Health Hazards of GE Foods by Jeffrey Smith

From: <http://www.seedsofdeception.com/> .

Genetically Engineered Foods may Pose National Health Risk

By Jeffrey M. Smith

In a study in the early 1990¹s rats were fed genetically modified (GM)
tomatoes. Well actually, the rats refused to eat them. They were force-fed.
Several of the rats developed stomach lesions and seven out of forty died
within two weeks. Scientists at the FDA who reviewed the study agreed that
it did not provide a ³demonstration of reasonable certainty of no harm.² In
fact, agency scientists warned that GM foods in general might create
unpredicted allergies, toxins, antibiotic resistant diseases, and
nutritional problems. Internal FDA memos made public from a lawsuit reveal
that the scientists urged their superiors to require long-term safety
testing to catch these hard-to-detect side effects. But FDA political
appointees, including a former attorney for Monsanto in charge of policy,
ignored the scientists¹ warnings. The FDA does not require safety studies.
Instead, if the makers of the GM foods claim that they are safe, the agency
has no further questions. The GM tomato was approved in 1994.

According to a July 27th report from the US National Academy of Sciences
(NAS), the current system of blanket approval of GM foods by the FDA might
not detect ³unintended changes in the composition of the food.² The process
of gene insertion, according to the NAS, could damage the host¹s DNA with
unpredicted consequences. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR),
which released its findings a few days earlier, identified a long list of
potentially dangerous side effects from GM foods that are not being
evaluated. The ICMR called for a complete overhaul of existing regulations.

The safety studies conducted by the biotech industry are often dismissed by
critics as superficial and designed to avoid finding problems. Tragically,
scientists who voice their criticism, and those who have discovered
incriminating evidence, have been threatened, stripped of responsibilities,
denied funding or tenure, or fired. For example, a UK government-funded
study demonstrated that rats fed a GM potato developed potentially
pre-cancerous cell growth, damaged immune systems, partial atrophy of the
liver, and inhibited development of their brains, livers and testicles. When
the lead scientist went public with his concerns, he was promptly fired from
his job after 35 years and silenced with threats of a lawsuit.

Americans eat genetically modified foods everyday. Although the GM tomato
has been taken off the market, millions of acres of soy, corn, canola, and
cotton have had foreign genes inserted into their DNA. The new genes allow
the crops to survive applications of herbicide, create their own pesticide,
or both. While there are only a handful of published animal safety studies,
mounting evidence, which needs to be followed up, suggests that these foods
are not safe.

Rats fed GM corn had problems with blood cell formation. Those fed GM soy
had problems with liver cell formation, and the livers of rats fed GM canola
were heavier. Pigs fed GM corn on several Midwest farms developed false
pregnancies or sterility. Cows fed GM corn in Germany died mysteriously. And
twice the number of chickens died when fed GM corn compared to those fed
natural corn.

Soon after GM soy was introduced to the UK, soy allergies skyrocketed by 50
percent. Without follow-up tests, we can¹t be sure if genetic engineering
was the cause, but there are plenty of ways in which genetic manipulation
can boost allergies.
* A gene from a Brazil nut inserted into soybeans made the soy allergenic to
those who normally react to Brazil nuts.
* GM soy currently consumed in the US contains a gene from bacteria. The
inserted gene creates a protein that was never before part of the human food
supply, and might be allergenic.
* Sections of that protein are identical to those found in shrimp and dust
mite allergens. According to criteria recommended by the World Health
Organization (WHO), this fact should have disqualified GM soy from approval.
* The sequence of the gene that was inserted into soy has inexplicably
rearranged over time. The protein it creates is likely to be different than
the one intended, and was never subject to any safety studies. It may be
allergenic or toxic.
* The process of inserting the foreign gene damaged a section of the soy¹s
own DNA, scrambling its genetic code. This mutation might interfere with DNA
expression or create a new, potentially dangerous protein.
* The most common allergen in soy is called trypsin inhibitor. GM soy
contains significantly more of this compared with natural soy.

