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Study blames bad corn for border birth defects [Texas tortillas cause of anencephalic babies]
Laredo Morning Times/AP ^ | February 9, 2006

Posted on 02/09/2006 11:03:01 AM PST by SwinneySwitch

HARLINGEN - Tortillas made with contaminated corn may have caused a rash of newborns with missing or rudimentary brains in the Rio Grande Valley in the 1990s, new data suggest.

According to the February issue of the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, researchers now have human studies linking a toxin in corn mold called fumonisin with babies' neural tube defects.

Scientists have been searching more than a decade for answers to the surge of anencephalic babies - babies born without brains or with underdeveloped brains - in the Rio Grande Valley from 1990-92.

There were six such cases in six weeks in Cameron County alone.

Residents and lawyers blamed pollution, and General Motors and other U.S.-owned factories paid $17 million without admitting wrongdoing to settle a lawsuit accusing their border factories of poisoning the air.

But no chemical links to the disease were ever proven, and Texas health officials began suspecting the high concentration of fumonisin in the corn harvest just before the outbreak. Some Texas horses that consumed the corn died from brain disease.

The study detailed in the journal found that pregnant women who ate 300 to 400 tortillas per month during the first trimester had twice the risk of giving birth to babies with the defects as women who ate less than 100 tortillas.

Blood samples indicated that the higher the level of fumonisin, the greater the risk of neural tube defects.

Tortillas are an inexpensive dietary staple along the Texas-Mexico border, and studies say the average young woman eats 110 per month.

"I don't know that we can ever go back and definitely say that it was fumonisin," said Lucina Suarez, director of epidemiology and disease surveillance for the Texas Department of State Health Services. But given this and other research, she said, "It certainly looks that way."

David Miller of Carleton University in Canada, one of the world's experts on the toxin, said there was still no direct human evidence that the toxin caused the birth defects.

He said more study was needed because the mold can still taint the corn supply and so many people's diets are largely made up of corn tortillas.

"We need to know the answer to this question," he said.

Officials with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration declined to discuss the report.

"There seems to be some connection between tortilla consumption and neural tube defects," said Ron Riley, a fumonisin expert from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He said he was waiting for more evidence before blaming tortillas. "With regard to fumonisin, the jury is out."


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: anencephalicbabies; birthdefects; corn; folicacid; fumonisin; health; maize; prenataldevelopment; terotogens; tortillas; usda
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To: mak5

>>>Just plain old everyday corn. There has been some investigation of using genetic modification to make corn resistant to this "ear mold" or to detoxify the mold itself, but that hasn't happened yet.

Let me guess, Monsanto.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1573646/posts
How do you say No NAIS in Japanese?


21 posted on 02/09/2006 11:33:43 AM PST by Calpernia (Breederville.com)
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To: Ditter

I have a nephew who contracted spinal meningitis from birdseed containing corn. Speculation was that it was from the mold or from the bird droppings.


22 posted on 02/09/2006 11:35:21 AM PST by sarasota
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To: IronJack

I think I am going to ask my mother how many tortillas she ate when she was pregnant with my younger brother. God knows I have always said he only has half a brain!


23 posted on 02/09/2006 11:46:25 AM PST by compman (left handed people are the only ones in their right mind!)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum; sarasota
Normal corn in a drought, from what I remember. Maybe the toxin causes an inability to store or process folic acid? Let you know if I find out any more.
24 posted on 02/09/2006 12:04:06 PM PST by SwinneySwitch (Mexico-beyond your expectations!)
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To: Calpernia

Yep, that evil Monsanto is trying to prevent birth defects.


25 posted on 02/09/2006 12:09:08 PM PST by PAR35
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To: Calpernia

Monsanto's corn may well be responsible for the problem. Just a wild guess.


26 posted on 02/09/2006 12:12:40 PM PST by sarasota
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To: SwinneySwitch

Thanks.


27 posted on 02/09/2006 12:15:13 PM PST by sarasota
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To: SwinneySwitch; Stellar Dendrite
"I don't know that we can ever go back and definitely say that it was fumonisin," said Lucina Suarez, director of epidemiology and disease surveillance for the Texas Department of State Health Services. But given this and other research, she said, "It certainly looks that way."
David Miller of Carleton University in Canada, one of the world's experts on the toxin, said there was still no direct human evidence that the toxin caused the birth defect.

The question isn't asked, and I want an answer...

Where was this "suspected corn" grown?

Is it possible the corn was grown in Mexico, or Canada...and the source is being shielded to prevent a GM style verdict? Or was this another domestic screw-up?

28 posted on 02/09/2006 12:18:41 PM PST by Itzlzha ("The avalanche has already started...it is too late for the pebbles to vote")
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Comment #29 Removed by Moderator

To: SwinneySwitch
well as long as GM and the other mean corporations paid off the extorsion money.... it's all good.

f'ing lawyers.... the at least spoke with "truthiness" about the pollution.

30 posted on 02/09/2006 12:21:34 PM PST by Dick Vomer (liberals suck......... but it depends on what your definition of the word "suck" is.)
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To: SwinneySwitch
I did a bunch of searching on this and it seems that even the lye bath and cooking that tortillas experience may not render this fungal threat harmless; the best guarantee is to buy only inspected grain or avoid consumption.

This is the most informative site I found.

31 posted on 02/09/2006 12:26:11 PM PST by Old Professer (Fix the problem, not the blame!)
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To: BurbankKarl

Fields stressed by drought and then flooded cause the greatest growth activity.



32 posted on 02/09/2006 12:31:43 PM PST by Old Professer (Fix the problem, not the blame!)
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To: sarasota

Biotech corn is relativity free of this toxin by virtue of the engineering protocols.


33 posted on 02/09/2006 12:32:57 PM PST by Old Professer (Fix the problem, not the blame!)
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To: Old Professer

Well, since all we're getting is biotech (GMO) corn, why is this proliferating?


34 posted on 02/09/2006 12:34:54 PM PST by sarasota
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To: Itzlzha

I'm always suspect of a domestic screw up when there was already a solution waiting.


35 posted on 02/09/2006 12:42:51 PM PST by Calpernia (Breederville.com)
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To: Old Professer

And the gene is patentable.


36 posted on 02/09/2006 12:43:29 PM PST by Calpernia (Breederville.com)
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To: Calpernia
And the gene is patentable.

And therefore farmers who use the patented gene enhanced seed, cannot save any seed from year to year for replanting under threat of being sued by the patentholder.

37 posted on 02/09/2006 12:50:49 PM PST by OB1kNOb (Hollywood is like granola. It's composed of fruits and nuts and what ain't are flakes.)
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To: sarasota

We're not and the fungus is and has always been, ubiquitous; the key is inspection and testing before marketing.


38 posted on 02/09/2006 1:02:46 PM PST by Old Professer (Fix the problem, not the blame!)
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To: Old Professer

What do you mean "we're not"? In my neck of the farm, it's all about Monsanto feed corn.


39 posted on 02/09/2006 1:03:49 PM PST by sarasota
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To: Old Professer

Make that "seed corn".


40 posted on 02/09/2006 1:04:32 PM PST by sarasota
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