About Those Industry Funded GMO Studies . . .
This post has moved to a new home at GMO Building Blocks. Please update your bookmarks.
71 responses to “About Those Industry Funded GMO Studies . . .”
Trackbacks / Pingbacks
- - February 28, 2014
- - February 28, 2014
- - March 18, 2014
- - April 28, 2014
- - July 16, 2014
- - September 10, 2014
- - October 24, 2014
- - November 2, 2014
- - February 11, 2015
Marc Brazeau
Maureen Ogle
Mike Lewinski
Guest Author
Brian
Graham
REALFOOD.ORG 
One does not do science by citing abstracts and conclusions. If you would like I’ll find the entire text of the review by Snell et al, numbered 1. https://plus.google.com/106528425932936429331/posts/1oS4TR1MARS
It cites the studies I analyzed, which are substandard junk science. The review in no way demonstrates long term safety.
I’m not doing science, I’m writing about science. I’ve read enough of your motivated reasoning, confirmation bias, and pretzel logic to steer clear of the Dogctor rabbit hole. Thanks for stopping by.
Writing about science without comprehending science is a deaf person giving piano lessons. You can shove keep your psychobabble and your junk science. They do not belong in my science and evidence-based world.
Ena,
I read your blog, and it’s a laughable appropriation of science. Nothing but scare-mongering and easily debunked misinformation.
That’s funny, because no one has refuted my blog post about Monsanto’s junk science SCIENTIFICALLY-and there is no science organization, I am aware of, in which ad hominems constitute a scientific argument….which is all you’ve got. Buh Bye!
Ena is an excellent example of a gish galop master. The vocabulary used makes you think there is something behind the writing, but there isn’t. It’s just a bunch of luddite crap. The stuff on their website is cringe worthy. Reminds me of my old relatives in the 80s who were afraid of microwave ovens. Like that, this too will pass.
She’s hilarious as always.
She’s the only one in the world who understands science. There’s always one test that she can dream up that they should have done and didn’t that invalidates EVERYTHING.
The best is when she tries to conduct study critiques via Twitter. That should be it’s own reality show.
Thank you for writing this! I assume you knew you would come under attack from the Monsanto hating mob. It’s a shame that people refuse to have an open mind and somehow translate 600 studies in 20 years as all junk science funded by Monsanto (which they were not). But hold bloggers with no experience, education, or basic knowledge of what they’re writing about as so called experts. Stop trying to scare me and make a concrete point based on facts and maybe I’ll change my position on this.
Hello,
This article is excellent and clarifying for many issues that people unrelated with science usually mention.
We would like to translate it and publish it in this website, for promoting it around Spanish speakers (with proper citation to this original source). Let us know what you think.
https://www.facebook.com/contransgenicos
I don’t think anyone who looks at the data will conclude that GMO crops are any more dangerous than anything else. There is some evidence, however, that GMO crops are a little less nutrient-dense than their conventional counterparts, and that they carry higher pesticide residues, in particular, Round Up. This shouldn’t be surprising in that GMO’s were initially made to resist these pesticides. The residues are probably not at great enough levels to harm most people, but I suspect that a small set of the population could show some intolerances to them. This is true of anything, of course, including vaccines, that you put in your body. So, completely dismissing the anti-GMO groups is a little short-sighted, in my opinion. I think they have their place. And, you hear people say that certain varieties of non-GMO crops yield higher than any GMO variety. So, things to consider…
First, the initial GMO crops were not made to resist pesticides. That was a subset of them, and one of the commercial successes.
The other thing is that GMO crops, unlike any other “naturally bred” crops, have to go through an extensive safety testing process. Now, saying that some small percentage may show intolerances is not a reason to accept the anti-GMO groups arguments. There are people who are intolerant or allergic to many foods, yet no one is considering banning them. Pesticide residues may – and are – a concern, but that is a separate issue from GMOs.
Most GMO crops planted in the world today (in fact, more than 90% of them) are either pesticide resistant or pesticide producing. Yes, it’s a subset. The biggest subset. And GMO crops do go through testing, but the fact that they’re less “nutrient dense” as Dave mentioned, is not a concern for the producer or the regulators (who only require an assurance of substantial equivalence from the producer itself, and haven’t necessarily tested for the types of problems Dave mentions).
The few studies that have demonstrated that some GMO crops might be less nutrient dense are problematic at best. There is no credible reason why they would be.
What matters more is the variety, soil quality and growing conditions.
@Mlema: That GMO crops are pesticide resistant or producing is not a surprise, since that’s where the marketing is. You haven’t refuted my initial point that they weren’t initially done for that reason. As to the “less nutrient dense,” I’ve seen that same argument trotted out for organics, heritage strains, wild food foraging, grow-your-own, you name it. The problem is all the studies show is a selected definition of “nutrient density” and are dependent on any number of planting criterion.
