GMO: NOT Opinion; A Serious Health and Safety Issue

(1) GMO Free USA:

GMO: NOT Opinion; A Serious Health and Safety Issue

The August 7 Opinion Column touting benefits of genetically modified food needs correcting. There is nothing in biotechnology that has increased the intrinsic yield potential of any crop. Instead, there is a consistent yield reduction when integrity of the normal genetics is disrupted by genetic engineering. 

Yield and quality factors are complex genetics accomplished by traditional breeding and not amenable to ‘silver bullet’ programs. Genetic engineering is more like a virus infection than a normal breeding process and “substantially equivalent” is a myth. 

Rather than the way to feed the world, genetic engineering is a disaster in the making.The benefits claimed for GMOs are failed promises. Reduced root growth, lower nutrient density, increased disease and stress susceptibility of GMO crops are well documented. 

The abundance of weeds and insects resistant to GMO plants, or the chemicals they were engineered to tolerate, complicate our ability to control these pests. GMOs should be characterized as toxic chemical accumulating and pesticide containing foods.

Contrary to the uninformed claim of safety in the Opinions column, a large volume of peer-reviewed scientific information shows that genetically engineered products and the Roundup® herbicide that 85 % of GE plants were engineered to tolerate, are chronically toxic to human and animal tissues and lead to cancer, premature death, kidney and liver failure, and blood disorders. 

There are NO peer-reviewed scientific studies that show GMO crops, or the chemicals they are engineered to tolerate or produce, are safe for human or animal consumption. Medical data indicates that millions of children and adults are suffering from the chronically toxic GMO products or the glyphosate (Roundup®) these plants accumulate. 

MIT scientists documented the biochemical disruption caused by genetic engineering and concluded that glyphosate (Roundup®) is the most chronically toxic chemical in our environment. Ninety three percent of women tested had the GMO Bt toxin in their blood, and 80% passed this toxic pesticide to their developing child in the womb.

As a patented powerful antibiotic, the herbicide glyphosate is toxic to microorganisms in the soil and GI tract of humans and animals that are essential for mineral absorption, vitamin production, tryptophan synthesis in autism, and defense against pathogens such as E. coli, Salmonella, and
Clostridium. The increase of ‘gut related’ diseases such as Alzheimer’s, autism, birth defects, breast cancer, celiac, chronic fatigue, end stage kidney failure, infertility, irritable bowel, leaky gut, Parkinson’s, peritonitis, rheumatoid arthritis, and many others are directly correlated with GMO proteins and glyphosate residues in food and feed products.

The indiscriminate use of glyphosate and GMO crops are precipitating a major chronic health and environmental crisis. Drift from spraying glyphosate on GMO crops increased birth defects, reproductive failure and cancer in adjacent towns up to 450 % in Argentina. As little as 0.1 part per billion Roundup® in drinking water increased breast cancer, kidney failure, liver failure, endocrine hormone disruption and cytotoxicity to cells and tissues.

Rather than fewer pesticides, there has been a many fold increase in pesticide use with them. Much of this increased pesticide accumulates in food and feed products. EPA has approved residue limits 4,000 times higher than previously permitted – all without any safety evaluation! The USDA, EPA, and FDA have NO testing, and rely on statements of the companies that the higher levels are safe. 

It is much more than a ‘right to know’ issue; GMOs are a serious chronic health and safety threat to us and to our environment. 

Future historians may well look back upon our time and write, not about how many pounds of pesticides we did or did not apply, but about how willing we are to sacrifice our children and jeopardize future generations for this massive experiment we call genetic engineering that is based on failed promises and flawed science, just to benefit the bottom line of a commercial enterprise.

Dr. Don M. Huber, Emeritus Professor, Purdue University
COL AUS (Ret, Medical Intelligence); Former Chairman, USDA National Plant Disease 
Recovery Program; US Threat Pathogens Committee; Advisory Board, Office of Technology 
Assessment, US Congress; OTSG Global Epidemiology Working Group. Melba, Idaho 83641

Some suggested reading

Antoniou et al, 2012. Myths and Truths of GMO
Carman et al, 2013. Stomach erosion of pigs fed GMO feed
Krueger et al, 2012. Chronic botulism of cattle
Samsel and Seneff, 2013. CYP 450 enzyme connection between glyphosate and gastrointestinal
Seralini et al, 2012. Long-term toxicology of GMO or Roundup® herbicide
Shehata et al, 2013. Antibiotic effect of glyphosate on beneficial GI microorganisms
Swanson, 2013. Genetically modified organisms and the deterioration of health in the 
United States.