fw: Why Genetically Modified Crops Can Devastate Health

[Guest guest]

from:

http://www.mercola.com/2003/jul/2/gm_crops.htm

 

Why Genetically Modified Crops Can Devastate Health

 

1. GM crops failed to deliver promised benefits

 

The consistent finding from independent research and on-farm

surveys since 1999 is that GM crops have failed to deliver

the promised benefits of significantly increasing yields or

reducing herbicide and pesticide use. GM crops have cost the

United States an estimated $12 billion in farm subsidies,

lost sales and product recalls due to transgenic

contamination. Massive failures in Bt cotton of up to 100

percent were reported in India.

 

Biotech corporations have suffered rapid decline since 2000,

and investment advisors forecast no future for the

agricultural sector. Meanwhile worldwide resistance to GM

has reached a climax in 2002 when Zambia refused GM maize in

food aid despite the threat of famine.

 

2. GM crops posing escalating problems on the farm

 

The instability of transgenic lines has plagued the industry

from the beginning, and this may be responsible for a string

of major crop failures. A review in 1994 stated, " While

there are some examples of plants which show stable

expression of a transgene these may prove to be the

exceptions to the rule. In an informal survey of over 30

companies involved in the commercialization of transgenic

crop plants … almost all of the respondents indicated that

they had observed some level of transgene inaction. Many

respondents indicated that most cases of transgene

inactivation never reach the literature. "

 

Triple herbicide-tolerant oilseed rape volunteers that have

combined transgenic and non-transgenic traits are now

widespread in Canada. Similar multiple herbicide-tolerant

volunteers and weeds have emerged in the United States. In

the United States, glyphosate-tolerant weeds are plaguing GM

cotton and soya fields, and atrazine, one of the most toxic

herbicides, has had to be used with glufosinate-tolerant GM

maize.

 

Bt biopesticide traits are simultaneously threatening to

create superweeds and Bt- resistant pests.

 

3. Extensive transgenic contamination unavoidable

 

Extensive transgenic contamination has occurred in maize

landraces growing in remote regions in Mexico despite an

official moratorium that has been in place since 1998. High

levels of contamination have since been found in Canada. In

a test of 33 certified seed stocks, 32 were found

contaminated.

 

New research shows that transgenic pollen, wind-blown and

deposited elsewhere, or fallen directly to the ground, is a

major source of transgenic contamination. Contamination is

generally acknowledged to be unavoidable, hence there can be

no co-existence of transgenic and non-transgenic crops.

 

4. GM crops not safe

 

Contrary to the claims of proponents, GM crops have not been

proven safe. The regulatory framework was fatally flawed

from the start. It was based on an anti-precautionary

approach designed to expedite product approval at the

expense of safety considerations. The principle of

'substantial equivalence', on which risk assessment is

based, is intended to be vague and ill-defined, thereby

giving companies complete license in claiming transgenic

products 'substantially equivalent' to non-transgenic

products, and hence 'safe.'

 

5. GM food raises serious safety concerns

 

There have been very few credible studies on GM food safety.

Nevertheless, the available findings already give cause for

concern. In the still only systematic investigation on GM

food ever carried out in the world, 'growth factor-like'

effects were found in the stomach and small intestine of

young rats that were not fully accounted for by the

transgene product, and were hence attributable to the

transgenic process or the transgenic construct, and may

hence be general to all GM food. There have been at least

two other, more limited, studies that also raised serious

safety concerns.

 

6. Dangerous gene products are incorporated into crops

 

Bt proteins, incorporated into 25 percent of all transgenic

crops worldwide, have been found harmful to a range of

non-target insects. Some of them are also potent immunogens

and allergens. A team of scientists have cautioned against

releasing Bt crops for human use.

 

Food crops are increasingly used to produce pharmaceuticals

and drugs, including cytokines known to suppress the immune

system, induce sickness and central nervous system toxicity;

interferon alpha, reported to cause dementia, neurotoxicity

and mood and cognitive side effects; vaccines; and viral

sequences such as the 'spike' protein gene of the pig

coronavirus, in the same family as the SARS virus linked to

the current epidemic. The glycoprotein gene gp120 of the

AIDS virus HIV-1, incorporated into GM maize as a 'cheap,

edible oral vaccine', serves as yet another biological

time-bomb, as it can interfere with the immune system and

recombine with viruses and bacteria to generate new and

unpredictable pathogens.