My problem with all of the anti-GMO activists is that they’re busily joining unrelated things to make their case. It’s quite remarkable. It’s like saying “You eat apples, and smoke cigarrettes. Studies show smoking is bad for you, so we must ban apples!”
Roundup is an herbicide, not a pesticide.
Herbicides are a subset of pesticides.
Insecticides, fungicides, miticides, herbicides are all types of pesticides.
Thank you Donald.
Mark, the “herb” in “herbicide” means “plant.” Herbicides kill plants. They may also kill animals but that is not their purpose. Insecticides kill insects, fungicides kill fungus. They are different things with different purposes.
Yes, they are meant to kill weeds. Weeds are a type of pest.
From the EPA page “About Pesticides”
“hough often misunderstood to refer only to insecticides, the term pesticide also applies to herbicides, fungicides, and various other substances used to control pests.
Under United States law, a pesticide is also any substance or mixture of substances intended for use as a plant regulator, defoliant, or desiccant.”
http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/about/
Just some friendly advice. It’s easier to just fact check yourself instead of forcing others to do it for you. (Not once, but twice, I might add.)
The Residues accumulate when you eat foods containing GMO soy all day long. If you look at the food you have on your shelf at home you will see that most of the food has soy [GMO]. So if oyu eat several of these foods a day you are eating far more round up residue than you think.
Personally I had so many odd [and serious] health issues that cleared up 100% after cutting out GMO soy that I really think its bad for us. Oh and i had before and after blood panels done which show a complete change in my hormone levels and D and iron and some other levels that only the doctor really understands the importance of. These blood panels were 6 months apart and I had a third just to confirm results. My past symptoms are very personal and I dont feeel like listing them here out of modesty but I had more than 12 health issues that resolved when i stopped eating Soy and GMOs. Several were serious.
There is still ALOT we dont know and I dont think we are asking the right questions and I dont think we are conducting human trials on men AND women of many ages to see the impacts of this new diet we are all on that contains GMO soy and corn in adundance.
Could you explain the lockdown on research by GM companies?
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/do-seed-companies-control-gm-crop-research/?page=2
I had meant to address that and I’m embarrassed to say that it just got overlooked.
That article is from 2009 and is out of date. Partly in response to that, an agreement securing free access to seeds by research universities was hammered out in 2009 and is working pretty well.
You can read more about it here:
http://grist.org/food/genetically-modified-seed-research-whats-locked-and-what-isnt/
I tend to believe Scientists who jeopardize their license and reputation by publishing a negative study on GMOs. If there are very little negative studies is because real Scientists don’t want to lose their reputation and license… is too much to lose. I don’t blame them. See what happened with the Saralini’s study… if you don’t see the corruption behind the retraction of the study?… Well you need glasses.
People say “you are not a scientist, therefore you can’t understand the complexity of the GMO seed,”. Really!!! This is irrelevant, I don’t need to know how a car is built to be able to drive a car nor I need to know the complexity of a GMO seed to be able to plant a seed. GMO or not, seeds are planted in the soil and let the sun, water and care to do what it’s suppose to do.
The problem is not the technology behind the GMOs, is HOW and WHY the technology is controlled: secrets, lies and misleading all for one purpose: MONEY. That is WRONG.
By the time everybody is arguing about the safety of GMOs, the MOST IMPORTANT question is:
Are GMOs better quality than non-GMOs?
In all the studies out there, very little are talking about the nutrition of the GMOs. Studies say that GMOs is equivalent (equal, =, as good) as the non-GMOs. NONE are saying they are BETTER than non-GMOs. So, really why do we need GMOs for? A few comparisons documents GMOs vs non-GMOs on the internet show a lot less minerals and vitamins in GMOs than non-GMOs food and a lot more herbicide/pesticide in GMOs than non-GMOs. GMO plants are producing their own herbicide/pesticide that cannot be washed or peeled. Some people are saying that BT is made from natural bacteria in the soil, therefore it should be OK . If a plant produces enough poison to kill bugs…Hummm! Any poison should be avoid… period! Why do you want to eat herbicide/pesticide anyway? Because Monsanto says it’s safe? A little bit of round up with your cereals?
I’ve written about the Seralini retraction here and here. Seralini lost his reputation by performing and publishing shoddy work. It did little to harm his career since research is a sideline to support his day job as a lecturer on the professional scaremonger circuit. If you don’t understand what was wrong with Seralini’s work at this late date, I doubt there is anything I can say to change your mind.
As well, for a topic that you are clearly so passionate about, it’s surprising that you haven’t taken 10 minutes and learned how Bt works.
