de Vendômois, J.S., Roullier, F., Cellier1, D., Séralini, G.-E. 2009. A Comparison of the Effects of Three GM Corn Varieties on Mammalian Health. Int J Biol Sci 5(7):706-726
We present for the first time a comparative analysis of blood and organ system data from trials with rats fed three main commercialized genetically modified (GM) maize (NK 603, MON 810, MON 863), which are present in food and feed in the world. NK 603 has been modified to be tolerant to the broad spectrum herbicide Roundup and thus contains residues of this formulation. MON 810 and MON 863 are engineered to synthesize two different Bt toxins used as insecticides. Approximately 60 different biochemical parameters were classified per organ and measured in serum and urine after 5 and 14 weeks of feeding. GM maize-fed rats were compared first to their respective isogenic or parental non-GM equivalent control groups. This was followed by comparison to six reference groups, which had consumed various other non-GM maize varieties. We applied nonparametric methods, including multiple pairwise comparisons with a False Discovery Rate approach. Principal Component Analysis allowed the investigation of scattering of different factors (sex, weeks of feeding, diet, dose and group). Our analysis clearly reveals for the 3 GMOs new side effects linked with GM maize consumption, which were sex- and often dose-dependent. Effects were mostly associated with the kidney and liver, the dietary detoxifying organs, although different between the 3 GMOs. Other effects were also noticed in the heart, adrenal glands, spleen and haematopoietic system. We conclude that these data highlight signs of hepatorenal toxicity, possibly due to the new pesticides specific to each GM corn. In addition, unintended direct or indirect metabolic consequences of the genetic modification cannot be excluded.
http://www.biolsci.org/v05p0706.htm#headingA11
Showing posts with label B. t.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label B. t.. Show all posts
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Maternal and fetal exposure to pesticides associated to genetically modified foods in Eastern Townships of Quebec, Canada
Another interesting study to add to the small mountain of evidence that so many people say doesn't exist:
If you can't access that, well, try clicking on the label below my original blog post for other interesting science on the human health effects of genetically engineered crops. Fascinating.
Friday, December 05, 2008
The Human Health Effects of B. t. and Starlink
I gathered this information a few years ago, but yesterday's questions have prompted me to post this all for public consumption, as it were:
From 2001 until 2004, a US subsidiary of the Swiss firm Syngenta allowed American farmers to plant 15,000 hectares of corn, or maize, that had been modified with an unapproved version of the B. t. gene (see Nature 434, 423; 2005).
Small batches of the unapproved seed were also exported to Europe. After Nature revealed this mistake, Syngenta claimed that there was no significant difference between the approved genetically modified corn, called Bt11, and the corn that had been inadvertently released, called Bt10. Only later did the company admit that Bt10 differs from Bt11 in that it contains an additional gene that confers resistance to the antibiotic ampicillin (see Nature 434, 548; 2005), a difference that most experts agree is of some significance. Even Monsanto says: “Rats fed B. t. corn developed kidney inflammation, altered blood cell counts and organ lesions. These and other changes suggested possible allergies, infections, toxins, anemia or blood pressure problems.”
StarLink corn was a product of the Aventis Corporation. It contained Cry9c, a B. t. protein that is heat stable and can not be excluded as an allergen. [Cry9c (MW of 68 kDa) shows some characteristics of known food allergens and relative resistance to gastric proteolytic degradation and to heat and acid treatment. It is probably a glycoprotein. It induces a positive IgE response in the Brown Norway rat and is a high IgE responder on intraperitoneal and oral sensitization (in contrast to the related Cry1Ab5 protein). It may be found intact in the bloodstream after oral feeding in a rat model.] It was approved by the EPA as a pesticide when produced for sale as an animal feed. In September 2000, it contaminated the human food supply.
StarLink corn was a product of the Aventis Corporation. It contained Cry9c, a B. t. protein that is heat stable and can not be excluded as an allergen. [Cry9c (MW of 68 kDa) shows some characteristics of known food allergens and relative resistance to gastric proteolytic degradation and to heat and acid treatment. It is probably a glycoprotein. It induces a positive IgE response in the Brown Norway rat and is a high IgE responder on intraperitoneal and oral sensitization (in contrast to the related Cry1Ab5 protein). It may be found intact in the bloodstream after oral feeding in a rat model.] It was approved by the EPA as a pesticide when produced for sale as an animal feed. In September 2000, it contaminated the human food supply.
