After decades of rearing hogs, Danish farmer IbBorup Pedersen was
alarmed at the growing incidence of malformations and biological defects
among his newborn piglets. Deformities included gaps in piglets’
skulls, deformed bones, missing limbs and even a female piglet with
testicles. Never having witnessed such large numbers of deformed pigs
before, Pedersen realized that it was after switching three years
earlier to Monsanto’s GMO feed– which had been grown with
glyphosate–that these birth defects began to appear. Pedersen had the
piglets’ bodies sent to a Danish laboratory for analysis. The results
were clear; there were high concentrations of Monsanto’s glyphosate
pesticide, commonly known as Roundup, in the piglets’ organs.[1] The
analyses’ findings were subsequently published in a recent Journal of
Environmental and Analytical Toxicology,[2]
Pedersen’s experience is another blow against Monsanto’s public
relations campaign to convince governments, farmers and consumers that
Roundup is one of the world’s safest pesticides and poses no risk to
animal and human health. For many years Monsanto has stood by this myth
with fanatical religious fervor against all existing independent
evidence to the contrary.
While there are an increasing number of studies in the scientific
literature identifying the health risks associated with GMO consumption
and glyphosate independently, no research has yet been conducted to
assess the combined synergistic adverse effects of GMOs and pesticides
in animal models and humans. The original foundation of agricultural
biotechnology was to advance sales of pesticides by engineering crops to
become immune to toxic spraying. While weeds and insect pests would be
eradicated, targeted crop would be spared, thereby allowing farmers to
spray massive amounts of chemicals on soy, corn, cotton, sugar beets and
other agricultural foods without injury. This was the assumption that
led to the agro-genetic revolution. Only during the past decade with
more and more GM products in our diets, and more and more farm acreage
being sprayed with glyphosate and other toxic pesticides and herbicides,
are the long term health risks to animals, humans and the environment
being more fully recognized within the scientific community.
Annual runoffs of pesticides into rivers, streams and reservoirs have
complicated the extent to which humans are being exposed to life
threatening chemicals on a daily basis. It was never the mission of
Monsanto and the cartel of agro-chemical seed companies to increase
yields and produce drought resilient crops. The evidence of higher GM
crop yields was an aftereffect. However, data are now coming in from
independent agro-science community showing that the years of higher GM
yields are short lived and drop dramatically thereafter to levels far
below those yields harvested from traditional, organic farming methods.
Glyphosate’s adverse effects on Pedersen’s piglets is only one
example of the pesticide’s health risks. In a major paper published by
Earth Open Source, “GMO Myths and Truths: An Evidence-Based Examination
of the Claims Made for the Safety and Efficacy of Genetically Modified
Crops,” Kings College molecular geneticist Michael Antoniou, molecular
biologist John Fagan and GM Watch’s Claire Robinson outline the known
health risks now shown to be associated with glyphosate:
- DNA damage
- Premature births and miscarriages
- Birth defects including neural tube defects and anencephaly (absence of large parts of the brain and skull
- Multiple myeloma
- Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma
- Disruption of neurobehavioral development in children, including
attention deficit disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity
disorder[3]
Since the release of the study in the journal Entropy, a researcher
at MIT and a member of the Union of Concerned Scientists have discovered
that glyphosate is in fact taken up by plants from the soil and found
in our food—an accusation Monsanto continues to deny. The study says
that the negative impact of glyphosate accumulation “is insidious and
manifests slowly over time as inflammation damages cellular systems
throughout the body.” In addition to being linked with problems ranging
from cancer to infertility, a connection may also be made to the rising
number of adults acquiring Parkinson’s Disease.[4] A couple earlier
studies on individual cases found a correspondence between glyphosate
exposure and the onset of Parkinson’s.[5] There are now growing concerns
that glyphosate consumed by mothers and infants in GM tainted foods
might be giving rise to the autism epidemic that continues to worsen
each year and now stands at almost 1 in 50 children.
With each passing year, the body of scientific data challenging the
safety of glyphosate expands. In several peer-reviewed studies conducted
by researcher Andres Carrasco of the University of Buenos Aires,
glyphosate was observed to cause teratogenic impairment of neural
signaling and microcephaly, leading to craniofacial malformations.[6]
In early 2014, the International Journal of Environmental Research
and Public Health published a study linking glyphosate runoff in Sri
Lanka’s water systems to an epidemic rise in a fatal unknown chronic
kidney disease or CKDu. Until recently scientists were unable to offer
up evidence of what has been causing this new form of illness affecting
the kidneys. Similar observations have been made in El Salvador and
Nicaragua where more men die of CKDu than AIDS, diabetes and leukemia.