Lots of plant produce their own pesticides, mimicking natural systems is where the idea for Bt crops came from.
Monsanto’s own studies based on Seralini’s design should also be retracted
John,
Which studies are you referring to? Can you provide link?
Here you go http://www.gmoseralini.org/seralini-validated-by-new-efsa-guidelines-on-long-term-gmo-experiments/
Here’s the link to EU study http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/efsajournal/pub/3347.htm
None of that goes to why the Seralini study was retracted. It also seems like Seralini is hanging a lot on how these two sentence are interpreted.
“Monsanto’s own studies based on Seralini’s design should also be retracted well this was my point” not why Seralini’s study was retracted. Double standard indeed.
1. The Seralini study was based on the Monsanto study, not the other way around.
2. Seralini’s study was retracted because the conclusions that he drew in the ‘conclusions’ section were not supported by the evidence he presented. The previous Monsanto study did not have this problem, so, there is not grounds for retraction.
3. Sprague Dawley rats are not considered appropriate for 2 year studies. How is that you have followed this issue closely enough to have read the EFSA statement on protocols for chronic toxicity and/or carcinogenicity studies in rodents with whole food/feed , but still fail to grasp that?
4. Speaking EFSA, if were are going to give weight to their considerations of how to properly conduct long term rodent feeding studies, perhaps we should credit their analysis of the Seralini study.
Perhaps because I haven’t had my caffeine dose for the day, but in my first reading of this sentence, I interpreted “it” to be EFSA; on second reading, Seralini, after doubling back from next paragraph. A potential for misquoting, perhaps.
“EFSA today delivered its final evaluation of the paper by Séralini et al. which raised concerns about the potential toxicity of genetically modified (GM) maize NK603 and of a herbicide containing glyphosate. In particular, it suggested a link between exposure to these substances and an increased incidence of tumours in rats.”
Ann
>
“I tend to believe Scientists who jeopardize their license and reputation by publishing a negative study on GMOs. If there are very little negative studies is because real Scientists don’t want to lose their reputation and license”
So: you believe the studies that confirm your existing beliefs; and you explain the dearth of studies confirming your existing beliefs as “the rest of them are just scared of the truth”. One question, with this attitude, what could actually change your mind? It sounds to me like the answer is, Nothing.
Why is it that you believe the lack of negative studies is a result of fear, and NOT a result of the truth being that GMOs are not harmful? You’ve invented out of whole cloth a reason to reject the vast majority of studies. Can you not see how tainted your reasoning is?
I’ve been on the Non-GM side since 1997. At first, it was seconds after seeing a bunch of dead insects in a corn top (food shouldn’t kill) and then I grew to understand there were far larger issues than GM health that “paid consultants” and those in the GM industry fearing their jobs could not argue with. We are at a tipping point in the next 24 months of losing every heirloom and general seed we have to Big Biotech’s “tsunami” of GM vegetable seed (starting 2015, Western Producer, Oct 13). While I love the debates about the health issues (as it only aids the Non-GM side) we will go around in circles forever until we move from health into environment and corporate control of the food supply. That is real, it is now and it is very serious indeed. I appreciate this article very much, and is well written. But don’t put all your eggs in this basket: you may lose the goal post…
April, I hear the “lose every seed” argument a lot lately. Seeing as though most ‘heirloom’ varieties are still pretty recent (like last 40 years), how to companies and home gardeners ensure their genetic lineage now? Even an outcross between two heirlooms wrecks the genetics. How do they protect against that, and how does seed from a big company magically work around that block? Just curious. It never made much sense. I go through rather large steps to keep my tomato inbred lines pure.
April – What GM vegetable seeds are you referring to? It is false to think that we will lose heirloom seeds because of genetic modification. The majority of vegetables are NOT in fact GM since genetic modification requires decades of research and focuses on crops that are the most prevalent. The only GM crops that are currently being produced and sold in the US market are corn, soy, rapeseed/canola, cotton, sugar beet, and a small percent of zucchini and papaya.
Incidentally, I’m thinking the “Western Producer” article from Oct. 2013 that you cite may have been retracted as I was unable to find the article.
Are anti-GMO studies also scrutinized for bias? When researchers have clearly taken the “anti” side publicly, shouldn’t their work be suspect, too? Are these accounted for in the search for bias?
What I finding here is a nice little intricate web of GMO promoters that all associate with Monsanto answers and I am not necessary against GMO’s. However, your systems “attacking” approach will not convince anyone of the importance of this particular technology in relationship to food that other food production methods cannot manage with creating less of an environmental impact.
There is not one GMO food on the market that benefits consumers, yet. Except maybe the papaya. All of the rest have not proven any worth, to people or the environment. What you’re promoting is activism based on wishes and dreams of a technology that may prove their worth hopefully in another 20 years or so.
