Edible Vaccines and Flying Syringes

Edible Vaccines and Flying Syringes:

"Daniel Taylor
Old-thinker News
June 1, 2009

When genetically modified foods were first introduced, the biotech industry hailed tomatoes that were frost resistant and round-up ready crops. Now, there is a further development in biotech that has received little attention in the mainstream media. Serious environmental and health concerns still surround GM food safety, but new technologies are being developed to turn foods into vaccine delivery systems. While there may be positive angles to this technology, we must take into account the long term goals of the establishment, which is already invested in the research and development of edible vaccine technology.

Charles Arntzen, who served as President of the Boyce Thompson Institute, suggested using bananas as edible vaccines in developing countries.

Edible vaccines

In 1996 the Rockefeller Foundation supplied grant money for early research on edible vaccines. The $58,000 grant, given to the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research at Cornell University, was aimed at developing and transferring edible vaccine technology to developing countries. Cornell University reports, “Researchers at the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research Inc. at Cornell now will begin exchanging new vaccine information with scientists in developing countries, starting with Mexico, thanks to a new Rockefeller Foundation grant.

Gomez-Lim and his American colleagues will try to verify the value of “edible” vaccines and to begin educational efforts in Mexico to facilitate the rapid adoption of these vaccines for safe and effective use.”

Charles Arntzen, who served as President of the Boyce Thompson Institute, can be heard here explaining the use of bananas as edible vaccines in developing countries."