GMO (Genetically Engineered) Soy Kills Rat Babies (3)

From Spilling the Beans Newsletter, Oct, 2005, by Jeffrey M. Smith, Author, Seeds of Deception

Jeffrey M. Smith is working to catalog all known health risks of Genetically Engineered foods, along with a team of international scientists. He is the author of Seeds of Deception, the world�s bestselling book on GMO food, and producer of the GMO Trilogy.

Spilling the Beans is a monthly column available at Institute For Responsible Technology

SV Review: Seeds of Deception by Jeffrey M. Smith

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American Academy of Environmental Medicine Urges Follow Up Study

I presented Dr. Ermakova�s findings, with her permission, at the annual conference of the American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) in Tucson on October 27, 2005. In response, the AAEM board passed a resolution asking the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) to sponsor an immediate, independent follow-up of the study.

Dr. Jim Willoughby, the Academy�s president, said, �Genetically modified soy, corn, canola, and cottonseed oil are being consumed daily by a significant proportion of our population. We need rigorous, independent and long-term studies to evaluate if these foods put the population at risk.�

Unfortunately, there is a feature about GMO crops that makes even follow-up studies a problem. In 2003, a French laboratory analyzed the inserted genes in five GMO varieties, including Roundup Ready soybeans.[14] In each case, the genetic sequence was different than that which had been described by the biotech companies years earlier. Had all the companies made a mistake? That�s unlikely. Rather, the inserted genes probably rearranged over time. A Brussels lab confirmed that the genetic sequences were different than what was originally listed.

But the sequences discovered in Brussels didn�t all match those found by the French.[15] This suggests that the inserted genes are unstable and can change in different ways. It also means that they are creating new proteins�ones that were never intended or tested. The Roundup Ready soybeans used in the Russian test may therefore be quite different from the Roundup Ready soybeans used in follow-up studies.

Unstable genes make accurate safety testing impossible. It also may explain some of the many problems reported about GMO foods. For example, nearly 25 farmers in the US and Canada say that certain GMO corn varieties caused their pigs to become sterile, have false pregnancies, or give birth to bags of water. A farmer in Germany claims that a certain variety of GMO corn killed 12 of his cows and caused others to fall sick.

And Filipinos living next to a GMO cornfield developed skin, respiratory, and intestinal symptoms and fever, while the corn was pollinating. The mysterious symptoms returned the following year, also during pollination, and blood tests on 39 of the Filipinos showed an immune response to the Bt toxin�created by the GMO corn.

These problems may be due to particular GMO varieties, or they may result from a GMO crop that has 'gone bad' due to genetic rearrangements. Even GMO plants with identical gene sequences, however, might act differently. The amount of Bt toxin in the Philippine corn study described above, for example, varied considerably from kernel to kernel, even in the same plant.[16]

With billions of dollars invested in GMO foods, no adverse finding has yet been sufficient to reverse the industry�s growth in the US. It may take some dramatic, indisputable, and life-threatening discovery. That is why Ermakova�s findings are so important. If the study holds up, it may topple the GMO food industry.

The health of newborns might also be affected by toxins, allergens, or anti-nutrients in the mother�s diet. These may be created in GMO crops, due to unpredictable alterations in their DNA. The process of gene insertion can delete one or more of the DNA�s own natural genes, scramble them, turn them off, or permanently turn them on. It can also change the expression levels of hundreds of genes. And growing the transformed cell into a GMO plant through a process called tissue culture can create hundreds or thousands of additional mutations throughout the DNA.

I urge the NIH to agree to the AAEM�s request, and fund an immediate, independent follow-up study. If NIH funding is not forthcoming, our Institute for Responsible Technology will try to raise the money. This is not the time to wait. There is too much at stake.

Those familiar with the body of GMO safety studies are often astounded by their superficiality. Moreover, several scientists who discovered incriminating evidence or even expressed concerns about the technology have been fired, threatened, stripped of responsibilities, or censured.[13] And when problems do arise, they are not followed up. For example, animals fed GMO crops developed potentially precancerous cell growth, smaller brains, livers and testicles, damaged immune systems, bigger livers, partial atrophy of the liver, lesions in the livers, stomachs, and kidneys, inflammation of the kidneys, problems with their blood cells, higher blood sugar levels, and unexplained increases in the death rate. (See Spilling the Beans, August 2004.) None have been adequately followed-up or accounted for.