As far as the reports that you mention they are either meta analysis or literary reviews both of which are not convincing evidence of anything.
If it helps farmers, then it help consumers. Besides, the reduction in mycotoxin poisoning from Bt crops has been beneficial to consumers.
If you don’t find literature reviews and meta-analyses convincing, what do you find convincing?
John, what you say is unequivocally not true. “Golden rice” is rice that has been genetically modified to contain carotene, a precursor to vitamin A. Millions of children every year go blind because they live in areas where rice it the staple food and the lack of vitamin-a destroys their vision. Golden rice was made available for free but anti-GMO folks have manage to slow and ever stop its use. I think that is cruel, especially because there is no basis for it. The “problem” with GMOs is psychological. Once people have committed to a point-of-view they rarely change. There is not a shred of evidence that GMOs are harmful. . http://www.goldenrice.org/
Marc, the other side of the distrust of research which might have a pro-GMO conflict of interest is the complete trust shown for research where there is an anti-GMO conflict of interest. Certainly any research from Seralini would be in that class. I consider the Pig study by Judy Carman to be biased since at least one co-author is connected to an organic food company, and that author has also circulated a completely non-credible comparison of nutritional content of GMO and non-GMO corn.
In fact, of all the research usually cited as showing dangers of GMO crops, the single example I know of that doesn’t have an obvious bias was Pusztai’s work with potatoes.
Charles,
I agree, but didn’t go into that in order to keep the argument that I was making as clean and tidy as possible. There is enough of a culture war aspect to this issue without being perceived as throwing mud at the other side.
Also, the studies you cite have had obvious flaws. There is no need to bring conflicts of interest into the debate to explain what is wrong with their work.
That has been my running theme between this essay and the Seralini retraction essays. Looking at COIs is really only useful for explaining anomalous findings or analysis. The biases in Carman and Seralini’s work are beside the point, because their work was so obviously sub-standard. If their work seemed solid but wasn’t replicable, then COIs become interesting. Otherwise they may serve to explain why they persist in standing behind discredited work, but dwelling on them really distracts from the fact that the work is sub-standard.
I’ve been trying to come up with a good Monsanto comparison and your oil company one was right on the money. Oh, and btw: pay no attention to the Orly Taitz of the anti-gmo movement.
Reblogged this on Minnesota Farmer and commented:
You always hear the anti’s rant about Big Ag. paying for all of those adds that show no danger in using GMO’s. Turns out that if they are paying for the favorable studies, they are getting by really cheap.
“Writing about science without comprehending science is a deaf person giving piano lessons. You can shove keep your psychobabble and your junk science. They do not belong in my science and evidence-based world.”
Beethoven anyone?
Beethoven went deaf late in life, as opposed to someone who was born with a congenital defect. My sister was born deaf. I can tell you there is an enormous difference between someone born deaf and someone becoming deaf much later in life. Many of the “deaf” people you see performing musically are actually hard of hearing. Legally they are classified as deaf, but in reality retain enough hearing capacity to learn and perform their chosen instrument. My sister tried to learn to play the clarinet, and alas she could learn the fingerings but she couldn’t hear the notes, so it was rather pointless.
Thanks for informing me.
Thanks for this blog.
What April, John, and other anti-GMO voices never seem to address is this: what is the biologically plausible mechanism by which genetically modified plants are, as a class, a threat to health? Not individual GM products with a particular gene product, but all GMO crops? Because it seems to be an article of faith with most anti-GMO people that GMO crops are suspect or “poison”, as a class. All of them.
So, anti-GMO folks, I ask you: how is the act of adding one more gene to the tens of thousands present in this or that crop supposed to be harmful, in principle? What is the biologically plausible chain of arrows that get us from the very act of genetic modification to supposed toxicity? Do you folks even have a mechanism in mind, or care about a plausible mechanism, or is it just an article of faith that “unnatural = bad”?
http://earthopensource.org/index.php/reports/gmo-myths-and-truths
“There are three possible sources of adverse health effects from GM foods:
●●
The GM gene product – for example, the Bt toxin in GM insecticidal crops – may be toxic or allergenic
●●
The GM transformation process may produce mutagenic effects, gene regulatory effects, or effects at other levels of biological structure and function that result in new toxins or allergens and/or disturbed nutritional value
●●
Changes in farming practices linked to the use of a GMO may result in toxic residues – for example, higher levels of crop contamination with the herbicide Roundup are an inevitable result of using GM Roundup Ready® crops (see Sections 4, 5).
Evidence presented below and in Sections 4 and 5 suggests that problems are arising from all three sources – throwing into question GM proponents’ claims that GM foods are as safe as their non-GM counterparts.”
