Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Monsanto GM Corn Causing Organ Failure In Rats
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/19/monsanto-gm-corn-causing_n_425195.html
I realize it's HuffPo, so not the most unbiased journalism on the planet. But, here is a link to the study itself.
They also have a link on how to avoid GMOs.
Monsanto GM Corn Causing Organ Failure In Rats Study: Everything You Need To Know
Huffington Post | Katherine Goldstein First Posted: 01-19-10 11:08 AM | Updated: 01-19-10 01:50 PM
Three types of Monsanto genetically modified corn are under scrutiny in the wake of a new study published by the International Journal Of Biological Sciences
which found that rats ingesting the corn were subject to statistically
significant amounts of organ toxicity.
These three types -- Mon 863, insecticide-producing Mon 810, and
Roundup? herbicide-absorbing NK 603 -- have been approved for
consumption in the US and several countries in Europe.
The
finding that corn produced by one of the world's agricultural giants
could cause organ failure has been met with obvious concern by food
activists and consumers alike. It's not the first bout of negative
publicity for Monsanto, which has been vilified for everything from
producing Agent Orange, intimidating farmers, using aggressive tactics to squeeze out competition, pressuring farmers to be dependent on their products,
and strongly promoting the use of genetically modified seeds here and
abroad. It has been negatively portrayed in films such as "Food, Inc." and "The World According To Monsanto".
While some groups like Change.org,
see this study as a rallying cry for regulatory action and boycott,
others on both sides of the GMO issue think the study results itself
are not clear and shouldn't be accepted wholeheartedly. The IJBS is not
a peer-reviewed journal, and the work was not an independent analysis
of the effects of the GM corn on rats. Rather, it was a full
interpretation of all of the samples of rats in the 90-day study that
Monsanto itself sponsored. After analyzing the data, the European researchers came to the conclusion:
"Effects were mostly concentrated in kidney and liver function, the two major diet detoxification organs, but in detail differed with each GM type. In addition, some effects on heart, adrenal, spleen and blood cells were also frequently noted. As there normally exists sex differences in liver and kidney metabolism, the highly statistically significant disturbances in the function of these organs, seen between male and female rats, cannot be dismissed as biologically insignificant as has been proposed by others. We therefore conclude that our data strongly suggests that these GM maize varieties induce a state of hepatorenal toxicity.[...] These substances have never before been an integral part of the human or animal diet and therefore their health consequences for those who consume them, especially over long time periods are currently unknown."
Discover notes that Greenpeace, an activist environmental group sponsored the scientists' research -- they had to sue to obtain the raw data in the first place, and that the IJBS is relatively obscure. Leading nutrition professor Dr. Marion Nestle wrote on her blog about the study, "I found the paper extremely difficult to read, in part because it is written in exceptionally dense and opaque language, and in part because it presents the data in especially complicated tables and figures." Monsanto claims that the study employed "non-traditional statistical methods to reassess toxicology data from studies conducted with MON 863, MON 810 and NK603 corn varieties" and that the IJBS paper reaches "unsubstantiated conclusions."
The IJBS study itself strenuously suggests more testing over two years rather than 90 days to evaluate the long-term health impacts, and by independent researchers rather than Monsanto itself. The study also points out that Monsanto conducted the study only once rather than multiple times, and only tested one species -- rats -- and emphasizes that testing on more mammals of this GM maize is needed to reach any kind of conclusion on safety. This maize is used as both animal feed and for human consumption.
According to the FDA's website, the agency concludes that genetic engineering that occurred in the maize varieties, MON 810, NK603, MON 863 was not different enough from past approved products and did not need a pre-market review. The FDA essentially takes Monsanto's word that the company had done adequate testing to ensure its safety, as shown clearly in this letter. Several countries in Europe, such as Germany and France, have recently banned GM crops, specifically MON 810 after it had been approved for consumption in the European Union.
Furthermore, there are no laws requiring companies to label if their products contain GMOs. Even food labeled "Organic" that is processed with multiple ingredients must only be 95% organic, leaving loopholes for obscure ingredients that are genetically modified to be included. HuffPost Blogger and Eco Etiquette columnist Jennifer Grayson has written a comprehensive article detailing the ways to avoid genetically modified foods in light of the fact that there are no labeling requirements in the US.
So the facts are as follows: We eat corn and corn derivatives that have been genetically modified, which has been banned for being unsafe in other countries -- the FDA has not done independent testing on the health effects of at least three types of corn that we are eating, and have instead taken Monsanto's word for the fact that they are safe. Monsanto resisted releasing their data to independent researchers -- environmental groups had to sue to get it. Once it was released and analyzed by one group of scientists, they wrote a dense study in a non-peer reviewed journal and found statistically significant amounts of organ failure in the rats in Monsanto's own study. Consumers often have no way of knowing clearly if they are eating genetically modified food.
The FDA did not return calls for comment.
Re: Monsanto GM Corn Causing Organ Failure In Rats
"non-traditional statistical methods to reassess toxicology data from studies conducted with MON 863, MON 810 and NK603 corn varieties"
Made up math is what I think they meant. And then the FDA just takes them at their word? Why then do we even have an FDA, isn't it their job to check these products? It's like me murdering people, but the detectives whom are supposed to invesigate simply believing when I say I didn't do it. Imagine if all gov't offices got away with this!
Also, I didn't know that they were responsible for agent orange! I hope that studies like this will lead to product labeling. We deserve to know.
"non-traditional statistical methods to reassess toxicology data from studies conducted with MON 863, MON 810 and NK603 corn varieties"
This refers to the scientists doing the study using made up math, not Monsanto in this case.
I haven't read the actual study, but from this article says, it seems like it may not have been very well done. Shady statistics, poorly written, and published in a lesser scientific journal. I personally don't think that GMOs are good for us and I do want them labeled, but I also want solid science saying so, not poorly done studies.