Will vegetables be genetically modified to become mRNA vaccines?
We recently came across several articles, social media posts, and widely shared posts on messaging platforms discussing an alleged conspiracy to spread mRNA vaccines through food products – planned by Bill Gates and the World Health Organization (WHO) to alter human genetics without consent
This round of circulating claims stem from an individual named Tom Renz, an attorney. Renz appears in an often-shared video specifically claiming that “Gates, the WHO, a ton of these universities, they’re all talking about including mRNA vaccinations as part of the food. They’re going to modify the genes of these foods to make them mRNA vaccines.”
Renz, who does not appear to have any medical training, brings up studies published over the years that have researched edible vaccines, suggesting that malicious biotechnology is an imminent possibility – “whereby people’s genetics are potentially altered with ‘factory foods’ without them even knowing.”
Rather than discussing any specific details or elaborating on how exactly such an eventuality would unfold, Renz instead works off a premise that has been fact-checked and disputed multiple times. At Black Dot Research, we have also conducted several fact-checks on claims about the mRNA vaccine, finding that many assertions about their inefficacy and danger are false. Renz claims that because mRNA vaccines have been “proven useless,” the ongoing research into using food as a delivery medium for mRNA vaccines must be viewed as having suspicious and nefarious alternative purposes – such as altering genes.
It appears that the use of vegetables in the headline is an arbitrary food type picked by Renz to grab attention as his cited research studies do not focus specifically on vegetables (instead listing a wide range of plants such as potatoes, bananas, corn, soybean, rice, and legumes), nor does he focus on vegetables in the article.
When researching edible vaccines, we were unable to find recent announcements of trials or even breakthrough findings in that field which would suggest any form of imminent mRNA vaccine food product or commercial application.
Based on our research on current state of edible vaccine research, while the technology to produce plant-based vaccines has been around for some time, early and small trials are still ongoing. Mass-produced edible vaccines appear to be a distant prospect at present, and research has focused on applications in areas and countries where vaccines are not easily accessible, rather than as a means to disseminate them across unknowing populations.
Therefore, while the biotechnology does exist for plant-based vaccines, the claim that vegetables modified to include mRNA vaccines will be introduced as a conspiracy to alter genetics is highly unlikely and unsubstantiated. We give this claim a false rating.
Renz’s article appears to be rallying cry for a bill being tabled in Missouri which calls for the labelling of “gene therapy products” among others. Using the core fact that edible vaccines can exist, Renz spins it into a threatening disaster scenario before issuing multiple calls-to-action asking for support in lobbying for the bill. This is an example of how the misinformation and misleading claims being made are in service of a more tangible goal – used specifically as attention grabbing headlines to kickstart outrage and fear.
