Posted on 03/22/2012 6:53:59 AM PDT by opentalk
How safe are Monsanto's genetically-modified (GMO) food crops?
Not so much. A new study shows that both of Monsanto's major products (which the company claims are harmless to people) in fact can cause damage to human kidney cells.
Bugkiller + weedkiller
On the one hand, the study by Gilles-Eric Séralini at the University of Caen, France, found that despite Monsanto's protestations to the contrary, the Bt toxin can distrupt the cell membranes of human cells, leading to their death. The toxin is only supposed to do that in the guts of the bugs it targets.
Bt has been used for years as a naturally-derived pesticide; the big difference here is that Monsanto's gene-splicing wizards made corn and other food-bearing plants grow the Bt internally. When it's used in organic agriculture you can just wash the Bt off with water; you can't do that when it's inside ever cell of the corn you're eating.
As Dr Eva Sirinathsinghji noted in an article at the Institute for Science In Society website,
These studies, along with the observation that Bt protein is present in the blood of pregnant women and their babies makes it an urgent matter for the health impacts of Bt proteins in GMO crops to be thoroughly investigated along with the known effects on the environment and non-target species [that is, in us].
The study also tested interactions with glyphosphate, the weedkiller Monsanto sells as the other half of its chemical romance. Monsanto’s plants are immune, so farmers douse their fields with the stuff (under the trade name “Roundup”), killing every weed plant but leaving the corn, cotton, or soybeans… which leaves a residue on the crop that also get ingested by you, the end customer.
Unsurprisingly, (to some of us, at least), the glyphosphate also caused serious problems.
Known unknows
This comes as France is trying to get the European Union to ban GMO crops completely. (See: France pushes to ban Monsanto’s GMO corn across the entire EU.) As Dr Sirinathsinghji noted,
The EU commission approved this crop in 2009, concluding that it “is as safe as its conventional counterpart with respect to potential effects on human and animal health”. In response to their publication the research team raised questions about the safety assessment procedure stating that their findings were a “surprising outcome and this risk was somehow overlooked” in past assessments of such crops.
Overlooked, indeed. As we noted earlier, Monsanto has been systematically blocking research into the toxic affects of their pet chemicals, as well as attacking scientists who dare to speak out against them. (See: Monsanto blocks research on GMO safety.)
Bump.
And then there’s this:
“French Researchers Speculate Roundup May Cause Organ Failure
By M. Sutherland 2/5/2009
....According to Brad Mitchell, a director of public affairs at Monsanto, some of the financial support for this research came from the Committee for Research and Independent Information on Genetic Engineering (CRIIGEN). Seralini has been the chairman of the Scientific Council for CRIIGEN since 1999. Seralini and this organization are well known for their anti-biotechnology positions.
“These Petri dish experiments, like the previous related experiments from Seralini’s group, have no relevance to a living animal and provide no information about real-world risks to humans,” Donna Farmer, Monsanto’s chemistry stewardship lead, said. “Instead, they tell us what we already know; that substances can injure unprotected cells in a test-tube.”
“The experiments were conducted in very artificial conditions and the results are not relevant for proving toxicity in humans,” Farmer said. “Caffeine was used in a similar Petri dish experiment with the same results. The surfactant effects are also not surprising—surfactants found in a variety of personal care products and household detergents can alter the function of cells in Petri dish experiments.”
“Additionally, the current body of animal data also contradicts the findings of the Petri dish experiments,” Farmer said. “Glyphosate has an excellent human health and environmental profile, and a long history of safe use for over 30 years in more than 130 countries. Roundup Ready crops treated with Roundup brand glyphosate herbicide formulations are as safe as conventional crops.”
http://www.monsanto.com/newsviews/Pages/French-Research-Roundup.aspx
..Wilfredo Ordonez, who has harvested corn, sesame and rice for more than 30 years in the Bajo Lempa region of El Salvador, was hit by the chronic disease when he was 38. Ten years later, he depends on dialysis treatments he administers to himself four times a day. 'This is a disease that comes with no warning, and when they find it, it's too late,...
Welcome to the asylum of our era. Food poisoning on a grand scale, by geniuses who are working on a better, artifical, man made, everything...
Monsanto is probably the only corporation that actually gives me the creepy crawlies
bump
I agree. Monsanto is one truly evil company.
