Originally
published June 11 2009
by Ethan Huff,
citizen journalist
(NaturalNews) The
While urging for more independent studies, the AAEM paper cites its own studies
alleging that genetically modified foods cause serious adverse health effects,
emphasizing more than a mere "causal association" as is commonly
assumed. These effects include rapid aging, severe alterations to the major
bodily organs, infertility, immune problems, gastrointestinal dysfunction, and
disruption to proper insulin regulation, among others.
Many doctors are warning their patients to avoid GMOs as well, recognizing the
distinct correlation between GMOs and disease.
Experimental studies of genetically engineered foods and their effects in the
body are disturbing, to say the least. Biologist David Schubert of the Salk
Institute has stated that children are the most likely people to experience the
adverse effects of GMOs, noting that apart from adequate safety studies,
children become "the experimental animals". In truth, every citizen is
a guinea pig when genetically altered organisms are introduced into the food
supply without adequate safety studies let alone honest labeling.
In the animal studies that have been conducted, some noteworthy findings have
been discovered about GMOs:
Female rats fed genetically modified soy saw most of their babies die within
three weeks compared to the 10% death rate experienced by rats fed natural soy.
The babies that survived in the genetically modified-fed control group were also
born smaller and had problems getting pregnant later on. Male rats fed genetically modified soy experienced a change in testicular color
from pink to dark blue, as well as altered young sperm and significant changes
in their DNA.
Indian buffalo that consumed genetically modified cottonseed experienced various
birthing complications including infertility, abortions, premature delivery, and
prolapsed uteruses. Many of the calves that survived birth died shortly
thereafter.
In the
Genetically modified corn and cotton, purposely engineered to create their own
built-in pesticide called Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis), have been indicted in
several studies to provoke intense allergic and immune reactions and death.
Since the levels of Bt produced in the plant represent thousands of times more a
concentration of Bt than natural Bt spray, the effects are greatly amplified.
Shepherds whose sheep grazed on Bt cotton after harvest witnessed thousands of
their sheep die. Post mortem examinations revealed severe irritation and black
patches in the intestines and liver, as well as enlarged bile ducts. All sheep
fed the Bt cotton eventually died within 30 days while those that grazed on
natural cotton remained healthy.
Bt corn was also responsible for the deaths of cows, horses, water buffaloes,
and chicken in both
Genetically modified tomatoes fed to rats were shown to cause bleeding stomachs
and eventually killed many of the rats.
These are just a few examples of the many catastrophic effects of using
genetically modified organisms as food.
Probably the worst finding in the AAEM report is the fact that GMOs can live and
reproduce in the intestinal flora of the body long after being eaten. The genes
present in the genetically modified organisms transfer into the DNA of
intestinal bacteria, the good bacteria that digests food and maintains bodily
health. This reprogramming can cause the intestinal flora to begin reproducing
Bt pesticides, for example, rather than producing the living bacteria it is
supposed to. The permanent, deadly implications of these alterations are mind
boggling since intestinal flora is crucial for life.
Despite consensus from most FDA scientists in the early '90s declaring that
genetically modified foods are inherently dangerous and could lead to all sorts
of serious health problems, politics won out as mandates were given from
Washington to promote biotechnology and GMOs in spite of apparent and obvious
dangers. This led to the promotion of Michael Taylor, former attorney for
Monsanto, as head of GMO policy at the FDA, a move that led to the official
denial by the agency of any knowledge or substantiated concern by any FDA
scientists about the safety of GMOs.
Despite findings in some 44,000 pages of internal FDA memos and reports released
in 1999 due to a lawsuit, findings that contained the warnings from then
scientists about the "unintended negative side effects" of genetic
engineering, official FDA GMO policy has been scrubbed clean of the truth and
purports blatant lies in its defense of GMOs as safe. In fact, current policy
emphatically states that no safety studies on GMOs are even required or
necessary; it is instead up to Big Biotech to determine the safety of its own
genetically modified organisms if it so chooses.
Many people may remember the deadly epidemic in the late 1980s from the
genetically engineered version of L-tryptophan, a food supplement, that was
introduced into the market. An estimated 10,000 people became permanently
disabled and about 100 died. Yet despite the rapidly occurring, deadly effects
from this particular GMO immediately following its release, including noticeable
changes in the blood, it took over four years to identify the existence of this
epidemic.
Many concerned doctors hypothesize that the disease-causing symptoms of GMOs
being consumed today will take years to show up, further besetting the efforts
of those who are trying to expose the dangers of GMOs. Current data is showing
that since 1996 when genetically modified crops were first introduced, the
incidences of people with three or more chronic diseases has jumped from 7
percent to 13 percent.
In addition to all the existing evidence, AAEM is urging its members, the
scientific community, and those in medicine to continue gathering case studies
and initiate epidemiological research to help determine, once and for all, the
effects of GMOs on human beings in addition to their effects on animals.
It is wise to avoid foods that contain GMOs and ingredients that are genetically
engineered. These include non-organic corn and soy derivatives, canola and
cottonseed oils, and sugar from sugar beets. Ingredients such as corn starch,
corn meal, and soy lecithin are great examples of common ingredients that are
suspect. Unless labeled as non-GMO or explicitly organic, these common
ingredients are most likely genetically modified and should be avoided at all
costs.
Lastly, the mindful citizen should contact grocers, food manufacturers, and
restaurants to inquire about genetically modified ingredients and oppose their
usage. As increasing numbers of people begin to seek out this information across
the food supply-chain and purposefully avoid products that contain GMOs,
producers and retailers will phase them out in order to meet demand. This can be
seen in the gradual elimination of toxins such as high fructose corn syrup from
food as consumers learn about its effects and avoid products that contain it.
Call Congress and urge support for mandatory GMO labeling, perhaps even the
elimination of GMOs entirely. Get creative. Tell friends and family about the
dangers of GMOs, organize local campaigns, and pass out literature. The sooner
people become aware of GMOs and the havoc they are causing, and demand their
removal from food, the sooner GMOs will exist only in history books as one of
the most detrimental scientific experiments ever perpetrated on mankind.
Sources:
Opposing
Views,
"Genetically Modified Foods Pose Huge Health Risk"
News
With Views,
"Obama's team includes dangerous biotech 'Yes Men'"
The
Times of India -
GM food? It's poison
Institute
for Responsible Technology
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