My co-author of BEYOND LABELS, Dr. Sina McCullough, has offered to do some partnering in the same conversational format as the book. Hope it’s informative and enjoyable.

FIRST Genetically Engineered Pig Approved for Human Consumption 

(Part Two)

In part one, we discussed concerns regarding the FDA’s approval of the first genetically engineered (GE) pig, the GalSafe® pig, for use in our food supply.  To recap, the GalSafe® pig, created by Revivicor Inc., is genetically modified so it does not produce alpha-gal sugar on the surface of its cells or within the cell matrix.   Consequently, people with an allergy or sensitivity to alpha-gal sugars are theoretically able to consume the GE pig meat without eliciting an adverse immune response.  Now let’s discuss the medical applications of the GalSafe® pig.  

Mammalian byproducts are commonly used in medications, vaccines, and other therapeutics.  Some examples include:  

• Thyroid medication can be derived from pig thyroids

• Pancreatic enzymes can be derived from pig pancreases

• Heparin can be derived from pig intestines

• Vaccines can contain gelatin derived from pigs and cows

• Regarding tablets, magnesium stearate is commonly used as a binder and lubricant; it can be derived from mammals

• Heart valves can also be mammalian derived

Since these medical products are mammalian derived, they likely contain alpha-gal sugars, which can trigger an adverse immunological reaction, especially among individuals with alpha gal syndrome.  Therefore, Revivicor Inc. wants to manufacture medical products using components of the GalSafe® pig.   Essentially, Revivicor Inc. is changing the genetic make-up of a pig in order to make their cells and tissues more compatible for use in humans.   

These medical products are positioned by Revivicor Inc. to help all humans in need of therapeutics, not just individuals with alpha-gal syndrome.  According to their website, Revivicor’s vision is to "Provide a superior-quality, high volume, alternative tissue source as a solution for the critical shortage of human-compatible donor tissues, cells, and organs," including the following:

 Whole organ transplants to humans including kidney, heart and liver

1. Human antibodies from pigs for vaccine development to help fight against human infectious diseases

2. Cell therapy, including pancreatic islets to treat diabetes and liver cells to treat acute liver failure

3. Medical devices such as surgical mesh, orthopedics, and heart valves

 

Sina: Revivicor, Inc. has already “successfully” transplanted pancreatic islet cells from GE pigs into diabetic monkeys and reportedly “cured diabetes for over 1 year with complete normalization of blood glucose levels.”   In addition, they have “successfully” transplanted pig hearts into non-human primates that kept the non-human primate alive for up to 8 months.  

  This is a touchy subject for me because my mom was on the wait list for a kidney transplant for nearly 10 years before receiving a donor kidney.  The entire family experienced a roller coaster of emotions.  I was initially a donor match.  Several months later, when the surgical team was ready to perform the transplant operation, I was no longer a match.  Consequently, my mother had to wait again until another donor kidney was available.  She eventually received a transplanted kidney and lived another 10 years.  Therefore, I understand the desire to utilize every technological “advancement” imaginable to save our loved ones.  However, the steps involved to prevent organ rejection from GE pig donors are extensive.  

First, Revivicor Inc. genetically engineers a pig by knocking out the pig gene that codes for the enzyme that attaches the Gal sugar group onto the surface of pig cells.  Once that sugar group is no longer present on pig cells, theoretically, that pig tissue will not trigger an initial rejection.  

Next, Revivicor Inc. produces a cloned GE pig using the genetically modified donor cells from the Gal knock out pig.  However, there is still a risk of rejection in a human organ recipient, therefore Revivicor Inc. has to conduct more genetic engineering.  Specifically, they add a human gene to the pig to force it to produce a protein called CD46 that will modify the response of the immune system so rejection is hopefully not triggered.  

Even though Revivicor Inc. knocked out a pig gene, cloned a pig with the knock out pig cells, and added a human gene to the pig, the human recipient of the pig tissue still needs to take immunosuppressant drugs to prevent rejection.  Revivicor’s hope is the recipient will not need to take “excessive amounts of immune suppression drugs which can themselves have long term undesirable side effects.”  (Emphasis added)   

Joel: Does just reading this make your head spin?  If you’ve ever seen a drawing of a Rube Goldberg, this convoluted changing this to change that to change something else seems similar.  In this explanation, think how many of nature’s boundaries need to be violated in order to get to the final result, which still require copious amounts of medications.  Sometimes the cure really is worse than the disease.  And the fact that people, without any labeling red flags, will undoubtedly eat the rest of the pig is quite disconcerting.  Like most GMO innovation, the ramifications of eating this meat that’s altered at the most basic molecular level has not and will not be tested.  We’re the guinea pigs.  And as we know from many other things, the long-term effects may not be known for a decade.  Then all of a sudden some strange malady breaks on the human population traced back to a disregard for nature’s patterns and boundaries.

