Farmers getting sick with GE and BT with 1- 4 mo of exposure - GE-bacteria killed 37 and hospitalized 1,500.

September 6, 2006

http://www.bwf.org/gedebate.html#1

Allergic reaction to Bt sprays: A study of Ohio crop pickers and handlers found that Bt can provoke immunological changes indicative of a developing allergy. With long-term exposure, affected individuals might develop asthma or other serious allergic reactions, notes study leader I. Leonard Bernstein of the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. His team did a health survey of farm workers before the spraying of Bt pesticides and 1 and 4 months after the spraying. Two groups of low and medium exposure workers were also assessed. While there was no evidence of occupationally-related respiratory disease, positive skin prick tests were seen in exposed workers, with a significant increase in the number of positive tests to spores 1 to 4 months after exposure to Bt. The increase was more significant in high rather than low exposure workers. The study concluded that exposure to Bt may lead to allergic skin sensitisation and induction of IgE antibodies or IgG antibodies - or both. (See: Bernstein J L et al. 1999. Immune responses in farm workers after exposure to 5.2. CLAIM: GE foods are not toxic

- A case in which a GE-product might have resulted in toxic contaminants: a Japanese firm that makes the food supplement L-tryptophan changed its production process and switched to GE bacteria, at the same time removing some steps in their purification process. The new process resulted in a toxic contaminant that could have come from the GE-bacteria used in producing the L-tryptophan. Before the product could be recalled, it had killed 37 and hospitalized 1,500. <http://www.natural-law.ca/genetic/NewsNov-Dec97/GENews12-23Trypt.htm>Bacillus thuringiensis pesticides. Environmental Health Perspectives. 107 (7): 575-582) (See also: Science News Online, Vol 156 No 1, 3 Jul 1999).