Letter
# 309
2009/August/27
Stop eating dangerous genetically modified
(GM) foods! That's the upshot of the Lyme Induced Autism (LIA) Foundation's
position paper,
released today. The patient advocacy group
is not willing to wait around until research studies prove that genetically
modified organisms (GMOs) cause or worsen the many diseases that are on
the rise since gene-spliced foods were introduced in 1996. Like the American
Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) earlier this year, the LIA Foundation
says there is more than enough evidence of harm in
GM animal feeding studies for them to
"urge doctors to prescribe non-GMO diets" and for "individuals, especially
those with autism, Lyme
disease, and associated conditions, to
avoid" GM foods.
Dr. Jannelle Love, founder of the Autism Relief Foundation, is quoted in Kimberly Wilcox's excellent article:
"It is known that children on the
Autistic Spectrum suffer from fragile immune systems, significant digestive
and brain inflammation,
and the environmental toxin overload.
Putting foreign entities such as GMO foods into such a fragile child may
indeed cause further
deterioration and perhaps block the delicate
biochemical pathways needed for appropriate functioning and possible recovery."
The LIA Foundation calls for physicians
and patient advocacy groups to explain to patients the role that GM foods
may play in disease and
to distribute non-GMO educational materials,
including the Non-GMO Shopping Guide, which makes it easier to find brands
without GM
ingredients. (See www.nonGMOGuide.com).
They also called for a moratorium on all GM foods and for "Research to
evaluate the role of
GM foods on autism, Lyme disease, and
related conditions."
GMOs: pervasive and high-risk
The five main GM foods are soy, corn,
cotton, canola, and sugar beets. Their derivatives are found in more than
70% of the foods in
the supermarket. The primary reason the
plants are engineered is to allow them to drink poison. They're inserted
with bacterial genes that
allow them to survive otherwise deadly
doses of poisonous herbicide. Biotech companies sell the seed and herbicide
as a package deal.
Roundup Ready crops survive sprays of
Roundup. Liberty Link crops survive Liberty. US farmers use hundreds of
millions of pounds more
herbicide because of these herbicide-tolerant
crops, and the higher toxic residues end up inside of us. The LIA position
paper acknowledges that "Individuals with infections that compromise immunity…
and/or high toxin loads may also be especially susceptible to adverse effects
from pesticides."
Some GM corn and cotton varieties are also
designed to produce poison. Inserted genes from a soil bacterium produce
an insect-killing
poison called Bt-toxin in every cell of
the plant. Bt is associated with allergic and toxic reactions in humans
and animals, and may create havoc in our digestive system (see below).
All GM crops, in fact, should be considered high-risk. Irrespective of which gene you insert, the process of genetic engineering itself results in massive collateral damage within the plants' natural DNA. This can result in new or higher levels of toxins, carcinogens, allergens, or nutrient-blocking compounds in our food.
Because of a corporate takeover at the FDA, they don't require a single safety test on GMOs—so almost none of the potential side effects are evaluated before the crops are approved for sale. The few animal feeding safety studies that have been conducted, however, show serious problems. It's obvious why those suffering from autism, Lyme, or any ailment, would want to stop being used as a guinea pig in this massive GMO feeding experiment.
AAEM physician Amy Dean, a board certified internal medicine specialist, says:
"GMOs have been shown to adversely
affect the digestive and immune systems of animals in laboratory settings.
Lyme and autism, on the
rise in the US, are also associated with
digestive and immune system dysfunction. Therefore, patients with Lyme
and autism should avoid GM
foods."
Autism, food allergies, and GMOs
It is noteworthy that children with autism
are often allergic to corn and soy. Both are genetically engineered. Many
are also allergic to dairy. The LIA press release points out, "dairy cows
are usually fed GM feed and sometimes injected with GM bovine growth hormone."
Although no studies have looked at the impact of eating meat or milk from
GM-fed animals, secret FDA documents made public from a lawsuit revealed
that
their Center for Veterinary Medicine was
very concerned that toxins from GM foods might bioaccumulate in the livestock.
If so, their milk and meat may be even more dangerous than the GM plants.
Studies on the impact of bovine growth
hormone on the cows' milk are less ambiguous. The dairy products from treated
cows contain higher
amounts of puss, antibiotics, bovine growth
hormone, and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1). The last on the list
is considered most dangerous. IGF-1 is linked to a much higher risk of
cancer, and according to one study, may also be responsible for the high
rates of fraternal twins born in the US.
This helps to inspire people to use the Shopping Guide. Some of the health risks are included below. (Citations are posted.) See if you're also "inspired."
Digestive disorders
According to GMO safety expert Arpad Pusztai,
PhD, the digestive tract is the first and largest point of contact with
GM foods and can reveal reactions to various toxins. Lab animals fed GM
feed developed lesions in the stomach, damage intestines, and abnormal
and proliferative cell growth in the walls of the stomach and intestines.