Sina, my heart goes out to what you went through with your mother, but what you didn’t say is if there was anything in her life that could have prevented the kidney failure to begin with.  Certainly genetic weaknesses exist—goodness, that’s what our breeding selection is all about on the farm—but generally catastrophic failure like this is due to some sort of dietary, habitat, toxin, or stress situation.

Sina: That’s exactly right, Joel.  My mother developed kidney disease because of her diet and lifestyle.  I know this for a fact because after having kidney disease for roughly 50 years, after having a kidney transplant, and even after the transplanted kidney failed, we changed her diet and cleaned up her environment and the disease reversed.  After roughly 6 months of following my diet and lifestyle, her kidney was functioning in the “normal” range for probably the first time since she was in her 20’s.  

In addition, her diabetes, heart disease, high triglycerides, and Hashimoto’s disease also reversed during that same six-month period.  Her prescription medication usage dropped from 15 medications every day to 5, which included two immunosuppressive drugs she needed to prevent rejection of the donor kidney and three blood pressure medications (her husband had just passed away and she wasn’t handling the stress well).      

My point is that all chronic diseases are reversible, God willing.  I’ve experienced it first hand, seen it with my own eyes while helping others heal from various diseases, and I’ve read studies in the scientific literature as well as individual testimonies reporting disease reversal.

For me, the answer is not an organ transplant.   A kidney transplant does not “cure” someone of kidney disease.  The disease is still present and will likely target the new kidney – just like it did with my mother.  Why?  Because chronic diseases are actually systemic.  Therefore, the answer is not transplants, heart valves, and cell therapies from GE pigs.  The answer is: listen to your body and respond accordingly.  Symptoms are the body’s way of whispering that you need to make changes.  If you don’t listen, more symptoms appear as the body tries more diligently to get your attention.  If you still don’t listen, disease is the body’s way of screaming to get your attention so you make the needed changes.    

While GE pig donor cells and organs sound concerning, perhaps the most alarming application is Revivicor’s creation of GE pigs to produce human antibodies to be used in vaccines against infectious pathogens like MRSA and HIV.  Their vaccine program was funded by the Department of Defense and, according to the company, has “a market potential capable of surpassing all other products combined.”

This is another example of industry and government working together to create a product that will not be adequately safety tested yet will ultimately be forced, directly or indirectly, on the American people under the guise of “safety” and, possibly, for purposes of “national defense.”    

Joel: Wow, Sina, this sounds like vaccines on steroids.  Doesn’t it always sound innocuous?  We start with a nasty disease, offer a simple vaccine, and everything is fine.  The problem is everything is not fine. What seemed simple when I was a baby pre-1960 with a couple of vaccines for children has now become more than 60.  Even the most rabid vaccine-believer should pause at that massive escalation.  Does anyone think we humans could not be healthy and survive without all of those vaccines?

Furthermore, what starts as an idea by a few can easily become mandatory to all, destroying freedom of choice.  We say “my body, my choice” for mothers carrying unborn babies, but somehow that same phrase is deemed unacceptable when applied to vaccines, including the Covid-19 vaccine.  Mandatory vaccination in many workplaces is forcing the unbelievers to endure physical risk and convictional/emotional adultery.

Sina: I wholeheartedly agree and it’s concerning because I believe using GE animals to “save human lives” is an argument GMO supporters can win.  The general population will most likely accept this application of genetic engineering.  Who doesn't want to save lives?  Are you willing to stand in the way of a child being "cured" of diabetes so she can live a normal life and not receive injections every day or suffer from diabetes complications later in life?  Will you say "no" to a "medical advancement" that provides transplanted organs to children and adults who would otherwise die?  Wow, this is a difficult argument to challenge.  

Even the graphic on Revivicor’s website is compelling (https://www.revivicor.com/about.html).  It contains a graph showing the number of donor organs as relatively flat over time while the number of patients on the donor wait list climbs.  A heart surrounds the graph with a rainbow above it. Can you argue with that?

 Joel: Yes, the road to hell is indeed paved with good intentions.  This is where the libertarian in me does not ask for regulatory oversight or intervention.  I think this issue lends credence to our argument in BEYOND LABELS that ultimately we have a choice.  Nobody is required to eat this pork or get these vaccines or these procedures.  If you want to participate in this scheme, fine.  But if you don’t, you are free to opt out.  Plenty of us in the food and farming community will not be raising these genetically engineered pigs.  An alternative is available.  We can complain about a lack of labeling; we can complain that folks will be eating it unaware.  At the end of the day, though, nobody has to participate in this side of the farm, food, and medical establishment.

