A joint experiment by Russia’s National Association for Gene Security and the Institute of Ecological and Evolutional Problems has revealed that hamsters fed genetically modified (GM) foods produce grandchildren that are unable to produce fourth generation offspring.

Scientist Alexei Surov described the experiment, in which they monitored the behavior, weight gain and birthrate of several groups of hamsters. Upon birth of the second generation they noted slower rates of growth and sexual maturity. The next generation was unable to produce.

Studies showed stunted growth, impaired immune systems, bleeding stomachs, abnormal and potentially pre-cancerous cell growth in the intestines, impaired blood cell development, misshaped cell structures in the liver, pancreas and testicles, altered gene expression and cell metabolism, liver and kidney lesions, partially atrophied livers, inflamed kidneys, less developed organs, reduced digestive enzymes, higher blood sugar, inflamed lung tissue, increased death rates and higher offspring mortality as well.

Three Approved GMOs Linked to Organ Damage

Published on 01-04-2010
By Rady Ananda - BLN Contributing Writer

In what is being described as the first ever and most comprehensive study of the effects of genetically modified foods on mammalian health, researchers have linked organ damage with consumption of Monsanto’s GM maize.

All three varieties of GM corn, Mon 810, Mon 863 and NK 603, were approved for consumption by US, European and several other national food safety authorities. Made public by European authorities in 2005, Monsanto’s confidential raw data of its 2002 feeding trials on rats that these researchers analyzed is the same data, ironically, that was used to approve them in different parts of the world.

The Committee of Research and Information on Genetic Engineering (CRIIGEN) and Universities of Caen and Rouen studied Monsanto’s 90-day feeding trials data of insecticide producing Mon 810, Mon 863 and Roundup® herbicide absorbing NK 603 varieties of GM maize.

The data “clearly underlines adverse impacts on kidneys and liver, the dietary detoxifying organs, as well as different levels of damages to heart, adrenal glands, spleen and haematopoietic system,” reported Gilles-Eric Séralini, a molecular biologist at the University of Caen.

Although different levels of adverse impact on vital organs were noticed between the three GMOs, the 2009 research shows specific effects associated with consumption of each GMO, differentiated by sex and dose.

Their December 2009 study appears in the International Journal of Biological Sciences (IJBS). This latest study conforms with a 2007 analysis by CRIIGEN on Mon 863, published in Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, using the same data.

Monsanto rejected the 2007 conclusions, stating: “The analyses conducted by these authors are not consistent with what has been traditionally accepted for use by regulatory toxicologists for analysis of rat toxicology data.”1

In an email to me, Séralini explained that their study goes beyond Monsanto’s analysis by exploring the sex-differentiated health effects on mammals, which Doull, et al. ignored:

“Our study contradicts Monsanto conclusions because Monsanto systematically neglects significant health effects in mammals that are different in males and females eating GMOs, or not proportional to the dose. This is a very serious mistake, dramatic for public health. This is the major conclusion revealed by our work, the only careful reanalysis of Monsanto crude statistical data.”

Other problems with Monsanto’s conclusions

When testing for drug or pesticide safety, the standard protocol is to use three mammalian species. The subject studies only used rats, yet won GMO approval in more than a dozen nations.

Chronic problems are rarely discovered in 90 days; most often such tests run for up to two years. Tests “lasting longer than three months give more chances to reveal metabolic, nervous, immune, hormonal or cancer diseases,” wrote Seralini et al. in their Doull rebuttal.2

Further, Monsanto’s analysis compared unrelated feeding groups, muddying the results. The June 2009 rebuttal explains, “In order to isolate the effect of the GM transformation process from other variables, it is only valid to compare the GMO … with its isogenic non-GM equivalent.”

The researchers conclude that the raw data from all three GMO studies reveal novel pesticide residues will be present in food and feed and may pose grave health risks to those consuming them.

They have called for “an immediate ban on the import and cultivation of these GMOs and strongly recommend additional long-term (up to two years) and multi-generational animal feeding studies on at least three species to provide true scientifically valid data on the acute and chronic toxic effects of GM crops, feed and foods.”

Human health, of course, is of primary import to us, but ecological effects are also in play. Ninety-nine percent of GMO crops either tolerate or produce insecticide. This may be the reason we see bee colony collapse disorder and massive butterfly deaths. If GMOs are wiping out Earth’s pollinators, they are far more disastrous than the threat they pose to humans and other mammals.

