GMO Foods

1. GMO Foods Are they safe? ½ Hour AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™

2. Overview • The participant will understand and overview of the history of GMO crops from a scientific standpoint. • The participant will understand the first efforts at genetic modification will be described, along with their results. • The participant will be able to cite the potential effects of genetic modification on health.

3. Harmful Effects of Genetically Modified Food • In 1983 the first genetically-modified plant, an antibiotic-resistant tobacco, was introduced. Field trials then began in 1985, and the EPA approved this very first release of a GMO crop in 1986. • It then took another decade before the first genetically altered crop was commercially introduced. This was the famous delayed-ripening  "Flavr-savr" tomatoapproved by the FDA on May 18, 1994. The tomato was fed in laboratory trials to mice who, normally relishing tomatoes, refused to eat these lab creations and had to be force-fed by tubes. • Several developed stomach lesions and seven of the forty mice died within two weeks. Without further safety testing the tomato was FDA approved for commercialization. Fortunately, it ended up as a production and commercial failure, and was ultimately abandoned in 1996. Reference Stein Bibliography: GMO Foods, Are They Safe #1

4. Harmful Effects of Genetically Modified Food • Scouring the world for valuable genetic materials, W.R. Grace applied for and was granted fifty US patents on the neem tree in India. It even patented the indigenous knowledge of how to medicinally use the tree (what has since been called biopiracy). • Furthermore, on April 12, 1988, the PTO issued its first patent on an animal to Harvard Professor Philip Leder and Timothy A. Stewart. This involved the creation of a transgenic mouse containing chicken and human genes. On October 29, 1991, the PTO granted patent rights to human stem cells, and later human genes. Reference Stein Bibliography: GMO Foods, Are They Safe #2

5. Harmful Effects of Genetically Modified Food • A United States company, Biocyte was awarded a European patent on all umbilical cord cells from fetuses and newborn babies. The patent extended exclusive rights to use the cells without the permission of the ‘donors.’ Finally, the European Patent Office (EPO) received applications from Baylor University for the patenting of women who had been genetically altered to produce proteins in their mammary glands. Baylor essentially sought monopoly rights over the use of human mammary glands to manufacture pharmaceuticals. • Other attempts have been made to patent cells of indigenous peoples in Panama, the Solomon Islands, and Papua New Guinea. Thus the Chakrabarty ruling evolved within the decade from the patenting of tiny, almost invisible microbes to virtually all terrains of life on Earth. Reference Stein Bibliography: GMO Foods, Are They Safe #2

6. Harmful Effects of Genetically Modified Food • Certain biotech companies then quickly moved to utilize such patenting for the control of seed stock, including buying up small seed companies and destroying their non-patented seeds. In the past few years, this has led to a near monopoly control of certain commodities, especially soy, corn, and cotton (used in processed foods via cottonseed oil). • As a result, nearly two-thirds of such processed foods showed some GM ingredient. Yet again, without labeling, few consumers in the US were aware any of this was pervasively occurring. Industry marketers found out that the more the public knew, the less they wanted to purchase GM foods. Thus a concerted effort was organized to convince regulators not to require such labeling. Reference Stein Bibliography: GMO Foods, Are They Safe #2

7. Harsh Realities • Many revealing factors are coming out of various places in the world with a recent observation that every 30 minutes one farmer in India commits suicide due to bankruptcies associated with crop failures of genetically modified crops. • The farmers were induced to plant these crops and expected increased harvest yields. They got crops with no kernels on ears of corn, and many fewer plants than they would have expected to grow. The bankruptcies force these farmers to end their lives. Reference Stein Bibliography: GMO Foods, Are They Safe #3

8. Direct Links to Cancer and Degenerative Disease • GH is a protein hormone which, when injected into a cow, stimulates the pituitary gland so that the cow produces more milk. Fifteen percent more milk yields more profit for large dairy farmers. • In 1993 the FDA approved the use of Monsanto's genetically modified recombinant bovine growth hormone. It has resulted in an increase of IGF-1 levels in the milk, as well as producing mastitis in the cow, requiring the use of antibiotics to treat the mastitis. Reference Stein Bibliography: GMO Foods, Are They Safe #4