We can adopt alternative medical and lifestyle methods; we can eat from sources that do not play on this conventional orthodoxy team.  Choice is a powerful word.  The more we exercise it, the stronger the choice muscle gets.  Also, the more skilled we get at using the choice muscle.  The whole goal here is to be aware of the situation so you can respond the way you want to, the way this information compels you.  The real tragedy is not that the FDA approves GE pork with nary a whimper; the real tragedy is that most folks don’t know about it and/or don’t care.  Thank you for being in the know, for investing your time and attention to this information.

Sina: I agree that informed consent is the key.  Ideally, nobody would need to rely on these technological “advancements” because we would experience health and wellness up until our final hours.  That outcome would require each of us to choose to live our lives in a manner where we don’t need medical products, such as: a transplant, pharmaceuticals, or a heart valve, for example.  There’s the rub.  

Many people don’t know that chronic diseases are reversible or that ingredients in our current vaccines can trigger autoimmune disease as well as other insults, such as leaky brain.  This is partly because the mainstream narrative consists largely of the belief that your genes are your destiny, you cannot reverse chronic diseases, and medical “advancements” such as pharmaceuticals, stents, and heart valves are the only option for disease “treatment.”  But, who controls this fear-based narrative?     

Social media giants such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Pinterest are deleting accounts of prominent figures in the health and wellness genre that dare to challenge orthodox thinking.  Why?  Is our message of hope and individual empowerment so dangerous that we need to be silenced?  

Until we choose to believe a different narrative, we will continue to be trapped in their cycle of fear – afraid that no matter what you do, your genes will get you in the end; afraid you will develop an “incurable” disease like cancer; afraid that your body will give out in “old age” resulting in the need for surgery, a transplant, or pharmaceuticals.  As long as they keep you in a state of fear, you are more likely to accept medical “therapeutics” such as transplant organs from genetically engineered and cloned pigs.  Once you accept that “advanced” technology, you are heading down the slippery slope.     

Joel: Well said, Sina.  The orthodox narrative permeates our lives.  Now that the big social media and search engine giants have decided to censor minority opinions, it’s become harder and harder to ferret out the opposing side of any issue.  It seems like the information noose gets tighter by the day, constricting even access to the unorthodox idea.  Unless you’re a hermit in a cabin without Internet, you’re besieged by an ideological fraternity.  It takes real effort and fortitude to seek the road less traveled.  Today, that road is sometimes not even on the map.

Sina: You and I are definitely not on the map, Joel.  Ha!  

But, here’s my dilemma.  I’m adamantly opposed to genetically engineering animals for any reason.  However, as a mother, my argument breaks down.  If my children continue to live by the health and wellness principles I have taught them, they will not require medical therapeutics for chronic conditions.  However, what if my child needed an emergency transplant or other therapeutic device due to acute trauma, like a car accident, and genetically engineered tissues were the only option?   I would do anything to save my child’s life, even if that meant accepting donor tissue from a GE pig.  I wouldn’t like it, but I would do it.  Hence, this is an argument GMO supporters can win and it will likely open the floodgate for GMOs to be slipped into our food supply. 

Joel: Yes, none of us know how we would respond when options seem limited and crisis looms.  That’s why perhaps the most important thing is to be informed and to preserve freedom of choice within the marketplace.  From food to medical procedures, choice is the guarantor of personal integrity.  That’s the only way I know to ensure people the ability to live with their decisions.  When you have no choice, all your morality and ethics break down, and that is why BEYOND LABELS is both inspiring and convicting—it takes us to a place of personal responsibility that puts the onus on us to make decisions we can live with.  The escalating diabetes numbers you cited, Sina, did not occur by coercion; they came by choice.  We got into this predicament by choice and we’ll get out of it by choice.

We’d love to hear your opinion! 

Should scientists change the genes of animals to “advance” human medicine?  

Original sources:

https://www.revivicor.com/about.html

https://www.revivicor.com/technology.html

 https://animaldrugsatfda.fda.gov/adafda/app/search/public/document/downloadFoi/10168

 https://animaldrugsatfda.fda.gov/adafda/app/search/public/document/downloadFonsi/2942

https://www.fda.gov/media/74614/download

https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-first-its-kind-intentional-genomic-alteration-line-domestic-pigs-both-human-food

https://www.revivicor.com/technology.html