Ermakova�s research, however, will likely change that. That�s because her study is easy to repeat and its results are so extreme. A 55.6% mortality rate is enormous and very worrisome. Repeating the study is the only reasonable option.

I urge the NIH to agree to the AAEM�s request, and fund an immediate, independent follow-up study. If NIH funding is not forthcoming, our Institute for Responsible Technology will try to raise the money. This is not the time to wait. There is too much at stake.

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References:

[1] 'Statement of Policy: Foods Derived from New Plant Varieties,' Federal Register vol. 57, no. 104 at 22991, May 29, 1992

[2] Louis J. Pribyl, 'Biotechnology Draft Document, 2/27/92,' March 6, 1992, Bio-Integrity

[3] Epidemiologist Judy Carman�s testimony before New Zealand�s Royal Commission of Inquiry on Genetic Modification, 2001.

[4] Malatesta M, Caporaloni C, Gavaudan S, Rocchi MB, Serafini S, Tiberi C, Gazzanelli G. (2002a) 'Ultrastructural Morphometrical and Immunocytochemical Analyses of Hepatocyte Nuclei From Mice Fed on Genetically Modified Soybean.' Cell Struct Funct. 27: 173-180.

[5] Manuela Malatesta, et al, 'Ultrastructural Analysis of Pancreatic Acinar Cells From Mice Fed on Genetically Modified Soybean', Journal of Anatomy, Volume 201 Issue 5 Page 409 - November 2002

[6] Stephen R. Padgette and others, 'The Composition of Glyphosate-Tolerant Soybean Seeds Is Equivalent to That of Conventional Soybeans,' The Journal of Nutrition, vol. 126, no. 4, April 1996 (The data was taken from the journal archives, as it had been omitted from the published study.)

[7] Lappe, M.A., Bailey, E.B., Childress, C. and Setchell, K.D.R. (1999) 'Alterations in Clinically Important Phytoestrogens in Genetically Modified, Herbicide-Tolerant Soybeans.' Journal of Medical Food 1, 241-245.

[8] Stephen R. Padgette and others, 'The Composition of Glyphosate-Tolerant Soybean Seeds Is Equivalent to That of Conventional Soybeans,' The Journal of Nutrition, vol. 126, no. 4, April 1996

[9] For example, Ian F. Pryme and Rolf Lembcke, 'In Vivo Studies on Possible Health Consequences of Genetically Modified Food and Feed � With Particular Regard to Ingredients Consisting of Genetically Modified Plant Materials,' Nutrition and Health, vol. 17, 2003

[10] Doerfler W; Schubbert R, 'Uptake of foreign DNA from the environment: the gastrointestinal tract and the placenta as portals of entry,' Journal of molecular genetics and genetics Vol 242: 495-504, 1994

[11] Raffaele Mazza1, et al, 'Assessing the Transfer of Genetically Modified DNA from Feed to Animal Tissues,' Transgenic Research, October 2005, Volume 14, Number 5, pp 775 - 784

[12] P. Windels, I. Taverniers, A. Depicker, E. Van Bockstaele, and M. DeLoose, 'Characterisation of the Roundup Ready Soybean Insert,' European Food Research and Technology, vol. 213, 2001, pp. 107-112

[13] Jeffrey M. Smith, Seeds of Deception, Yes! Books, 2003

[14] Collonier C, Berthier G, Boyer F, Duplan M-N, Fernandez S, Kebdani N, Kobilinsky A, Romanuk M, Bertheau Y. 'Characterization of commercial GMO inserts: a source of useful material to study genome fluidity.' Poster presented at ICPMB: International Congress for Plant Molecular Biology (n�VII), Barcelona, 23-28th June 2003. Poster courtesy of Dr. Gilles-Eric Seralini, Pr�sident du Conseil Scientifique du CRII-GEN, CRII-GEN; also 'Transgenic Lines Proven Unstable' by Mae-Wan Ho, ISIS Report, 23 October 2003 Isis

[15] Isis/UTLI

[16] Article: Bt-maize (corn)

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