...microscopic pathogen appears to significantly impact the health of plants, animals, and probably human beings." He said the pathogen appears to be connected to use of glyphosate, the key ingredient in Roundup.
...In his letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Huber said the organism has been found in high concentrations of Roundup Ready soybean meal and corn, which are used in livestock feed. He said laboratory tests have confirmed the presence of the organism in pigs, cattle and other livestock that have experienced spontaneous abortions and infertility
Drawing any conclusions about Bt or Monsanto from trash like this is a fools errand. And anyone who thinks going back to pre Bt corn, that was loaded with mycotoxins (that have been proven to cause a variety of cancers (brain, liver, kidney) and other illnesses), is a good thing, is also a fool.
I'd bet that this "research," in time, is shown to be the agenda driven, money grabbing, obtain the desired conclusion, nonsense that I suspect it is.
In the meantime, the Yurps can continue to protect their farmers by denying imports of our food products. Luddites and protectionists....they make such logical, and brain dead, partners.
GMO's (imo) are being pushed on us with little study on health risk to humans. Monsanto is against transparency in labeling of food. Organic farmers are being heavily regulated.
-- The power to chose what we eat is being diminished.
correction= choose
The only good thing Monsanto did was to make that “kissing” ride at disneyland.
Gmo is seriously the worst thing out there for human health, because it’s more insidious than normal disease.
The only way to avoid it is to not eat any, ANY, corn, soy, beet sugar, Canola, zucchini, Hawaiian papayas unless they are labeled organic, and from USA. I have a distrust of Mexican or Chinese organic — they could be paid off for the “organic” label.
75% or more of all processed food has one of those in it. So don’t eat it.
Definitely don’t eat GMO crops if you are pregnant, nursing, or planning to have a child soon. Also, don’t eat it if you don’t want to risk Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Lou gehrig’s, or other neurodegenerative diseases. Other than that, yum.
Who cares about dead kidneys! We are talking corporate profits and jobs, here! ;)
Com’on kneejerk libertarian freepers who thought everything out in the 1990’s and condensed it all into a free market slogan! Tell ‘em to shut up and kill their kidneys like a good American!
The topic isn't censured in the media. That's a pantload. The media is where Marxist organizations like CSPI go to alarm the public so they can exert more control over us while destroying industry. GMO and Glycophosphate alarmists are ridiculed because they don't have any legitimate science to back them up. All they have is an ignorant and fearful public, and their willing allies in the media.
You've been eating GMO food all your life....just like most people. It doesn't matter if it's through selective breeding or gene splicing, the results are the same. And we're living longer and healthier lives today than at any other time in our history.
Monsanto is a great American success story. Luddites think they're Satan personified but can never manage to explain why the nations farmers purchase their products in droves and gladly pay their asking price. You would have us believe that Monsanto has a gun to their head and is forcing them to make purchases against their best interests. That's unmitigated BS.
Organic farmers are being regulated because, in this country, you're not allowed to make claims that cannot be supported. In this country, we protect the gullible and stupid.
Sure.
Even so, and in this country of ours, we're living longer and healthier lives than at any other time in our history.
The only people who fear the nonsense in the report that started this thread are people who don't really understand GMO food, or glycophosphate, but think they do and have scared themselves into believing that it's killing them -- even though just about every food you consume, every day, has been genetically modified in some way.
Oh, the horror!
Oh, the inhumanity!
Oh, the staggering ignorance!
Not sure your basis about GMOs making us healthier. Kidney disease in the US has been on a steady increase. Kidney health is what the article references.
Yup, and having a safe and nutritious food supply plays an important role.
Not sure your basis about GMOs making us healthier
Not sure I claimed that GMO food makes us "healthier." I did say that Bt significantly reduces the amount of mycotoxins we consume today so, yes, that makes our food supply safer. Chemicalphobes have a hard time understanding why we genetically alter food and apply pest control products to plants.
. Kidney disease in the US has been on a steady increase.
I hear that obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure are also on the increase. Correlation? It's a possibility, don't you think?
Kidney health is what the article references.
Is the article claiming that Bt and Roundup are responsible for the rise in obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure we're experiencing as a nation?
You appear to like junk science. I spent far too much time and effort learning about legitimate science to believe any of the nonsense in this study. To each their own. It's human nature to fear things you don't understand.
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