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Title: If a fish gene was put into a crop and a person allergic to fish eats it, would he have a reaction? Post by: nursemama on Feb 26, 2013 I think this is what they did with genetically modified crops.
So would a person allergic to fish eat the crop/plant (that has a fish gene inside) have a allergic reaction? Fish is fish, right? Title: If a fish gene was put into a crop and a person allergic to fish eats it, would he have a reaction? Post by: julialindsay on Feb 26, 2013 I am afraid that you are in the exact territory that makes gene manipulation a controversial subject. What would need to be known is the exact chemical that causes the allergy and whether the gene is implicated in coding for it. The problem is that genes do not work in isolation,even though the papers tend to report it as if one gene relates to one function. So there is some possibility that the fish-crop COULD cause the fish allergy - in that case - no - a fish would not be a fish.
Title: If a fish gene was put into a crop and a person allergic to fish eats it, would he have a reaction? Post by: Lena on Feb 26, 2013 Being allergic to fish does not mean being allergic to every component of fish or even every variety of fish although cross-reactivity is common. One fish protein, parvalbumin is a common allergen but this does not mean that all fish proteins are allergens. The allergen does not have to be protein. In some cases (particularly shellfish allergy) it can be an allergy to something extrinsic to the fish (e.g. parasites, iodine), so a crop would not have any impact since its biology is so different.
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