However, in each regional population studied, Roundup exposure is
rampant. Sri Lankan scientists hypothesize that glyphosate, originally
discovered to act as a chelating chemical in 1964, takes up toxic heavy
metals and binds them in the kidney without the body’s detection.
According to the researchers, the buildup of these heavy metals
ultimately leads to kidney failure and death.[7]
In early 2014, the Ministry of Health in Cordoba, Argentina noted a
dramatic rise in deaths from cancerous tumors– twice the national
average. It just so happens that the elevated rates of malignancies were
being reported in those regions where GM crops and toxic agrochemicals
are most readily used.[8]
GMOs’ health risks to animals and humans are also being reported more
frequently in the scientific literature. Corporate agro studies
claiming GMOs are safe will generally rely upon a research methodology
that employs a variety of so-called “reference” diets to the animals
under investigation. These convoluted studies are designed intentionally
to produce an abundance of data without any standard reference control
group. This enables corporate scientists to conflate and distort
results. This common industry practice was recently exposed by Claire
Robinson at GM Watch regarding a published DuPont study on the safety of
its Roundup Ready canola. Robinson points out that “poor experimental
design” is intentionally utilized to cover over toxic effects.
A new study in rats conducted by Dr. Gilles-Eric Seralini at the
University of Caen identified changes in gene expression in sperm cells
capable of altering androgen and estrogen sex hormones. The study
suggests that glyphosate may be altering human reproduction. The rate of
male fertility in the US has been dropping steadily since GM foods
started to saturate the average American diet. Today, according to the
American Pregnancy Association, 1 out of every 6 men in couples is
infertile.[9]
Another major blow against Monsanto has been the republication of Dr.
Seralini’s earlier paper showing a correlation between severe kidney
and liver damage, advanced tumors and pre-mature death in rats fed
Monsanto’s NK603 maize in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental
Sciences Europe. Seralini’s paper has undergone more scientific review
and scrutiny than any other study either proving or disproving GMO
safety. With its republication, the paper should officially replace
Monsanto’s flawed safety study purporting the health safety of its NK603
corn.[10]
Monsanto must rely on a veil of secrecy, claiming to protect its
proprietary information, in order to avoid revealing to the public its
actual data about GMO safety. In the absence of credible science to
engage in an honest debate with the scientific community opposing the
proliferation of GMOs, the company must resort to the lowest and most
vicious tactics. Attacking the integrity of scientists, launching smear
campaigns against GMO labeling advocates, organic farmers, cyber attacks
on anti-GMO organizations, and threats of lawsuits against state
governments and media outlets advocating or even suggesting mandatory
labeling are becoming more frequent. For example, supporters of GMOs
have recently pressured Reuters to fire veteran journalist Carey Gillam
for reporting fairly on GMOs.[11] With approximately 50% of its revenues
generated from the sale of GM seeds, it is highly unlikely that
Monsanto will ever admit defeat. Rather it will use whatever means
necessary, except acknowledging scientific evidence, to silence its
enemies. Today Monsanto is scared to death over its future. Like any
psychopathological madman or Wall Street banker, it will use whatever
means available to preserve and expand its revenue markets, even if it
means inflicting pain, suffering and even death upon Indian and Filipino
farmers, rather than acknowledge its technology is a curse to humanity
and the environment.
Fortunately during the past six months there has been a dramatic
turning of the tide against Monsanto and other GM seed companies. Around
the world the Big Ag giant is recognized as the most dangerous,
most-hated corporation on the planet. The good news is that Big
Agriculture’s imperial strategy for global food domination has been hit
with setback after setback as national and local governments realize
that genetically modified foods pose serious dangers to human and
environmental health as well as national food security. Local
populations and farmers who switched to GM seeds are becoming more vocal
about the failure of GM promises and want to hold these private
companies accountable. Already ninety percent of UN member nations,
including most of Europe, either require GM labeling or have banned GM
crops. Hungary officially prohibits GMOs in its national Constitution.