 

7. Terminator crops spread male sterility

 

Crops engineered with 'suicide' genes for male sterility

have been promoted as a means of 'containing', i.e.

preventing, the spread of transgenes. In reality, the hybrid

crops sold to farmers spread both male sterile suicide genes

as well herbicide tolerance genes via pollen.

 

8. Broad-spectrum herbicides highly toxic to humans and

other species

 

Glufosinate ammonium and glyphosate are used with the

herbicide-tolerant transgenic crops that currently account

for 75 percent of all transgenic crops worldwide. Both are

systemic metabolic poisons expected to have a wide range of

harmful effects, and these have been confirmed.

 

Glufosinate ammonium is linked to neurological, respiratory,

gastrointestinal and hematological toxicities, and birth

defects in humans and mammals. It is toxic to butterflies

and a number of beneficial insects, also to the larvae of

clams and oysters, Daphnia and some freshwater fish,

especially the rainbow trout. It inhibits beneficial soil

bacteria and fungi, especially those that fix nitrogen.

 

Glyphosate is the most frequent cause of complaints and

poisoning in the UK. Disturbances of many body functions

have been reported after exposures at normal use levels.

 

Glyphosate exposure nearly doubled the risk of late

spontaneous abortion, and children born to users of

glyphosate had elevated neurobehavioral defects. Glyphosate

caused retarded development of the foetal skeleton in

laboratory rats. Glyphosate inhibits the synthesis of

steroids, and is genotoxic in mammals, fish and frogs. Field

dose exposure of earthworms caused at least 50 percent

mortality and significant intestinal damage among surviving

worms. Roundup caused cell division dysfunction that may be

linked to human cancers.

 

The known effects of both glufosinate and glyphosate are

sufficiently serious for all further uses of the herbicides

to be halted.

 

9. Genetic engineering creates super-viruses

 

By far the most insidious dangers of genetic engineering are

inherent to the process itself, which greatly enhances the

scope and probability of horizontal gene transfer and

recombination, the main route to creating viruses and

bacteria that cause disease epidemics. This was highlighted

in 2001 by the 'accidental' creation of a killer mouse virus

in the course of an apparently innocent genetic engineering

experiment.

 

Newer techniques, such as DNA shuffling are allowing

geneticists to create in a matter of minutes in the

laboratory millions of recombinant viruses that have never

existed in billions of years of evolution. Disease-causing

viruses and bacteria and their genetic material are the

predominant materials and tools for genetic engineering, as

much as for the intentional creation of bio-weapons.

 

10. Transgenic DNA in food taken up by bacteria in human gut

 

There is already experimental evidence that transgenic DNA

from plants has been taken up by bacteria in the soil and in

the gut of human volunteers. Antibiotic resistance marker

genes can spread from transgenic food to pathogenic

bacteria, making infections very difficult to treat.

 

11. Transgenic DNA and cancer

 

Transgenic DNA is known to survive digestion in the gut and

to jump into the genome of mammalian cells, raising the

possibility for triggering cancer.

 

The possibility cannot be excluded that feeding GM products

such as maize to animals also carries risks, not just for

the animals but also for human beings consuming the animal

products.

 

12. CaMV 35S promoter increases horizontal gene transfer

 

Evidence suggests that transgenic constructs with the CaMV

35S promoter might be especially unstable and prone to

horizontal gene transfer and recombination, with all the

attendant hazards: gene mutations due to random insertion,

cancer, reactivation of dormant viruses and generation of

new viruses. This promoter is present in most GM crops being

grown commercially today.

 

13. A history of misrepresentation and suppression of

scientific evidence

 

There has been a history of misrepresentation and

suppression of scientific evidence, especially on horizontal

gene transfer. Key experiments failed to be performed, or

were performed badly and then misrepresented. Many

experiments were not followed up, including investigations

on whether the CaMV 35S promoter is responsible for the

'growth-factor-like' effects observed in young rats fed GM

potatoes.

 

In conclusion, GM crops have failed to deliver the promised

benefits and are posing escalating problems on the farm.

Transgenic contamination is now widely acknowledged to be

unavoidable, and hence there can be no co-existence of GM

and non-GM agriculture. Most important of all, GM crops have

not been proven safe. On the contrary, sufficient evidence

has emerged to raise serious safety concerns, that if

ignored could result in irreversible damage to health and

the environment. GM crops should be firmly rejected now.

 

Why Sustainable Agriculture?