Upon dry milling, the Cry9c content is reduced by 40 percent. Additional processing, such as alkaline cooking, decreases the protein content to 0.1 to 0.2 percent of the original Cry9c protein (FIFRA SAP, 2000b). This suggests a further reduction in allergenic potency; however, protein denaturation by heat or partial proteolysis may uncover new allergenic epitopes [An epitope is the part of a foreign organism or its proteins that is being recognized by the immune system and targeted by antibodies, cytotoxic T cells or both] (FIFRA SAP, 2000; Hefle, 1996 in Kuiper et al. 2001).
There was no way to easily determine if consumption of this genetically engineered protein was resulting in allergic reactions in humans. Fifty-one people reported signs and symptoms that varied from gastrointestinal illness to anaphylactic shock. These reports were entered into the FDA’s adverse events reporting system (Bucchini & Goldman 2002).
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention developed a case definition that included: a suspected anaphylactic reaction that occurred within 1 hr of product consumption, dizziness, weakness or loss of consciousness; any of the following dermatological or oropharyngeal symptoms that occurred within 12 hr of product consumption, hives, rash, pruritus, oropharyngeal tingling or swelling; any of the following gastrointestinal symptoms that occurred within 12 hr of product consumption, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal cramping (only experienced by one individual). These symptoms were not explained by any preexisting medical conditions.
Twenty-eight of the 51 reports were consistent with the case definition (Bernstein et al. 2005). A serological test for antibodies specific to acute hypersensitivity was considered to be the safest way to evaluate whether any of these people were indeed sensitive to the genetically modified protein in StarLink. The FDA developed an Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) test that found no IgE [Immunoglobulin E (IgE) is the least abundant antibody subclass, i.e., isotype, capable of triggering the most powerful immune reactions. Proteins that bind IgE from people with allergies are likely to be allergens.] antibody reactivity to Cry9c in any of the serum samples. The U.S. EPA SAP reviewed these data in 2001 and concluded that the technical approach for the detection of Cry9c protein and antigen-specific [For those of us not practicing the black art, an antigen is a foreign substance, e.g., a toxin, which induces an immune response in the body, esp. the production of antibodies.] IgEs is limited and cannot resolve the issue of the presence or absence of Cry9c-specific IgE in the serum of individuals reporting adverse reactions after eating corn (Bucchini & Goldman 2002).
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention developed a case definition that included: a suspected anaphylactic reaction that occurred within 1 hr of product consumption, dizziness, weakness or loss of consciousness; any of the following dermatological or oropharyngeal symptoms that occurred within 12 hr of product consumption, hives, rash, pruritus, oropharyngeal tingling or swelling; any of the following gastrointestinal symptoms that occurred within 12 hr of product consumption, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal cramping (only experienced by one individual). These symptoms were not explained by any preexisting medical conditions.
Twenty-eight of the 51 reports were consistent with the case definition (Bernstein et al. 2005). A serological test for antibodies specific to acute hypersensitivity was considered to be the safest way to evaluate whether any of these people were indeed sensitive to the genetically modified protein in StarLink. The FDA developed an Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) test that found no IgE [Immunoglobulin E (IgE) is the least abundant antibody subclass, i.e., isotype, capable of triggering the most powerful immune reactions. Proteins that bind IgE from people with allergies are likely to be allergens.] antibody reactivity to Cry9c in any of the serum samples. The U.S. EPA SAP reviewed these data in 2001 and concluded that the technical approach for the detection of Cry9c protein and antigen-specific [For those of us not practicing the black art, an antigen is a foreign substance, e.g., a toxin, which induces an immune response in the body, esp. the production of antibodies.] IgEs is limited and cannot resolve the issue of the presence or absence of Cry9c-specific IgE in the serum of individuals reporting adverse reactions after eating corn (Bucchini & Goldman 2002).
Raybourne et al. (2003) came to the conclusion that, “while the results do not support the likely occurrence of allergic reactions to Cry9c, such reactions cannot be ruled out, nor can the possibility that sera might react with unique glycosylated epitopes of Cry9c that might be expressed in the corn plant/seed.”
The FDA’s IgE-specific ELISA did not include the StarLink-derived Cry9c protein, but the recombinant Cry9c expressed in E. coli as an antigen. It is possible that epitopes present on Cry9c in maize may not be present in the non-glycosylated E. coli-derived protein. A specific goat serum against Cry9c was included in the ELISA, as there was no human serum available that contained the IgE antibody to Cry9c. The result is that the possibility of lack of specificity for human anti-Cry9c IgE cannot be entirely dismissed (CDC 2001b and CDC 2001c in Kuiper et al. 2001).
