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This article summarizes the findings in Jeffrey Smith’s “Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods.”
Potential Health Hazards of Genetically Engineered Foods
by Stephen Lendman
Global Research, February 22, 2008
This article discusses the potential health risks of genetically engineered foods (GMOs). It draws on some previously used material because its importance bears repeating. It also cites three notable books and highlights one in particular – Jeffrey Smith’s “Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods.” Detailed information from the book is featured below.
Genetically engineered foods saturate our diet today. In the US alone, over 80% of all processed foods contain them. Others include grains like rice, corn and wheat; legumes like soybeans and soy products; vegetable oils, soft drinks; salad dressings; vegetables and fruits; dairy products including eggs; meat, chicken, pork and other animal products; and even infant formula plus a vast array of hidden additives and ingredients in processed foods (like in tomato sauce, ice cream, margarine and peanut butter). Consumers don’t know what they’re eating because labeling is prohibited, yet the danger is clear. Independently conducted studies show the more of these foods we eat, the greater the potential harm to our health.
Today, consumers are kept in the dark and are part of an uncontrolled, unregulated mass human experiment the results of which are unknown. Yet, the risks are enormous, it will take years to learn them, and when we finally know it’ll be too late to reverse the damage if it’s proved conclusively that genetically engineered foods harm human health as growing numbers of independent experts believe. Once GM seeds are introduced to an area, the genie is out of the bottle for keeps. There is nothing known to science today to reverse the contamination already spread over two-thirds of arable US farmland and heading everywhere unless checked.
This is happening in spite of the risk because of what F. William Engdahl revealed in his powerfully important, well documented book titled “Seeds of Destruction: The Hidden Agenda of Genetic Manipulation.” It’s the diabolical story of how Washington and four Anglo-American agribusiness giants plan world domination by patenting animal and vegetable life forms to gain worldwide control of our food supply, make it all genetically engineered, and use it as a weapon to reward friends and punish enemies.
Today, consumers eat these foods daily without knowing the potential health risks. In 2003, Jeffrey Smith explained them in his book titled “Seeds of Deception.” He revealed that efforts to inform the public have been quashed, reliable science has been buried, and consider what happened to two distinguished scientists – UC Berkeley’s Ignacio Chapela and former Scotland Rowett Research Institute researcher and world’s leading lectins and plant genetic modification expert, Arpad Pusztai. They were vilified, hounded, and threatened for their research, and in the case of Pusztai, fired from his job for doing it.
He believed in the promise of GM foods, was commissioned to study them, and conducted the first ever independent one on them anywhere. Like other researchers since, he was shocked by his findings. Rats fed GM potatoes had smaller livers, hearts, testicles and brains, damaged immune systems, and showed structural changes in their white blood cells making them more vulnerable to infection and disease compared to other rats fed non-GMO potatoes. It got worse. Thymus and spleen damage showed up; enlarged tissues, including the pancreas and intestines; and there were cases of liver atrophy as well as significant proliferation of stomach and intestines cells that could be a sign of greater future risk of cancer. Equally alarming, results showed up after 10 days of testing, and they persisted after 110 days that’s the human equivalent of 10 years.
Later independent studies confirmed what Pusztai learned, and Smith published information on them in his 2007 book called “Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods.” The book is encyclopedic in depth, an invaluable comprehensive source, and this article reviews some of the shocking data in it.
Compelling Evidence of Potential GMO Harm
In his introduction, Smith cites the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) policy statement on GM food safety without a shred of evidence to back it. It supported GHW Bush’s Executive Order that GMOs are “substantially equivalent” to ordinary seeds and crops and need no government regulation. The agency said it was “not aware of any information showing that foods derived by these new methods differ from other foods in any meaningful or uniform way.” That single statement meant no safety studies are needed and “Ultimately, it is the food producer” that bears responsibility “for assuring safety.” As a consequence, foxes now guard our henhouse in a brave new dangerous world.
FDA policy opened the floodgates, and Smith put it this way: It “set the stage for the rapid deployment of the new technology,” allowed the seed industry to become “consolidated, millions of acres (to be) planted, hundreds of millions to be fed (these foods in spite of nations and consumers objecting, and) laws to be passed (to assure it).” The toll today is contaminated crops, billions of dollars lost, human health harmed, and it turns out the FDA lied.
The agency knew GM crops are “meaningfully different” because their technical experts told them so. As a result, they recommended long-term studies, including on humans, to test for possible allergies, toxins, new diseases and nutritional problems. Instead, politics trumped science, the White House ordered the FDA to promote GM crops, and a former Monsanto vice-president went to FDA to assure it.
Today, the industry is unregulated, and when companies say their foods are safe, their views are unquestioned. Further, Smith noted that policy makers in other countries trust FDA and wrongly assume their assessments are valid. They’re disproved when independent studies are matched against industry-run ones. The differences are startling. The former report adverse affects while the latter claim the opposite. It’s no secret why. Agribusiness giants allow nothing to interfere with profits, safety is off the table, and all negative information is quashed.
As a result, their studies are substandard, adverse findings are hidden, and they typically “fail to investigate the impacts of GM food on gut function, liver function, kidney function, the immune system, endocrine system, blood composition, allergic response, effects on the unborn, the potential to cause cancer, or impacts on gut bacteria.” In addition, industry-funded studies creatively avoid finding problems or conceal any uncovered. They cook the books by using older instead of younger more sensitive animals, keep sample sizes too low for statistical significance, dilute the GM component of feeds used, limit the duration of feeding trials, ignore animal deaths and sickness, and engage in other unscientific practices. It’s to assure people never learn of the potential harm from these foods, and Smith says they can do it because “They’ve got ‘bad science’ down to a science.”
The real kinds show GMOs produce “massive changes in the natural functioning of (a) plant’s DNA. Native genes can be mutated, deleted, permanently turned off or on….the inserted gene can become truncated, fragmented, mixed with other genes, inverted or multiplied, and the GM protein it produces may have unintended characteristics” that may be harmful.
GMOs also pose other health risks. When a transgene functions in a new cell, it may produce different proteins than the ones intended. They may be harmful, but there’s no way to know without scientific testing. Even if the protein is exactly the same, there are still problems. Consider corn varieties engineered to produce a pesticidal protein called Bt-toxin. Farmers use it in spray form, and companies falsely claim it’s harmless to humans. In fact, people exposed to the spray develop allergic-type symptoms, mice ingesting Bt had powerful immune responses and abnormal and excessive cell growth, and a growing number of human and livestock illnesses are linked to Bt crops.
Smith notes still another problem relating to inserted genes. Assuming they’re destroyed by our digestive system, as industry claims, is false. In fact, they may move from food into gut bacteria or internal organs, and consider the potential harm. If corn genes with Bt-toxin get into gut bacteria, our intestinal flora may become pesticide factories. There’s been no research done to prove if it’s true or false. Agribusiness giants aren’t looking, neither is FDA, consumers are left to play “Genetic Roulette,” and the few animal feeding studies done show the odds are against them.
