THE HANDSTAND |
FEBRUARY-MARCH2010
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The Health Hazards
of GM Corn
Posted by: Dr. Mercola
January 09 2010 | 28,697 views
Everything You HAVE
TO KNOW about Dangerous Genetically Modified Foods
from Jeffrey Smith
on Vimeo.
A study demonstrates the toxicity of three genetically
modified corn varieties from the American seed company
Monsanto, according to the Committee for Independent
Research and Information on Genetic Engineering.
"For the first time in the world, we've proven that
GMO are neither sufficiently healthy nor proper to be
commercialized ... Each time, for all three GMOs, the
kidneys and liver, which are the main organs that react
to a chemical food poisoning, had problems," said
Gilles-Eric Séralini, an expert member of the Commission
for Biotechnology Reevaluation.
The researchers based their analyses on the data supplied
by Monsanto to health authorities to obtain the green
light for commercialization, but they draw different
conclusions after new statistical calculations.
Monsantos own study has come back to bite
them.
And rightly sothey clearly concealed the
results of this study, massaging the data until they
could slide it by as supporting the safety of their
product.
It took an independent team of researchers to
reexamine data and get the truth out.
Isnt it interesting that every time Monsanto
conducts scientific research on its own products, the
conclusions are that they are safe? But each time
independent scientists study them, all kinds of
horrific side effects are uncovered.
Some former Monsanto employees report that anything
that interferes with advancing the commercialization
of their biotechnology is pushed aside.
One former Monsanto scientist said he knew of
several fellow Monsanto researchers involved in
feeding studies who have all (secretly) switched to
organic milk.
What does that tell you?
If You Plant It, They Will Come
The United States has planted more GM crops than
any other country every year since 1996, when GM
crops were first made available commercially.
Its bad enough that the United States allows
GM crops to be grown at alland its even
worse that we grow two-thirds of the GM crops
worldwide.
By far, corn is the crop taking up the most
acreage.
The 2007 U.S. corn crop was one for the record
books at 13.1 billion bushels of production,
eclipsing the previous high set in 2004 of 11.8
billion bushels, according to the U.S. Department of
Agricultures National Agricultural Statistics
Service (NASS). The 2007 production level was up 24
percent from 2006[i].
Corn has exploded as a result of our dependence
upon high
fructose corn syrup, as well as its use in
ethanol, although corn-based
biofuel appears to be on the decline due to its
excessive carbon footprint.
United States Rather Slow to Get
It
The US is painfully slow to wise up about the
damaging effects of GM corn.
Germany
recently banned the GM corn variety called MON 810,
which had been the only remaining GM crop permitted
in that country. MON 810 had already been banned in
Austria, Hungary, Greece, France and Luxembourg.
What do they know that we dont?
We are still reserving tens of millions of acres
for genetically modified corn!
The Scientific Studies Couldnt Be
Clearer
Biology professor Bela Darvas of Hungarys
Debrecen University discovered that Monsantos
Mon 810 corn is lethal to two Hungarian protected
species and one insect classified as rare. Now Monsanto
refuses to give Darvas any more Mon 810 to use in his
studies.
They also refused his request for Mon 863, another
GM variety.
So, not only has MON 810 been shown to cause
serious damage to animals, but it may also wipe out
protected plant and insect species.
A mountain of evidence now exists about the
troubling effects of GM corn:
- Rats
fed GM corn have kidney, liver, and
blood abnormalities whereas rats fed non-GM
corn had normal organs and blood.
- GM corn has led to serious
reproductive problems in mice. Mice fed
Monsantos GM corn showed lower
fertility and had offspring with lower body
weight.
- An Italian study in 2008[ii] found significant
disturbances in the immune function of mice
fed GM corn.
- Another study showed that mice fed bt corn (bt
stands for bacterial toxin
engineered to manufacture a natural bacterial
toxin) suffered multiple immune system
responses, as if they were eating
the pure bt toxin alone.
- Several US farmers reported sterility and
fertility problems among pigs and cows
fed GM corn.
- In Germany, twelve cows that had eaten
GM corn mysteriously died.
- In feeding trials with chickens, twice the
number of chickens died when fed GM corn as
those fed non-GM corn.
Adding to the potential devastation is the fact
that corn is a wind-pollinated plant, which means it
can spread from one acre to another. While growers of
GM food often say their crops will be contained and
unable to contaminate nearby fields, from an
environmental perspective, contamination between GM
and non-GM crops is generally acknowledged to be unavoidable.
What can stop windstorms, tornadoes or other
weather from blowing GM pollen or seeds onto non-GM
crops?
Not a whole lot.
The environmental impact of GM crops may be worse
than the health impact. Genetic pollution is self-propagating.
It is altering our biosphere in ways that could
outlast climate change and nuclear waste.
You cant recall genes from the
environmentjust like putting the genie back in
the bottle.
Although Monsanto doesnt believe (or admit)
this is a possibility, their shortsighted focus on
profits is blinding them to the very real threats
this technology is posing to the viability of the
human race.