9. Direct Links to Cancer and Degenerative Disease • The level of IGF-1 increase in the milk has been estimated between 70% and 1000%. It has been linked to 2 1/2 to 4 times higher risk of human colorectal cancer and breast cancer, and a 2.8 to 4 times range increase in prostate cancer according to Dr. Samuel Epstein of the University of Chicago. • Canadian studies have confirmed these suspicions and have also shown active IGF-1 absorption, thyroid cysts and internal organ damage in rats. The FDA denied these conclusions. • The FDA's own experiments indicated a spleen mass increase of 40 to 46%, a sign of developing leukemia. Reference Stein Bibliography: GMO Foods, Are They Safe #2, 5, 6

10. Direct Links to Cancer and Degenerative Disease • Steve Wilson and Jane Aker tried to expose these deceptions, but they were fired by Fox News Network under intense pressure from Monsanto. • Monsanto alleged that the hormone was killed by the pasteurization process, or rendered inactive, but that was proven to be fallacious. • Monsanto's own research showed that only 19% of the hormone was rendered inactive after boiling for 30 minutes, while the usual time of boiling for pasteurization is only 15 seconds. Reference Stein Bibliography: GMO Foods, Are They Safe #2

11. Direct Links to Cancer and Degenerative Disease • Canada, the European Union, Australia and New Zealand have banned recombinant bovine growth hormone. • The product was continuously used under Monsanto's label until July of 2008 when they divested the product to Eli Lilly’s veterinary pharmaceutical division. Reference Stein Bibliography: GMO Foods, Are They Safe #2, 7

12. Direct Links to Cancer and Degenerative Disease • Serious birth defects and brain damage have been caused by Bromoxynil which is used in transgenic bromoxynil resistant or BXN cotton. • Glyphosate and POEA are the main ingredients of Roundup, Monsanto's lead pesticide and are suspected carcinogens. They are part of the Monsanto Roundup resistant GM corn. • Dr. Joe Cummins, Professor of Genetics at the University of Western Ontario, has noted in animal experimentation that exposure to genetic elements in GM soy crops can lead to inflammation, arthritis and lymphoma. Reference Stein Bibliography: GMO Foods, Are They Safe #8

13. Morgellon’s Disease • On August 1, 2007, the CDC issued the following statement regarding Morgellons Disease: • "Morgellons is an unexplained and debilitating condition that has emerged as a public health concern. Recently, the CDC has received an increased number of inquiries from the public, health care providers, public health officials, Congress, and the media regarding this condition. • Persons who suffer from this condition report a range of cutaneous symptoms including crawling, biting and stinging sensations; granules, threads or black speck-like materials on or beneath the skin; and/or lesions (e.g., rashes or sores) and some sufferers also report systemic manifestations such as fatigue, mental confusion, short term memory loss, joint pain, and changes in vision. Reference Stein Bibliography: GMO Foods, Are They Safe #9

14. Morgellon’s Disease • Moreover, some who suffer from this condition appear to have substantial morbidity and social dysfunction, which can include decreased work productivity or job loss, total disability, familial estrangement, divorce, loss of child custody, home abandonment, and suicidal ideation." • This strange disease has appeared in 15 nations worldwide. The CDC has described it as an outbreak. • Genetically modified foods are the potential cause. Reference Stein Bibliography: GMO Foods, Are They Safe #9, 10

15. Untraceable Effects on Cancer Rates • A combination of chemical food additives creates a chemical cocktail many times greater than the effect of any one chemical by itself. • At the University of Liverpool, Lizzie Vann and Peter Melchett have demonstrated the toxic effects on nerve cells by combining common food additives. • E133 brilliant blue with E621 monosodium glutamate (MSG) and E104 Gwendolyn yellow with E951L aspartyl-L-phenylalanine methyl ester had a greater effect on cells when combined than when used individually. Reference Stein Bibliography: GMO Foods, Are They Safe #11

