GMW: Infants in GM study in Peru develop allergies - English translation

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GMW: Infants in GM study in Peru develop allergies - English

translation

" GM WATCH " <info

Sat, 22 Jul 2006 14:14:31 +0100

 

 

 

 

GM WATCH daily

http://www.gmwatch.org

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EXCERPT: " After they gave him the serum, my baby became sickly,

delicate. Now he is allergic to everything, to chocolates, mandarins.

I do not

know what will happen to him later, the Ministry of Health must do a

followup investigation of his health, " laments Diana. Another young

mother, Johana Sanchez Turreate, also fears for the life of her

3-year-old

son Jordano, who also developed allergies after receiving the serum.

 

[Thanks to Weekly Watch editor Claire Robinson for translating into

English this article from the Peruvianian publication La Republica, which

reports on worrying allergy cases amongst children used as guinea pigs

in tests on the US biotech company Ventria's biopharmaceuticals

extracted from GM Rice. Claire emphasises that she is not a professional

translator and so has marked areas of uncertainty in the translation

with a

'?'.]

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GMOs: Already affecting the young

The Republic, Friday, 14 July 2006

http://www.larepublica.com.pe/index.php?option=com_content & task=view & id=116503 & I\

temid=38 & fecha_edicion=2006-07-20

 

Two children have already developed allergies after an experiment with

transgenic serum. Fabrizio and Jordano are among 140 children who

received a rehydrating substance that contained plant-human genes.

Mothers

are demanding that the Ministry of Health monitors the state of their

children.

 

The day that Diana Canessa Garay thought that she would lose her only

baby, a " helping hand " appeared in the corridors of the Children's

Hospital. It was dressed in white and had a woman's voice. It was a nurse

who claimed to have a " remedy " to end the acute diarrhoea that the

mother's little Fabrizio had suffered [for?] eight months. To this

desperate

mother of 24 it was enough to hear that " rice serum " would cut the

diarrhoea, for her to authorize the provision of that " medicine " . They

did

not explain that the rehydrating salt was of transgenic origin (with

modified genes) and that its sale is prohibited because still it is in

experimental phase. Nothing mattered to her but the immediate recovery of

her boy, so Canessa signed the document on 15 February 2005. " They

wanted to experiment with my baby, but they deceived me, " he lamented now

that his son is already suffering [segœn asegura?] the first

consequences of the experiment.

 

With food one does not gamble

 

Transgenic foods are those that have been manipulated genetically in

the laboratory. A specialist in this subject, Luis Gomero Osorio, of the

Action Network for Alternative Agriculture (RAAA), explains that to

these foods genes of the same species or others are added to them to

enhance certain qualities. This way it is possible to obtain blue

maize with

cheese flavour, blue tomatoes or to increase the production of crops.

 

Nevertheless, a large sector of the international scientific community

and several NGOs have noticed that transgenic foods are risky for the

public health. Ivonne Y‡–ez, representative of the Network for a

GM-Free Latin America, explains that when proteins modified by the

hand of

man are introduced in the food chain these can trigger allergies and

other types of ills in the people who consume these foods.

 

Rice with human genes

 

The union of genes of the same species (generally plant) is commonly

practised abroad, specially in the United States. Nevertheless, the union

of different species as the vegetable and the human one " is aberrant " ,

according to Gomero. However, American pharmaceutical company VENTRIA

BIOCIENCE did it with the rice. To this food they added two human

proteins, soon these were isolated to make up a rehydrating solution. The

purpose was to obtain a serum that helped stop acute diarrhoea and

dehydration.

 

The commercialization of the serum has been rejected in the United

States. The governmental organisation of that country that guards the

safety of medicines (Federal Administration of Drugs and Foods, FDA) has

[said] no to VENTRIA 3 times [? Uncertain translation, please check].

 

In spite of these antecedents the laboratory decided to experiment with

140 children in the third world. And what better place than Peru where

legislation does not exist on GM and where our own Ministry of Health

gives authorization?

 

The chosen centers of health were the Children's Hospital in Lima and

the Hospital of Trujillo. According to the person in charge of the study

in our country, Nelly Zavaleta, the experiment was successful because

the diarrhoeas were cut almost immediately. Nevertheless Zavaleta and

our minister of health, Mazzetti Pillar, refuse to use the word

" transgenic " . They prefer to say that the serum has " transgenic

origin " . And

what is the difference? " A transgenic has all its letters because its

genes have been altered, " [??] says an expert in the subject.

 

Examination of the children

 

The allergies are the first consequences of transgenic food

consumption. Fabrizio who now is 2 years old already suffers from

them. " After

they gave him the serum, my baby became sickly, delicate. Now he is

allergic to everything, to chocolates, mandarins. I do not know what will

happen to him later, the Ministry of Health must do a followup

investigation of his health, " laments Diana. Another young mother,

Johana Sanchez

Turreate, also fears for the life of her 3-year-old son Jordano, who

also developed allergies after receiving the serum.

 

Executive must observe law

 

On Wednesday, the Association for Human Rights (Aprodeh), the Plenary

Session of the Congress of the Republic approved the controversial Law

on Development of Biotechnology. According to the Peruvian Association

of Consumers (Aspec) it would normally be overseen[?] by the Executive

because it will be a door opened for the indiscriminate entry into our

market of transgenic foods that are produced abroad on a large scale,

specially in the United States.

 

The same position was adopted by the Peruvian Medical Association. This

union of specialists was the one that denounced the scandal of the

experiments on 140 children in the country. The case already is being

investigated by the Fifth Penal Office of the public prosecutor of Lima

headed by CŽsar de los R'os.

 

ANALYSIS

 

Flora Luna Gonzales, biologist, university professor and expert in

transgenics:

 

" The long-term consequences can be many. The children who have consumed

this serum can suffer diseases like Alzheimer's, because if the altered

protein has a fault it can produce an amieloide [amiloride? - diuretic]

substance that is deposited in the neurons and alters its function.

Also it can cause pulmonary fibrosis because the protein with a fault can

alter [elastasa?] that gives elasticity to the lung.

 

" The degenerative diseases to which the children expose themselves are

many, to say nothing of the allergies. The condition that has taken

control of our children does not have a name. In no place in the world

have these types of experiments on people and much less on suckling

babies, been done. Abroad they have only done them on monkeys.

 

" The minister of Health lies when she assures us that these experiments

with transgenic products will not bring future consequences to these

defenceless children. It is necessary that a clinical followup

investigation is done by those who did the experiment. At the moment

there is a

world-wide wave of rejection of consumption of these foods and Peru

cannot be an exception. "

 

 

 

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