As you are probably aware, rats are used in trials of most foods. In this study, three varieties of Monsanto’s GM corn – Mon 863, insecticide-producing Mon 810, and Roundup® herbicide-absorbing NK 603 – were approved for consumption by US, European and several other national food safety authorities.  

Monsanto used its own crude statistical data after conducting a 90-day study, even though chronic problems can rarely be found and attributed after 90 days; and they concluded that the corn was safe for consumption.

However, at the conclusion of the IJBS study, researchers wrote: ‘effects were mostly concentrated in kidney and liver function, the two major diet detoxification organs, but in detail differed with each GM type.

In addition, some effects on heart, adrenal, spleen and blood cells were also frequently noted. As there normally exists sex differences in liver and kidney metabolism, the highly statistically significant disturbances in the function of these organs, seen between male and female rats, cannot be dismissed as biologically insignificant as has been proposed by others.

We therefore conclude that our data strongly suggests that these GM maize varieties induce a state of hepatorenal toxicity….and these substances have never before been an integral part of the human or animal diet and therefore their health consequences for those who consume them, especially over long time periods are currently unknown’.

Monsanto immediately responded to the study, stating that the research was ‘based on faulty analytical methods and reasoning and do not call into question the safety findings for these products’. So although their research showed problems, they claim kidney and liver toxicifications are of no concern.

The IJBS study’s author Gilles-Eric Séralini responded to the Monsanto statement on the blog, Food Freedom, ‘our study contradicts Monsanto conclusions because Monsanto systematically neglects significant health effects in mammals that are different in males and females eating GMOs, or not proportional to the dose; this is a very serious mistake (sic) and dramatic for public health; this is the major conclusion revealed by our work, resulting only from careful re-analysis of Monsanto crude statistical data’.

Related blogs: Jennifer Grayson: Eco Etiquette: How Can I Avoid Genetically Modified Foods?; Ban Genetically Engineered Hormonal rBGH Milk; Meat Adulterated With Sex Hormones; GMO Corn; Gmos; International Journal Of Biological Sciences; Monsanto and Monsanto Corn Organ Damage; Monsanto Gm Corn; Monsanto Gmo Corn; National Food Safety; The Global Report, Twilight Earth and the University Of Caen

Iran is an oppressive state – using religion as the main connection with the people – where orphaned children are taken under the wing of the state and conditioned to defend the regime whatever it takes, even killing innocent women.

I just watched a movie called ‘crossing over’ about the illegal immigrants in the USA, and how the right of free speech costs everything. An obviously rebellious teenager puts forward the proposition that the terrorists in actual fact were expressing themselves the only way they could – through 911 – for what the American corporate-government was doing to countries around the world, bringing ‘democracy’ to the people.

When the United Nations and its members provide ‘aid’, it’s usually expressed in $; however, what it does leave out is that the ‘aid’ is conditional on the corporations of the given country supplying the ‘aid’ to be given preferential / exclusive treatment.

We know that much of the food that China (and other Asian countries) exports to the world is low in nutritional value and at times heavily contaminated with chemicals, but what is less publicised is that much of the food ‘aid’ by the Americans is likewise suspect; GM (genetically modified) and or poor nutritional value foods.

Many African countries refused American GM foods but to add to the misery, rice from the USA lacks the nutritional value of the whole-grain native crop and an epidemic of Beriberi in the Haitian populace was traced back to USA rice, which is processed in such a way that removes vitamin B.

USA foreign aid adds to the global problem of food growth by distributing food produced by US corporations, rather than purchasing it from local farmers to strengthen their capacity to feed their own.

Be careful the hand you hold doesn’t hold you down …

He said ‘It is simply untenable for the government to go ahead and allow farmers to start sowing their GM crops when the reality is that those crops could become illegal after they are in ground; this would create the ridiculous situation where an unaware farmer involved in the trials could suddenly become liable for a $200,000 penalty under the Genetically Modified Crops Free Areas Act 2003, and may even be liable to remove any crop that they have already sown, if passed, this disallowance motion will make it illegal to plant GM canola’.

02-Apr-2008 – The seeds of some genetically modified crops appear to remain in the earth for at least a decade, finds a new study, which may further increase resistance to planting of GM crops. Researchers at Sweden’s Lund University and the Danish Technical University found transgenic plants growing in a field planted with GM rapeseed more than 10 years ago, according to their report in Biology Letters.  Although measures were taken in the years following the GM trial to remove ‘volunteers’, or plants that grow spontaneously from seed in the soil, some appear to have been overlooked, said the authors. Fifteen out of 38 sample seedlings tested positive for the genetically modified trait of herbicide tolerance 10 years after the trial had ended.