Monsantos influence in the government is
legendary. Consequently, policy makers have not
heeded the warnings to do long-term safety testing.
How Genetic Modification is Actually Executed
The making of a GM seed isnt the highly
precise operation you might expect.
According to Jeffrey
M. Smith, author of Seeds of Deception
and Genetic Roulette, once a gene is
identified that creates a protein that they want, it
is shot into the DNA with a gun.
They dont care where the gene ends up...as
long as it attaches somewhere.
This blasting creates all manner of problems. In
fact, collateral damage is a given5 percent of
the surrounding genes can be disrupted! The DNA is
sometimes truncated, sometimes mutated, creating
proteins that are different and predictably unpredictable.
Is it any wonder, then, how genetically modified
foods carry with them so many unintended and
devastating consequences?
According to Jeffrey Smith, the most
common result of GM is surprise side effects.
These side effects come in four main categories:
- Allergenic
- Toxic
- Carcinogenic
- Anti-nutritional
To bump up the desired GM effects, developers have
been inserting whats called a promoter,
which has been derived from a virus. A promoter acts
like a switch to turn on the gene its attached
to. And the promoters action is not confined to
the gene it rides in onits been known
to turn on other genes around it, permanently, at
high volume.
It can turn on an allergen, a toxin, a
carcinogenwe dont knowits
genetic roulette.
The promoters could switch on dormant viruses,
producing super-diseases. One pesticide-tolerant gene
called the liberty
link could turn your body into a pesticide
factory for life. The viral gene might transfer to
your body a permanent suppression of your viral
defenses.
We just dont know.
And the reason we dont know is that the
government refuses to demand the rigorous testing of
these GM products BEFORE permitting them into your
food supply.
A Bad Gut Feeling
GM industry representatives falsely claim that
when you eat a genetically modified food, the DNA is
destroyed by digestion.
Researchers have now proven this is false.
British researchers demonstrated that GM DNA from
crops can find its way into human gut bacteria,
creating health risks. The concern is that the
antibiotic marker genes inserted with the GM material
could cause a person to be resistant to antibiotic
medicines.[iii]
The study by Newcastle University in the UK was
conducted on 7 human volunteers who, in the past, had
their lower intestines removed and now use colostomy
bags. After eating a meal containing GM soy,
researchers were surprised to find that a relatively
large proportion of GM DNA survived the digestive
process.
In 3 of the 7 volunteers, they found bacteria had
taken up the herbicide-resistant gene from the GM
food at a very low level.
And this was after only one GM meal.
Not only that, but researchers also found
Roundup ready gut bacteria from past GM
soybean consumption. This was NOT from the current
experimentit was evidence that similar gene
transfer had occurred in the past, from prior
consumption of GM Roundup ready soy. (Roundup
ready is the term used to mean soy that was
engineered to be resistant to the herbicide Roundup.)
Michael Antonio, a senior lecturer in molecular
genetics at Kings College Medical School in
London, said this study was significant because the
researchers demonstrated that you can get GM plant
DNA in your gut bacteria, which was previously
considered impossible.
This is the first clear evidence that antibiotic
marker genes can jump to the bacteria in your stomach
and increase your risk for an antibiotic-resistant
infection.
The Mission to Exterminate GM From Our Food
Supply
There are two strategies the non-GM movement is
working on to rid our food supply of GM products:
- Labeling all foods for their GM/non-GM status
- Educating the public so that it will choose
non-GM foods over GM foods.
The labeling campaign is making progress, thanks
to the persistence of Jeffrey Smith and the Institute
for Responsible Technology, an organization whose
goal is to end the genetic engineering of our food
supply and the outdoor release of GM crops. If you
would like to sign the petition to President Obama in
support of mandatory labeling of GM foods, click
here.
But dont wait for the labels to protect
yourself and your family.
Nearly all GM foods can be avoided by steering
clear of four basic food products:
- Corn
- Soy
- Cottonseed
- Canola
Additionally, avoid the following produce that is
commonly GM by purchasing only organic varieties:
- Zucchini
- Crookneck squash
- Hawaiian papaya
- Sugar derived from sugar beets (new GM crop
as of 2009)
For more specifics, the Institute for Responsible
Technology has compiled an excellent Non-GMO
Shopping Guide that you can download for free.
According to Jeffrey Smith, when people are
educated about GM foods and provided a choice of
products to buy, surveys show that at least 90
percent will opt for non-GM.
Therefore, between labeling products and a massive
education campaign, GM foods will become a thing of
the past. Once the tipping point is reached, the
demand for non-GM products will be so fierce that
market forces will smother the GM market once and for
all.
[i] 2007 corn crop a record breaker, USDA
reports (January 11, 2008) USDA National
Agricultural Statistics Service
[ii] Finamore A,
Roselli M, Britti S, Monastra G, Ambra R, Turrini A and
Mengheri E. Intestinal
and peripheral immune response to MON 810 maize ingestion
in weaning and old mice J Agric Food Chem
(16 Nov 2008) Summary at
[iii] Would
you like frankenfries with that? (July 17, 2002)
Greenpeace International
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