Genetically modified crops highly toxic to humans - insects seem to thrive on t

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Wed, 7 Jun 2006 03:00:20 EDT

Genetically modified crops highly toxic to humans - insects

seem to thrive on them

 

 

 

<< http://perdurabo10.tripod.com/id451.html

 

Uh Oh; The Bugs Are Eating Those " Pest Killing " Crops

 

Two research teams in England and Venezuela have discovered something

alarming about the new genetically modified crops filled with

insecticide. The

insects not only eat them, they seem to thrive on them.

 

Scientists at Imperial College in London and the Universidad Simon

Rodrigues

in Caracas found that the insects that the chemical additive was

supposed to

kill were not only feeding on the poison, but the stuff seems to help them

thrive.

 

That the biotech companies added genes from a naturally occurring poison,

Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), which is widely used as a pesticide by

organic

farmers, means that the mutation by insects to survive the poison is a

potential

threat to the organic farming industry.

 

Environmentalists believe the resistance developed quickly because the

insects are constantly exposed to the chemical in the plants, instead

of being

subjected to occasional spraying.

 

This is bad news for not only the struggling agricultural industry but for

over 6 billion world food consumers as well. With the world population

exploding

and the instability of weather because of global warming, world

agriculture

is in danger of falling short of producing enough food for everybody.

 

The GMO experimentation with Bt fell under fierce criticism by growers

world-wide who warned that the excessive use of the chemical would

eventually

generate stronger chemical-resistant pests. Not even the strongest

critics dreamed

that the insects would be feeding and thriving on the plants

engineered with

Bts.

 

But there is more bad news about those modified crops. Lots of it.

 

Prominent scientists from seven countries recently produced an Independent

Report on GM agricultural practices during a public conference in

London. The

report, titled The Case for a GM-free Sustainable World, called for a

ban on GM

crops.

 

The conclusions:

 

--GM crops failed to deliver the promised benefits. There have been

shown no

increase in yields or a significant reduction in herbicide and

pesticide use.

In fact the United States lost an estimated $12 billion over GM crops

because

of worldwide rejection of them.

 

--The GM crops are posing escalating problems on the farm. The group found

that transgenic lines are unstable. Triple herbicide-tolerant

volunteers and

weeds have now emerged in North America, creating severe problems for

farmers who

suddenly have no inexpensive solution to weed and pest control. The

fear is

that superweeds and bt-resistant pests have been created.

 

--Further extensive transgenic contamination, especially for corn,

seems to

be unavoidable. It has been found in maize even in the remote regions of

Mexico. Tests showed that 32 out of 33 commercial seed stocks in

Canada, where GM

corn is prohibited, were contaminated anyway. Corn pollen remains

airborne for

hours and can be carried by the winds for miles. Thus there can be no

co-existence of GM and non-GM crops.

 

--GM crops are not proven safe. In fact, its regulation was fatally flawed

from the start. The principle of " substantial equivalence, " a vague and

ill-defined rule, gave companies like Monsanto complete license in

claiming GM

products equal and as safe as non-GM.

 

--Dangerous gene products are incorporated into the food crops. For

example,

Bt proteins, added to 25 percent of all GM crops, are harmful to many

non-target insects, and some are potent allergens for humans and other

mammals.

 

--GM foods are increasingly used to produce pharmaceuticals and drugs.

These

include cytokines, known to suppress the immune system and are linked to

dementia, neurotoxicity and mood swings; vaccines and viral sequences

like as the

'spike' protein gene of the pig coronavirus, in the same family as the

SARS

virus; and glycoprotein gene gp120 of the AIDS virus that could

interfere with

the immune system. The fear is that this last gene could recombine

with viruses

and bacteria to generate new and unpredictable pathogens.

 

--Crops engineered with suicide genes for male sterility, promoted as

a means

of preventing the spread of transgenes, actually spread both male

sterility

and herbicide tolerance traits via pollen.

 

--Broad-spectrum herbicides are found to be highly toxic to humans and

other

species of animals. Glufosinate ammonium and glyphosate, used with

herbicide

tolerant GM crops that currently account for 75% of all GM crops

worldwide, are

both systemic metabolic poisons. Glufosinate ammonium is linked to

neurological, respiratory, gastrointestinal and haematological

toxicities, and birth

defects in humans and mammals; also toxic to butterflies and a number of

beneficial insects. Glyphosate is the most frequent cause of

complaints and poisoning

in the UK. Its exposure nearly doubled the risk of late spontaneous

abortion.

Children born to users of glyphosate had elevated neurobehavioral

defects. It

caused cell division dysfunction that may be linked to human cancers.

 

The report warns that genetic tampering with foods may be inadvertently

creating super-viruses and bacteria that could spark unstoppable

world-wide

plagues. " Newer techniques, such as DNA shuffling, allow 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, " the report warns.

 

The report concludes: " sufficient evidence has emerged to raise serious

safety concerns, that if ignored could result in irreversible damage

to health and

the environment. "

 

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