Arpad Pusztai and other scientists were shocked at their results of animals fed GM foods. His results were cited above. Other independent studies showed stunted growth, impaired immune systems, bleeding stomachs, abnormal and potentially precancerous 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.
There’s more. Two dozen farmers reported their pigs and cows fed GM corn became sterile, 71 shepherds said 25% of their sheep fed Bt cotton plants died, and other reports showed the same effects on cows, chickens, water buffaloes and horses. After GM soy was introduced in the UK, allergies from the product skyrocketed by 50%, and in the US in the 1980s, a GM food supplement killed dozens and left five to ten thousand others sick or disabled.
Today, Monsanto is the world’s largest seed producer, and Smith notes how the company deals with reports like these. In response to the US Public Health Service concerning adverse reactions from its toxic PCBs, the company claims its experience “has been singularly free of difficulties.” That’s in spite of lawsuit-obtained records showing “this was part of a cover-up and denial that lasted decades” by a company with a long history of irresponsible behavior that includes “extensive bribery, highjacking of regulatory agencies, suppressing negative information about its products” and threatening journalists and scientists who dare report them. The company long ago proved it can’t be trusted with protecting human health.
In his book, “Seeds of Destruction,” Engdahl names four dominant agribusiness giants – Monsanto, DuPont, Dow Agrisciences and Syngenta in Switzerland from the merger of the agriculture divisions of Novartis and AstraZeneca. Smith calls these companies Ag biotech and names a fifth – Germany-based Bayer CropScience AG (division of Bayer AG) with its Environmental Science and BioScience headquarters in France.
Their business is to do the impossible and practically overnight – change the laws of nature and do them one better for profit. So far they haven’t independent because genetic engineering doesn’t work like natural breeding. It may or may not be a lot of things, but it isn’t sex, says Smith. Michael Antoniou, a molecular geneticist involved in human gene therapy, explains that genetic modification “technically and conceptually bears no resemblance to natural breeding.” The reproduction process works by both parents contributing thousands of genes to the offspring. They, in turn, get sorted naturally, and plant breeders have successfully worked this way for thousands of years.
Genetic manipulation is different and so far fraught with danger. It works by forcibly inserting a single gene from a species’ DNA into another unnaturally. Smith puts it this way: “A pig can mate with a pig and a tomato can mate with a tomato. But this is no way that a pig can mate with a tomato and vice versa.” The process transfers genes across natural barriers that “separated species over millions of years of evolution” and managed to work. The biotech industry now wants us to believe it can do nature one better, and that genetic engineering is just an extension or superior alternative to natural breeding. It’s unproved, indefensible pseudoscience mumbo jumbo, and that’s the problem.
Biologist David Schubert explains that industry claims are “not only scientifically incorrect but exceptionally deceptive….to make the GE process sound similar to conventional plant breeding.” It a smoke screen to hide the fact that what happens in laboratories can’t duplicate nature, at least not up to now. Genetic engineering involves combining genes that never before existed together, the process defies natural breeding proved safe over thousands of years, and there’s no way to assure the result won’t be a deadly unrecallable Andromeda Strain, no longer the world of science fiction.
The industry pooh-pooh’s the suggestion of potential harm, and unscientifically claims millions of people in the US and worldwide have eaten GM food for a decade, and no one got sick. Smith’s reply: How can we know as “GM foods might already be contributing to serious health problems, but since no one is monitoring for this, it could take decades” to find out. By then, it will be too late and some industry critics argue it already may be or dangerously close.
Today, most existing diseases have no effective surveillance systems in place. If GM foods create new ones, that potentially compounds the problem manyfold. Consider HIV/AIDS. It went unnoticed for decades and when identified, many thousands worldwide were infected or had died.
Then there’s the problem of linkage. In the US and many countries, GM foods are unlabeled so it’s impossible tracing illness and diseases to specific substances ingested even if thousands of people are affected. It can plausibly be blamed on anything, especially when governments and regulatory agencies support industry claims of reliability and safety.
It’s rare that problems like the L-Tryptophan epidemic of the late 1980s are identified, but when it was thousands were already harmed. L-Tryptophan is a natural amino acid constituent of most proteins and for years was produced by many companies including Showa Denko in Japan. The company then got greedy, saw a way to increase profits from a product designed to induce sleep naturally, and gene-spliced a bacterium into the natural product to do it. The result was many dozens dead, over 1500 crippled, and up to 10,000 afflicted with a blood disorder from a new incurable disease called Eosinophilia Myalgia Syndrome or EMS.
It’s a painful, multi-system disease that causes permanent scarring and fibrosis to nerve and muscle tissues, continuing inflammation, and a permanent change in a person’s immune system. It cost the company two billion dollars to settle claims. Hundreds have since died, in all likelihood from contracting EMS.
This is the known toll from a single product. Consider the potential harm with Ag biotech wanting all foods to be unlabeled GMOs worldwide and governments unable to balk because WTO Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) and Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) rules deny them. They’re also prevented under WTO’s Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement (SPS). It states that national laws banning GMO products are “unfair trade practices” even when they endanger human health. Other WTO rules also apply – called “Technical Barriers to Trade.” They prohibit GMO labeling so consumers don’t know what they’re eating and can’t avoid these potentially hazardous foods.
The 1996 Biosafety Protocol was drafted to prevent this problem, and it should be in place to do it. Public safety, however, was ambushed by Washington, the FDA and the agribusiness lobby. It sabotaged talks and insisted biosafety measures be subordinate to WTO trade rules that apply regardless of other considerations, including public health and safety. The path is thus cleared for the unrestricted spread of GMO seeds and foods worldwide unless a way is found to stop it.
Independent Animal Studies Showing GMO Harm
Rats fed genetically engineered Calgene Flavr-Savr tomatoes (developed to look fresh for weeks) for 28 days got bleeding stomachs (stomach lesions) and seven died and were replaced in the study.
Rats fed Monsanto 863 Bt corn for 90 days developed multiple reactions typically found in response to allergies, infections, toxins, diseases like cancer, anemia and blood pressure problems. Their blood cells, livers and kidneys showed significant changes indicative of disease.
Mice fed either GM potatoes engineered to produce Bt- toxin or natural potatoes containing the toxin had intestinal damage. Both varieties created abnormal and excessive cell growth in the lower intestine. The equivalent human damage might cause incontinence or flu-like symptoms and could be pre-cancerous. The study disproved the contention that digestion destroys Bt-toxin and is not biologically active in mammals.
