Bt Maize Has No Effect on Sheep Performance and Health Status

Diet containing the Bt176 maize has no adverse effect on the health and performance of sheep says a three year study conducted by a group of scientists from Italy. The study also demonstrated that the Bt maize diet has no negative impacts on the reproductive traits and immune response of sheep populations. Immune responses to Salmonella abortus ovis vaccination were found to be more efficient in GM maize -fed sheep.

The researchers confirmed that the transgenes from the maize were unable to survive the ruminant pre-stomach and provide transforming DNA fragments for the microorganisms. No transgenic DNA was detected in tissues, blood or ruminal samples of Bt maize-fed sheep. This supports the opinion that transgenic DNA fragments are unlikely to be absorbed in the gastrointestinal tract and integrated into the DNA of eukaryotic cells.

The abstract of the paper published by the journal Livestock Science is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.livsci.2007.03.009.