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GE Corn May Reduce Fertility
Posted by timethief • 11/14/08 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: corn, fda, food, ge crops, genetically engineered crops, gmo, infertility, monsanto, usa, yieldgard plus/roundup ready
Big news in the world of Genetically Engineered crops. A team led by Dr. Jürgen Zentek at the University of Vienna, Austria just completed a study that strongly indicates a correlation between genetically engineered corn and infertility. The Center for Food Safety is calling for a moratorium on the distribution of GE foods until the risk can be further assessed.
AUSTRIAN STUDY FINDS EATING GENETICALLY ENGINEERED CORN MAY REDUCE FERTILITY
Center for Food Safety Calls for Moratorium on Genetically Engineered Foods Pending Thorough Safety Studies
Vienna, Austria, November 13, 2008 – The Center for Food Safety cited results of an important study (1) released Monday by the Austrian government as cause for great concern over the long-term consumption of genetically engineered crops. The study found that mice fed a type of genetically engineered corn developed by the Monsanto Company produced fewer offspring than those fed conventional corn.
“This meticulous study suggests that a popular type of genetically engineered corn may harbor fertility-reducing substances,” said Bill Freese, Science Policy Analyst at the Center for Food Safety and co-author of a peer-reviewed study on GE crop regulation. “It’s no surprise to us that U.S. regulators did not catch this. None of our regulatory agencies require any long-term animal feeding trials before allowing genetically engineered crops on the market.”
The study was sponsored by the Austrian Ministry of Health, Families, and Youth, and led by Dr. Jürgen Zentek, Professor of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Vienna . For 20 weeks, Zentek and his team fed mice diets consisting of either 33% genetically engineered (GE) corn, or 33% of a closely related non-GE variety. The diets were otherwise nutritionally equivalent.
Mice fed the GE corn diet had fewer litters, fewer total offspring, and more females with no offspring, than mice feed the conventional corn. The effects were particularly pronounced in the third and fourth litters, after the mice had consumed the GE corn for a longer period of time. The authors attributed the reduced fertility to the GE corn feed, and said it might be related to unintended effects of the genetic modification process. Dr. Zentek said that further studies are “urgently needed” to corroborate his team’s findings.
“This study should serve as a wake-up call to governments around the world that genetically engineered foods could cause long-term health damage,” said Andrew Kimbrell, Executive Director of the Center for Food Safety. “The Center calls upon national and international authorities to place a moratorium on the distribution of GE products for human consumption unless or until their safety can be undeniably established.”
“We hope this study will finally persuade the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to completely overhaul its ‘rubber-stamp’ regulatory process,” added Freese. “The FDA must stop letting biotech companies self-certify their GE crops as safe, and instead establish strict, mandatory testing requirements, including long-term animal feeding trials, for every GE crop,” he added.
The Center notes that the GE corn used in the study (NK603 x MON810) was developed by the Monsanto Company, and is sold under the brand names YieldGard (Plus)/Roundup Ready. Monsanto’s figures show that U.S. plantings of this GE corn have exploded in recent years, from just 2.2 million acres in 2002 to 38.2 million acres in 2008. (2) The corn is a so-called “stacked” variety with two traits: the Roundup Ready trait allows the corn to survive direct spraying with Roundup herbicide, while a built-in insecticide kills certain above-ground insect pests.
The Center further notes that U.S. regulators allow biotech companies to cross GE crops at will to develop “stacked” crops with virtually any combination of traits without any regulatory oversight, despite expert warnings that stacked crops may pose special risks.
Notes:
(1) For the full study, in English, see:
bmgfj.cms.apa.at/cms/site/attachments/3/2/9/CH0810/CMS1226492832306/forschu...
(2) NK603 is Roundup Ready corn, approved for commercial use by USDA in 2000. MON810 is YieldGard corn, approved in 1996. See www.aphis.usda.gov/brs/not_reg.html, under “Transformation Event or Line.” For acreage figures, add US figures for YieldGard/Roundup Ready and YieldGard Plus/Roundup Ready at:
www.monsanto.com/pdf/investors/2008/q4_biotech_acres.pdf.
YieldGard Plus contains the two traits noted above plus a third trait (an additional insecticide to kill root pests).
Source: The Center for Food Safety is national, non-profit, membership organization founded in 1997 to protect human health and the environment by curbing the use of harmful food production technologies and by promoting organic and other forms of sustainable agriculture. On the web at: www.centerforfoodsafety.org
User Comments
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Sounds like a win/win in areas where there isn't enough food and they have too high of a birth rate. -
TT, apologies (seriously) for bringing God into your thread, but this seems like a classic example of how we're almost always wrong when we think we have a better way. Substitute nature if you like--one way or the other, we're outsmarting ourselves at such a pace that it's tough to even imagine what we'll muck up next.-
This indeed is a classic example of the dangers of abandoning farmers and focusing on sources of healthy and whole foods, and establishing a reliance on shareholder controlled, profit driven corporations to make our food decisions for us. Are we insane?
At present Americans have genetically modified and cloned food on their supermarket shelves, without a requirement for labeling.
How did it happen? We were bombarded with media messages that said subsidizing small family farmers was "too expensive" and "inefficient" for the tax payers to suppor. Slowly but surely huge corporations began sucking the government tit and growing fat. Soon the corporations were aimed at controlling not only the food sources but also producing those awful "food products". Guess what they are among the corporate welfare bums that get away with "tax relief".
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*sits on fence and watches thread while eating some pistachio icecream*-
I'm betting that you are NOT eating "ice cream". You are eating a fake "ice milk" product. Do you know what's in what you are eating?
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lol, its quality icecream!, full of sugar, fat, nuts, cream, rainbows, and polar bear tears!
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@wastedlola
Did you know that in the USA today, industrial ice cream can contain any of 25 different chemical additives that DO NOT have to be listed among the ingredients. Some of these additives even have other, more interesting, uses. Check them out.
(1) Dietheyl Glycol is an additive used as a replacement for eggs. It functions as both an antifreeze and a paint remover.
(2) Piperonal makes an excellent replacement for vanilla. It's also an effective lice killer.
(3) Ethyl Acetate is a leather cleaner used as a replacement for pineapple.
(4) Butyraldehyde, an ingredient in rubber cement provides that nutty flavor.
(5) Sodium carboxymethylcellulose is a bulking agent and a suspected carcinogen.
(6) Then there's azo dye, benzyl acetate, polysorbate 65 and 80, propylene glycol alginate, microcrystalline cellulose and well, you get the picture.
The use of these fascinating chemicals brings down the cost of the "food product". Add in some real fruit fragments, broken nut fragments and broken chunks of caffeine laden "chocolate" and the consumers are none the wiser. In fact, they will develop brand preferences and argue ad infinitum about which corporate "food product" is of better "quality" than the other. Yes, brand loyalty to crap, masquerading as real food is rampant in North America. Get a grip people. Use the gray matter between your ears. -
you ruined my icecream!.. but thanks..
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You can make your own. We do. It's very rich so it's an infrequent "treat".
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mmmm, i tried that once, with fresh berries, it was de-lish!, i will try again soon.
*leaves thread looking for icecream recipes*
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TT--I am not surprised by this news--I am deadset against genetically engineered food (ICK!).
On another note, I make my own ice cream and it's delicious. I have a bowl almost every day!
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