Yeah...all in the name of science.
Flashback:
Edible HIV vaccine breakthrough
09:23 12 April 2002 by Emma Young
Maize genetically modified to contain a key protein found on the surface of the monkey form of HIV has been created by US company ProdiGene. This development brings an edible, more effective, HIV vaccine for people a step closer, says the US National Institutes of Health.
The protein - SIV gp120 - is the simian form of a protein that will be used in an HIV vaccine trial on people in Thailand later in 2002. Researchers will inject a canarypox virus modified to contain HIV genes and then a booster shot of HIV gp120. Both the trial and ProdiGene's SIV maize research are being funded by the NIH.
But the injected HIV gp120 is not expected to provoke a strong immune response in the mucosal layers of the body, whereas an ingested vaccine would. "For AIDS, a mucosal vaccine is important in two respects," says Stuart Shapiro, of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH, US.
"First, the HIV virus usually gets into the body through the mucosa, when it is transmitted either sexually or homosexually - so to have a good mucosal immune response is really important," he says. "Second, a mucosal vaccine is safer than an injectable vaccine in the developing world, where needles get re-used and are not sterilized properly."
Sarah Schlesinger, a research scientist at the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative in New York, says ProdiGene's announcement is "wonderful news - the protein has been in short supply and hard to produce. It's going to be very useful for vaccine science."
Controlled dose
The NIH asked ProdiGene to create maize that expresses the simian form of the protein and to assess the immune response in mice. "We can then take it and feed it to monkeys in our labs, and see not only if we get a response but if that response is protective against SIV," Shapiro says.
A maize-based source of HIV gp120 would have advantages beyond the possibility of producing large amounts of cheap vaccine in an edible form, says Shapiro. "It would be very stable - it could be dried and stored for long periods of time and safely shipped."
The HIV form of gp120 would not be used alone as a vaccine, Schlesinger points out. "I think it's unlikely this protein would ever be used as a stand-alone vaccine. But it could be useful as part of the vaccine strategy," she says.
Controlling the dose of a crop-based vaccine would be vital, ProdiGene's John McClellan admits. "For a corn product, you would harvest it, mill it and then assay it to check the protein content. This would always be a strictly controlled product."
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn2161-edible-hiv-vaccine-breakthrough.html#.VWcwwUaefiw
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How controlled is it really? Remember that if you are down wind of GMO Maize pollination you could wind up with this GMO Maize in your fields.
Current events:
Rural Indiana Struggles to Contend With H.I.V. Outbreak
Geographic definitions of the region vary. Typically, it is defined to include: Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, southern Michigan, western Ohio, eastern Nebraska, eastern Kansas, southern Minnesota and parts of Missouri.[2] As of 2008, the top four corn-producing states were Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska and Minnesota, together accounting for more than half of the corn grown in the United States.[3] The Corn Belt also sometimes is defined to include parts of South Dakota, North Dakota, Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Kentucky.[4] The region is characterized by relatively level land and deep, fertile soils, high in organic matter.[5]
More generally "Corn Belt" represents the most intensively agricultural region of the Midwest, connoting a lifestyle based on ownership of family farms, with supporting small towns and powerful farm organizations that lobbied to obtain higher prices.[6][7]
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