16. Untraceable Effects on Cancer Rates • Studies showed that when nerve cells were exposed to MSG and brilliant blue, and Gwendolyn yellow and aspartame, the additives stopped the nerve cells from normal growth and interfered with proper signaling systems. • The experiments were done in the laboratory and the additives were combined in concentrations that reflect a compound that enters the bloodstream after a typical children's snack and drink. They are trying to make people aware of the problems with processed foods, combinations of chemicals that are in the foods, and the effects on the body with these combinations. Reference Stein Bibliography: GMO Foods, Are They Safe #11

17. Untraceable Effects on Cancer Rates • Ascorbic acid and sodium benzoate together form benzene which is an immensely potent carcinogen. • Both products are found together in soft drinks. • In the year 1900, cancer affected one out of eleven individuals. It now afflicts one out of two men and one out of three women in their lifetimes. Reference Stein Bibliography: GMO Foods, Are They Safe #2

18. Viral and Bacterial Illnesses • Viruses can mix with genes of other viruses and retroviruses such as HIV. This can give rise to more deadly viruses. • This kind of scenario applies to the California Mosaic virus CaMV, the most common virus used in genetic engineering in Roundup ready soy of Monsanto, Bt maize of Novartis, and GM cotton and canola. It is a kind of pararetrovirus, or what multiplies by making DNA from RNA. • In a Canadian study, a plant infected with crippled cucumber Mosaic virus lacked the gene needed for movement of the virus between plant cells. It found what it needed from neighboring genes in less than two weeks. • This is evidence of gene mixing. It is significant because genes that cause diseases are often crippled to make the end products safe. Results of this kind led the US Department of Agriculture to hold a meeting in October of 1997 to discuss the risks and dangers of gene mixing and superviruses, but no regulatory action was taken. Reference Stein Bibliography: GMO Foods, Are They Safe #12

19. Antibiotic Threat Via Plants • Much of the genetic implantation uses a marker tract where the gene goes into the cell. • In genetically modified maize plants an ampicillin-resistant gene is inserted. In 1998, the British Royal Society called for the banning of this marker as it threatened the use of a vital antibiotic. • The resistant qualities of GM bacteria in food can be transferred to other bacteria in the environment and throughout the human body. Reference Stein Bibliography: GMO Foods, Are They Safe #12

20. Antibiotic Threat Via Milk • Recombinant bovine growth hormone use in cows leads to mastitis, requiring antibiotics to treat the condition. • Widespread use of antibiotics in animals leads to greater antibiotic resistance and bacteria and greater difficulty in treating human bacterial infections. Reference Stein Bibliography: GMO Foods, Are They Safe #2

21. Resurgence of Infectious Diseases • In the Microbial Ecology In Health and Disease Journal, a 1998 report indicated that gene technology may be implicated in the resurgence of infectious diseases. • Growing resistance to antibiotics, the formation of new and unknown viral strains, and the lowering of immunity through the diets of processed foods and altered foods all have an effect. • Studies have shown bacteria in the mouth, pharynx and intestines can take up transgenic DNA from the feed of animals and that, in turn, can be transferred to humans. This threatens the reduction in infectious diseases that helped to double life expectancy in the 20th Century. Reference Stein Bibliography: GMO Foods, Are They Safe #2

22. Increased Food Allergies • There has been an incredible increase in food allergies, with 95% of people actually having some degree of food allergies, recognized or not. • It is known that feeding someone the same food daily will eventually lead to allergy to that food. Processed foods contain many of the same additives. They are used to make the foods taste palatable by overcoming the bad taste of their chemical contents. • Additives to the food make people crave the food. The foods we crave are often precisely the foods we test positive for food allergy. Reference Stein Bibliography: GMO Foods, Are They Safe #2

23. Increased Food Allergies • Foods have an unnatural sameness, the quality that is required for patterning of genetic foods. These are "dead" qualities. Our body recognizes this lack of vitality and produces antibodies and white cells in response. • Our body rejects the mechanically repeated thoughts, thinking it is a broken record. Intuitively, our cells and overall immune system reject the excess homogeneity. • Birth defects, toxicity, and lowered nutrition are the results. Reference Stein Bibliography: GMO Foods, Are They Safe #2

