GM Food and human health - Devinder Sharma

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GMW: GM Food and human health - Devinder Sharma

" GM WATCH " <info

Mon, 30 May 2005 16:48:15 +0100

 

 

 

GM WATCH daily

http://www.gmwatch.org

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Sahara Samay, the largest selling Hindi weekly, carried the following

piece by the Indian trade and food policy analyst, Devinder Sharma,

yesterday. Here's the English version of Devinder's article.

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GM Food and human health

How safe is your food?

 

By Devinder Sharma

 

The genie is out of the bottle. The evidence is now tumbling out.

Genetically modified food is not as safe as the policy makers and

scientists

are busy telling us.

 

In a shocking disclosure, a British newspaper (The Independent, May 22)

reported that rats fed on a diet rich in genetically modified maize

developed abnormalities in internal organs and changes to their blood.

This raises fears that human health could be put at risk by eating

genetically modified foods.

 

Interestingly, this damaging conclusion is part of secret research

carried out by the multinational food giant Monsanto. The study clearly

showed that some rats fed on genetically modified maize had smaller

kidneys and variations in the composition of their blood, while the

rats fed

on normal maize were healthy. This was mentioned clearly in the 1139

pages confidential report prepared by Monsanto, the results of which were

not disclosed by the company to the European Food Safety Authority.

 

While Monsanto denies the report saying that it had made the submission

before the regulating authorities, it refuses to make the full report

public, saying " it contains confidential business information which

could be of commercial use to our competitors " .

 

This is not the first time that questions have been raised about the

human safety of genetically modified foods. In October 2003, at least 100

residents of a far-flung village in Polomolok town, South Cotabato, in

the Philippines, complained of various illnesses. Food specimens drawn

from the affected region allegedly showed the presence of Bt toxins.

 

Bt maize, a genetically modified maize variety containing a gene from

the bacteria -- Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) -- was approved for

commercial planting in the Philippines in 2002. Samples taken by a

Norwegian

Institute did show that Bt toxins were allegedly found on the specimens

of those tested. But this too was angrily contested by the biotechnology

industry and the report was unscientifically dumped.

 

Rats on the other hand have routinely rejected genetically modified

foods in the laboratories. Even the first genetically altered tomato

" Flavr Savr " that was released in the market in May 1994, was fed to

rodents

in the labs as per the scientific norms. The rodents had refused to eat

the GM tomatoes containing a foreign gene to make it ripen more slowly.

Documents revealed that many of the rats that ate the GM tomato

developed lesions in their stomachs. For unknown reasons, researchers

did not

examine tissues elsewhere in the digestive tract. They also did not

provide an explanation as to why seven of the forty rats that were fed

with GM tomatoes died unexpectedly within two weeks.

 

This reminds of the earlier efforts to crush the damming evidence

provided by Dr Arpad Puztai. His conclusion that rats fed on genetically

modified potatoes suffered serious damages to their immune system had set

the river Thames on fire. Instead of examining the scientific findings,

the scientific community led by the Royal Society ganged together to

discredit Dr Puztai.

 

In another experiment, researchers at the University of Cornell in

America observed that the caterpillars of monarch butterfly when fed with

genetically modified corn suffered varying degrees of ailments, and were

crawling more slowly than usual. Scientists concluded that 44 per cent

of the caterpillars died after being fed continuously with the GM corn

pollens. None of those exposed to non-GM corn suffered. Those fed on

normal corn pollen turned into butterflies.

 

Such was the furore over this report that the mainline scientific

establishment ran down the way the experiments were conducted. But the

point

missed was that this was probably the only experiment in the world

where a university was trying to see the negative impact of genetically

modified crops. This experiment alone cost the university anything

between

US $ 2 to 3 million. No university in the world has this much of money

to find out what is wrong with GM foods. So whatever is being pushed

into the market, and much of it is now available in super malls, is

untested for human health.

 

This raises the obvious question. Why are the companies trying to force

genetically altered foods to an unsuspecting population? Why are they

shying away from making public the results of the research trials? Why

are our politicians so keen to take the unproven technology? Why are our

scientists blindly pushing in a risky technology, which like chemical

pesticides, can take a heavy human toll, pollute the environment and

destroy the ecology?

 

It all began when Steve Taylor of the University of Nebraska in the

United States, tested on behalf of the seed giant Pioneer Hi-Bred in

early

1995, a new soybean which was evolved with a gene from Brazil nut. To

his surprise, Taylor found out that the transferred protein was indeed

responsible for Brazil nut allergies, a potential danger because people

with allergies to nuts would not know when eating soybeans. Pioneer

immediately halted the research project. And yet, the Food and Drug

Administration (FDA) of the United States did not consider it

appropriate to

examine the GM food products for safety before approving them. It has

now been revealed that the FDA actually was trying to push the

biotechnology products ignoring warnings from its own scientists.

 

Only one British Ministers, Mr Michael Meacher, an Environment Minister

in Tony Blair government, dared to stand up and question the veracity

of the company data. Knowing well that the British Environment Minister

was not a supporter of the GM technology, the Central Intelligence

Agency (CIA) had maintained a file on his activities. He was finally

removed. The underlying message was clear. No politician should question

whatever is being developed by the biotechnology industry. Such is

power of

the biotech sector that politicians and top scientists all over the

world refrain from even voicing concern.

 

Approving such experimental foods is gambling with the health of the

nation. The number of Bt cotton varieties that the Indian Genetic

Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) have been approving every other

month

too have an impact on human beings. In India, Bt cotton (it is the only

GM crop commercialised so far) is sure to find its way into the cotton

seed oil that is consumed widely. But while more than a dozen other

genetically modified food crops are getting ready for the market, has the

GEAC learnt a lesson from this startling expose and will it make all its

reports on human safety public?

 

The nation would like to know how and why approvals are being granted

to Bt crops without knowing the impact it will have on the human health.

After all, no government body can be allowed to play havoc with human

health and the environment. #

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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