Toxic intestinal bacteria
The beneficial bacteria living inside
our digestive tract is used for digestion and immunity. Excessive herbicide
residues on herbicide-
tolerant GM crops may kill beneficial
gut flora. More importantly, the only published human feeding experiment
revealed that the genetic
material inserted into GM soy transfers
into bacteria living inside our intestines and continues to function. This
means that long after we stop eating GM foods, we may still have dangerous
GM proteins continuously produced inside us. Consider, for example, if
the gene that creates Bt-toxin in GM corn were also to transfer. It might
turn our intestinal bacteria into living pesticide factories.
Compromised immune system
Virtually every animal feeding study that
looked for immune changes from GMOs found them. GM-fed animals had a sluggish
immune responses, damaged organs associated with immunity, altered parameters
in the blood, and dangerous inflammatory and immune reactions.
Allergies
No tests can guarantee that a GMO will
not cause allergies. Although the World Health Organization recommends
a screening protocol, GM soy
and corn fail those tests—because their
GM proteins have properties of known allergens.
Soon after GM soy was introduced in the
UK, soy allergies skyrocketed by 50%. A skin prick allergy test verified
that some people react to
GM soy, but not to natural soy. GM soy
contains as much as 7-times the amount of a known soy allergen. Both GM
soy and corn contain at least
one new unexpected allergen, not found
in natural crops.
The biotech industry claims that Bt-toxin
is harmless to humans and mammals because the natural bacteria version
has been used as a spray
by farmers for years. In reality, hundreds
of people exposed to natural Bt spray had allergic and flu-like symptoms.
Now, farm workers throughout India are getting those same symptoms from
handling Bt cotton. Likewise, mice fed natural Bt had powerful immune responses;
now mice and rats fed Bt corn also show immune responses.
GMOs may make you allergic to non-GM foods
Since GMOs were introduced in the US,
food allergies have become a huge problem, especially for kids. Some of
the foods that trigger
reactions, however, are not genetically
engineered. But studies show how GM foods might create sensitivity to other
foods, and may in fact
be contributing to this national epidemic.
GM soy, for example, drastically reduces
digestive enzymes in mice. If our ability to breakdown proteins was impaired,
we could become
allergic to a wide variety of foods.
Mice fed Bt-toxin not only reacted to the Bt itself, they started having immune reactions to foods that were formerly harmless. The Bt-toxin in the corn we eat may have a similar impact. Mice fed experimental GM peas also started reacting to a range of other "safe" foods. The allergen responsible for this reaction may be found in GM foods on our supermarket shelves.
GMOs and liver problems
The liver is a primary detoxifier. Its
condition can indicate if there are toxins in our food. Mice and rats fed
GM feed had profound changes in their livers. In some cases, livers were
smaller and partially atrophied. Some were significantly heavier, possibly
inflamed. And certain cellular changes indicated a toxic insult from the
GM diet.
Reproductive problems and infant mortality
Both male and female animals showed horrific
problems when fed GM soy. More than half the babies of mother rats fed
GM soy died within three weeks, compared to 10% of the non-GM soy controls.
The GM babies were also considerably smaller, and were unable to conceive
in a
subsequent study. Male rats and mice fed
GM soy had changed testicles, including altered young sperm cells in the
mice. And when both mouse
parents ate GM soy, the DNA of their embryos
functioned differently. GM corn also had an impact. The longer mice were
fed the corn, the fewer babies they had and the smaller their babies were.
Livestock sterility, disease, and death
Many of the problems seen in laboratories
are also reported by farmers and investigators in the field.
• Thousands of sheep, buffalo, and goats
in India died after grazing on Bt cotton plants after harvest. Others suffered
poor health and serious reproductive problems.
• Farmers in Europe and Asia say that
cows, water buffaloes, chickens, and horses died from eating Bt corn varieties.
• About two dozen US farmers report that
GM corn varieties caused widespread sterility in pigs or cows.
Ready to change your diet?
Inspired? How about alarmed? Choosing
non-GMO diets is not only a good idea for those suffering from disease,
but for anyone wanting to
eat healthy and prevent disease.
[1][2][3][4][5]
__________________________________________
[1]Jeffrey M. Smith: Spilling
the Beans Newsletter - August 25, 2009
[2] Centre for Foodsafety
2009: Bush-Administration left behind nothing but
contaminated land, junk scientists and junk burocrats.
Science Review
Letters 8, # 271. Darin: latest scientific research on health
risks of GMOs: State of the science on the
health risks on food and how to avoid Foods made with genetically modified
organisms (GMOs) Non-GMO shopping guide
[3] Centre for Foodsafety
2009: Toxic food - not only
for cows, sheeps and honeybees - made by Monsanto & Co. Apicultural
Review Letters 8, # 351
[4] Centre for Ecological
Apiculture 2009: Better
natural produce such as comb in the comb, milk, joghurt than artificial
produce such as dangerous candies from genetically modified raw materials,
"sugarfree" diet drinks, sugar substitutes, artificial additives, artificial
milkproduce. Press-Release
[5] Centre for social medicine
and natural Apitherapy 2009: Natural
Apitherapy instead of red Biotechnology - Natural Api Therapy with comb
in the comb honey, run-honey, pollen, beebread, propolis, royal gelly.
Press-Release
Propolis
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