Workers in India handling Bt cotton while picking, loading, weighing and separating the fiber from seeds developed allergies. They began with “mild to severe itching,” then redness and swelling, followed by skin eruptions. These symptoms affected their skin, eyes (got red and swollen with excessive tearing) and upper respiratory tract causing nasal discharge and sneezing. In some cases, hospitalization was required. At one cotton gin factory, workers take antihistamines daily.
Sheep grazing on Bt cotton developed “unusual systems” before dying “mysteriously.” Reports from four Indian villages revealed 25% of them died within a week. Post mortems indicated a toxic reaction. The study raises questions about cottonseed oil safety and human health for people who eat meat from animals fed GM cotton. It’s crucial to understand that what animals eat, so do people.
Nearly all 100 Filipinos living adjacent to a Bt corn field became ill. Their symptoms appeared when the crop was producing airborne pollen and was apparently inhaled. Doing it produced headaches, dizziness, extreme stomach pain, vomiting, chest pains, fever, and allergies plus respiratory, intestinal and skin reactions. Blood tests conducted on 39 victims showed an antibody response to Bt-toxin suggesting it was the cause. Four other villages experienced the same problems that also resulted in several animal deaths.
Iowa farmers reported a conception rate drop of from 80% to 20% among sows (female pigs) fed GM corn. Most animals also had false pregnancies, some delivered bags of water and others stopped menstruating. Male pigs were also affected as well as cows and bulls. They became sterile and all were fed GM corn.
German farmer Gottfried Glockner grew GM corn and fed it to his cows. Twelve subsequently died from the Bt 176 variety, and other cows had to be destroyed due to a “mysterious” illness. The corn plots were field trials for Ag biotech giant Syngenta that later took the product off the market with no admission of fault.
Mice fed Monsanto Roundup Ready soybeans developed significant liver cell changes indicating a dramatic general metabolism increase. Symptoms included irregularly shaped nuclei and nucleoli, and an increased number of nuclear pores and other changes. It’s thought this resulted from exposure to a toxin, and most symptoms disappeared when Roundup Ready was removed from the diet.
Mice fed Roundup Ready had pancreas problems, heavier livers and unexplained testicular cell changes. The Monsanto product also produced cell metabolism changes in rabbit organs, and most offspring of rats on this diet died within three weeks.
The death rate for chickens fed GM Liberty Link corn for 42 days doubled. They also experienced less weight gain, and their food intake was erratic.
In the mid-1990s, Australian scientists discovered that GM peas generated an allergic-type inflammatory response in mice in contrast to the natural protein that had no adverse effect. Commercialization of the product was cancelled because of fear humans might have the same reaction.
When given a choice, animals avoid GM foods. This was learned by observing a flock of geese that annually visit an Illinois pond and feed on soybeans from an adjacent farm. After half the acreage had GM crops, the geese ate only from the non-GMO side. Another observation showed 40 deer ate organic soybeans from one field but shunned the GMO kind across the road. The same thing happened with GM corn.
Inserting foreign or transgenes is called insertional mutagenesis or insertion mutation. When done, it usually disrupts DNA at the insertion site and affects gene functioning overall by scrambling, deleting or relocating the genetic code near the insertion site.
The process of creating a GM plant requires scientists first to isolate and grow plant cells in the laboratory using a tissue culture process. The problem is when it’s done it can create hundreds or thousands of DNA mutations throughout the genome. Changing a single base pair may be harmful. However, widespread genome changes compound the potential problem manyfold.
Promoters are used in GM crops as switches to turn on the foreign gene. When done, the process may accidently switch on other natural plant genes permanently. The result may be to overproduce an allergen, toxin, carcinogen, antinutrient, enzymes that stimulate or inhibit hormone production, RNA that silences genes, or changes that affect fetal development. They may also produce regulators that block other genes and/or switch on a dormant virus that may cause great harm. In addition, evidence suggests the promoter may create genetic instability and mutations that can result in the breakup and recombination of the gene sequence.
Plants naturally produce thousands of chemicals to enhance health and protect against disease. However, changing plant protein may alter these chemicals, increase plant toxins and/or reduce its phytonutrients. For example, GM soybeans produce less cancer-fighting isoflavones. Overall, studies show genetic modification produces unintended changes in nutrients, toxins, allergens and small molecule metabolism products.
To create a GM soybean with a more complete protein balance, Pioneer Hi-Bred inserted a Brazil nut gene. By doing it, an allergenic protein was introduced affecting people allergic to Brazil nuts. When tests confirmed this, the project was cancelled. GM proteins in other crops like corn and papaya may also be allergenic. The same problem exists for other crops like Bt corn, and evidence shows allergies skyrocketed after GM crops were introduced.
Another study of Monsanto’s high-lysine corn showed it contained toxins and other potentially harmful substances that may retard growth. If consumed in large amounts, it may also adversely affect human health. In addition, when this product is cooked, it may produce toxins associated with Alzheimer’s, diabetes, allergies, kidney disease, cancer and aging symptoms.
Disease-resistant crops like zucchini, squash and Hawaiian papaya may promote human viruses and other diseases, and eating these products may suppress the body’s natural defense against viral infections.
Protein structural aspects in GM crops may be altered in unforeseen ways. They may be misfolded or have added molecules. During insertion, transgenes may become truncated, rearranged or interspersed with other DNA pieces with unknown harmful effects. Transgenes may also be unstable and spontaneously rearrange over time, again with unpredictable consequences. In addition, they may create more than one protein from a process called alternative splicing. Environmental factors, weather, natural and man-made substances and genetic disposition of a plant further complicate things and pose risks. They’re introduced as well because genetic engineering disrupts complex DNA relationships.
Contrary to industry claims, studies show transgenes aren’t destroyed digestively in humans or animals. Foreign DNA can wander, survive in the gastro-intestinal tract, and be transported by blood to internal organs. This raises the risk that transgenes may transfer to gut bacteria, proliferate over time, and get into cells DNA, possibly causing chronic diseases. A single human feeding study confirmed that genes, in fact, transferred from GM soy into the DNA gut bacteria of three of seven test subjects.
Antibiotic Resister Marker (ARM) genes are attached to transgenes prior to insertion and allow cells to survive antibiotic applications. If ARM genes transfer to pathogenic gut or mouth bacteria, they potentially can cause antibiotic-resistant super-diseases. The proliferation of GM crops increases the possibility. The CaMV promoter in nearly all GMOs can also transfer and may switch on random genes or viruses that produce toxins, allergens or carcinogens as well as create genetic instability.
GM crops interact with their environment and are part of a complex ecosystem that includes our food. These crops may increase environmental and other toxins that may accumulate throughout the food chain. Crops genetically engineered to be glufosinate (herbicide)resistant may produce intestinal herbicide with known toxic effects. If transference to gut bacteria occurs, greater problems may result.
