GM Foods-Substantially Equivalent or Subsequently Dangerous?-Part Two
Sarve’pi sukhinaḥ santu, Sarve santu nirāmayāḥ;
Sarve bhadrāṇi paśyantu, Mā kaścid duḥkha-bhāg bhavet.
(May everybody be happy; may everybody be free from disabilities.
May everybody look for the good of others, may none suffer from sorrow.)
Class Two (part two)
Shishya: Pranaam!
Acharya: May you be blessed!
S: I read a lot from the books and also from the websites. Of course, there is so much to read. However, I am much clear now as to why you are worried.
A: Your job is not to worry now. Now, you have to start thinking how will you educate people with this information and how will you convince them to take charge of their health in their own hands. You have to impress upon them that we cannot leave much in the hands of government and that we have to stay awake and alert for everything that is going on in our lives and around us.
S: Acharya, can you tell me about some studies that show danger to our health?
A: One independent study conducted in Russia, by the National Association for Gene Security and the Institute of Ecological and Evolutional Problems under the leadership of Russian biologist Alexey V. Surov, after feeding Campbell hamsters for two years over three generations, the group on the maximum GM soy diet, showed devastating results. By the third generation, most GM soy-fed hamsters lost the ability to produce babies. They also suffered slower growth and a high mortality rate among the pups. And if this isn’t shocking enough, some in the third generation even had hair grown inside their mouths.
A study was done in the UK in the late nineties by Dr. Arpad Pusztai on rats that were fed with GM potatoes. The rats developed potentially precancerous cell growth in the digestive tract, smaller brains, livers, and testicles, partial atrophy of the liver and damaged immune systems. This study was published in 1999 in Lancet.
The only human feeding study ever conducted on GM foods verified that a portion of the Roundup Ready soy transgene transferred into good bacteria living inside our intestines, and continued to function. This means that the Roundup Ready protein, a potential allergen, may be continually produced inside our own intestines even after we stop eating GM soy.
According to a study done by the Government of Austria in November 2008, when mice were fed GM corn that was a combination of BT and Roundup Ready, the more corn they ate, the fewer babies they had, and the smaller the babies were.
In one study done by Monsanto, now Bayer, and made public because of a lawsuit, rats fed BT corn developed signs of liver and kidney toxicity. These included kidney inflammation and lesions, as well as decreased kidney weight. The latter symptom is typically related to blood pressure problems. They also developed increased basophils, which are related to allergies, increased lymphocytes or white blood cells, which are parts of the immune system, indicating a reaction to infection or possibly disease. 10% increase in blood sugar was also observed and immature red blood cells decreased by 50%. This might indicate anemia.
Two other rat studies by Monsanto showed signs of toxicity as well. One was a BT corn, and the other was Roundup Ready.
As I had mentioned earlier, there are about 600 studies done by independent researchers or institutes and almost all the studies implicate GM crops or GM foods for negative health impacts.
S: Acharya, you say that these GM foods were introduced in the USA and Canada in the late nineties. If that is so, how come no negative health impacts are seen due to GM food? You also say that 70 % of the food items available have GM ingredients in them. Then, how is it that the life span of Americans as well as Canadians is still so high, and the negative health impacts, as claimed by you, are not at all seen?
A: Your questions are in 2 parts and I will answer accordingly.
Firstly, negative health impacts are there to see if you have an eye for that.
Secondly, about the issue of the life span of Americans and Canadians, you are jumping too much into this question. Because the negative health impacts due to GM food may take 20-30 years. And as I told you earlier, these GM foods were introduced only about 30 years ago. People are not going to fall like nine pins after 30 years of introducing GM foods. There are medications too to treat the symptoms, which also prolong people’s lives. However, the quality of life is hugely affected. The number of diseases has indeed increased as compared to say 15-20 years back.
I will give you a few illustrations of possible negative health impacts linked to the introduction of GM foods into North American markets.
- Obesity in children of grade 7 to 12 in 2009 was found to have soared to 14%, which is more than double the 6% reported in 1991 in Ontario, Canada. The survey was carried out by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto. A total of 9112 students were surveyed. The % was higher for girls (18%) and lower for boys (10%).
- The researchers found that 10% of the 7-year-old white girls had some breast development in 2010 as compared to only 5% in 1997, according to a study published in 1997 in the USA. That is a jump of 100% in last 13 years, almost coinciding with the introduction of rbGH milk in the USA in 1994. Similarly, as against only 13% of black girls in 1997, 23% of 7-year-olds started puberty.