“3.1.1. Feeding studies on laboratory and farm animals
Feeding studies on laboratory and farm animals show that GM foods can be toxic or allergenic:
●●
Rats fed GM tomatoes developed stomach lesions (sores or ulcers).2,3 This tomato, Calgene’s Flavr Savr, was the first commercialized GM food.
●●
Mice fed GM peas (not subsequently commercialized) engineered with an insecticidal protein (alpha-amylase inhibitor) from beans showed a strong, sustained immune reaction against the GM protein. Mice developed antibodies against the GM protein and an allergic-type inflammation response (delayed hypersensitivity reaction). Also, the mice fed on GM peas developed an immune reaction to chicken egg white protein. The mice did not show immune or allergic-type inflammation reactions to either non-GM beans naturally containing the insecticide protein, to egg white protein fed with the natural protein from the beans, or to egg white protein fed on its own. The findings showed that the GM insecticidal protein acted as a sensitizer, making the mice susceptible to developing immune reactions and allergies to normally non-allergenic foods. This is called immunological cross-priming. The fact that beans naturally containing the insecticidal protein did not cause the effects seen with the peas that expressed the transgenic insecticidal protein indicated that the immune responses of the mice to the GM peas were caused by changes in the peas brought about by the genetic engineering process. In other words, the insecticidal protein was changed by the GM process so that it behaved differently in the GM peas compared with its natural form in the non-GM beans – and the altered protein from the GM peas stimulated a potent immune response in the mice.4
●●
Mice fed GM soy showed disturbed liver, pancreas and testes function. The researchers found abnormally formed cell nuclei and nucleoli in liver cells, which indicates increased metabolism and potentially altered patterns of gene expression.5,6,7
●●
Mice fed GM soy over their lifetime (24 months) showed more acute signs of ageing in the liver than the control group fed non-GM soy.8
●●
Rabbits fed GM soy showed enzyme function disturbances in kidney and heart.9
●●
Female rats fed GM soy showed changes in uterus and ovaries compared with controls fed organic non-GM soy or a non-soy diet. Certain ill effects were found with organic soy as well as GM soy, showing the need for further investigation into the effects of soy-based diets (GM and non-GM) on reproductive health.10
●●
A review of 19 studies (including industry’s own studies submitted to regulators in support of applications to commercialise GM crops) on mammals fed with commercialised GM soy and maize that are already in our food and feed chain found consistent toxic effects on the liver and kidneys. Such effects may be markers of the onset of chronic disease, but long-term studies, in contrast to these reported short- and medium-term studies, would be required to assess this more thoroughly. Unfortunately, such long-term feeding trials on GMOs are not required by regulators anywhere in the world.11
●●
Rats fed insecticide-producing MON863 Bt maize grew more slowly and showed higher levels of certain fats (triglycerides) in their blood than rats fed the control diet. They also suffered problems with liver and kidney function. The authors stated that it could not be concluded that MON863 maize is safe and that long-term studies were needed to investigate the consequences of these effects.12
●●
Rats fed GM Bt maize over three generations suffered damage to liver and kidneys and alterations in blood biochemistry.13
●●
A re-analysis of Monsanto’s own rat feeding trial data, submitted to obtain approval in Europe for three commercialised GM Bt maize varieties, MON863, MON810, and NK603, concluded that the maize varieties had toxic effects on liver and kidneys. The authors of the re-analysis stated that while the findings may have been due to the pesticides specific to each variety, genetic engineering could not be excluded as the cause.14 The data suggest that approval of these GM maize varieties should be withdrawn because they are not substantially equivalent to non-GM maize and are toxic.
●●
Old and young mice fed GM Bt maize showed a marked disturbance in immune system cells and in biochemical activity.15
●●
Rats fed GM MON810 Bt maize showed clear signs of toxicity, affecting the immune system, liver and kidneys.14,15
●●
Female sheep fed Bt GM maize over three generations showed disturbances in the functioning of the digestive system, while their lambs showed cellular changes in the liver and pancreas.16
●●
GM Bt maize DNA was found to survive processing and was detected in the digestive tract of sheep. This raises the possibility that the antibiotic resistance gene in the maize could move into gut bacteria, an example of horizontal gene transfer.17 In this case, horizontal gene transfer could produce antibiotic-resistant disease-causing bacteria (“superbugs”) in the gut.