 

1. Higher productivity and yields, especially in the Third

World

 

Some 8.98 million farmers have adopted sustainable

agriculture practices on 28.92 million hectares in Asia,

Latin America and Africa. Reliable data from 89 projects

show higher productivity and yields: 50 percent to 100

percent increase in yield for rain-fed crops, and five

percent to 10 percent for irrigated crops. Top successes

include Burkina Faso, which turned a cereal deficit of 644

kg per year to an annual surplus of 153 kg; Ethiopia, where

12,500 households enjoyed a 60 percent increase in crop

yields; and Honduras and Guatemala, where 45,000 families

increased yields from 400 to 600 kg/ha to 2,000 to 2,500

kg/ha.

 

Long-term studies in industrialized countries show yields

for organic comparable to conventional agriculture, and

sometimes higher.

 

2. Better soils

 

Sustainable agricultural practices tend to reduce soil

erosion, as well as improve soil physical structure and

water-holding capacity, which are crucial in averting crop

failures during periods of drought.

 

Soil fertility is maintained or increased by various

sustainable agriculture practices. Studies show that soil

organic matter and nitrogen levels are higher in organic

than in conventional fields.

 

Biological activity has also been found to be higher in

organic soils. There are more earthworms, arthropods,

mycorrhizal and other fungi, and microorganisms, all of

which are beneficial for nutrient recycling and suppression

of disease.

 

3. Cleaner environment

 

There is little or no polluting chemical-input with

sustainable agriculture. Moreover, research suggests that

less nitrate and phosphorus are leached to groundwater from

organic soils.

 

Better water infiltration rates are found in organic

systems. Therefore, they are less prone to erosion and less

likely to contribute to water pollution from surface runoff.

 

4. Reduced pesticides and no increase in pests

 

Organic farming prohibits routine pesticide application.

Integrated pest management has cut the number of pesticide

sprays in Vietnam from 3.4 to one per season, in Sri Lanka

from 2.9 to 0.5 per season, and in Indonesia from 2.9 to 1.1

per season.

 

Research showed no increase in crop losses due to pest

damage, despite the withdrawal of synthetic insecticides in

Californian tomato production.

 

Pest control is achievable without pesticides, reversing

crop losses, as for example, by using 'trap crops' to

attract stem borer, a major pest in East Africa. Other

benefits of avoiding pesticides arise from utilizing the

complex inter-relationships between species in an ecosystem.

 

 

5. Supporting biodiversity and using diversity

 

Sustainable agriculture promotes agricultural biodiversity,

which is crucial for food security and rural livelihoods.

Organic farming can also support much greater biodiversity,

benefiting species that have significantly declined.

 

Biodiverse systems are more productive than monocultures.

Integrated farming systems in Cuba are 1.45 to 2.82 times

more productive than monocultures. Thousands of Chinese rice

farmers have doubled yields and nearly eliminated the most

devastating disease simply by mixed planting of two

varieties.

 

Soil biodiversity is enhanced by organic practices, bringing

beneficial effects such as recovery and rehabilitation of

degraded soils, improved soil structure and water

infiltration.

 

6. Environmentally and economically sustainable

 

Research on apple production systems ranked the organic

system first in environmental and economic sustainability,

the integrated system second and the conventional system

last. Organic apples were most profitable due to price

premiums, quicker investment return and fast recovery of

costs.

 

A Europe-wide study showed that organic farming performs

better than conventional farming in the majority of

environmental indicators. A review by the Food and

Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

concluded that well-managed organic agriculture leads to

more favorable conditions at all environmental levels.

 

7. Ameliorating climate change by reducing direct & indirect

energy use

 

Organic agriculture uses energy much more efficiently and

greatly reduces CO2 emissions compared with conventional

agriculture, both with respect to direct energy consumption

in fuel and oil and indirect consumption in synthetic

fertilizers and pesticides.

 

Sustainable agriculture restores soil organic matter

content, increasing carbon sequestration below ground,

thereby recovering an important carbon sink. Organic systems

have shown significant ability to absorb and retain carbon,

raising the possibility that sustainable agriculture

practices can help reduce the impact of global warming.

 

Organic agriculture is likely to emit less nitrous dioxide

(N2O), another important greenhouse gas and also a cause of

stratospheric ozone depletion.

 

8. Efficient, profitable production

 

Any yield reduction in organic agriculture is more than

offset by ecological and efficiency gains. Research has

shown that the organic approach can be commercially viable

in the long-term, producing more food per unit of energy or

resources.

