BROADCASTER ARCHIVES

Doctors Warn: Avoid Genetically Modified Food
By Jeffrey M. Smith

This article was first printed in the Jan/Feb 2010 issue of the Organic Broadcaster, published by the Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service.

Organic farmers do not use genetically modified organisms in organic production. However, even as the organic industry remains stalwart in its skepticism of GMOs, they are proliferating in the food and fiber being produced around us. Larger percentages of GMO-adulterated food are making it to grocer's shelves every day. It is critical that organic farmers learn how to defend the value of their non-GMO production. Strong evidence is growing that shows the negative consequences of the use of GMOs in farming practices. The following is a list of critical research and recommendations around the safety and consequences of GMOs. Jeffery Smith, Executive Director of the Institute for Responsible Technology, offers here background to help organic farmers support their important stance opposing the use of GMOs in agricultural production. For more resources and information, go to www.responsibletechnology.org.

On May 19, 2009 the American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) has called on all physicians to prescribe diets without genetically modified (GM) foods to all patients.(1) They called for a moratorium on genetically modified organisms (GMOs), long-term independent studies, and labeling. They stated, “Several animal studies indicate serious health risks associated with GM food,” including infertility, immune problems, accelerated aging, insulin regulation, and changes in major organs and the gastrointestinal system. “There is more than a casual association between GM foods and adverse health effects. There is causation…”

Former AAEM President Dr. Jennifer Armstrong says, “Physicians are probably seeing the effects in their patients, but need to know how to ask the right questions.” Renowned biologist Pushpa M. Bhargava believes that GMOs are a major contributor to the deteriorating health in America.

Pregnant women and babies at great risk

• GM foods are particularly dangerous for pregnant moms and children. After GM soy was fed to female rats, most of their babies died—compared to a 10% deaths among controls fed natural soy. (2) GM-fed babies were smaller, and possibly infertile. (3)

• Testicles of rats fed GM soy changed from the normal pink to dark blue. (4) Mice fed GM soy had altered young sperm. (5) Embryos of GM soy-fed parent mice had changed DNA. (6) And mice fed GM corn had fewer, and smaller, babies. (7)

• In Haryana, India, most buffalo that ate GM cottonseed had reproductive complications such as premature deliveries, abortions, and infertility; Many calves died. About two dozen US farmers said thousands of pigs became sterile from certain GM corn varieties. Some had false pregnancies; others gave birth to bags of water. Cows and bulls also became infertile. (8)

• In the US, incidence of low birth weight babies, infertility, and infant mortality are all escalating.

Food that produces poison

• GM corn and cotton are engineered to produce a built-in pesticide called Bt-toxin—produced from soil bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis. When bugs bite the plant, poison splits open their stomach and kills them. Organic farmers and others use natural Bt bacteria spray for insect control, so biotech companies claim that Bt-toxin must be safe.

The Bt-toxin produced in GM plants, however, is thousands of times more concentrated than natural Bt spray, is designed to be more toxic, (9) has properties of an allergen, and cannot be washed off the plant.

Moreover, studies confirm that even the less toxic natural spray can be harmful. When dispersed by plane to kill gypsy moths in Washington and Vancouver, about 500 people reported allergy or flu-like symptoms.(10),(11) The same symptoms are now reported by farm workers from handling Bt cotton throughout India. (12)

GMOs provoke immune reactions

• GMO safety expert Arpad Pusztai says changes in immune status are “a consistent feature of all the [animal] studies.” (13) From Monsanto’s own research to government funded trials, rodents fed Bt corn had significant immune reactions.(14), (15)
• Soon after GM soy was introduced to the UK, soy allergies skyrocketed by 50%. Ohio allergist Dr. John Boyles says “I used to test for soy allergies all the time, but now that soy is genetically engineered, it is so dangerous that I tell people never to eat it.”
• GM soy and corn contain new proteins with allergenic properties.(16) and GM soy has up to seven times more of a known soy allergen.(17) Perhaps the US epidemic of food allergies and asthma is a casualty of genetic manipulation.

Animals dying in large numbers

• In India, animals graze on cotton plants after harvest. But when shepherds let sheep graze on Bt cotton plants, thousands died. Investigators said preliminary evidence “strongly suggests that the sheep mortality was due to a toxin. . . . most probably Bt-toxin.”(18) In one small study, all sheep fed Bt cotton plants died; those fed natural plants remained healthy.

• In an Andhra Pradesh village, buffalo grazed on cotton plants for eight years without incident. On January 3rd, 2008, 13 buffalo grazed on Bt cotton plants for the first time. All died within three days. (19) Bt corn is also implicated in the deaths of cows in Germany, and horses, water buffaloes, and chickens in The Philippines. (20)

• In lab studies, twice the number of chickens fed Liberty Link corn died; 7 of 40 rats fed a GM tomato died within two weeks. (21)

Worst finding of all—GMOs remain inside of us

• The only published human feeding study revealed that even after we stop eating GMOs, harmful GM proteins may be produced continuously inside of us; genes inserted into GM soy transfer into bacteria inside our intestines and continue to function. (22) If Bt genes also transfer, eating corn chips might transform our intestinal bacteria into living pesticide factories.

Warnings by government scientists ignored and denied

• According to documents released from a lawsuit, scientists at the FDA warned that GM foods might create allergies, poisons, new diseases, and nutritional problems. (23) But the White House ordered the agency to promote biotechnology, and Michael Taylor, Monsanto’s former attorney, headed up the FDA’s GMO policy. That policy declares that no safety studies on GMOs are required. Monsanto and other producers determine if their foods are safe. Taylor later became Monsanto’s vice president, and was reinstalled at the FDA in 2009 by the Obama administration as the US Food Safety Czar.

Opting out as guinea pigs

• Biologist David Schubert of the Salk Institute says, “If there are problems [with GMOs], we will probably never know because the cause will not be traceable and many diseases take a very long time to develop.” In the 9 years after GM crops were introduced in 1996, Americans with three or more chronic diseases jumped from 7% to 13%. (24) But without any human clinical trials or post marketing surveillance, we may never know if GMOs are a contributor.

Citizens need not wait for more research to take the doctors advice: avoid GMOs. Consult the Non-GMO Shopping Guide (www.NonGMOShoppingGuide.com). Even a small percentage of people choosing non-GMO brands could force the food industry to remove all GM ingredients. Thus, AAEM’s non-GMO prescription may be a watershed for the US food supply.

International bestselling author and independent filmmaker Jeffrey M. Smith is the Executive Director of the Institute for Responsible Technology (IRT) and the leading spokesperson on the health dangers of GMOs. He is the author of Seeds of Deception and Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods. IRT's Campaign for Healthier Eating in America is designed to create a tipping point of consumer rejection of GMOs, forcing them out of the market. www.ResponsibleTechnology.org.