Repeated use of seeds like Monsanto’s Roundup Ready soybeans results in vicious new super-weeds that need far greater amounts of stronger herbicides to combat. Their toxic residues remain in crops that humans and animals then eat. Even small amounts of these toxins may be endocrine disruptors that can affect human reproduction adversely. Evidence exists that GM crops accumulate toxins or concentrate them in milk or animals fed GM feed. Disease-resistant crops may also produce new plant viruses that affect humans.
All type GM foods, not just crops, carry these risks. Milk, for example, from cows injected with Monsanto’s bovine growth hormone (rbGH), has much higher levels of the hormone IGF-1 that risks breast, prostate, colon, lung and other cancers. The milk also has lower nutritional value. GM food additives also pose health risks, and their use has proliferated in processed foods.
Potential harm to adults is magnified for children. Another concern is that pregnant mothers eating GM foods may endanger their offspring by harming normal fetal development and altering gene expression that’s then passed to future generations. Children are also more endangered than adults, especially those drinking substantial amounts of rbGH-treated milk.
Conclusion
The above information is largely drawn from Smith’s “Genetic Roulette.” The data is startling and confirms a clear conclusion. The proliferation of untested, unregulated GM foods in the span of a decade is more a leap of faith than reliable science. Microbiologist Richard Lacey captures the risk stating: “it is virtually impossible to even conceive of a testing procedure to assess the health effects of (GM) foods when introduced into the food chain, nor is there any valid nutritional or public interest reason for their introduction.” Other scientists worldwide agree that GM foods entered the market long before science could evaluate their safety and benefits. They want a halt to this dangerous experiment that needs decades of rigorous research and testing before we can know.
Unchecked and unregulated, human health and safety are at risk because once GMOs enter the food chain, the genie is out of the bottle for keeps. Thankfully, resistance is growing worldwide, many millions are opposed, but reversing the tide won’t be easy. Washington and Ag biotech are on a roll with big unstated aims – total control of our food, making it all genetically engineered, and scheming to use it as a weapon to reward friends and punish enemies.
Smith is hopeful that people will prevail over profits. Hopefully he’s right because human health and safety must never be compromised. Resistance already halted the introduction of new crop varieties, and Smith believes that with enough momentum existing ones may end up withdrawn. He cites an example he calls a “Shift away from GM foods in the United States” in 2007. Leading it is an initiative launched last spring to remove GM ingredients from the entire natural food sector. It’s led by a coalition of natural food products producers, distributors and retailers along with the Institute for Responsible Technology (IRT). It’s called the Campaign for Healthier Eating in America, and its aims are big – to educate consumers about GM food risks and promote healthy alternatives through shopping guides.
A Pew survey reported that 29% of Americans, representing 87 million people, strongly oppose these foods and believe they’re unsafe. That’s a respectable start if backed up with efforts to avoid them, and more information how is at ResponsibleTechnology.org. Jeffrey Smith founded IRT in 2003 “to promote the responsible use of technology and stop GM foods and crops through both grassroots and national strategies.” It seeks safe alternatives and aims to “ban the genetic engineering of our food supply and all outdoor releases of (GM) organisms, at least until (or unless scientific opinion) believes such products are safe and appropriate based on independent and reliable data.”
IRT urges consumers to become educated about the risks, mobilize to combat them and act in our mutual self-interest. It’s beginning to happen, and Smith believes “there is an excellent chance that food manufacturers will abandon GM foods in the near future” if a public groundswell demands it. He ends his book saying: “Although GMOs present one of the greatest dangers, with informed, motivated people, it is one of the easiest global issues to solve.” Hopefully he’s right.
Global Research Associate Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to The Global Research News Hours on RBN Mondays from 11AM to 1PM US Central time for cutting-edge discussions of world and national topics with distinguished guests.
Stephen Lendman is a frequent contributor to Global Research. Global Research Articles by Stephen Lendman
The Natural Solutions Foundation, the leading Global Health Freedom organization, is proud to present this information to you. We protect your right to know about – and to use – natural ways to maintain and regain your health, no matter where in the world you live. Among your freedoms is the right to clean, unadulterated food free of genetic manipulation, pesticides, heavy metals or other contaminants and access to herbs, supplements, frequency devices and other means as therapies that may benefit or to protect your well-being without drugs and other dangerous interventions, if you choose.
Once again the FDA has failed to protect health in the US. This time, by allowing toxic imitation nutrients derived from hexane, a known carcinogen, to be added to baby formula (in biologically insufficient amounts, by the way), they have compromised the health of infants who are known to experience severe diarrhea and abdominal distress, sometimes requiring hospital intervention, after drinking these products.
Showing little interest in either the public’s health or well-being, if the other side of the coin is the health and well-being of corporate interests, the FDA continues its pattern of failing to protect us from unsafe products. Not only is organic food degraded by both the USDA and FDA’s actions, but information known to the FDA – that these formulas were making babies very, very sick – was ignored as ingredients derived from toxins were permitted while investigations into the damage these toxins were causing were ignored.
The FDA cannot regulate food and drugs at the same time. They do a very poor job of regulating either but since foods are the major competitors of drugs (whose manufacturers pay a significant portion of the FDA’s operating budget through “User Fees”), foods are consistently degraded while drugs are more and more laxly regulated.
Following is an article which details the basis for the legal complaint against the toxic faux nutrients lodged by the Cornucopia Institute.
CONTACT: The Cornucopia Institute
Charlotte Vallaeys, The Cornucopia Institute: 978-369-6409
Mark Kastel, The Cornucopia Institute: 608-625-2042
Organic Infant Formula Ingredients Processed with Toxic Chemical
FDA Reports Indicate Infants Sickened From Algae/Fungal-Based Nutritional Supplements
CORNUCOPIA, WISCONSIN – April 15 – The Cornucopia Institute filed a legal complaint with the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) today, demanding that the agency enforce the organic regulations prohibiting toxic solvents from being used in the production of organic food. The Institute, a nonprofit food and farm policy research group, found that baby formula and other food manufacturers are using hexane-extracted omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids (DHA/ARA) derived from algae and soil fungus.
Perhaps more startling, through a Freedom of Information request at the FDA, Cornucopia found algal- and fungal-based DHA/ARA have been linked to serious side effects such as virulent diarrhea and vomiting in infants consuming infant formula, many of whom required medical treatment and hospitalization.
“The federal organic regulations very clearly prohibit these oils in organic foods, so this is not a case of companies finding loopholes in the regulations. What we’re seeing is the latest in a long string of USDA actions that blatantly cater to industry interests at the expense of consumer safety,” said Mark Kastel, Codirector of the Cornucopia Institute, based in Cornucopia, Wisconsin. “USDA officials are simply allowing these companies to freely break the organic rules in their pursuit of profit,” he adds.
