GM foods seen as unfit for consumption

Consumers should avoid GM foods until their safety is proven by independent studies, as the products can cause adverse health effects, according to the American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM).

 

AAEM has called for the required labelling of foods containing GMOs, a move that has been strongly opposed by the Food and Drug Administration and Big Biotech.

 

While urging for more independent studies, the AEEM cites its own studies, saying that GM foods causes health effects such as rapid aging, severe alterations to the major body organs, infertility, immune problems, gastrointestinal dysfunction, and disruption to proper insulin regulation, among others.

 

Biologist Pushpa M. Bhargava, following the review of more than 600 scientific journals, concluded that the rapid deterioration of Americans' health in recent years can be attributed to GMOs being introduced into their diets.

 

Biologist David Schubert of the Salk Institute said children are most likely to experience the adverse effects of GMOs. There are concerns that consumers are treated as guinea pigs when GM foods are introduced into the food supply without adequate safety studies and labelling. 

 

In conducted animal studies, the following have been discovered about GMOs:

• Female rats fed GM soy saw most of their babies die within three weeks compared to the 10 percent death rate experienced by rats fed natural soy. Surviving babies fed on GM soy were also born smaller and had fertility problems later on.
   
• Male rats fed GM soy experienced a change in testicular colour from pink to dark blue, as well as altered young sperm and significant changes in their DNA.
   
• Indian buffalo fed GM cottonseed experienced various reproduction complications including infertility, abortions, premature delivery, and prolapsed uteruses. Many surviving calves died shortly thereafter.
   
• In the US, about 24 farmers reported that their pigs became sterile after consuming GM corn.

Several studies said that GM corn, which were designed to create their own built-in pesticide called Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis), provoke intense allergic and immune reactions and death. Bt corn was believed to be responsible for killing several animals and livestock in Germany and the Philippines.

 

The AEEM study also said GMOs can survive and reproduce in the intestinal flora of the body long after consumption. The GM gens will transfer into the DNA of intestinal bacteria, causing the intestinal flora to begin reproducing Bt pesticides, a health implication that could be deadly, the study said.

 

It is hypothesised that the disease-causing symptoms of GMOs will take years to show up. Current data shows that since 1996 when GM crops were first introduced, the incidences of people with three or more chronic diseases has jumped from seven percent to 13 percent, according to AAEM.

 

AAEM urges its members, the scientific and medical communities to continue gathering case studies and initiate epidemiological research to help determine, once and for all, the effects of GMOs on humans and animals.

 

AAEM encourages the consumers to contact grocers, food manufacturers and restaurants to inquire about GM ingredients and oppose their use, and an increasing number of people avoiding GM products could lead to producers and retailers phasing them out.