Their findings are in contrast to previous studies. “In general, studies suggest that the majority of seeds disappear from the seed bank within two years,” they write.  Tighter measures to contain GM crops may be needed, concludes Dr Tina D’Hertefeldt and her colleagues. This finding of volunteers, despite labour intensive control for 10 years, supports previous suggestions that volunteer oilseed rape needs to be carefully managed in order for non-GM crops to be planted after GM crops.  The news comes as several food producers call for a re-think on European resistance to planting genetically modified crops. The prices of non-GM cereals are now significantly higher – about $50 per tonne for corn – than GM varieties and higher raw material costs are affecting margins in the industry.

But environmental groups such as Greenpeace maintain that consumers are still against the widespread introduction of GM crops, with recent studies further raising fears of a reduction in negative environmental effects such as a reduction in biodiversity and increasing resistance to herbicides. Dr D’Hertefeldt says there is a need for more discussion about how to contain GM oilseed rape in particular. The plant is known to have especially long seed dormancy. A larger French study, published at the same time as the Swedish research was submitted, also found survival of volunteer plants for eight years after a GM trial. “I would expect the same to happen in a commercial field too,” she told FoodNavigator.com. “It may even be more prevalent as the trial had very stringent regulations, and higher controls than a farmer would probably carry out.”

For the food industry, the question is how many volunteer plants you would get in a field being grown with conventional oilseed rape after a GM crop.

“If you had a high number, you could get above the threshold for labelling GM ingredients,” she told FoodNavigator.com. Rapeseed, also called canola in North America, is the fourth most commonly grown GM crop in the world, after soy, maize and cotton. Rapeseed oil is increasingly used in the food industry.  “I think for oilseed rape we may have to be aware that there will always be some contamination and therefore we may need labelling to tell the consumer,” added D’Hertefeldt.

Source – Biology Letters
DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2008.0123
Long-term persistence of GM oilseed rape in the seed bank
Authors: Tina D’Hertefeldt, Rikke Jørgensen, Lars Pettersson

A long-term feeding study commissioned by the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety, managed by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Health, Family and Youth, and carried out by Veterinary University Vienna, confirms genetically modified (GM) corn seriously affects reproductive health in mice.

Non-GM advocates, who have warned about this infertility link along with other health risks, now seek an immediate ban of all GM foods and GM crops to protect the health of humankind and the fertility of women around the world.

Feeding mice with genetically modified corn developed by the US-based Monsanto Corporation led to lower fertility and body weight, according to the study conducted by the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna.

Lead author of the study Professor Zentek said, there was a direct link between the decrease in fertility and the GM diet, and that mice fed with non-GM corn reproduced more efficiently.

In the study, Austrian scientists performed several long-term feeding trials over 20 weeks with laboratory mice fed a diet containing 33% of a GM variety (NK 603 x MON 810), or a closely related non-GM variety used in many countries. Statistically significant litter size and pup weight decreases were found in the third and fourth litters in the GM-fed mice, compared to the control group.

The corn is genetically modified with genes that produce a pesticidal toxin, as well as genes that allow it to survive applications of Monsanto’s herbicide Roundup.

A book by author Jeffrey M. Smith, Genetic Roulette, distributed to members of congress last year, documents 65 serious health risks of GM products, including similar fertility problems with GM soy and GM corn: Offspring of rats fed GM soy showed a five-fold increase in mortality, lower birth weights, and the inability to reproduce. Male mice fed GM soy had damaged young sperm cells. The embryo offspring of GM soy-fed mice had altered DNA functioning. Several US farmers reported sterility or fertility problems among pigs and cows fed on GM corn varieties. Additionally, over the last two months, investigators in India have documented fertility problems, abortions, premature births, and other serious health issues, including deaths, among buffaloes fed GM cottonseed products.

The principle GM crops are soy, corn, cottonseed and canola. GM sugar from sugar beets will also be introduced before year’s end. Mr. Smith, who is also the Executive Director of the Institute for Responsible Technology says, “GM foods are likely responsible for several negative health trends in the US. The government must impose an immediate ban on these dangerous crops, consumers don’t need to wait for governmental action. They can download a free Non-GMO Shopping Guide at www.HealthierEating.org.”

Monsanto press offices in the UK and USA were unable to provide a comment on the findings for journalists yesterday. The Institute for Responsible Technology’s Campaign for Healthier Eating in America mobilizes citizens, organizations, businesses, and the media, to achieve the tipping point of consumer rejection of genetically modified foods.

The Institute educates people about the documented health risks of GMOs and provides them with healthier non-GMO product choices. The Institute also informs policy makers and the public around the world about the impacts of GMOs on health, environment, the economy, and agriculture, and the problems associated with current research, regulation, corporate practices, and reporting.

Obviously various State governments in Australia don’t have the time to read such reports, nor are there any remunerative – re-election – benefits of not using GM products.