●●
Rats fed GM oilseed rape developed enlarged livers, often a sign of toxicity.18
●●
Rats fed GM potatoes showed excessive growth of the lining of the gut similar to a pre-cancerous condition and toxic reactions in multiple organ systems.19,20
●●
Mice fed a diet of GM Bt potatoes or non-GM potatoes spiked with natural Bt toxin protein isolated from bacteria showed abnormalities in the cells and structures of the small intestine, compared with a control group of mice fed non-GM potatoes. The abnormalities were more marked in the Bt toxin-fed group. This study shows not only that the GM Bt potatoes caused mild damage to the intestines but also that Bt toxin protein is not harmlessly broken down in digestion, as GM proponents claim, but survives in a functionally active form in the small intestine and can cause damage to that organ.21
●●
Rats fed GM rice for 90 days had a higher water intake as compared with the control group fed the non-GM isogenic line of rice. The GM-fed rats showed differences in blood biochemistry, immune response, and gut bacteria. Organ weights of female rats fed GM rice were different from those fed non-GM rice. The authors claimed that none of the differences were “adverse”, but they did not define what they mean by “adverse”. Even if they had defined it, the only way to know if such changes are adverse is to extend the length of the study, which was not done. The authors conceded that the study “did not enable us to conclude on the safety of the GM food”.22
●●
Rats fed GM Bt rice developed significant differences as compared with rats fed the non-GM isogenic line of rice. These included differences in the populations of gut bacteria – the GM-fed group had 23% higher levels of coliform bacteria. There were differences in organ weights between the two groups, namely in the adrenals, testis and uterus. The authors concluded that the findings were most likely due to “unintended changes introduced in the GM rice and not from toxicity of Bt toxin” in its natural, non-GM form.23
●●
A study on rats fed GM Bt rice found a Bt-specific immune response in the non-GM-fed control group as well as the GM-fed groups. The researchers concluded that the immune response in the control animals was due to their inhaling particles of the powdered Bt toxin-containing feed consumed by the GM-fed group. The researchers recommended that for future tests involving Bt crops, GM-fed and control groups should be kept separate.24 This indicates that animals can be extremely sensitive to very small amounts of GM proteins, so even low levels of contamination of conventional crops with GMOs could be harmful to health.
In these studies, a GM food was fed to one group of animals and its non-GM counterpart was fed to a control group. The studies found that the GM foods were more toxic or allergenic than their non-GM counterparts.”
“3.6 Myth: GM Bt insecticidal crops only harm insects and are harmless to animals and people
Truth: GM Bt insecticidal crops pose hazards to people and animals that eat them
Many GM crops are engineered to produce Bt toxin, a type of insecticide. Bt toxin in its natural, non-GM form is derived from a common soil bacterium and is used as an insecticidal spray in chemically-based and organic farming.
Regulators have approved GM Bt crops on the assumption that the GM Bt toxin is the same as the natural Bt toxin, which they say has a history of safe use. They conclude that GM crops engineered to contain Bt insecticidal protein must also be harmless.
But this is false, for the following reasons:
●●
Natural Bt toxin is not necessarily the same as the Bt toxin expressed by GM Bt plants. The Bt toxin protein in GM plants may be truncated or otherwise modified. For example, there is at least a 40% difference between the toxin in Bt176 maize (formerly commercialised in the EU, now withdrawn) and natural Bt toxin.11 Such changes can mean that they have very different effects on people or animals that eat them. Prions (the folded proteins found in BSE-infected cows), venoms, and hormones, are all proteins, but are far from harmless.83
●●
The natural Bt toxin used in insecticidal sprays behaves differently in the environment from the Bt toxin produced in GM plants. Natural Bt breaks down rapidly in daylight and only becomes active (and toxic) in the gut of the insect that eats it. It does not persist in the environment and so is unlikely to find its way into animals or people that eat the crop. With GM Bt crops, however, the plant is engineered to express the Bt toxin protein in active form in every cell. In other words, the plant itself becomes a pesticide, and people and animals that eat the plant are eating a pesticide.
●●
Even natural Bt toxin has been found to have negative health effects. In farm workers, exposure to Bt sprays was found to lead to allergic skin sensitisation and immune responses.84 And laboratory studies found that natural Bt toxin has ill effects on mammals, producing a potent immune response and enhancing the immune response to other substances.85,86,87
●●
Safety tests for regulatory purposes are generally not carried out on the Bt toxin protein as expressed in the GM plant. The Bt toxin protein that is tested is usually derived from genetically engineered E. coli bacteria, as GM companies find it too difficult and expensive to extract enough Bt toxin from the GM crop itself. As we have seen, the GM process gives rise to unexpected changes in the desired protein, so it cannot be assumed that the Bt toxin protein derived from E. coli bacteria is the same as the protein derived from the GM plant that people and animals will eat. Indeed, the US Environmental Protection Agency, in its review of the commercialised Monsanto GM maize MON810, said it produces a “truncated” version of the protein – in other words, a protein that is not the same as the natural form.60 Such changes can make a protein more toxic or allergenic.”