The only human feeding study ever conducted showed that the gene inserted
into soybeans spontaneously transferred out of food and into the DNA of gut
bacteria. This has several serious implications. First, it means that the
bacteria inside our intestines, newly equipped with this foreign gene, may
create the novel protein inside of us. If it is allergenic or toxic, it may
affect us for the long term, even if we give up eating GM soy.

The same study verified that the promoter, which scientists attach to the
inserted gene to permanently switch it on, also transferred to gut bacteria.
Research on this promoter suggests that it might unintentionally switch on
other genes in the DNA allergens, toxins, carcinogens, or antinutrients. Scientists also theorize
that the promoter might switch on dormant viruses embedded in the DNA or
generate mutations.

Unfortunately, gene transfer from GM food might not be limited to our gut
bacteria. Preliminary results show that the promoter also transferred into
rat organs, after they were fed only a single GM meal.

This is only a partial list of what may go wrong with a single GM food crop.
The list for others may be longer. Take for example, the corn inserted with
a gene that creates its own pesticide. We eat that pesticide, and plenty of
evidence suggests that it is not as benign as the biotech proponents would
have us believe. Preliminary evidence, for example, shows that thirty-nine
Philippinos living next to a pesticide-producing cornfield developed skin,
intestinal, and respiratory reactions while the corn was pollinating. Tests
of their blood also showed an immune response to the pesticide. Consider
what might happen if the gene that produces the pesticide were to transfer
from the corn we eat into our gut bacteria. It could theoretically transform
our intestinal flora into living pesticide factories.

GM corn and most GM crops are also inserted with antibiotic resistant genes.
The ICMR, along with the American Medical Association, the WHO, and
organizations worldwide, have expressed concern about the possibility that
these might transfer to pathogenic bacteria inside our gut. They are afraid
that it might create new, antibiotic resistant super-diseases. The defense
that the biotech industry used to counter these fears was that the DNA was
fully destroyed during digestion and therefore no such transfer of genes was
possible. The human feeding study described above, published in February
2004, overturned this baseless assumption.

No one monitors human health impacts of GM foods. If the foods were creating
health problems in the US population, it might take years or decades before
we identified the cause. One epidemic in the1980¹s provides a chilling
example. A new disease was caused by a brand of the food supplement
L-tryptophan, which had been created through genetic modification and
contained tiny traces of contaminants. The disease killed about 100
Americans and caused sickness or disability in about 5-10,000 others. The
only reason that doctors were able to identify that an epidemic was
occurring, was because the disease had three simultaneous characteristics:
it was rare, acute, and fast acting. Even then it was nearly missed
entirely.

Studies show that the more people learn about GM foods, the less they trust
them. In Europe, Japan, and other regions, the press has been far more open
about the potential dangers of genetic manipulation. Consequently, consumers
there demand that their food supply be GM-free and manufacturers comply. But
in the US, most people believe they have never eaten a GM food in their
lives (even though they consume them daily). Lacking awareness, complacent
consumers have been the key asset for the biotech industry in the US. As a
result, millions of Americans are exposed to the potential dangers, and
children are most at risk. Perhaps the revelations in the reports released
on opposite sides of the planet will awaken consumers as well as regulators,
and GM foods on the market will be withdrawn.

To become more informed of the dangers of GM foods, to download a letter to
food manufacturers, and to learn how to avoid buying and eating GM foods,
see www.seedsofdeception.com <http://www.seedsofdeception.com/> .

This is the first in a regular column about genetically modified foods by
Jeffrey M. Smith. He is the author of Seeds of Deception: Exposing Industry
and Government Lies about the Safety of the Genetically Engineered Foods
You¹re Eating, and the Director of the Institute for Responsible Technology.

© Copyright Jeffrey M. Smith. Permission is granted to reproduce this
article in whole or in part. A service of the Institute for Responsible
Technology