Literature Cited:
Bucchini, L., Goldman., L. 2002. Starlink corn: a risk analysis. Environmental Health Perspectives 110(1): 5-13
Kuiper, H., G. Kleter, H. Noteborn and E. Kok. 2001. Assessment of the food safety issues related to genetically modified foods. The Plant Journal 27(6): 503-528
Kuiper, H., G. Kleter, H. Noteborn and E. Kok. 2001. Assessment of the food safety issues related to genetically modified foods. The Plant Journal 27(6): 503-528
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Collapsing colonies
[The mite problem has threatened bees in Canada for a few years, at least.]
Are GM Crops Killing Bees?
By Gunther Latsch
A mysterious decimation of bee populations has German beekeepers worried, while a similar phenomenon in the United States is gradually assuming catastrophic proportions. The consequences for agriculture and the economy could be enormous.
Is the mysterous decimation of bee populations in the US and Germany a result of GM crops?
Walter Haefeker is a man who is used to painting grim scenarios. He sits on the board of directors of the German Beekeepers Association (DBIB) and is vice president of the European Professional Beekeepers Association. And because griping is part of a lobbyist's trade, it is practically his professional duty to warn that "the very existence of beekeeping is at stake."
The problem, says Haefeker, has a number of causes, one being the varroa mite, introduced from Asia, and another is the widespread practice in agriculture of spraying wildflowers with herbicides and practicing monoculture. Another possible cause, according to Haefeker, is the controversial and growing use of genetic engineering in agriculture.
As far back as 2005, Haefeker ended an article he contributed to the journal Der Kritischer Agrarbericht (Critical Agricultural Report) with an Albert Einstein quote: "If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man."
Mysterious events in recent months have suddenly made Einstein's apocalyptic vision seem all the more topical. For unknown reasons, bee populations throughout Germany are disappearing -- something that is so far only harming beekeepers. But the situation is different in the United States, where bees are dying in such dramatic numbers that the economic consequences could soon be dire. No one knows what is causing the bees to perish, but some experts believe that the large-scale use of genetically modified plants in the US could be a factor.
Felix Kriechbaum, an official with a regional beekeepers' association in Bavaria, recently reported a decline of almost 12 percent in local bee populations. When "bee populations disappear without a trace," says Kriechbaum, it is difficult to investigate the causes, because "most bees don't die in the beehive." There are many diseases that can cause bees to lose their sense of orientation so they can no longer find their way back to their hives.
Manfred Hederer, the president of the German Beekeepers Association, almost simultaneously reported a 25 percent drop in bee populations throughout Germany. In isolated cases, says Hederer, declines of up to 80 percent have been reported. He speculates that "a particular toxin, some agent with which we are not familiar," is killing the bees.
Politicians, until now, have shown little concern for such warnings or the woes of beekeepers. Although apiarists have been given a chance to make their case -- for example in the run-up to the German cabinet's approval of a genetic engineering policy document by Minister of Agriculture Horst Seehofer in February - their complaints are still largely ignored.
Even when beekeepers actually go to court, as they recently did in a joint effort with the German chapter of the organic farming organization Demeter International and other groups to oppose the use of genetically modified corn plants, they can only dream of the sort of media attention environmental organizations like Greenpeace attract with their protests at test sites.
But that could soon change. Since last November, the US has seen a decline in bee populations so dramatic that it eclipses all previous incidences of mass mortality. Beekeepers on the east coast of the United States complain that they have lost more than 70 percent of their stock since late last year, while the west coast has seen a decline of up to 60 percent.
In an article in its business section in late February, the New York Times calculated the damage US agriculture would suffer if bees died out. Experts at Cornell University in upstate New York have estimated the value bees generate - by pollinating fruit and vegetable plants, almond trees and animal feed like clover - at more than $14 billion.
Scientists call the mysterious phenomenon "Colony Collapse Disorder" (CCD), and it is fast turning into a national catastrophe of sorts. A number of universities and government agencies have formed a "CCD Working Group" to search for the causes of the calamity, but have so far come up empty-handed. But, like Dennis vanEngelsdorp, an apiarist with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, they are already referring to the problem as a potential "AIDS for the bee industry."
One thing is certain: Millions of bees have simply vanished. In most cases, all that's left in the hives are the doomed offspring. But dead bees are nowhere to be found -- neither in nor anywhere close to the hives. Diana Cox-Foster, a member of the CCD Working Group, told The Independent that researchers were "extremely alarmed," adding that the crisis "has the potential to devastate the US beekeeping industry."
It is particularly worrisome, she said, that the bees' death is accompanied by a set of symptoms "which does not seem to match anything in the literature."
In many cases, scientists have found evidence of almost all known bee viruses in the few surviving bees found in the hives after most have disappeared. Some had five or six infections at the same time and were infested with fungi - a sign, experts say, that the insects' immune system may have collapsed.