And so on…
I’m late to this but I see no one has addressed the report that Bruce Wilson quotes from. It is a huge gishgallop of inaccurate and distorted misinformation, and while it is clearly impractical to address the entire report, I’ll just grab a couple of claims at random:
This is quite true, but omits to mention that rats fed the same quantities of non-GM tomatoes also developed stomach lesions. See: http://academicsreview.org/reviewed-content/genetic-roulette/section-1/1-2-gm-tomatoes-proven-safe/
Isn’t this more than a little disingenuous?
Maybe that’s an isolated error. Let’s look at another claim:
The reference given is to this study: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1871141307002442
It concludes:
So the claim of “disturbances in the functioning of the digestive system” is simply untrue. The study did find some cellular changes in the sheep’s guts but points out:
I am confident that close examination of the rest of the claims in this report would reveal similar cherry-picking and distortions of the truth.
I included these excerpts in response to Mike Kaplan’s comment “Do you folks even have a mechanism in mind, or care about a plausible mechanism, or is it just an article of faith that “unnatural = bad”?”
Whether or not those excerpts were accurate or not, wasn’t the point. Its that many people who are anti-GMO are not doing it out of an article of faith, but because there is material out their purporting to show the issues of GMO products. I thought it rather naive and patronizing to make the comment he did.
Bruce, fair enough, but do any of those studies propose a mechanism for harm that is intrinsic to GE crops? That’s the central question that is never answered. We are all aware that there have been animal feeding studies that have demonstrated the possibility of potential problems with individual crops and that critics of GE crops are especially aware of those studies.
It still doesn’t change the fact that no one has proposed a reason intrinsic to breeding method for potential problems.
Thanks, Mark- that was EXACTLY my point. I’m not talking about people being allergic to a peanut protein that was put in a tomato plant, or some such problem with a particular strain like Roundup which does raise concerns about enabling overuse of pesticides – I’m talking about the kind of mechanism that would justify the kind of blanket condemnation of GMO crops, all of them, as “poison”. And having working with transgenic animals in research, I am aware of no reason why anyone should be afraid of this technology other than reflexive anti-Science hysteria.
While finding ” reason intrinsic to breeding method for potential problems” might be important for the researcher, the concern is coming from the consumer side of things. Technology has a history of being introduced into our lives, for better or for worse. The problem is, how many people will suffer before we discover the downside to the technology? Scientists tend to be overly optimistic concerning the benefits of their research, while minimizing any downsides. My father, an electronics engineer working for TRW, had to play the role of the devil’s advocate for the Air Force, against the sub contractors such as Martin Marietta. His job was to point out the weaknesses of their proposals. Needless to say he was not a popular man at these companies, but the Air Force general he reported to was quite happy. Because of this, much of my training by my father is to look beyond the hype.
Their seems to be a constant requirement on the part of the pro GMO group that the critics need to do a better job of constructing their critiques, to coming up with a mechanism that causes harm. I think this is rather wrongheaded. I think the burden of proof should be on the GMO researchers, to show how we, the public, cannot be harmed by this technology, or how the GMO industry is going to take responsibility for their technology, rather than suing farmers who have no control of how the pollen gets distributed.
In truth, what I suspect is that much of GMO technology has been vastly overhyped, that much of it is actually ineffectual. But by then we will have moved on the latest “New Thing”.
It’s impossible to ‘Prove” safety. You can only demonstrate a lack of risk. So every new technology has unknown unknowns. But it is only with select technologies that because of cultural or political reasons, people obsess over the highly, highly unlikely unknown unknowns and to be honest, in my experience, no amount of evidence will placate that, only the passage of time and ubiquity.
The industry has taken responsibility for their technology and the regulatory hurdles are ridiculously high. These crops are studied nearly to death before getting to market.
Meanwhile, no farmers have ever been sued for accidental cross pollination. They get sued for willfully violated the technology agreements that cover the use of the seeds. If you can find a well sourced example that holds up to a fact check, I’ll be greatly embarrassed. I’ve challenged dozens of people to produce the evidence and no one has been able to do it yet.
If GE crops have been overhyped, that’s partly the natural byproduct of marketing, but it’s also a reaction to dealing with an anti-GMO movement that spreads misinformation, misconceptions and outright lies and sends unsuspecting people out into the world repeating urban legends like farmers getting sued for cross pollination.
If it was ineffectual, why would farmers plant 80-90% of those crops with GE versions? Unless, like most people you think farmers are too dumb to understand their own business.
Once a scientific consensus has been established, the burden of proof always shifts to those critical of the consensus.
As far as things that science supposedly got wrong I would need examples, because usually the history was that the evidence or at least hypothesis was there for a long time, but politics and economics blocked it from coming to light or being acted upon.