24. Birth Defects and Shorter Life Span • There are no studies that illustrate the safety of genetically modified foods. • We know, however, that recombinant bovine growth hormone in cows causes a rapid increase in birth defects and shorter life spans. Reference Stein Bibliography: GMO Foods, Are They Safe #2

25. Interior Toxins • Pesticidal foods have genes that produce a toxic pesticide inside the food’s cells. This represents the first time that foods with a "cell interior toxicity" are being sold for human consumption. • No one knows for sure the potential long- term effects. Reference Stein Bibliography: GMO Foods, Are They Safe #2

26. Lowered Nutrition • The Journal of Medicinal Food published an article by Dr. Mark Lappe in 1999 in which he showed that there were lower nutritional values for GM foods, especially phytoestrogen compounds thought to protect the body from heart disease and cancer. • In another study, genetically modified Vica Faba, a bean in the same family as soy, had an increased estrogen level. This is especially troublesome in connection with infant soy formula utilization. Reference Stein Bibliography: GMO Foods, Are They Safe #13

27. Lowered Nutrition • The milk from cows with the recombinant bovine growth hormone contains substantially higher levels of pus, bacteria, and fat. • Monsanto’s analysis of glyphosate- resistant soya showed that the line contained 28% more Kunitz-trypsin inhibitor, a known anti-nutrient and allergen. Reference Stein Bibliography: GMO Foods, Are They Safe #2

28. No Regulated Health Safety Testing • There has been no government approved or supervised testing of any of these products that are put on the market. The FDA has not reviewed anything. • Monsanto’s director of corporate communications stated that "Monsanto should not have to vouchsafe the safety of biotech foods. Our interest is in selling as much of it as possible. Assuring its safety is the FDA's job." • The FDA has not done its job. Reference Stein Bibliography: GMO Foods, Are They Safe #14

29. Unnatural Foods • Monsanto announced that it has found "unexpected gene fragments" in their Roundup ready soybeans. This is a new protein never before eaten by humans. • A 1992 memo by Dr. Lewis J. Pribyl of the FDA's microbiology group warned that there is a profound difference between the types of expected effects from traditional breeding and genetic engineering. He warned of Pleiotropic effects in genetically engineered plants. They occur at a frequency of 30%. Reference Stein Bibliography: GMO Foods, Are They Safe #15

30. Unnatural Foods • Pleiotropic is defined as uncontrolled or unintended effects. • Genetically engineered plants • increase the levels of known naturally occurring toxicants and not previously identified toxicants. • increase the capability of concentrating toxic substances from the environment (pesticides or heavy metals). • cause undesirable alterations in the level of nutrients that may escape the breeder’s attention unless the plants are specifically evaluated for these changes. Reference Stein Bibliography: GMO Foods, Are They Safe #2

31. Unnatural Foods • The issue becomes important because the FDA requires labeling when there is something tangibly different about the food with respect to the consequences which may result from consuming that food. • GM food manufacturers have tried to deny these problems. Reference Stein Bibliography: GMO Foods, Are They Safe #2

32. Radical Change in Diet • Humanity has evolved for thousands of years by adapting gradually to its natural environment including nature’s available foods. • Within three years time a transformation has occurred in the human diet. Ten companies now own 40% of all the US seed production and sales. • Biotech industry targeted two of the most commonly eaten and lucrative ingredients in processed foods, corn and soy. They bought up all of the seed producers that they could buy, and destroyed their seeds, replacing them with genetically modified seeds. Reference Stein Bibliography: GMO Foods, Are They Safe #2

33. Radical Change in Diet • Within three years time the majority of soybeans and one third of the corn in the US is grown with seeds mandated by the biotech firms. • Sixty percent of all hard cheeses are processed with genetically modified enzymes. A percentage of baking and brewery products are genetically modified as well. • Most of the US cotton production (where cottonseed oil is used in foods) is bioengineered. Bioengineered wheat was ready to be introduced into the market in 2002. A major revolt among farmers and countries forced Monsanto to withdraw their attempt to introduce the Roundup resistant wheat. Reference Stein Bibliography: GMO Foods, Are They Safe #2, 16

