New information about Monsanto and GMO crops

[truedelphi]

A new Austrian study is showing that lower fertility and lower body rates result from feeding on Genetically Modified foods. Mice fed with such foods did not fare as well as mice feeding on more conventional food.

Full story at:


http://www.coastalpost.com/08/12/07.html

This article also contains a review of a new book out that details many of the "hidden" risks that GMO foods are bringing to inhabitants of Planet Earth. You won't see those risks mentioned in any of the Big Agro ads for GMO stuff.

[WhiteTara]

1. send this to Vilsack!

Mr. Monsanto may not know this!

[leftofthedial]

2. Vilsack--another lousy pick by the Obama

[Greyhound]

7. Perhaps this is the purpose for the Warren speech decision, distract

from his cabinet appointments?

I'm just looking for some kind of sense in this apparent insanity.

[truedelphi]

9. LOL. On the one hand, as President el;ect

I have given the American people exactly the non-change they were not promised.

And on the other hand, to distract them from that, here is another huge pile of poop.

Ah life in a Banana Republic...

[snappyturtle]

3. K&R Thanks for posting. I heard an investment advisor on a teevee

finance channel strongly suggest viewers buy Monsanto stock! I could have cried.

[truedelphi]

4. Few people are aware that Monsanto lied through their collective teeth back when getting RoundUp

Licensed. The product contains formaldehyde, as part of the inert, or unlisted ingredients. Monsanto "neglected" to mention that fact to the EPA. Thus they got their license ito sell the product over the counter to the public.

The "inerts" do not have to be named on the label that the customer sees, but they do have to be named for the EPA. Had the EPA been given this information about formaldehyde back in the early 1970's, ROundUp would not have ever been able to be sold over the counter to the average, non-licensed pesticide applicater. And it would be currently banned for sale to the public in the state of California, due to its prop 65 laws.

I am not sure if they have switched the formula so that it contains one of the other aldehydes, but without some aldehyde in the product, the glyposate would remain solid, like a cake.

I only know all this because Dr Bob Simon, PhD in chemistry, who was a forensic witness in court cases, had some of Monsanto's RoundUp records unsealed during a court case. For whatever reason, he revealed all this to me in a phone conversation soemtime around 2000 or 2001.

The significance of this is that We the People could possibly "undo" Monsanto's license on RoundUp.

Which would also undo that corporation's ability to do GMO - because the GMO crops all depend on RoundUp for their cycle.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

5. That's a massive oversimplification of the results of the study.

The study found no statistically significant difference in reproduction between the two groups in the first few generations, and the study was too small for any kind of conclusive result to be determined. Of course, you'd know that if you'd read the study (I have.)

Hmm... the study is freely available on the internet. I wonder why it hasn't been linked to in that article. Maybe because it contradicts the hysteria.

[SpiralHawk]

6. You are welcome to serve your children the GE mutant food-facsimile product...

that comes from these corporate-mutant seed profiteers.

I choose to serve clean food that comes from nature the way nature intended.

If GE mutant food were really safe, then the massive corps that are shoving the food down the public's gullet would not be afraid to label them. However, because of their corporate lobbyists, you cannot identify mutant food if you want it, and you can't identify it if you don't want it.

What's up with that occult corporate bullshit?

Mutant food breeds mutant, mentally feeble entities who, as a matter of consequence, likely vote republicon. 'nuf said.

[Greyhound]

8. Consider to whom you replied. n/t

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

10. Umm...

I choose to serve clean food that comes from nature the way nature intended.

Nature intended you to eat nuts, berries, and raw meat.


If GE mutant food were really safe, then the massive corps that are shoving the food down the public's gullet would not be afraid to label them.

When its opponents use loaded words like "mutant" to describe it? You can hardly blame them.


What's up with that occult corporate bullshit?

The closest thing to occult that I've seen here is your near religious belief that your food is "the way nature intended"

So: Nuts, berries, raw meat. Let me know how that diet works out for you.

