You’d think protection from toxic substances in your food wouldn’t be too much to ask of an advanced government….
In a study published in “Food and Chemical Toxicology”, researchers led by Professor Gilles-Eric Seralini from CRIIGEN have found that rats fed on a diet containing NK603 Roundup tolerant GM maize or given water containing Roundup, at levels permitted in drinking water and GM crops in the US, developed cancers faster and died earlier than rats fed on a standard diet. They suffered breast cancer and severe liver and kidney damage.
In the first ever study to examine the long-term effects of Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide and the NK603 Roundup-resistant GM maize also developed by Monsanto, the CRIIGEN scientists found that rats exposed to even the smallest amounts, developed mammary tumors and severe liver and kidney damage as early as four months in males, and seven months for females, compared with 23 and 14 months respectively for a control group.
Led by Professor Seralini, the researchers studied 10 groups, each containing 10 male and 10 female rats, over their normal lifetime. Three groups were given Roundup – developed by Monstanto – in their drinking water at three different levels consistent with exposure through the food chain from crops sprayed with the herbicide. Three groups were fed diets containing different proportions of Roundup resistant maize at 11%, 22% and 33%. Three groups were given both Roundup and the GM maize at the same three dosages. The control group was fed an equivalent diet with no Roundup or NK603 containing 33% of non-GM maize.
Dr Michael Antoniou, molecular biologist and gene expert at Kings College, London, and member of CRIIGEN stated: “This is the most thorough research ever published into the health effects of GM food crops and the herbicide Roundup on rats. It shows an extraordinary number of cancers developing earlier and more aggressively – particularly in female animals. I am shocked by the extreme negative health impacts.”
So…all that GM corn made into high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) not only may be making us fatter, but also killing us earlier through enabling cancers?
Such a deal!
And, uh oh….
This study is apparently the first time — anyone looked at effects over the whole life of the lab animal instead of the standard 90 days, — anyone looked at what happens when Roundup-resistant GM corn is eaten with “safe” levels of Roundup residues (I mean Duuuh! The whole point is that you can pour Roundup on them like water), — and the first time anyone used actual Roundup in a study, with the various toxic carrier agents and the whole schemier, instead of just using the glyphosate active ingredient.
I’m a scientist, somewhat familiar with the lab techniques used in genetic engineering, etc., etc, and even I had NO IDEA nobody had tested the complete product for safety! Especially considering that Roundup has all sorts of toxic stuff in it besides the non-toxic-to-mammals glyphosate. Are these people nuts? What WERE they thinking? Aaaargh!
I shall be watching for the industry responses with considerable interest. Expect attacks on the statistics and methods. I’ve already heard some sneers about the researchers using the “wrong sort of lab rat.” The one they used has a tendency to cancer.
Well, gee whiz. So do some people. I could see testing for that being something they should all do all the time!