In Brazil, the world’s largest producer of GM soy, the country’s leading
conglomerate of soy traders, the Association of Vegetable Oil
Industries, will no longer accept Monsanto’s Itacta soybeans.[12]
Without having the blessing from the US government and the WTO,
Monsanto’s sphere of markets would dry up. Therefore, the GMO industry,
in collusion with the US State Department, has had to focus its
attention on Africa and South and Southeast Asia, those regions that
appear to be the most susceptible to accepting GMO myths.
As nations take a step back and reconsider the threats of climate
change and global warning to future food supplies, GMOs are steadily
failing to hold up to their promises of higher yields and drought
resistance. To the contrary, study after study lean towards the
conclusion that GMO-based agriculture may be the most dismal failure
since humans first started sowing seeds and harvesting crops. In June,
the Guardian reported that the introduction of Monsanto’s Roundup
Btbrinjal eggplant into Bangladesh is facing widespread collapse, with a
failure rate of four out of five farms.[13] GMO soy and corn are
rapidly losing their pest resistance. Bugs and weeds are turning into
mega-threats to the future of yields of staple crops, which the
industrial makers of processed foods depend on. Farmers in Latin America
are demanding compensation from Big AG companies such as Monsanto,
DuPont, Syngenta and Dow for unexpected financial duress and being
forced to purchase larger quantities of pesticides in order to sustain
their harvests. In Brazil, after only three years of GM Bt cultivation,
pest resistance has been observed. Similar observations are being
reported in Btmaize in Puerto Rico, Brazil, Philippines, South Africa
and US, and in Bt cotton in Australia, China, India and the US. Last
month American scientists confirmed that rootworms destroying corn
fields are no longer resistant to GMO corn.[14]
An article in India’s Hindustani Times states that “There are over
500 research publications by scientists of indisputable integrity, who
have no conflict of interest, that establish harmful effects of GMO
crops to human, animal and plant health, and on the environment and
biodiversity… On the other hand, virtually every paper supporting GM
crops is by scientists who have declared conflict of interest or whose
credibility and integrity can be doubted.[15] Monsanto’s Bt cotton in
India has been particularly disastrous to hundreds of thousands of
farmers. Aside from the oft-reported epidemic of farmer suicides who
fall into debt and poverty after buying into Monsanto’s GM cotton—farmer
suicides have now reached over 270,000—pest resistance is rampant,
further weakening the natural immunity of GM plants and predisposing
them to less serious pests. India is also witnessing record numbers of
cattle die-offs after grazing on post-harvest cotton plants. Regions
with higher proportions of Bt cotton farming are confronting grim water
futures because GM agriculture requires more irrigation than traditional
farming methods. Last March the Indian state of Karnataka banned Bt
cotton seeds following pervasive crop failures.[16]
One of the most massive GMO failures, spanning a decade, has been the
deplorable collapse of the introduction of GM corn in the Philippines.
The decimation of Filipino corn farmers came to world attention
following the release of the film “Ten Years of Failure” which follows
the lives of farmers whose families fell into debt and poverty after the
introduction of GM corn by the Philippine government in cooperation
with the US government and Monsanto.[17] Intent on avoiding a similar
fate to Brazilian corn farmers, a Brazilian court banned the release of
Bayer’s GM corn. The ruling now establishes a new precedent that will
make the approval of future GMOs in that country more difficult.[18] And
China’s recent rejection of GMO corn importation has agro-giants
further worried as one of their largest potential markets takes a step
back to reevaluate the safety and environmental impact of GMOs.
An association between the rapid demise of bee populations and the
neonicotinoid class of pesticides has already been proven in the
scientific literature. European nations are now banning the use of
neonicotinoids to protect domestic bee and other pollinator populations.
Recent studies reveal that Monsanto’s Roundup herbicideis likewise are
contributing to the decline of honeybee populations. During the first
week of August, Mexican beekeepers in the state of Yucatan won a victory
to halt Monsanto’s plans to plant thousands of acres of Roundup ready
soybeans. After a careful review of the science, a Mexican judge ruled
that GMO soy agriculture is an economic threat and incompatible with the
state’s honey production, home for 25,000 families involved in
producing 40% of Mexico’s honey exports. The ruling is having a rippling
affect across other Mexican states involved in honey production.[19]
Big Ag’s only response to the failures of its genetic experimentation
has been to increase the development new GM seeds to compensate for the
failures of the old ones. In addition to genetically engineering seeds
to withstand every higher levels of pesticides, new traits are being
genetically engineered to withstand other toxic chemicals. In the US,
millions of acres of farmland growing GM corn, cotton and soy are
experiencing invasions of super weeds resistant to over-pesticide use.
