Tobacco is normally bad for our health. Now that could change, as one biotech company starts using it to make vaccines that save lives.
Medicago, a firm in North Carolina, is taking Nicotiana benthamiana, a plant closely related to the variety used for cigarettes, and impregnating them with genetic material from a flu virus. The plants then generate "virus-like particles," or VLPs, on their leaves, which Medicago harvests for making vaccines.
The process is described by Jesse Hirsch in Modern Farmer:
Once the solution is inside the plant, the VLPs spend a week growing. After a few days they become mottled and discolored. According to [Dave] Henry, [Medicago’s manufacturing director], it’s as if they’ve caught the flu. At the end of a week, the leaves are picked off each plant by hand for processing into a bulk vaccine.
Medicago is owned by Philip Morris and Mitsubishi and received a $21 million grant from DARPA to develop the technique. The Department of Defense wants to find alternatives to today's vaccine-making methods, which are cumbersome and expensive.
The company has shown that it's possible to produce 10 million flu vaccine doses in 30 days. But it's yet to win approval from the FDA to start selling its products. Hirsch reports that it's unlikely to happen before 2018 at the earliest.
Vaccines aren't the only health product being developed lately from Nicotiana benthamiana. Researchers in Austria are using it to make pharmaceuticals, including a potential cancer drug. At the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna, they've created plants that produce immunoglobulin M (IgM), a powerful antibody that can fight early infections.
According to Txchnologist, the technique involves adding human genes to plants to change the way they make proteins. In effect, the tobacco plants become proxies for processes that would normally occur inside human bodies.
"This opens a new door in generating a very efficient, new class of drugs that hasn’t been available before,” one of the scientists said. “With this method, we can systematically and specifically engineer the antibody to target any number of foreign bodies in a human--drug-resistant bacteria, cancer, and others.”
One day, medical marijuana may not be the only drug we're growing.
http://www.fastcoexist.com/3030015/finally-a-use-for-tobacco-that-doesnt-kill-you-making-drugs
Kraft tries to fake us out by calling their standard product a different name overseas, but it's still mac and cheese.
One box is made with real ingredients for eaters in the UK, the other is made with artificial ingredients for Americans.
They claim that their decisions are based on science. Which science is it?
Shocking Differences In Ingredients Between The Same Food Products In The U.S., Canada and U.K.
The obesity crisis in the U.S. has always been viewed as somewhat of a puzzle. How did Americans get so large if other developed nations are consuming so many of the same foods. Experts have debated physical activity and other lifestyle choices for years as possible culprits. However, if we analyze ingredient lists on processed foods between just two other countries, namely Canada and the U.K, we find stark differences.
“For numerous suspicious and disturbing reasons, the U.S. has allowed foods that are banned in many other developed countries into our food supply,” says nutritionist Mira Calton.
During a six-year expedition that took them to 100 countries on seven continents, the Caltons studied more than 150 ingredients and put together a comprehensive list of the top 13 problematic products that are forbidden by governments, outside the U.S., due to their detrimental effects on human health.
Examining just four processed foods, Coke, Gatorade, Heinz Ketchup and Ritz Crackers, we find that U.S. manufacturers insert high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) more than any other ingredient when comparing the same food product in Canada and the U.K.
The obesity crisis in the U.S. has always been viewed as somewhat of a puzzle. How did Americans get so large if other developed nations are consuming so many of the same foods. Experts have debated physical activity and other lifestyle choices for years as possible culprits. However, if we analyze ingredient lists on processed foods between just two other countries, namely Canada and the U.K, we find stark differences.
“For numerous suspicious and disturbing reasons, the U.S. has allowed foods that are banned in many other developed countries into our food supply,” says nutritionist Mira Calton.
During a six-year expedition that took them to 100 countries on seven continents, the Caltons studied more than 150 ingredients and put together a comprehensive list of the top 13 problematic products that are forbidden by governments, outside the U.S., due to their detrimental effects on human health.
Examining just four processed foods, Coke, Gatorade, Heinz Ketchup and Ritz Crackers, we find that U.S. manufacturers insert high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) more than any other ingredient when comparing the same food product in Canada and the U.K.
Ketchup
Canadian Ingredients
Tomato Paste made from fresh ripe tomatoes, Liquid Sugar, White Vinegar, Salt, Onion Powder and Spices.
US Ingredients
Tomato Concentrate, Distilled Vinegar, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Salt, Spice, Onion Powder, Natural Flavoring.
UK Ingredients
Spirit Vinegar, Sugar, Salt, Spice & Herb Extracts (contains Celery), Spice
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