GMO tobacco ‘mystery serum’ rescues Ebola virus victims

Genetic Literacy Project ^ | 8/6/2014 | Meredith Knight

[Valpal1]

When American Ebola patient Dr. Kent Brantly arrived in Atlanta, Georgia, Aug. 2, he had reportedly already had one course of treatment with an experimental drug called ZMAPP made with genetically engineered tobacco. Although it has only been tested previously in animals, the FDA is rumored to have authorized emergency approval for the drug for Brantly and another American who contracted the virus doing medical aid work in Liberia during the ongoing West African Ebola outbreak.

MAPP is produced by a small San Diego-based biotech company. The scientists use a common tobacco bacteria, genetically engineered with different components of the Ebola virus, to infect a large number of plants. The infection spurs the plants to make antibodies to the virus, including the pieces of viral Ebola DNA. The tobacco is then crushed up and the ebola serum is extracted. It contains antibodies that target several parts of the virus.

[Valpal1]

This ought to make the lefty luddite's heads spin.

[Sacajaweau]

Except he also got a transfusion from a 14 year old boy who had recovered from Ebola...which would/could/might/may act as a vaccine.

Therefore, any results will in no way be conclusive.

[TigersEye]

It’s made with GMO tobacco? No thanks, doc, I’m a strictly organic vegan.

[Blood of Tyrants]

With such a small sample group (two), any results would be inconclusive anyway.

[trisham]

"Those who say that we're in a time when there are no heroes,
they just don't know where to look."

~Ronald Reagan

please click the pic
donate today!
Help support Free Republic

[GraceG]

That is why they are bringing people here to help increase the sample size....

[BitWielder1]

I've heard before the Tobacco plant is very friendly to genetic engineering to make it produce various useful compounds.
It's interesting that just as tobacco is poised to be outlawed, one of our most valuable and useful plants could be the tobacco plant.

[gaijin]

Growth Hormone most commonly is grown up in E. Coli —yeah, poo bacteria.

When you smell poo, you’re actually smelling E. Coli.

If there’s no poo in 10 miles and you’re growing up a bunch of GH the whole facility smells like poo, even if the E. Coli used is a pure and incredibly expensive strain.

Lots of Cancer medication is grown up in Chinese Hamster Ovary cells.

[Uncle Chip]

The best thing we could do is send a shipload of Marlboros over there to West Africa —

[PGR88]

I love it - both GMO and tobacco

For the leftie’s religious beliefs, this is anathema!

[Truthsearcher]

Here is my concern after reading the article.

” The scientists use a common tobacco bacteria, genetically engineered with different components of the Ebola virus, to infect a large number of plants. The infection spurs the plants to make antibodies to the virus, including the pieces of viral Ebola DNA. The tobacco is then crushed up and the ebola serum is extracted. It contains antibodies that target several parts of the virus.”

So what if this bacteria gets loose?

[Wuli]

1. The tobacco plant is not GMO, the bacteria that infects the tobacco plant is.

3. The antitbodies the tobacco plant produce are not GMO, they are a response to the infection by the bacteria.

2. Tobacco is not a human food.

“Luddites” need not be concerned or ashamed. This is not a tale of genetically modified food for humans.

[cripplecreek]

Yeah, the fact that he got the transfusion and walked into the hospital and she didn’t get the transfusion and went in on a gurney wasn’t lost on me.

[Vendome]

He got a transfusion from a Vulcan?

Sweet!

[gaijin]

A lot of times with a GM product as countermeasure there are additional modifications to cripple it under all conditions except in a very deliberately controlled (i.e. hard to maintain) environment.

My guess is that the worst case here is you’d have strains presenting in the wild which, in addition to all the typical features (like being smokable), would also express the proteins which, in a post-harvest, highly-purified form, would fight Ebola.

Translation: Absolutely no big deal at all.

But again —that plant probably requires very special fertilizer, or temp, or weird watering conditions.

[Wuli]

the title is phony and misleading

it is NOT about GMO tobacco

there is a bacteria that can infect tobacco plants

IT went through a GMO process to make it more virulent

then, because it is more virulent, it was used to infect tobacco plants so that the virulent bacteria would get them to make more antibodies to the bacteria

THE ANTIBODIES are not GMO, they are natural and just stimulated into greater production by a GMO strain of bacteria.

The extracted antibodies are not GMO.

[cripplecreek]

So what if this bacteria gets loose?

How do we know it didn't in Africa?

[Valpal1]

You are afraid of a bacteria that infects tobacco and causes it to produce ebola antibodies?

The bacteria is not the ebola virus, the bacteria is not one that infects humans.

So if it escapes, it will make some poor nearby tobacco field, ebola resistant. Big whoop.

[Grams A]

It’s interesting that just as tobacco is poised to be outlawed, one of our most valuable and useful plants could be the tobacco plant.”

I, too, find it interesting. Lots of folks not going to take kindly to this information, including several on FR.

[Ken H]

So what if this bacteria gets loose?