34. Radical Change in Diet • As of 2009, the GM Roundup ready gene is part of more than 75% of soybeans, 65% of cotton, and 10% of all corn grown in the United States. The effects of increasing amounts of Roundup used on the soil and absorbed into the plant without damaging the plant has lead to serious human problems. • Roundup works by inhibiting an enzyme called EPSP synthase. This is necessary for plants to grow. Without that enzyme plants are unable to produce and they gradually die. Genetically modified Roundup ready crops, however, produce an enzyme that has the same function as EPSP synthase, but is not affected by Roundup. Reference Stein Bibliography: GMO Foods, Are They Safe #17

35. Take Test • Module 11 Slide show 2; Are GMO foods safe?

36. References 1Koushik Seetharaman, Genetically Modified Crops,http://biotech.cas.psu.edu/articles/gmo_crops.htm (January 3, 2003). 2Batalion, N., 50 Harmful Effects of Genetically Modified (GM) Foods, http://www.raw-wisdom.com/genetically_modified_food (Updated 2009). 3Sarita Sarvate, Why the US is to blame for India's farmer suicides, http://business.rediff.com/slide-show/2009/sep/29/slide-show-1-why-the-us-is-to-blame-for-indian-farmer-suicides.htm (September 29, 2009). 4Michelle Thom, rBGH, Monsanto and Corporate Agriculture Information About Intellectual Property Rights, http://www.mindfully.org/GE/ Monsanto-rBGH-Corporate-Agriculture.htm(August 1994). 5Epstein, S.S. "Unlabeled Milk from Cows Treated with Biosynthetic Growth Hormones: A Case of Regulatory Abdication," Int. J. Health Serv. 1996. 26(1), 173-85.

37. References 6Chopra, S., et al., "rBST (Nutrilac) "Gaps Analysis" Report," rBST Internal Review Team, Health Protection Branch, Health Canada (April 21, 1998). 7Dan Shapely, Eli Lilly Buys Monsanto's Dairy Hormone Business, http://www.thedailygreen.com/healthy-eating/eat-safe/rbst-hormones-milk-470820 (August 20, 2008). 8Physicians and Scientists for Responsible Application of Science and Technology, GE Crops Contain Bacterial DNA That May Be Hazardous To Health,http://www.saynotogmos.org/scientific_ studies.htm (March 3, 2001). 9Barbara L. Minton, Morgellons Disease May Be Linked to Genetically Modified Food, http://www.naturalnews.com/023004.html (April 13, 2008).

38. References 10Dr. Joseph Mercola, Why GMOs Will Only Make the Global Food Crisis Worse, http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/ archive/2008/06/26/why-gmos-will-only-make-the-global-food-crisis-worse.aspx (June 26, 2008). 11Natural Products, Press Release,Study shows food additive combinations have neurotoxic effect, http://www.naturalproductsonline.co.uk/press.asp?ItemID=1602&pcid=69&cid=70&archive=yes (March 15, 2006). 12Dr. Michael Hanson and Jean Halloran, Jeopardizing the Future?Genetic Engineering, Food and the Environment, Consumer Policy Institute/Consumers Unionhttp://www.pmac.net/jeopardy.html (February 6, 1999). 13Marc A. Lappé, Ph.D., et al., Alterations in Clinically Important Phytoestrogens in Genetically Modified, Herbicide-Tolerant Soybeans, Journal of Medicinal Food v.1, n. 4, July 1, 1999.

39. References 14Richard Caplan and Skip Spitzer, Regulation of Genetically Engineered Crops and Foods in the United States, http://www.panna.org/files/geRegulation.pdf (March 2001). 15Lash, Steve, Monsanto calls GM soybeans safe despite gene discovery. Pesticide & Toxic Chemical News, August 20, 2001. 16Kilman, Scott. “Monsanto Drops Plans for Now to Make Bioengineered Wheat.” (2004) The Wall Street Journal (243) 92:A2. 17Dr. Joseph Mercola, Monsanto's Roundup Residues in GM Food Cause Cell Damage, http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/ archive/2009/04/07/Monsantos-Roundup-Residues-in-GM-Food-Cause-Cell-Damage.aspx (April 07 2009).