GENETICALLY ENGINEERED FOODS
Genetic engineering of foods is the insertion or deletion of genes in the seeds of agricultural foods. This process has been widely adopted for soy, corn, cotton, canola (rapeseed plant), and other plants and animals. The food industry in America has been able to get Food and Drug Administration approval of these altered foods with minimal and inadequate testing of the safety of these foods. A recent study by a Russian scientist raises alarming concerns about the safety of GMO (genetically modified organism) soy. Female rats were fed a diet of 5-7 grams of GMO soy flour before pregnancy and during pregnancy and lactation of the rat pups. The pups exposed to the soy were smaller on average at birth but the really alarming finding was an early death rate of 55% of the pups versus only 9% fed non-GMO soy flour. Further study to determine the causes of death in the rats and to replicate the study has not occurred due to lack of funds.
The Montsanto Roundup Ready soy bean was used to feed the rats. This soy variety has a gene inserted to make the soy plant resistant to the herbicide Roundup. Heavy applications of Roundup have become necessary to control weeds as they start to develop resistance to the herbicide. Over 85% of America soybeans are the Roundup Ready variety. In addition to the effects of the modified soy, the heavy exposure of the plant to the extremely toxic Roundup results in toxic residues of the chemical in the processed product.
The oil, flour and lethicin from these soybeans are used in a wide variety of processed foods, thereby exposing many people to the effects of these components.
The FDA does not require any safety testing of GMO foods if the company that develops it says the food is safe. However, a lawsuit about these GMO foods revealed that FDA researchers believed that GMO foods did have a potential to create new allergens, toxins and nutritional problems and that long term safety studies were needed before releasing these on the market. The researchers were overruled by their superiors, including one person who was a former attorney for Monsanto and later became a vice-president of Monsanto. There have been less than 20 animal feeding safety trials and no human trials of safety of GMO foods.
The gene inserted into Roundup Ready soy produces a protein that has two sections identical to known allergens. Studies have shown that DNA in the soy nucleus has been extensively altered by insertion of this one gene, resulting in production of numerous proteins not normally present in the plant. The inserted gene has been found to have changed drastically over time and place and appears to be very unstable. Animals fed GMO crops have experienced liver and kidney problems, blood cell abnormalities, immune problems, and an increased death rate. None of these problems have been followed up or studied to see if similar problems are occurring in humans who consume GMO products.
The American Academy of Environmental Medicine has called for long term, rigorous and independent studies of the safety of GMO foods. The precautionary principle should be applied to this potentially dangerous new technology. Rather than assuming safety, safety must be proven before letting this genie out of the test tube bottle. Further information on GMO foods can be found at www.responsibletechnology.org and in Jeffrey Smith’s seminal book “Seeds of Deception”.
In the meantime, I urge people to:
- avoid foods with GMO products
- ask your legislators to require that all foods be labeled if they have such products in them
- educate your children and family about these issues
- get GMO foods out of school foods
Daniel Blodgett MD