GMO lamb with jellyfish glow gene sold at French market poses no risk to humans or environment

A lamb born to a genetically altered sheep was deliberately sold for meat at a Parisian meat market, according to a report in the French newspaper Le Parisien. The GM sheep—engineered to glow with a fluorescent protein encoded by a jellyfish gene—allowed scientists at the French National Institute for Agricultural Research visually monitor stem cell transplants intended to restore heart function.

“Rubis”—a class 1 GMO, containing a gene of “no or negligible risk” to humans—wasn’t supposed to make it out. But escape she did. According to a statement released yesterday by the INRA, an unhappy employee intentionally transferred the lamb for sale in August 2014. A few months later the carcass was sold to a private, unidentified individual.

Despite the lab’s statement that the lamb presented no risk to humans or the environment, the incident is sparking alarm among European officials and environmental groups.

But let’s take a step back: Is there any real threat posed by making a dinner of Rubis?

Ask Jim Murray and he’ll laugh. “My reaction to hearing this story was to think, ‘I’m glad to see some transgenic animal finally made it into food chain,’” says Murray, geneticists and professor of animal science at the University of California, Davis.

While the legal issue is real, he says, the safety one is not. DNA is safe to eat. Every meal you’ve ever had has probably held a mixture of DNA from many species.

The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis. Read full, original post: You’d be fine if you ate the French Mutant Lamb

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