Organic products with the prohibited fatty acid supplements include Horizon Organic milk with DHA (Dean Foods) and organic infant formulas, including Similac Organic (Abbott Laboratories), Earth’s Best (Hain Celestial), and Bright Beginnings Organic (PBM Products).
Martek Biosciences Corporation produces these DHA and ARA supplements. They are extracted from fermented algae and soil fungus with the use of a highly explosive neurotoxic petrochemical solvent, hexane. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration lists hexane as a serious hazard to worker health and safety, and the Environmental Protection Agency classifies it as a hazardous air pollutant. The National Organic Program strictly prohibits its use in the processing of organic foods and ingredients.
“Only a change in the regulations would make these oils legal in organic foods, and a regulation change requires citizen input,” said David Cox, a lawyer with the Columbus, Ohio law firm of Lane, Alton, and Horst. “USDA officials do not have the legal authority to decide on their own that they will not enforce the regulations, no matter how much industry is lobbying or pressuring them.”
The addition of DHA and ARA to organic infant formula is especially troublesome considering that Martek’s oils are linked to serious illness in some infants. “Through a FOIA request, we discovered that scores of parents have notified the FDA that their infants experienced symptoms such as serious cases of diarrhea, vomiting, and extreme gassiness from consuming DHA/ARA formula, often requiring medical intervention. These symptoms commonly disappeared as soon as the infants were given regular formula without these supplements,” said Charlotte Vallaeys, the author of Cornucopia’s comprehensive report Replacing Mother—Imitating Human Breast Milk in the Laboratory (www.cornucopia.org).
While formula makers claim to add these oils because they “support brain and eye development,” scientific data to corroborate these claims are very weak. “Results of most of the well conducted clinical trials have not shown beneficial effects of DHA and ARA supplementation of formula milk on the physical, visual and neurodevelopmental outcomes of infants born at term,” according to Dr. Karen Simmer, professor in the School of Women’s and Infant’s Health at the University of Western Australia.
Breast-feeding advocates worldwide contend that DHA and ARA appear to be added primarily as marketing tools. DHA and ARA supplementation adds approximately $200 annually to the cost of formula, which is absorbed by parents and publicly funded nutrition programs. Misleading claims that DHA/ARA supplemented formula is now “as close as ever to breast milk” also lead to the impression among many new mothers that formula is now equivalent to breastfeeding, which may contribute to lower rates of breastfeeding and higher formula sales.
“Adding these two fatty acids to formula does not make it ‘close to breast milk,'” said Jennifer Thomas, M.D., a pediatrician practicing in Racine, Wisconsin. “Breast milk has nutrients, live cells, and bioactive compounds that are absent from formula,” she added. “Formula advertisements featuring DHA and ARA make it a lot harder for me, as a pediatrician, to convince new mothers to breastfeed if they have seen advertisements or labels implying that formula is just as good as breast milk.”
But the serious side effects experienced by some babies remain the most pressing reason for keeping these oils out of organic infant formula. Cornucopia has filed a Freedom of Information request to look into how the USDA appears to have collaborated with lobbyists for Dean Foods and others in secretly allowing these materials, despite their explicit prohibition in the federal organic regulations. “It’s bad enough these materials are being added to conventional infant formula,” said Cornucopia’s Kastel. “This marketing gimmick has no place in organics, where mothers are looking for the safest, most nutritious and natural foods for their families.”
MORE:
The Cornucopia Institute, together with the National Alliance for Breastfeeding Advocacy, has petitioned the FDA to require a warning label on all infant formula supplemented with Martek’s DHA and ARA. Currently, parents of infants who experience adverse reactions to DHA/ARA formula have no way of knowing that these fatty acid supplements may be the cause.
Few parents know that Martek’s supplements contain only 40 to 50% DHA and ARA, with the balance being sunflower oil, diglycerides, and “nonsaponifiable” materials. Many of these components are not found in human breast milk, and the triglycerides carrying DHA and ARA are not identical to those found in human breast milk—and have never been part of the diet for human infants. It is unclear why some infants cannot tolerate these laboratory-produced DHA/ARA supplements. But the evidence of side effects strongly suggests that more research is warranted.
People can urge the FDA to require a warning label by following the attached link and posting a comment
The Cornucopia Institute and the National Alliance for Breastfeeding Advocacy have also petitioned the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), alleging that formula companies are engaged in misleading advertising. The ads touting benefits to brain and eye development appear to be based on shaky scientific evidence. Lawyers at the FTC had previously warned Martek and formula companies about overstating the benefits of DHA and ARA. In response to the petition by Cornucopia and NABA, the FTC is currently investigating the alleged false advertisements.
Parents and health care providers are encouraged to pass on reports of adverse reactions to infant formula or food products containing DHA and/or ARA to the FDA and to The Cornucopia Institute: cultivate@cornucopia.org
Also today, The Cornucopia Institute filed a formal legal complaint with the USDA, calling for an investigation of Quality Assurance International (QAI). QAI is the nation’s largest corporate organic certifier and has been at the center of a number of other scandals in the organic industry, most prominently the questionable certification of large factory farm milk production. Cornucopia charges QAI with lax oversight and improper certification of products containing DHA/ARA oils, including questioning whether or not QAI is complying with the law and has the technical qualifications to carry out their responsibilities.
The full formal complaints can be viewed at:
www.cornucopia.org/DHA/USDA_DHA_LegalComplaint.pdf
www.cornucopia.org/DHA/USDA_QAI_LegalComplaint.pdf
For more information on our global programs, including the International Decade of Nutrition, and our US based ones, please visit us at www.HealthFreedomUSA.org and www.GlobalHealthFreedom.org and join the free email list for the Health Freedom eAlerts to keep you in the loop, informed and active defending your right to make your own decisions about your health and wellbeing!
Our activities are supported 100% by your tax deductible donations. Please give generously (http://drrimatruthreports.com/index.php?page_id=189) to the Natural Solutions Foundation. Thank you for your support.
Feel free to disseminate this information as widely as possible with full attribution.
Yours in health and freedom,
Dr. Rima
Rima E. Laibow, MD
Medical Director
Natural Solutions Foundation
www.HealthFreedomUSA.org
www.GlobalHealthFreedom.org
www.organics4U.org
The following story appeared on Alternet.org today and provides 5 useful tips to help avoid make-believe-eco (“Faux Green”) products. Green is a strong market trend and manufacturers want you to believe that when you buy their products, green is what you get. Sometimes it’s true and sometimes (most of the time, in my experience), they get the green – yours – for nothing more than marketing.
Laws are lax so your attention to details like “All Natural” (meaningless label) vs. “Certified Organic” (significant label) is all that stands between you and paying more for the same old toxic stuff!
Here’s Nicole Hughes’ useful article providing 5 tips on consuming green:
Don’t Get Fooled By Eco-Imposters
Nicole Hughes,
Source: Take Part
April 15, 2008.