The scientists are also surprised that bees and other insects usually leave the abandoned hives untouched. Nearby bee populations or parasites would normally raid the honey and pollen stores of colonies that have died for other reasons, such as excessive winter cold. "This suggests that there is something toxic in the colony itself which is repelling them," says Cox-Foster.
Walter Haefeker, the German beekeeping official, speculates that "besides a number of other factors," the fact that genetically modified, insect-resistant plants are now used in 40 percent of cornfields in the United States could be playing a role. The figure is much lower in Germany -- only 0.06 percent - and most of that occurs in the eastern states of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Brandenburg. Haefeker recently sent a researcher at the CCD Working Group some data from a bee study that he has long felt shows a possible connection between genetic engineering and diseases in bees.
The study in question is a small research project conducted at the University of Jena from 2001 to 2004. The researchers examined the effects of pollen from a genetically modified maize variant called "B. t. corn" on bees. A gene from a soil bacterium had been inserted into the corn that enabled the plant to produce an agent that is toxic to insect pests. The study concluded that there was no evidence of a "toxic effect of B. t. corn on healthy honeybee populations." But when, by sheer chance, the bees used in the experiments were infested with a parasite, something eerie happened. According to the Jena study, a "significantly stronger decline in the number of bees" occurred among the insects that had been fed a highly concentrated B. t. poison feed.
According to Hans-Hinrich Kaatz, a professor at the University of Halle in eastern Germany and the director of the study, the bacterial toxin in the genetically modified corn may have "altered the surface of the bee's intestines, sufficiently weakening the bees to allow the parasites to gain entry - or perhaps it was the other way around. We don't know."
Of course, the concentration of the toxin was ten times higher in the experiments than in normal B. t. corn pollen. In addition, the bee feed was administered over a relatively lengthy six-week period.
Kaatz would have preferred to continue studying the phenomenon but lacked the necessary funding. "Those who have the money are not interested in this sort of research," says the professor, "and those who are interested don't have the money."Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan
Are GM Crops Killing Bees?
By Gunther Latsch
A mysterious decimation of bee populations has German beekeepers worried, while a similar phenomenon in the United States is gradually assuming catastrophic proportions. The consequences for agriculture and the economy could be enormous.
Is the mysterous decimation of bee populations in the US and Germany a result of GM crops?
Walter Haefeker is a man who is used to painting grim scenarios. He sits on the board of directors of the German Beekeepers Association (DBIB) and is vice president of the European Professional Beekeepers Association. And because griping is part of a lobbyist's trade, it is practically his professional duty to warn that "the very existence of beekeeping is at stake."
The problem, says Haefeker, has a number of causes, one being the varroa mite, introduced from Asia, and another is the widespread practice in agriculture of spraying wildflowers with herbicides and practicing monoculture. Another possible cause, according to Haefeker, is the controversial and growing use of genetic engineering in agriculture.
As far back as 2005, Haefeker ended an article he contributed to the journal Der Kritischer Agrarbericht (Critical Agricultural Report) with an Albert Einstein quote: "If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man."
Mysterious events in recent months have suddenly made Einstein's apocalyptic vision seem all the more topical. For unknown reasons, bee populations throughout Germany are disappearing -- something that is so far only harming beekeepers. But the situation is different in the United States, where bees are dying in such dramatic numbers that the economic consequences could soon be dire. No one knows what is causing the bees to perish, but some experts believe that the large-scale use of genetically modified plants in the US could be a factor.
Felix Kriechbaum, an official with a regional beekeepers' association in Bavaria, recently reported a decline of almost 12 percent in local bee populations. When "bee populations disappear without a trace," says Kriechbaum, it is difficult to investigate the causes, because "most bees don't die in the beehive." There are many diseases that can cause bees to lose their sense of orientation so they can no longer find their way back to their hives.
Manfred Hederer, the president of the German Beekeepers Association, almost simultaneously reported a 25 percent drop in bee populations throughout Germany. In isolated cases, says Hederer, declines of up to 80 percent have been reported. He speculates that "a particular toxin, some agent with which we are not familiar," is killing the bees.
Politicians, until now, have shown little concern for such warnings or the woes of beekeepers. Although apiarists have been given a chance to make their case -- for example in the run-up to the German cabinet's approval of a genetic engineering policy document by Minister of Agriculture Horst Seehofer in February - their complaints are still largely ignored.
Even when beekeepers actually go to court, as they recently did in a joint effort with the German chapter of the organic farming organization Demeter International and other groups to oppose the use of genetically modified corn plants, they can only dream of the sort of media attention environmental organizations like Greenpeace attract with their protests at test sites.
