Former National Security Adviser General Mike Flynn suggested during a conservative podcast that mRNA Covid-19 vaccines might be in salad dressings during a podcast.
Bizarro World? While Mike Flynn has espoused several conspiracy theories surrounding the 2020 election and coronavirus, it turns out there is a crouton of truth to the claim.
It turns out that the University of California, Riverside, published a news release about a research program that was attempting to “turn edible plants like lettuce into mRNA vaccine factories” a few days ago. A $500,000 grant was even provided by the National Science Foundation to fund the research.
UC Riverside scientists are actually studying whether they can turn edible plants like lettuce and spinach into mRNA vaccine factories.
The project’s goals:
- to show that DNA containing the mRNA vaccines can be successfully delivered into the part of plant cells where it will replicate
- the plants can produce enough mRNA to rival a traditional shot
- determining the right dosage
“One of the challenges with this new technology is that it must be kept cold to maintain stability during transport and storage. If this new project is successful, plant-based mRNA vaccines — which can be eaten — could overcome this challenge with the ability to be stored at room temperature.”
Daily Beast, Business Insider, Snopes
Read more about vaccines in your salads from the UCR article here.