As pesticide use increases, soil quality is further depleted and yield
per acre drops dramatically. The economic costs to farmers are becoming
unsustainable as expenditures to fight pests and weeds increase and
harvests diminish. A recent trend among farmers to revert back to
traditional or organic methods is gradually taking hold. This aligns
well with the last UN Commission on Trade and Development report warning
against corporate dominated monoculture farming methods and promoting
farm diversity and small scale organic farming as the most sustainable
way to feed to the world’s population.[20]
Aside from glyphosate, other pesticides are being genetically
engineered into new lines of GM Seeds. New varieties of GM cotton and
soy are in Monsanto’s pipeline and will likely pass with minimal review
through the USDA and FDA. These new GM strains now include resistant
genes to the pesticide dicamba. In addition to glyphosate’s long list of
human health risks, dicamba, a known neurotoxin, has been linked to
adverse reproductive and mental development effects. Against strong
public opposition, the US government will also likely approve Dow
Agroscience’s new Enlist corn and soy strains, a toxic cocktail of
glyphosate and the herbicide 2-4 D, best known as a major toxic
ingredient in Agent Orange that “has been linked to cancer, reproductive
effects, neurotoxicity, kidney/liver damage and birth and developmental
effects.”[21] Agent Orange contamination has resulted in genetic
abnormalities and the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people. Its use
as a bioweapon in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos is a sad reminder of the
extremes the US willing to take at the cost of innocent lives to reach
its foreign policy objectives. And now, out of desperation to preserve
agro-chemical agriculture and the GM corporations revenues, the US
government will resurrect one of the most toxic agrochemicals known and
introduce it into America’s food supply.
American acceptance of GMOs has been based upon unproven hypothesis
of “substantial equivalence” for over two decades. This ruling by the
USDA during the early years of the Clinton White House gave GM seed
companies a free pass to avoid submitting evidence provingGM food
safety. Since the ruling claims that GMOs are identical to non-GMOs no
compliance of safety regulations would apply. Therefore Big Ag firms do
not have to worry over strict regulatory hurdles, which otherwise apply
to other products such as pharmaceutical drugs, processed foods,
pesticides, cosmetics and chemical additives. However, a recent flurry
of research is now showing “substantial equivalence” is patently false.
Alexandria University in Egypt, the Permaculture Research Institute and
the Norwegian Center for Biosafety each found GMO crops to be
fundamentally different to their natural counterpart. In addition, new
studies are also showing that nutrient levels in traditional and
organically raised crops are substantially higher than GM varieties.
Aside from the scientific evidence and popular blowback condemning
GMOs, the agro-chemical industry is facing other challenges. If the US
government is unable to assume a leading role in the endeavor to save
American agriculture from a major systemic collapse, nor support the
agricultural sustainability and food security in other regions of the
world, perhaps other nations will.
In recent months, Russia has assumed an international leadership role
to confront the remaining uncertainties in the debate over GMO safety.
Russia has already placed a 3-year moratorium ban on GMO imports. Prime
Minister Medvedev is on record stating that Russia can be “self
sufficient” with only organic farming. The government is now requesting
the UN General Assembly to create an international GMO watchdog
organization to monitor Big Agriculture’s activities to influence other
nations to accept GM seeds and support independent research into the
long term impacts of GMOs. Unlike the US, the Russian government values
the voice of its people with over 75% of Russians preferring organic
produce.[22] On the other hand, over 90% of Americans support
GMO-labeling, yet Washington prefers to protect corporate interests.