The change in the season inspires many of us to participate in the ritual of spring cleaning in some form or another – whether it’s your semi-annual bathroom scour or you’re gearing up to dust the wiring behind the stove. At the same time, most of us are also becoming less enthused with the idea of filling up our homes and the environment with a cocktail of hazardous chemicals found in traditional cleaning sprays and wipes.
Non-toxic is the safer, greener and cleaner way to go. Many companies, however, try to market their wares as “all natural†in an attempt to cash in on the green revolution – when in fact, their products are anything but. So what’s the best way to filter out the eco-imposters and zero in on the eco-friendly goods when confronted with so many choices? Here are five tips to help you weed through the labels and get past the false advertising. Happy Cleaning!
1) Look for the USDA seal of organic approval if a product claims to be organic. In order for products to be certified organic through the USDA’s National Organic Program, 1) they can’t contain any petrochemicals and 2) 95% of the ingredients must be organic.
2) Stay away from products with ingredients that end in the suffix “eth†– like laureth or myreth sulfate. Also, avoid labels that mention PEG, another harmful chemical compound.
3) Be wary of vague labeling, including phrases like “made from organic products†or “environmentally friendly†or “all-natural.†Without independent research to back them up, these claims might actually mean “made from 1% organic products†or “1% all natural†if they aren’t certified by the US Department of Agriculture.
4) Don’t be fooled by hydrosols and a laundry list of organic herbal water extracts and fragrances. They might look good on an ingredients list, but essentially it’s plain ol’ water trying to ‘green up’ the image of synthetic products.
5) Choose plastic bottles made with the recycling code 1, 2 or 5. Recycling codes 3 and 7 are likely to contain bisphenol A or phthalates, which are thought to disrupt natural hormonal function.
Thanks to Alternet.org
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/82444/
The Natural Solutions Foundation, the leading Global Health Freedom organization, is proud to present this information to you. We protect your right to know about – and to use – natural ways to maintain and regain your health, no matter where in the world you live. Among your freedoms is the right to clean, unadulterated food free of genetic manipulation, pesticides, heavy metals or other contaminants and access to herbs, supplements, frequency devices and other means as therapies that may benefit or to protect your well-being without drugs and other dangerous interventions, if you choose.
For more information on our global programs, including the International Decade of Nutrition, and our US based ones, please visit us at www.HealthFreedomUSA.org and www.GlobalHealthFreedom.org and join the free email list for the Health Freedom eAlerts to keep you in the loop, informed and active defending your right to make your own decisions about your health and wellbeing!
Our activities are supported 100% by your tax deductible donations. Please give generously (http://drrimatruthreports.com/index.php?page_id=189) to the Natural Solutions Foundation. Thank you for your support.
Feel free to disseminate this information as widely as possible with full attribution.
Yours in health and freedom,
Dr. Rima
Rima E. Laibow, MD
Medical Director
Natural Solutions Foundation
www.HealthFreedomUSA.org
www.GlobalHealthFreedom.org
My April 3, 2008 post on Morgellon’s Disease, http://drrimatruthreports.com/index.php?p=599, generated vigorous discussion. I received, for example, a letter from a Morgellon’s Disease sufferer who documented a possible vector for the condition through genetically modified cotton, so altered that it can inoculate the person in contact with it and create the disease. I quite agree.
This is a plague courtesy of indifference to safety at very best. That’s the bad news. The worse news is that less dramatic diseases with longer incubation periods and less clear causality (although Morgellon’s Disease causality is still unfolding) such as cancer or infertility are completely invisible as results of GMOs since the FDA actively prohibits labeling of any GM ingredients or components. The only (partial) assurance you have of protection is eating organic and ONLY organic. Then the permitted contamination is “ONLY” 10% as allowed by the US Government!
Only 10%!
Yours in health and freedom,
Dr. Rima
Rima E. Laibow, MD
Medical Director
Natural Solutions Foundation
www.HealthFreedomUSA.org
www.GlobalHealthFreedom.org
www.Organics4U.org
Here is the letter: it is definitely worth reading
Apparently there are a lot of theories circulating about this disease.
I have this disease and am very familiar with it.
I have examined these extracted fibers for years.
I can tell you my theory is very reasonable as to who caused this problem.
Its not lyme disease.
It has to do with the Textile industry. Although these fibers are non textile
in origin.
They are comprised of cellulose, they are highly genetically modified fibers.
They have genetically manipulated e-coli bacteria, nemotodes, chemicals,
proteins and plant DNA and have developed ways to incorporate large amounts of
these “high performance” bio active fibers into clothing and genetically
modified the cotton plant many times over.
This research done at a handful of Universities then sold the technology to
textile manufacturers here and abroad. These textiles can then be sold back to
the United States from countries like China etc.
What you will read in this article is shocking to know what they were doing in
the textile business. This was all done by consent of the Government via the
National Textile Center, part of the United States Department of Agriculture.
Article#1 “Developement of bioactive fabric” use search box.
http://www.ntcresearch.org/pdf-rpts/AnRp00/m00-d03.pdf
University of Dartmouth
Article#2 “Cotton fiber groth in Planta and in vitro. Models for plant cell
elongationand cell wall biogenisis”. Hee jin kim and Barbara Triplet.
View second image box toward bottom in this article. View picture of fiber
root in picture “A” and Trichrome picture “E”. Return to morgellons and
compare fiber images. The trichrome is interesting as this is the same odd
structure with three prongs protuding that is also removed from the body.
Between morgellons and what you will read in reference material you notice the
following:
Both fibers from morgellons and from the agricultural labs have striking
simalarities.
Both fibers are comprised of cellulose.
Both fibers have a helical coil type tendencies, this is a genetically
modified trait that they admit to.
Both fibers autoflouresce as can easily be seen on both the morgellons site
and on picture box #2 from the usda referrence image given. The
autoflourescence is a genetically modified trait as well and can be seen in
several colors.
This is due to genetically altered e-coli bacteria with flourescent componets
spliced from nemotodes and other creatures that autoflouresce.
You read how GFP, (green flourescent protiens) were genetically spliced to
accomplish this. As well as other autoflourescent colors.
The usda referrence article states clearly the fuzz ball growth problems in
engineering as well as their lack of understanding how these fibers stop
growing at certain lengths.
My theory is that this is a bio engineering mistake that has gone wrong and
the full impact was not realized before sold to textile manufacturers.
These people had no idea what they were creating in these labs and the impact
of those consequences on the public.
In my reading from the documents from the University of Dartmouth I found
absolutly no trial testing of these fabrics on humans. The goal seemed to be
to obtain funding, develope technology and then provide this technology to
manufacturers.
I theorize the mode of transmission is via micro abrasion of clothing
articles, particularly cotton to innoculate these bio active fibers into the
body or via protien and oil digestive bacteria that were altered to perform
that function, yet may be able to use this protien and oil breakdown to gain
access passed the defences of the skin.
