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Have genetic engineers modified food to cause Black people to become infertile?

By Marlo Lee
NO

A Facebook video claims that genetic engineers have "found a way to cause food crops to grow RNA fragments that can be specifically targeted like bioweapons." Supposedly this RNA would cause Black people, and only Black people, to become infertile.

Is this possible?

Well, the RNA would have to be eaten, not be digested by the enzymes in the digestive tract and then cross membranes into the reproductive tract. Those are very harsh conditions for RNA and it would not be able to survive to make it to the reproductive tract, according to the executive director of the Genetics and Genomics Academy.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR
Lead Stories is a fact checking and debunking website at the intersection of big data and journalism that launched in 2015. It scouts for trending stories, images, videos and posts that contain false information in order to fact check them as quickly as possible. It actively monitors the fake-news ecosystem and doesn’t wait for reader tips or reports before getting started on a story.
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