However, the most important initiative Russia plans to undertake is
the creation of an international and independent team of researchers
from the US, UK, France, China and Russia to conduct long term studies
to determine once and for all GMO risks to human health, and whether or
not GMO crops might be used as genetically engineered bioweapons to
destroy ecosystems and threaten the lives of populations. The project is
being launched by a Russian NGO, Genetic Safety Public Association,
after it noted that a 2004 meeting of the NATO Committee on the
Challenges to Modern Society discussed the topic ofGMOs’ potential use
as “genetic weapons.” If properly funded, this would be the most
thorough international effort, without support from Big Ag corporations,
to provide transparent, publicly available data to settle the question
over GM safety.[23]
In conclusion, the good news is that GMO propaganda is increasingly
being exposed as fallacious. As time passes, more and more research will
inevitably emerge to further damn Monsanto and the GM experiment. It is
only a matter of time before the false promises of GMOs will be exposed
as orchestrated by Big Ag and the US government to control the world’s
food supply.
This is not to suggest that GM foods will disappear. Rather we can
expect an increase in a new volley of propaganda coming from private
industry and the US government tclaiming GM industrial agriculture is an
urgent solution to combat climate change and global warming, a global
threat worrying national economies throughout the world. We can expect
to hear more scientific denialism and junk science promulgated by the
White House, the small gangs of scientific determinists funded by Big Ag
and the pharmaceutical industry, and major media presstitutes. We can
expect to hear ever wilder and more irrational claims about how
GMO-based agriculture might reduce CO2 greenhouse pollution and save
humanity. In fact this was Secretary of State John Kerry’s recent drivel
at the US-African Leaders Summit in early August, urging African
nations to “concentrate on existing farmlands to make them more
productive” rather than expanding and developing new lands for
agriculture. Kerry, who has repeatedly proven to be a worthy successor
to Monsanto’s former mouthpiece Hillary Clinton, frequently regurgitates
Monsanto propaganda during his foreign policy circus roadshows. And
expect new trade agreements, written by corporations such as Monsanto to
be rammed through the international community by the US and its allies
that espouse the Washington Consensus to enforce international
acceptance of GMOs.
In short, out of desperation to reach global food dominance, the
agro-chemical industry and the US government will be declaring a full
food war against the peoples of the world.
Richard Gale is the Executive Producer of the Progressive Radio Network and a former Senior Research Analyst in the biotechnology and genomic industries.
Gary Null PhD is the host of the nation’s
longest running public radio program on nutrition and natural health and
a multi-award-winning director of progressive documentary films,
including Seeds of Death: Unveiling the Lies of GMOs, which is available
for free viewing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUd9rRSLY4A#t=24
Notes
[1] Jeff Ritterman, One Little Piggy Had Birth Defects: Is Monsanto’s Roundup to Blame? Truthout.org August 8, 2014
[3] M
Antoniou, J Fagan, C Robinson “GMO Myths and Truths: An Evidence-Based
Examination of the Claims Made for the Safety and Efficacy of
Genetically Modified Crops,” Earth Open Source. June 2012 p. 66
[4] “Roundup, An Herbicide, Could be Linked to Parkinson’s, Cancer and Other Health Issues, Study Shows” Reuters. April 25, 2013
[5] Gang
Wang, Xiao-Ning Fan, Yu-Yan Tan, Qi Cheng, Sheng-Di Chen Parkinsonism
after chronic occupational exposure to glyphosate. Parkinsonism
RelatDisord. 2011 Jul;17(6):486-7. Epub 2011 Mar 2
[7] ChannaJayasumana, SarathGunatilakeand PriyanthaSenanayake
Glyphosate, Hard Water and Nephrotoxic Metals: Are They the Culprits
Behind the Epidemic of Chronic Kidney Disease of Unknown Etiology in Sri
Lanka? Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health2014, 11(2), 2125-2147
[8] Dario Aranda “Cancer Danger in the GMO Fields” Pagina 12 (Argentina), June 23, 2014
[13] Guardian Newspaper Report Admits Widespread Failure of GM Btbrinjal” GMWatch June 5, 2014
[14] Deirdre Fulton, GMO Corn No Longer Resistant to Bugs Common Dreams 30 July 14
[16] “Karnataka bans Mahyco’s Cotton Seeds” Business Standard (india) March 28, 2014
[17] “Ten Years of Failure, Farmers Deceived by GM Corn” MASIPAG (Philippines) October 16, 2013
[18] “In
Historic Ruling, Brazilian Court Prevents the Release of Transgenic Corn
from Bayer” Terra de Direitos (Brazil) March 13, 2014
[23]
Christina Sarich. “Russian Activists Conduct Independent Studies Proving
GMOs Could be Genetic Weapons.” Natural Society 2014
Monsanto's Position on Labeling GMOs 