In my case I have noticed the majority of lesions are concentrated around the
stitching on the inside of the fabrics like cotton t-shirts where the pieces
are sewn together, that rope-like stitching. Also on clothing “wear points”
like the shoulder blades and shoulders.
That is how I noticed the abrasion effect and the resulting innoculation of
these fibers. Yet these lesions are not limited to the stitching ropes as
sitting back in a chair can abrade these into the skin without you feeling it.
Tight fitting levis do the same thing to the outer thighs.
Since they have admitted engineering lysine deficient e-coli bacteria for the
purpose of controlling its growth once embedded in textiles and clothing this
does not stop these bacteria/fibers from taking advantage of a non-stop supply
of lysine in the human body if innoculated by abrasion or protien breakdown.
Lysine is an essential amino acid of the body.
Here is just one shocking quote you will read:
Bio lab, University of Dartmouth.
“Clothing materials are generally biofriendly and sources of heat, moisture
and even NUTRIENTS for cellular microdevices and all ARE AVAILABLE FROM THE
HUMAN BODY”.
“Our goal is to develope fabrics that contain micro fabricated bio
environments and biologically activated fibers”
I can go on and on with this. It will shock you no doubt.
I hearby name:
The National Textile Center, a division of the United States Department of
Agriculture.
and
The Universities listed on the National Textile Center website involved with
bio active fabrics, particularly the University of Dartmouth bio lab, year
2000 team group. As well as other Universities sharing this technology before
and after this date.
AS THE ONES WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CREATION OF THIS BIO ENGINEERED
MISTAKE AND ITS RECKLESS MARKETING INTO THE PUBLIC WHICH HAS NOW CREATED THE
DISEASE CALLED MORGELLONS.
NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET’S DINNER TABLE. THANK YOU, MONSANTO!
The Natural Solutions Foundation, the leading Global Health Freedom organization, is proud to present this information to you. We protect your right to know about – and to use – natural ways to maintain and regain your health, no matter where in the world you live. Among your freedoms is the right to clean, unadulterated food free of genetic manipulation, pesticides, heavy metals or other contaminants and access to herbs, supplements, frequency devices and other means as therapies that may benefit or to protect your well-being without drugs and other dangerous interventions, if you choose.
For more information on our global programs, including the International Decade of Nutrition, and our US based ones, please visit us at www.HealthFreedomUSA.org and www.GlobalHealthFreedom.org and join the free email list for the Health Freedom eAlerts to keep you in the loop, informed and active defending your right to make your own decisions about your health and wellbeing!
Our activities are supported 100% by your tax deductible donations. Please give generously (http://drrimatruthreports.com/index.php?page_id=189) to the Natural Solutions Foundation. Thank you for your support.
Feel free to disseminate this information as widely as possible with full attribution.
Yours in health and freedom,
Dr. Rima
Rima E. Laibow, MD
Medical Director
Natural Solutions Foundation
www.HealthFreedomUSA.org
www.GlobalHealthFreedom.org
Nightmare on Elm Street’s Dinner Table. Thank you, Monsanto!
Just in case you thought it was fine to eat Genetically Modified foods (better identified as “FrankenFoods”), along comes a study which makes it clear that you are eating this make believe non-food at your own peril and, worse yet, you are feeding it to your kids at their peril as well. It is important to note that Codex Alimentarius, which sets standards for the international trade of food, permits genetically modified foods and makes no effort to limit, control or eliminate them. In fact, the US has been trying for years to prevent the labeling of GM foods and seed in international trade to emulate its domestic policy which prohibits any label indication that foods contain GM ingredients, as 75-80% of all foods sold in the US do.
Now it appears that the increasingly prevalent nightmare of a disease called “Morgellon’s Disease” may be a result of GM crops and food.
Morgellon’s Disease was first described when a woman’s 3 year old son developed rashes and intensely itchy sores which produced weird multicolor fibers emerging from his skin. She put up a website about the condition in 2001 and named it “Morgellons Disease” after a 17th century report of a similar affliction.
As it always does, the allopathic community of Western, drug-oriented physicians labeled sufferers as delusional. As a physician, I have a great deal of difficulty explaining how a delusion can produce colored fibers which protrude from the skin and continue to grow in a petri dish. Be that as it may, the multicolored fibers produced by the “delusion” have been analyzed and we now know that Morgellon’s Disease is no longer rare, nor is it mysterious any longer. A study of the fibers shows that they contain DNA from both a fungus and a bacterium which are used in the commercial preparation of genetically modified foods and non-food crops (such as cotton). The fibers themselves are primarily cellulose, which the human body cannot breakdown or manufacture. So GM technology apparently has, like Professor Frankenstein, found a way to animate the non living. These fibers twist and twine, grow and divide. In short, living beneath the skin of people, they form parasitic lesions out of what should be non-living material but which, through the horror of genetic modification, has taken on the characteristics of a living thing.
The symptoms are so unbearable that a number of people suffering from the disorder have committed suicide rather than deal with the unbearable pain, constant feeling of something very much like an insect crawling without stop beneath the skin and unbearable itching any longer. Of course, it is possible to speculate that the attitude of most physicians that the condition is a mental aberration rather than a physical one may not have helped these poor souls to cope with their affliction.
How wide spread is Morgellon’s Disease? Some registries have 1200 or more people but these registrants only represent those who have access to the internet and have stumbled across the registry sites. The disease produces material unlike anything most people have ever seen.
(http://www.morgellons.org/) and 
These pictures show fibers removed from lesions on the skin of Morgellon’s Disease sufferers.
No picture, however, can show you the insects crawling under my skin day and night torment of the victims. Frighteningly, some researchers say that every person they have tested has some level of Morgellon’s type pathology in their skin.
If the hypothesis is accurate and the disease is caused by sowing, growing and eating FrankenFood, that would, however, make sense. 75-80 % of all US food contains unlabeled GM ingredients. We have no enzymes or other mechanisms to digest these unnatural components of the materials which the FDA says are the same as food and prohibits labeling of. We have no way of getting rid of the indigestible, toxic or even lethal materials injected into the nucleus of our food by high energy guns and biochemical tricks that nature never thought of.
Given that the US is allowing the greatest biological experiment in the history of human kind, we should not be skeptical about the possibility that this tragic and terrifying disease may be caused by terrifying make-believe food with all-too-real dangers inserted inside them where they cannot be seen, tasted, or otherwise detected by normal means, only by specialized laboratories.
Part of the objective of the Natural Solutions Foundation is to make sure that 3rd world countries have the labs, and the training necessary to determine what food is clean and safe, and what food is damaged by techniques by Genetic Manipulation.