 

Data show that smaller farms produce far more per unit area

than the larger farms characteristic of conventional

farming. Though the yield per unit area of one crop may be

lower on a small farm than on a large monoculture, the total

output per unit area, often composed of more than a dozen

crops and various animal products, can be far higher.

 

Production costs for organic farming are often lower than

for conventional farming, bringing equivalent or higher net

returns even without organic price premiums. When price

premiums are factored in, organic systems are almost always

more profitable.

 

9. Improved food security and benefits to local communities

 

A review of sustainable agriculture projects in developing

countries showed that average food production per household

increased by 1.71 tons per year (up 73 percent) for 4.42

million farmers on 3.58 million hectares, bringing food

security and health benefits to local communities.

 

Increasing agricultural productivity has been shown to also

increase food supplies and raise incomes, thereby reducing

poverty, increasing access to food, reducing malnutrition

and improving health and livelihoods.

 

Sustainable agricultural approaches draw extensively on

traditional and indigenous knowledge, and place emphasis on

the farmers' experience and innovation. This thereby

utilizes appropriate, low-cost and readily available local

resources as well as improves farmers' status and autonomy,

enhancing social and cultural relations within local

communities.

 

10. Better food quality for health

 

Organic food is safer as organic farming prohibits routine

pesticide and herbicide use so harmful chemical residues are

rarely found.

 

Organic production also bans the use of artificial food

additives such as hydrogenated fats, phosphoric acid,

aspartame and monosodium glutamate, which have been linked

to health problems as diverse as heart disease,

osteoporosis, migraines and hyperactivity.

 

Studies have shown that, on average, organic food has higher

vitamin C, higher mineral levels and higher plant

phenolics--plant compounds that can fight cancer and heart

disease, and combat age-related neurological

dysfunctions--and significantly less nitrates, a toxic

compound.

 

Sustainable agricultural practices have proven beneficial in

all aspects relevant to health and the environment. In

addition, they bring food security and social and cultural

well-being to local communities everywhere. There is an

urgent need for a comprehensive global shift to all forms of

sustainable agriculture.

 

Independent Science Panel Report June 15, 2003

 

--

DR. MERCOLA'S COMMENT: Many respectable scientists are

concerned about, and nearly all of Europe has strong

opposition to, genetically modified foods.

 

This is a wise choice as consuming genetically modified

foods is like participating in a giant experiment. There is

no telling what the consequences of using these genetically

modified foods will be because these products have never

existed before now.

 

It seems clear that these altered foods are capable of

producing changes in humans. Already, investigators have

found that rats fed genetically modified potatoes had an

increased thickening in the lining of their stomach and

intestine and a weakening of their immune system.

 

Further, some scientists want to put vaccines into plants

without any real knowledge of what effects this unnatural

addition will have on human health, or the health of our

planet.

 

This is SHEER LUNACY.

 

What these scientists have failed to fully appreciate is

that once these genetically modified plants are growing it

is physically impossible to prevent them from pollinating

other plants, thereby contaminating them with these new

proteins, of which we do not know the long-term

consequences.

 

The absurdity of the entire process is mind-boggling. These

scientists are willing to sacrifice the country’s food

supply by adding vaccines, which do not even work in the

first place, to plants.

 

If this continues, our grandchildren may not have access to

any non-genetically modified food, and the health of our

society may continue to rapidly decline.

 

One of the keys to health is good food. Although most of us

don't choose to do so, we can still purchase real, unaltered

food in this country. Sadly, the future does not appear to

provide this option.

 

Genetically modified foods did not exist prior to 1995.

Ninety percent of the money Americans spend on food is spent

on processed foods, and seventy percent of processed foods

have genetically modified foods in them.

 

There have been NO STUDIES done with humans to show what

happens when genetically modified foods are consumed. The

FDA has ASSUMED that these modified foods are equivalent to

the original foods and does not require any studies to have

them approved, despite the fact that this technology has

never before existed in the history of the world.

 

On the other hand, sustainable agriculture provides a method

to produce healthier food that is also better for the

environment. It’s time to start looking at long-term

consequences--switching to sustainable farming methods will

preserve our health and planet, rather than destroy them.

 

Related Articles:

 

Prominent Scientists Form Group to Counter GM Food

 

GM Crops Raise Price of Organic Food

 

Pig Vaccine Contaminates U.S. Crops

 

Genetically Modified Foods, Inc.

 

Genetically Modified Food Genes Contaminate Humans

 

All Organic Seeds Now Appear to Be Contaminated With

Genetically Modified Crops