Assessment of the food safety issues related to genetically modified foods

International consensus has been reached on the principles regarding evaluation of the food safety of genetically modified plants. The concept of substantial equivalence has been developed as part of a safety evaluation framework, based on the idea that existing foods can serve as a basis for comparing the properties of genetically modified foods with the appropriate counterpart. Application of the concept is not a safety assessment per se, but helps to identify similarities and differences between the existing food and the new product, which are then subject to further toxicological investigation. Substantial equivalence is a starting point in the safety evaluation, rather than an endpoint of the assessment. Consensus on practical application of the principle should be further elaborated. Experiences with the safety testing of newly inserted proteins and of whole genetically modified foods are reviewed, and limitations of current test methodologies are discussed. The development and validation of new profiling methods such as DNA microarray technology, proteomics, and metabolomics for the identification and characterization of unintended effects, which may occur as a result of the genetic modification, is recommended. The assessment of the allergenicity of newly inserted proteins and of marker genes is discussed. An issue that will gain importance in the near future is that of post-marketing surveillance of the foods derived from genetically modified crops. It is concluded, among others that, that application of the principle of substantial equivalence has proven adequate, and that no alternative adequate safety assessment strategies are available.     

Carbon allocation and competition maintain variation in plant root mutualisms

Plants engage in multiple root symbioses that offer varying degrees of benefit. We asked how variation in partner quality persists using a resource‐ratio model of population growth. We considered the plant's ability to preferentially allocate carbon to mutualists and competition for plant carbon between mutualist and nonmutualist symbionts. We treated carbon as two nutritionally interchangeable, but temporally separated, resources—carbon allocated indiscriminately for the construction of the symbiosis, and carbon preferentially allocated to the mutualist after symbiosis establishment and assessment. This approach demonstrated that coexistence of mutualists and nonmutualists is possible when fidelity of the plant to the mutualist and the cost of mutualism mediate resource competition. Furthermore, it allowed us to trace symbiont population dynamics given varying degrees of carbon allocation. Specifically, coexistence occurs at intermediate levels of preferential allocation. Our findings are consistent with previous empirical studies as well the application of biological market theory to plantroot symbioses.     

Assessment of structural and functional similarity of biosimilar products: Rituximab as a case study

Biosimilars are products that are similar in terms of quality, safety, and efficacy to an already licensed reference/ innovator product and are expected to offer improved affordability. The most significant source of reduction in the cost of development of a biosimilar is the reduced clinical examination that it is expected to undergo as compared to the innovator product. However, this clinical relief is predicated on the assumption that there is analytical similarity between the biosimilar and the innovator product. As a result, establishing analytical similarity is arguably the most important step towards successful development of a biosimilar. Here, we present results from an analytical similarity exercise that was performed with five biosimilars of rituximab (Ristova®, Roche), a chimeric mouse/ human monoclonal antibody biotherapeutic, that are available on the Indian market. The results show that, while the biosimilars exhibited similarity with respect to protein structure and function, there were significant differences with respect to size heterogeneity, charge heterogeneity and glycosylation pattern.     

Does it matter why we do restoration? Volunteers,offset markets and the need for full disclosure

Volunteers are behind much of the ecological restoration work done in Australia. Private landholders, environmental nongovernment organisations (ENGOs) and community groups all donate time and money to much‐needed restoration and revegetation efforts. Biodiversity offsetting has emerged as a potential source of financial support for such work. We consider the question: should it matter to practitioners of restoration, particularly landholders and volunteers, how it is financed? We argue it should, because when offsets fund restoration work, the net environmental outcome is usually intended to be neutral – not an environmental gain. This is often not clear, because only the localised environmental gain is seen by the restoration practitioner, not the associated loss. For mandated offsets, the restoration work is required to occur regardless of whether the volunteer contributes to it or not, so their contribution only replaces work that would otherwise be done by a commercial provider. We contend that informed involvement in offset provision requires full disclosure, particularly to volunteers and landholders. Unfortunately, however, such transparency does not always occur. We acknowledge that there are valid reasons why well‐informed practitioners might willingly subsidise offset provision, but they might equally choose not to. Furthermore, offsets are intended to cover the full cost of biodiversity damage, creating a disincentive for damage by developers. Yet, subsidies from offset providers work against sending market signals that reflect the true replacement cost of biodiversity. We recommend that all ENGOs, developers, offset funders and brokers commit to transparency, particularly to landholders, donors and volunteers, about the environmental impact that is to be offset and the fact that their involvement generates no additional environmental benefit, as the offset is a condition of approval for a permitted loss, much like the rehabilitation of a mine site. Providing restoration services in partnership with industry may be something that landholders, volunteers and ENGOs are happy to support. But this must be decided consciously, not through unnoticed incremental changes that contradict some volunteers’ values or donors’ understanding of an organisation's mission.     