- According to a new study released on 16 March 2010, kidney failure in Canada is on the rise. The report by the Canadian Institute for Health Information suggests that more than 36,000 Canadians were living with end stage renal disease in 2008, a 57% increase since 1999. (Windsor Star, 17th March 2010).
- Prescription drug usage by 2/3rd of seniors in six provinces in Canada is 5 or more than 5 prescriptions, according to a new report by the Canadian Institute for Health Information Study, published in September 2010, as published in Windsor Star. Says Steven Morgan, Associate Director of the Center for Health Services and Policy Research at the University of B.C., “Twenty years ago, this would have been an alarmist report and people would have been aghast by the notion that so many patients were on 5 or 10 medicines at once. Now, it has become sort of conveniently accepted “.
Now, I will answer your first question here.
You may find now that I am not prejudiced against GM food once you learn about these reports. And there are more reports coming that show adverse effects happening in North Americans’ lives with probable links to these foods.
And, you must remember one thing that there is no footprint left by any toxins in our body, on our organs or in our system that causes negative health impacts. The chemicals, the pesticides, the pollutants in water or air, all take years to manifest their effects. And because there have been thousands of chemicals present in our food, water, and air, even before GM foods entered our lives, one could never pinpoint any disease to a particular agent, even though a lot of studies keep coming out showing some chemicals affecting in certain ways.
S: Acharya, you do seem to be making huge sense in what you are saying. However, modern science wants direct links. My question is, where is the link?
A: The link can be found only when one tries to look for it. You are asking me if you cannot see the ocean. But if you are looking upwards in the sky and refuse to look down on earth, you will not be able to see the ocean, no matter how hard you try. The biotech companies do not want to see the links. That is the reason that they have not performed any long-term studies to see the negative health impacts. Most of the studies done by them are short-term, many of which are done by hugely violating the study protocols, many times after diluting the concentrations and doctoring the results.
S: I did read about these issues that talk about the studies done by the industries and I tend to believe you in that regard. So, what a common man supposed to do here?
A: When one becomes aware of the dangers ahead, half the battle is won. Because his animal instinct will prompt him to steer clear of the danger. His mind then starts developing strategies to escape from the danger. So, make a list of the food items that are GM crops, and then make another list of the GM ingredients that are derived from these crops and look for these ingredients whenever you go to do your groceries. Slowly, you try to chop these items from your shopping list. Even though in Bharat, you do not apparently have too many items that are GM, you still might end up with a lot of GM stuff in your shopping bags or carts, depending on your eating habits.
However, to give you a head start, I will make some suggestions to you.
Make sure that the wheat flour you buy does not contain any corn starch, soy flour, or any ingredient other than wheat itself. Avoid buying bread as it may contain US soy flour or US corn flour.
Check with your milk supplier about the cattle feed and take necessary action to stay away from the hidden danger. Do not buy ghee from any grocery store as it is likely to be contaminated with trans-fat/Partially hydrogenated oil/Vapaspati/Dalda as most of the milch cattle are fed GM ingredients such as cottonseed, corn meal, or soy blended cattle fodder. Ghee is best purchased from the genuinely run gaushalas (cow shelters) only. Avoid buying any oil that is labelled vegetable oil as it may contain canola oil, soy oil, corn oil, or cottonseed oil. For frying, there is no oil like peanut oil, and if you can buy that which is cold-pressed extra virgin, that is the best option. For other cooking needs, sesame oil, coconut oil, palm oil, and olive oil are good. These days, economically affordable oil mills for domestic use are available in Bharat. Avoid buying American snacks or any Indian snacks that contain GM ingredients such as corn or soy ingredients (as per the list I gave you in your first class), as most of them are fried using canola or cotton seed oil or vegetable oil.
S: Acharya, I feel highly overwhelmed with the knowledge imparted by you on this subject about which there is hardly any awareness in the public. People today seem to be completely at the mercy of the big industry. How can they survive in such a situation?
A: Please remember the following:
Human beings learn from their own experience.
Smart people learn from others’ experiences.
Wise people learn before others’ experience.
So, let them decide what they would like to be.
S: Please bless me so that I can do my job of spreading the awareness to the best of my ability and with utmost sincerity.
A: Tathaastu (so be it)!
S: Pranaam!
A: You may be blessed!
(This completes the dialogue between Shishyaa and Acharya).
Udit Shah
To read part one of this series, please click here.
(Both the articles were written first in 2011-12 and have been updated somewhat now)
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