that none of the
antibiotic succeeded in eliminating Agrobacterium.

The contamination levels increased from 12 to 16 weeks to such an extent
that transgenic Solanum cultures senesced and died. Contamination in
shoot material decreased over 16 to 24 weeks possibly because only the
apical node was used in further culture, but even that did not eliminate
Agrobacterium from all the samples; 24 percent remained contaminated at
24 weeks.

The binary vector was also present under non-selective conditions up to
6 months after transformation, where approximately 50 percent of
contaminated material still harboured bacterial cells with the binary
vector at high levels of about 107 colony forming units per gram.  The
researchers pointed out: "Here is where the possibility of gene escape
arises. The presence of the disarmed Agrobacterium in the tissue would
not be a problem if the binary vector had been lost, but now its
survival and spread are real possibilities." The binary vector contains
the foreign genes as well as antibiotic resistance marker gene(s).

There is no limit to the foreign genes that can be inserted into the
binary vector. A few years earlier, a research group in Israel had
inserted a viroid that causes disease in citrus fruits into the disarmed
Ti plasmid of Agrobacterium and used that to infect and transform
several plant species including tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) Gynura
aurantiaca, avocado (Persea americana), and grapefruit (Citrus paradisi)
grafted on Troyer citrange (Pancirus trifoliate x C. sinensis) [18].
Extracts prepared from tissues of the infected plants 38-90 days after
inoculation were plated on selective media and found to contain large
amounts of the engineered bacteria.

The researchers warned of "newly formed combinations of persistently
transmitted viruses" coupled with "the opportunistic and systemically
moving Agrobacterium vector infectious to a wide host range might
eventually cause infection and damage to crop plants or natural
vegetation" that are "not presently visited by the traditional vectors
of the virus disease."

In other words, Agrobacterium persisting in transgenic plants released
into the environment has the potential to spread new diseases, and to
plants that normally would not be infected by the disease agents. At the
time, the researchers did not know that Agrobacterium would also infect
animals and humans, and could spread new diseases to them as well.

Have these warnings been heeded by other researchers? There is no
evidence they have been taken on board. Agrobacterium has since been
shown to transform at least 80 different non-plant species including
yeasts and other fungi, algae, mammalian and human cells, also the gram
positive bacterium Streptomyces lividans. In a recent review, the
researchers stated [14]: "Future research has to show whether
Agrobacterium-mediated transformation contributed to horizontal gene
transfer between microorganisms in the rhizosphere."

But there is already evidence suggesting that Agrobacterium can indeed
engage in horizontal gene transfer with a wide range of bacteria in the
soil. (For more on horizontal gene transfer see [19]  Horizontal Gene
Transfer from GMOs Does Happen, SiS 38)

Agrobacterium gene transfer mechanisms similar to conjugation in bacteria
Ho first alerted regulators to the potential of Agrobacterium
contaminating GM plants to facilitate the escape of transgenes in 2003
(see Living with the Fluid Genome [20] and The Case for A GM-Free
Sustainable World [21] ISIS publications). By then, Gayle Ferguson and
Jack Heinemann at the University of Canterbury, Christchurh, New
Zealand, had already pointed out in a review that the process whereby
Agrobacterium injects T-DNA into plant cells strongly resembles
conjugation, the normal mating process between bacteria [22].

Conjugation, mediated by certain bacterial plasmids, depends on a
sequence called the origin of transfer (oriT) on the DNA transferred.
All other functions - called tra for trans-acting functions - can be
supplied from unlinked sources. Thus, 'disabled' plasmids with no
trans-acting functions, can nevertheless be transferred by helper
plasmids, the same as the binary vector system of Agrobacterium (Box 1).
The resemblance does not stop there.

The left and right borders of T-DNA are similar to oriT and can be
replaced by it. Furthermore, the disarmed T-DNA binay vector, lacking
oncogenes as well as virulence genes, can be helped by similar genes
belonging to many other pathogenic bacteria. The trans-kingdom gene
transfer apparatus of Agrobacterium and the conjugative systems of
bacteria are both involved in transporting macromolecules, not just DNA
but also protein.

Thus, transgenic plants with contaminating Agrobacterium [20] "have a
ready route for horizontal gene escape, via Agrobacterium, helped by the
ordinary conjugative mechanisms of many other bacteria that cause
diseases, which are present in the environment." In the process, new and
exotic disease agents could be created.

Investigations on the role of Agrobacterium in Morgellons Disease
urgently needed
The investigation launched by the CDC needs to clarify the role of
Agrobacterium in the aetiology of Morgellons Disease as a matter of
urgency. This should include:

Molecular characterization of Agrobacterium DNA sequences in Morgellans
Disease patients
Design of suitable probes for diagnostic purposes and for monitoring
soil samples and other suspected sources of infection
Introduction of stringent tests for Agrobacterium contamination for all
transgenic plants already released or about to be released into the
environment.

  Global Research Articles by Mae-Wan Ho
  Global Research Articles by Joe Cummins