Discontinuous intersections: second-generation immigrant girls in transition from school to work

This article provides a theoretical framework for analysing discrimination against second-generation immigrant girls in education and the labour market by proposing an intersectional approach. Drawing upon selected elements of the findings of our Neskak Gora Project – a qualitative research conducted between 2009 and 2011 in Denmark, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK and funded by the EC Daphne III Programme – we show that the intersection of class, gender and ‘race’/ethnicity, which is at play at the structural, institutional and discursive levels of systems of intersectional discrimination, works in variable ways. While gendered educational structures seem partly to benefit female immigrant youth at school, gendered disadvantages are experienced particularly in the transition to the labour market. This highlights the necessary acknowledgement of the ‘discontinuity’ of axes of inequality that are manifested in different ways, according to specific contexts, institutional settings and moments of the individual's life cycle.     

Making the cosmopolitan canopy in Boston's Haymarket Square

Using ethnographic data on Boston's Haymarket Square, this paper demonstrates how public space and a market opportunity can generate solidarity among people of different ethnicities in the form of a cosmopolitan canopy, and how a single ethnic tradition can nurture an open, public multi-ethnic environment. The paper illustrates how Haymarket vendors' treatment of ethnic and racial difference is actively deployed in the construction of new groups that largely transcend such distinctions. This article outlines the mechanisms by which a cosmopolitan canopy is sustained, and how it serves a constructive social function within the city.     

Partner switching can favour cooperation in a biological market

Intraspecific cooperation and interspecific mutualisms can be promoted by mechanisms that reduce the frequency with which cooperative organisms are exploited by unhelpful partners. One such mechanism consists of changing partners after interacting with an uncooperative individual. I used McNamara et al.'s (Nature, 451, 2008, 189) partner switching model as a framework to examine whether this mechanism can select for increased cooperative investment by house sparrows (Passer domesticus) collaborating to rear offspring; previous research on this species has shown that substantial cooperative investments by both pair members are required to achieve high pay‐offs from collaborating. I found that the poorer the outcome of a breeding attempt relative to the number of eggs the female invested, the greater the likelihood of partner switching. The incidence of partner switching changed seasonally, with peak switching coinciding with an increase in the number of alternative partners available to females. After females switched partners, their breeding outcomes rose to match those of females that remained with the same partner; this was not the case for males that switched partners. Consistent with the model's prediction, males in stable partnerships achieved over 25% higher than average reproductive success, which was attributable to both persistently good breeding outcomes and their older partners' high fecundity. These results provide empirical support for the hypothesis that partner switching favours increased cooperative investment levels, and they demonstrate that variation in the relative value of by‐product benefits can enhance that process.     

香港1993-2009年水果市场动态研究——香港动态经济植物学研究(三)

该文报告了1993-2009年香港水果市场的几种情况:(1)香港农产品由本地生产的数量少,绝大部分依靠进口;(2)水果是众多农产品中进口价值最高一类产品,每年进口价值比进口蔬菜加大米总和还要多;(3)在50多种水果品种中,占总进口量90%的19种水果进口情况;(4)各种水果来自全球65个国家,进口值最多的15个国家进口水果情况;(5)由中国内地进口的水果从1993年占总进口值14%到2009年下降至5%。并对这几种水果市场情况进行了讨论。     

海南与市售槟榔等中药材中重金属含量比较研究

本文用石墨炉原子吸收分光光度法测定了海南与市售槟榔等六种中药材中的铅元素含量 ,用原子荧光法测定了其中砷、汞元素的含量 ;通过对海南与市售槟榔等六种中药材 (槟榔、益智仁、砂仁、巴戟天、丁香及肉豆蔻 )中铅、砷、汞含量的比较研究 ,说明海南生态环境的优良是实现中药材GAP种植 ,生产绿色中药材的最佳环境     

The financial situation before and after first-time psychiatric in-patient diagnosis of schizophrenia spectrum,bipolar, and major depressive disorder

Schizophrenia spectrum, bipolar, and major depressive disorders are severe mental illnesses (SMIs) that not only entail great suffering for those affected but also major societal costs. In this study, I use administrative register data to provide a detailed picture of the financial situation of people with SMI in Sweden during a period of $\pm$10 years around first-time psychiatric in-patient diagnosis of schizophrenia spectrum, bipolar, and major depressive disorders. Receiving a diagnosis was associated with a considerable drop in earnings, which was largely compensated for by social transfers: mainly sickness and disability insurance. However, there were also large and increasing pre-diagnosis earnings gaps, relative to matched comparison groups, especially among those with schizophrenia spectrum disorders. These gaps were to a lesser extent compensated for by social transfers. Consequently, there were permanent and increasing – due to lost earnings growth – income differentials. Hence, findings in previous studies are confirmed: even in an advanced welfare state, people with SMI – especially those with schizophrenia – have an extremely weak position on the labour market and an equally difficult financial situation.