Last Updated on October 24, 2021 by Team THIP
Quick Take
A recent article published in a media platform claims that US scientists are modifying lettuce and spinach with COVID mRNA vaccines. We fact-checked and found that the claim is half true.
The Claim
“Vaccine Hesitant? US Researchers Are Engineering Lettuce and Spinach to Carry mRNA COVID Jabs,” reads the headline of an article published on the Vision Times, a US based media platform. While the article is a report on an original publication on the University of California’s website titled, “Grow and Eat your own vaccines,” it makes it sound as if vaccine hesitant people will soon have an option to opt for genetically modified vegetables as vaccines.
The archived version of the article on Vision Times is here and a screenshot is given below.
Fact Check
Are scientists researching on turning edible plants like lettuce into mRNA vaccines?
Yes. University of California, Riverside research group, in collaboration with the University of California San Diego and Carnegie Mellon University is working on turning Spinach and Lettuce into edible vaccines.
The project has recently received a $500,000 grant from the National Science Foundation.
The Riverside Research Group website reported that the projects objectives are:
- Implanting “DNA containing the mRNA vaccines” into the “part of plant cells where it will replicate”;
- Demonstrating the plants can carry enough mRNA to be the same as an injection; and
- Determining dosage.
However, the project is not specific to COVID-19 but a study on administering all mRNA vaccine through edible spinach or lettuce.
When will such edible vaccines be available?
No confirmed date is available. It can take at least a few years.
The project is at a very nascent stage. This is only a first level study on the concept and depending on the outcome, future path will be decided.
In a letter to the US Today, lead researcher Juan Pablo Giraldo said, “This research will take a couple of years to show proof of concept of the technology. If successful, it will need more studies and several more years for people to use leafy greens as mRNA vaccine factories.”
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