So it’s not unfair to ask for at least a credible hypothesis of harm other wise we would never adopt any new technology, because we can idly speculate that anything could cause harm down the road in ways we don’t foresee.
Firstly, we have been altering the genetics of food plants and animals using radiation and chemicals for the best part of a century. Thousands of food-stuffs that have been on the market for decades were produced by these means. I see no reason to believe GM crops are any more likely to be dangerous than those crops, or indeed more dangerous than crops that have mutated ‘naturally’ through background radiation and through DNA copying errors, which is how humans have traditionally bred crops for millennia.
Secondly, as Marc Brazeau has pointed out, it is a myth that Monsanto or other biotechnology companies sue farmers whose crops are accidentally fertilized with GM pollen. I’m a little tired of reading the same myths over and over.
I have been reading and collecting articles on “GMOs” for over a year now, and this is one of the best I have come across. Thank you.
I have been interested in this topic for a long time, ever since I first heard the frightened murmurings against recombinant DNA techniques back in the 90s, but it was the March Against Monsanto back in 2013 that really raised some red flags for me. I have been a “radical left-wing protestor” for almost two-and-a-half decades now (for purposes of full disclosure ha ha) mostly in the context of the anti-war movement, and most recently with my local “Occupy.”
But the anti-GMO rhetoric has readily sounded off some alarms to me to the point where I feel it is approaching cult-like proportions.
Coming from a religious background, and then having rejected that for “Grateful Dead tour” and getting to experience that as another sort of “religious” sect of its own (albeit with MUCH better music… *most* of the time!), I feel like I have become very sensitized to the dynamics of “groupthink” and have always been on guard against it in any of my social groups, political or not.
So when I saw the proliferation of unsubstantiated soundbites on the signs and banners at the March that ventured into memes such as “MonSatan” and “the greatest evil in the world”, I became even more suspect. Personally, a very important aspect of my activism is that I jump on board with something not because “everyone else is doing it” but because the cause is grounded in reality. So I was motivated to learn more.
And I have to say, that in my investigation of over a year into this, I have become not only less enthused by the anti-GMO campaign and their version of “evidence”, but moreover rather depressed at how many of my colleagues and dear friends have casually signed on to the immense amount of disinformation being promoted out there. Almost every single fearmongering soundbite out there proves to be either complete BS or extremely taken out of context and twisted or maybe legitimate complaints about capitalism in general or factory-farming which have absolutely no exclusive relevance to GM technology. But at a point it seems to become too intoxicating to consider the numbers of marchers against the veracity of what they are marching for.
Predictably, in vocalizing my opposition to this rabbit-hole, I am assailed by such a “gish-gallop” in return that there is no way I can keep up with it. These folks can memorize a list of one-liners from Natural News or Dr. Mercola in one night, whereas I feel as a non-science professional I could spend a *month* reading up on any one of these single angles at least before i was at a point that I would feel at all confident about talking about any of it at all.
So again, thanks… it is very helpful to have people who actually *are* more versed in scientific papers and analysis to help “translate” this stuff — now that I know that you aren’t all categorically bought out wholesale by Monsanto, whew (all sarcasm aside, I think that would be a funny calculation, to divide the number of independent scientists globally who have weighed in on this into the operating budget of Monsanto… we’ll see how much it’s worth to all these researchers to put their very career on the line!)
If anyone does Facebook, I highly recommend participating at GMO-Skeptic. Oregon GMO Information has been a very helpful group as well, and if folks wanted to chime in at my own “GMOs: Separating the Hybrid Wheat from the Rhetorical Chaff” that would be much appreciated too! 🙂
It has seemed like a Quixotic effort this past year to get the people in my immediate peer groups to reconsider having swallowed the Kool Aid on this one, but I think some progress has been made, and articles and forums such as this have been indispensable.
Keep up the good work!
~scotty perey
Bravo Mr Perey. It must be tough on you to take such a line in the activist camp. What I find sad is that u guys have hearts in the right place. Lots of plant geneticists also want sustainable agriculture. I alaawys ask – isn’t a pesticide produced from solar energy (In a BT GM crop) more sustainable that a BT bacterial spray grown in a vat (as used on organic crops)
If GMOs are so good, then why doesn’t ‘t Monsanto WANT to have “GMO MADE BY MONSANTO” plastered all over their products? They should even have GMO t-shirts for sale by now. All the major companies who are proud of their products WANT the public to know about them on store shelves. And, if GMOs aren’t BETTER than non-GMO, then what is the purpose making them? The only people who have anything to gain from GMOs are the ones making money from selling them. The consumer is the loser.
Um, they are. They are plastered all over their products. Monsanto sells and licenses seeds and seed traits. Those are all clearly labelled for the farmers who are their customers and play a big role in the marketing of those products.