Author: SIMON SILVER
Department of Microbiology & Immunology University
of Illinois Chicago
The Luddites have mostly won during the 15 years of recombinant DNA research and debates. An FDA report concludes that bovine growth hormone presents no increased health risk. Yet the combination of building political bases and mounting irrational fear of genetic engineering means that we will probably continue to be protected from this unreal danger. Our students have questioning minds, so this compilation of studies (largely done by industry) is useful for education, even if the political process overrides scientific analysis.
J.C. Juskevich, C.G. Guyer, Bovine growth hormone: human food safety evaluation, Science, 249, 875-84, 24 August 1990. (Food and Drug Administration, Rockville, Md.)
Without direct structural information, mutational and gene-fusion analysis of membrane proteins is of limited power. That is the conclusion from the most thorough of such analyses on the best-studied membrane transport carrier.
H.R. Kaback, ...
