Finely Aged, Well Engineered

Notes on the self cloned wine yeast debate: The debate about self cloned wine yeast seemed to centered on one individual who believed that the carcinogen ethyl carbamate (urethane) should not be left in the wine and that people cannot be tested to identify human carcinogens. As one reader commented the urethane in wine is less cancer causing in wine than out of it. That is a well supported observation. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (a United Nations Agency) is probably the best authority on cancer causing chemicals. Their report is summarized as follows: http://monographs.iarc.fr/ENG/Meetings/96-ethylca… IARC Monographs on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans Ethylcarbamate (urethane) Carcinogenicity in experimental animals There is sufficient evidence in experimental animals for the carcinogenicity of ethyl carbamate. Overall evaluation Ethyl carbamate is probably carcinogenic to humans (Group 2A). The groups are as follows: Group 1 carcinogenic to humans (87 chemicals ); Group 2A probably carcinogenic to humans (63); Group 2B possibly carcinogenicto humans (234);Group 3 not classifiable as to carcinogenicity to humans (493); Group 4 probably not carcinogenic to humans (1).There is little question that urethane is hazardous to humans. However, urethane in wine is mitigated by the well known anti cancer chemicals in wine. Thus the carcinogen is neutralized by the anti-cancer chemicals in wine. Urethane removal by genetic modification seems to be a greater risk than just letting the wine ant-cancer chemicals do their job. My main concern about the self cloned yeast is expressed in ISIS Press Release 08/01/07 Self-Cloned' Wine Yeasts Not Necessarily Safe by Prof. Joe Cummins “Nevertheless, even self-cloned yeasts must be subject to rigorous and comprehensive safety tests, as it has already been demonstrated that changing the expression of a single gene in yeast can have unexpected effects. In 1995, Japanese researchers reported that a transgenic yeast engineered for increased rate of fermentation with multiple copies of one of its own genes ended up accumulating the metabolite methylglyoxal at toxic, mutagenic levels to humans (1).”My main objection to self cloned yeast is that they must be tested carefully changes to a single gene can lead to unexpected and dangerous consequences.
— April 6, 2008 3:23 p.m.

Frankenyeast

*Notes on the self cloned wine yeast debate: *The debate about self cloned wine yeast seemed to centered on one individual who believed that the carcinogen ethyl carbamate (urethane) should not be left in the wine and that people cannot be tested to identify human carcinogens. As one reader commented the urethane in wine is less cancer causing in wine than out of it. That is a well supported observation. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (a United Nations Agency) is probably the best authority on cancer causing chemicals. Their report is summarized as follows: http://monographs.iarc.fr/ENG/Meetings/96-ethylca… IARC Monographs on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans Ethylcarbamate (urethane) Carcinogenicity in experimental animals There is sufficient evidence in experimental animals for the carcinogenicity of ethyl carbamate. Overall evaluation Ethyl carbamate is probably carcinogenic to humans (Group 2A). The groups are as follows: Group 1 carcinogenic to humans (87 chemicals ); Group 2A probably carcinogenic to humans (63); Group 2B possibly carcinogenicto humans (234);Group 3 not classifiable as to carcinogenicity to humans (493); Group 4 probably not carcinogenic to humans (1).There is little question that urethane is hazardous to humans. However, urethane in wine is mitigated by the well known anti cancer chemicals in wine. My main objection to self cloned yeast is as follows: ISIS Press Release 08/01/07 Self-Cloned' Wine Yeasts Not Necessarily Safe by Prof. Joe Cummins “Nevertheless, even self-cloned yeasts must be subject to rigorous and comprehensive safety tests, as it has already been demonstrated that changing the expression of a single gene in yeast can have unexpected effects. In 1995, Japanese researchers reported that a transgenic yeast engineered for increased rate of fermentation with multiple copies of one of its own genes ended up accumulating the metabolite methylglyoxal at toxic, mutagenic levels to humans (1).”My main objection to self cloned yeast is that they must be tested carefully changes to a single gene can lead to unexpected and dangerous consequences.**
— April 6, 2008 5:26 a.m.