[SpiralHawk]

13. Sure. And let me know how your mutant, food-facsimile corporate crapola diet works out

for you and your progeny -- unto the next seven generations of children.

http://content-2.powells.com/cgi-bin/imageDB.cgi?isbn=9780375420702

[truedelphi]

11. Okay, so let's look at some other studies then

One implication of farmers growing GMO crops is that RoundUp levels are anywhere from 13% to 62% higher than back in the days before GMO. The plants themselves are supposedly bred so that this amunt of pesticide does not disturb them.

BUT even so, an analysis of ROundUp tolerant soybeans showed that with this additonal amont of ROundUp the soybean crop porduced FEWER bushels of soybeans per acre.


USDA's Benbrook showed that the reason for this crop lag is that RoudndUp reduced the ability of nitrogen fixation by young plants, that is the younger plants had more difficulty in transforming nitrogen into a useable form. Since the ability to fix nitrogen is one of the key abilities of the legume family, ROudnUp applications are affecting the crops most basic function.

Also a 1999 University of Missouri study showed that RoundUp applications to soybean showed that the plants susceptibility to disease-causing fungus was increased.

And scientists examining RoundUp's effect on human beings know that the more RoundUp a person is exposed to, especially through the alimentary channel, rather than through inhalation, the fewer the enzymes that work in harmony with a human being's immune system. There are also serious problems with those enzymes and biological catalysts that control toxicity elimination, appetiote control, weight loss, etc.

[truedelphi]

12. Having now read significant parts of the study itself - you have glossed over

Many of the findings, cherry picking as it were. I am reporting some of the findings that I view with concern, if not outright alarm, and now see why so many orgaizations concerned about GMO crops are referring to this Austrian study.

I have posted a Glossary at the bottom of this post to make it more easily understood by people who will be (Like I was) unfamiliar with the acronyms

NOTE: THe full PDF file on this study is here: http://tinyurl.com/68q34w

I read these items with concern

"In the group fed (of mice) with A REF <edit - that is, non GMO> corn fewer females were
without litters, and accordingly more pups were weaned.
<snip>

"When the data of both non-GM feeding groups from MGS were combined and compared to the GM
feeding group, the discrimination became more evident. Analyses of metabolic pathways indicated, that the groups differed regarding some important pathways, including interleukin signalling pathway, (edit: interlukin production usually decreases with RoundUp exposure and even tests done on humans exposed to RoundUp indicate this decrease is of concern) cholesterol biosynthesis and protein metabolism."
<snip>
"The RACB trial showed time related negative reproductive effects of the GM maize under the given
experimental conditions. The RACB trial with its specific design with the repeated use
of the parental generation is a demanding biological factor for the maternal organism. Compared to the findings in the RACB trials it can be assumed that the physiological stress was considerably lower in the MGS trial. The trial design of using “new” parental generations instead of continuous breeding with the same generation has to be considered as being obviously less demanding. This might have masked the impact of dietary factors on reproductive performance.

However, this part of the experiment is valuable as such because it underlines the need for different experimental designs for the assessment of dietary effects that have an unknown impact on animals."

<snip>
"The outcome of this study suggests that future studies on the safety of GM feed and food should include reproduction studies. Physiological and genomic traits and depending on the nature of the genetic modification proteomic and metabolomic methods might be taken into consideration as additional tools to the tests performed in this study."
<snip>

<snip> Comment made in study: The risk of allergenicity seems to be limited in farm animals in comparison to the situation in humans.
<snip>
"More litters with n> 8 were seen in the ISO compared to the GM group. Within the ISO group F3 delivered significantly smaller litters than F0 and within the GM group significantly more pups
were delivered in the F0 and F2 than in the F3 generation. The number of pups at birth (except in
F2 generation) and at weaning (all generations) were always lower and pup losses were always higher in the GM group but not on a significantly different level."

"All data showed high variations. Over all generations about twice as many pups were lost in the GM group as compared to the ISO group (14.59% vs 7.4%)."

Glossary
GMO Genetically modified Organism
MGS = multi-generational study (The MGS also included one group with a non GM corn cultivated in Austria)


"A REF" this expression refers to a source of food that was non GMO and was obtained from crops cultivated in Austria

"ISO" refers to those in the study not having GMO