In the meantime, we will be attending a very important Codex meeting in Ottawa. Either the African Pro-health Coalition will hold its ground in the meeting and continue to defy the US and hold fast to their fervent determination to not allow GM seeds into their coutnries and to require substantial labeling on all foods which contain GM components.
Link Between Morgellon’s Disease and GMOs
by Barbara H. Peterson
Global Research, March 27, 2008
Since the Clinton administration made biotechnology “a strategic priority for U.S. government backing†(1), giant transnational agri-business concerns have aggressively taken over the global food chain by flooding it with Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) without regard for the consequences to the earth or its inhabitants. This takeover not only has the potential for global economic devastation, but threatens the earth’s population with far-reaching health concerns as well. One health concern that seems to coincide with the GMO revolution is Morgellons disease. What if the advent of Morgellons disease has something to do with the ingestion of GMO foods?
Morgellons Disease – What is it?
Very little can be found regarding this disease. Originally, sufferers were told that their problem was imaginary. This was of little comfort to the people who were suffering.
Morgellons Disease sufferers report strange, fiber-like material sticking out of sores or wounds that erupt on the skin. This is accompanied by painful, intense itching, that has been described as “an ever present sensation as if something is crawling under the skin.†(2)
On May 18, 2006, KGW, a local news channel reporting out of the Oregon area published this story:
Strange sickness: Mystery disease horror story (excerpt)
[Dr. Drottar] The disabled family practice doctor felt like bugs were crawling under her skin.
“If I fully tell people what has gone on with me medically, they think they’re in the twilight zone,†said Drottar.
She woke up with the feeling that fluid was flowing just below her skin. Often black or blue hair like fibers protruded from her skin, she said.
“I thought I had been exposed to asbestos. I thought I was having asbestos fibers come out of my skin. I was pulling long, thin, small hair-like fibers that were extremely sharp that could literally pierce through my finger nails,†Drottar said.
In addition to the feeling of bugs and the fibers, Drottar also suffered from severe depression, chronic fatigue and a weakened immune system. As a result, she had to give up her family practice, Drottar said. (3)
Morgellons and GMO – the Link
Little information has been revealed concerning the long-term health effects of GMO crops on humans or animals, and even less information can be had regarding research correlating Morgellons with GMO foods. This is suspicious right off the bat, because it would seem that there would be a natural curiosity regarding a link between Genetically Modified Organisms that people ingest regularly and inorganic fibers that protrude from a person’s skin. This would be right up a geneticist’s alley, and quite worthy of intensive research. So, why aren’t there a ton of published studies? Why is it so difficult finding anything related to this? Could it be that companies such as Monsanto have enough clout to effectively squash these stories? If they have enough clout to ruin countries by deceiving impoverished farmers into purchasing patented GMO seeds, and then take it a step further and force these poor people to purchase seeds year after year instead of harvesting their own, then they have enough clout to ask our more than willing corporate government to manipulate the press…again.
According to Mike Stagman, PhD, “Genetic Engineering is a nightmare technology that has already caused MANY disease epidemics — documented but unpublicized.†(4)
Well Monsanto, you let at least one study slip through. With the help of a couple of search engines, the following article by Whitley Strieber published on October 12, 2007, titled “Skin Disease May Be Linked to GM Food†was found, which concludes that the fibers taken from a Morgellons sufferer contain the same substance that is “used commercially to produce genetically-modified plants.” Here is the article:
Skin Disease May Be Linked to GM Food
12-Oct-2007
Many people—and most physicians—have written off Morgellons disease as either a hoax or hypochondria. But now there is evidence that this mysterious disease may be REAL and related to GENETICALLY MODIFIED food!
The skin of Morgellons victims oozes mysterious strands that have been identified as cellulose (which cannot be manufactured by the human body), and people have the sensation of things crawling beneath their skin. The first known case of Morgellons occurred in 2001, when Mary Leitao created a web site describing the disease, which had infected her young son. She named it Morgellons after a 17th century medical study in France that described the same symptoms.
In the Sept. 15-21 issue of New Scientist magazine, Daniel Elkan describes a patient he calls “Steve Jackson,” who “for years” has “been finding tiny blue, red and black fibers growing in intensely itchy lesions on his skin.” He quotes Jackson as saying, “The fibers are like pliable plastic and can be several millimeters long. Under the skin, some are folded in a zigzag pattern. These can be as fine as spider silk, yet strong enough to distend the skin when you pull them, as if you were pulling on a hair.”
Doctors say that this type of disease could only be caused by a parasite, but anti-parasitic medications do not help. Psychologists insist that this is a new version of the well-known syndrome known as “delusional parasitosis.” While this is a “real” disease, it is not a physically-caused one.
But now there is physical evidence that Morgellons is NOT just psychological. When pharmacologist Randy Wymore offered to study some of these fibers if people sent them to him, he discovered that “fibers from different people looked remarkably similar to each other and yet seem to match no common environmental fibers.”
When they took them to a police forensic team, they said they were not from clothing, carpets or bedding. They have no idea what they are.
Researcher Ahmed Kilani says he was able to break down two fiber samples and extract their DNA. He found that they belonged to a fungus.
An even more provocative finding is that biochemist Vitaly Citovsky discovered that the fibers contain a substance called “Agrobacterium,” which, according to New Scientist, is “used commercially to produce genetically-modified plants.” Could GM plants be “causing a new human disease?” (5)
GMO – Not on My Watch!
The giant transnational corporations behind the GMO revolution are hitting us in our most vulnerable spot – our bellies. Most people have been brought up with an innate trust that what they purchase from the stores is safe to eat. This is no longer true, since most processed foods contain genetically engineered ingredients that can have disastrous effects on both animal and human health. What you purchase from the corner store might just change your DNA and create such frightening symptoms that the general public simply does not believe it. What is worse is that when you go to the doctor to get help, he/she tells you what you are experiencing is all in your head. This is rubbish! It is up to people who care to make the correlations between what we eat and what happens to our bodies. Remember the old saying – “you are what you eat?†Well, this author believes it is true.
Notes
1) Engdahl, F.W. (2007). Seeds of Destruction.
2) Stagman, M. Phd. (2006). GMO Disease Epidemics: Bt-cotton Fiber Disease. Retrieved from http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2006/08/344305.shtml
3) Porter, L. (2006). Strange sickness: Mystery disease horror story. Retrieved from http://www.kgw.com/news-local/stories/kgw_051806_news_sweeps_strange_sickness_morgellons.53b2569a.html
4) Stagman, M. Phd. (2006). GMO Disease Epidemics: Bt-cotton Fiber Disease. Retrieved from http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2006/08/344305.shtml
5) Strieber, W. (2007). Skin Disease Might be Linked to GM Food. Retrieved from
http://www.unknowncountry.com/news/?id=6486
Barbara H. Peterson is a Writer and Activist,
http://spktruth2power.wordpress.com