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Nearly every independent animal feeding safety study on GM foods, as well as several industry studies, show adverse or unexplained effects. Even the first crop submitted to the FDA’s voluntary review process, the FlavrSavr tomato, showed evidence of toxins. Out of 20 female rats fed the GM tomato, 7 developed stomach lesions.¹ According to expert Arpad Pusztai, PhD, such lesions in humans “could lead to life-endangering hemorrhage, particularly in the elderly who use aspirin to prevent [blood clots].”²

GM diets may cause liver damage

The liver processes toxins; its state can reveal toxins in the diet. Liver cells of mice fed GM “Roundup Ready” soybeans had structural changes,³ which, according to molecular geneticist Michael Antoniou, PhD, “must reflect some ‘insult’ on the liver by the GM soy.” Antoniou, who does human gene therapy research, said that although the long-term consequences of the GM soy diet are not known, it “could lead to liver damage and consequently general toxemia.”⁴ In addition, rats fed GM corn had liver lesions and indications of toxicity;⁵ rabbits fed GM Roundup Ready soy showed altered production of liver enzymes;⁶ and the livers of rats fed Roundup Ready canola were 12%–16% heavier, possibly due to liver disease or inflammation.⁷

Organ damage and higher death rates

Virtually every organ shows changes from GM food. The pancreas of mice fed Roundup Ready soy showed profound differences, including reduced digestive enzymes;⁸ the pancreas of rats fed GM potatoes were enlarged.⁹ In various analyses of kidneys, GM-fed animals showed lesions, toxicity, altered enzyme production, and inflammation. Enzyme production in the hearts of mice was altered by GM soy,¹⁰ and GM potatoes caused slower growth in the brains, livers, and testicles¹¹ of rats as well as potentially precancerous cell growth in their stomach and intestines (see photo).¹² Mice fed Bt potatoes—engineered to produce the insecticide called Bt-toxin—also had proliferative cell growth in their small intestine, as well as abnormal and damaged cells.¹³

In the FlavrSavr tomato study, 7 of 40 rats died within two weeks and were replaced.¹⁴ Chickens fed GM corn died at twice the rate of those fed natural corn.¹⁵ But in these two industry-funded studies, the deaths were dismissed without adequate explanation or follow-up.

Reproductive failures and infant mortality

A preliminary study by a senior researcher at the Russian National Academy of Sciences had devastating results. More than half the offspring (51.6%) from female rats fed GM soy died within three weeks, compared to 10% from the non-GM soy group.¹⁶ The average size and weight of the GM group was smaller (see photo),¹⁷ and they were unable to conceive.¹⁸ Just after this study was completed, the Russian laboratory coincidentally began feeding GM soy-based feed to all their rats. After two months on the GM soy diet, the infant mortality of rats throughout the facility reached 55.3%.¹⁹

When male rats were fed Roundup Ready soy, their testicles became dark blue instead of pink.²⁰ GM soy diets also altered young sperm cells in mice;²¹ and when parent mice ate GM soy, it changed the functioning of DNA in their offspring’s embryos.²² An Austrian government study reported that mice fed GM corn had fewer babies, and smaller babies.²³

Farmers report livestock sterility and deaths

About two dozen farmers report that pigs had reproductive problems when fed varieties of Bt corn. Pigs were sterile, had false pregnancies, or gave birth to bags of water. Some cows and bulls also became sterile. Other farmers blamed Bt corn for the deaths of cows, horses, water buffaloes, and chickens.²⁴

When Indian shepherds let their sheep graze continuously on Bt cotton plants after harvest, within 5-7 days 1 out of 4 sheep died. An estimated 10,000 sheep died in one region alone. Post mortems showed severe irritation and black patches in intestines and livers. Investigators said preliminary evidence “strongly suggests that the sheep mortality was due to a toxin. . . . most probably Bt-toxin.”²⁵ The majority of corn grown in the US produces Bt-toxin.

Investigators in the state of Haryana, India, report that most buffalo that ate GM cottonseed had reproductive complications such as premature deliveries, abortions, infertility, and prolapsed uteruses. Many calves died.

Protect yourself; choose Non-GM food

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