But that could soon change. Since last November, the US has seen a decline in bee populations so dramatic that it eclipses all previous incidences of mass mortality. Beekeepers on the east coast of the United States complain that they have lost more than 70 percent of their stock since late last year, while the west coast has seen a decline of up to 60 percent.
In an article in its business section in late February, the New York Times calculated the damage US agriculture would suffer if bees died out. Experts at Cornell University in upstate New York have estimated the value bees generate - by pollinating fruit and vegetable plants, almond trees and animal feed like clover - at more than $14 billion.
Scientists call the mysterious phenomenon "Colony Collapse Disorder" (CCD), and it is fast turning into a national catastrophe of sorts. A number of universities and government agencies have formed a "CCD Working Group" to search for the causes of the calamity, but have so far come up empty-handed. But, like Dennis vanEngelsdorp, an apiarist with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, they are already referring to the problem as a potential "AIDS for the bee industry."
One thing is certain: Millions of bees have simply vanished. In most cases, all that's left in the hives are the doomed offspring. But dead bees are nowhere to be found -- neither in nor anywhere close to the hives. Diana Cox-Foster, a member of the CCD Working Group, told The Independent that researchers were "extremely alarmed," adding that the crisis "has the potential to devastate the US beekeeping industry."
It is particularly worrisome, she said, that the bees' death is accompanied by a set of symptoms "which does not seem to match anything in the literature."
In many cases, scientists have found evidence of almost all known bee viruses in the few surviving bees found in the hives after most have disappeared. Some had five or six infections at the same time and were infested with fungi - a sign, experts say, that the insects' immune system may have collapsed.
The scientists are also surprised that bees and other insects usually leave the abandoned hives untouched. Nearby bee populations or parasites would normally raid the honey and pollen stores of colonies that have died for other reasons, such as excessive winter cold. "This suggests that there is something toxic in the colony itself which is repelling them," says Cox-Foster.
Walter Haefeker, the German beekeeping official, speculates that "besides a number of other factors," the fact that genetically modified, insect-resistant plants are now used in 40 percent of cornfields in the United States could be playing a role. The figure is much lower in Germany -- only 0.06 percent - and most of that occurs in the eastern states of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Brandenburg. Haefeker recently sent a researcher at the CCD Working Group some data from a bee study that he has long felt shows a possible connection between genetic engineering and diseases in bees.
The study in question is a small research project conducted at the University of Jena from 2001 to 2004. The researchers examined the effects of pollen from a genetically modified maize variant called "B. t. corn" on bees. A gene from a soil bacterium had been inserted into the corn that enabled the plant to produce an agent that is toxic to insect pests. The study concluded that there was no evidence of a "toxic effect of B. t. corn on healthy honeybee populations." But when, by sheer chance, the bees used in the experiments were infested with a parasite, something eerie happened. According to the Jena study, a "significantly stronger decline in the number of bees" occurred among the insects that had been fed a highly concentrated B. t. poison feed.
According to Hans-Hinrich Kaatz, a professor at the University of Halle in eastern Germany and the director of the study, the bacterial toxin in the genetically modified corn may have "altered the surface of the bee's intestines, sufficiently weakening the bees to allow the parasites to gain entry - or perhaps it was the other way around. We don't know."
Of course, the concentration of the toxin was ten times higher in the experiments than in normal B. t. corn pollen. In addition, the bee feed was administered over a relatively lengthy six-week period.
Kaatz would have preferred to continue studying the phenomenon but lacked the necessary funding. "Those who have the money are not interested in this sort of research," says the professor, "and those who are interested don't have the money."Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Friday, March 31, 2006
Vidharbha, India
33 FARMERS COMMIT SUICIDE IN LAST 10 DAYS
Vidharbha's agrarian crisis has worsened. The farm group Vidharbha Janadolan Samiti (VJS) says these farmers are the innocent victims of failed government policies. These policies include promoting B. t. cotton. Over 300 of the farmers who committed suicide in the cotton-growing heartland opted for B. t. cotton, which failed.
http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6388
See chart showing farmer suicide locations since June 2005 at http://www.gmwatch.org/p1temp.asp?pid=71&page=1
Vidharbha's agrarian crisis has worsened. The farm group Vidharbha Janadolan Samiti (VJS) says these farmers are the innocent victims of failed government policies. These policies include promoting B. t. cotton. Over 300 of the farmers who committed suicide in the cotton-growing heartland opted for B. t. cotton, which failed.
http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6388
See chart showing farmer suicide locations since June 2005 at http://www.gmwatch.org/p1temp.asp?pid=71&page=1
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