Backyard Aquaponics
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A study published in September in The Food & Chemical Toxicology Journal found that rats fed Monsanto’s genetically modified corn over several months showed significant health problems including premature death and tumors
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The study found that over half of the male rats and 70 percent of the females who were fed a lifetime of Monsanto’s corn died prematurely with significant liver and kidney damage. Scientists also found the rats to contain cancerous tumors so large they blocked organ function. While numerous studies have examined their short-term impact, this is the first ever study to examine the long-term effects of eating GMOs

In a new research(1) published in the highly ranked scientific journal Toxicology, Robin Mesnage, Benoit Bernay and Professor Gilles-Eric Seralini, from the University of Caen, France, have proven (from a study of nine Roundup-like herbicides) that the most toxic compound is not glyphosate, which is the substance the most assessed by regulatory authorities, but a compound that is not always listed on the label, called POE-15. Modern methods were applied at the cellular level (on three human cell lines), and mass spectrometry (studies on the nature of molecules). This allowed the researchers to identify and analyse the effects of these compounds.

Context: Glyphosate is supposed to be the "active ingredient" of Roundup, the most widely used herbicide in the world, and it is present in a large group of Roundup-like herbicides. It has been safety tested on mammals for the purposes of regulatory risk assessment.

But the commercial formulations of these pesticides as they are sold and used contain added ingredients (adjuvants). These are often classified confidential and described as "inerts". However, they help to stabilize the chemical compound glyphosate and help it to penetrate plants, in the manner of corrosive detergents. The formulated herbicides (including Roundup) can affect all living cells, especially human cells.

This danger is overlooked because glyphosate and Roundup are treated as the same by industry and regulators in long-term studies.

The supposed non-toxicity of glyphosate serves as a basis for the commercial release of Roundup. The health and environmental agencies and pesticide companies assess the long-term effects on mammals of glyphosate alone, and not the full formulation. The details of this regulatory assessment are jealously kept confidential by companies like Monsanto and health and environmental agencies.

Researchers from the University of Caen in France reported that rats fed on a diet of GM Maize tolerant to NK603 Roundup or given water containing the said herbicide at levels permitted in drinking water in the US experienced death earlier than usual as compared to those rats fed on a standard diet. The researchers also discovered that the study group also developed mammary tumors and severe kidney and liver damage.

The said study, conducted by a team of researchers headed by Professor Gilles-Eric Seralini, a molecular biologist and co-director of the Risk Quality and Sustainable Environment Unit at the University of Caen, is believed to be the very first long-term animal feeding trial on mice in order to evaluate the effects of Roundup herbicide and the Roundup tolerant GM Maize. The said study analyzed 10 groups of mice, composed of 10 males and 10 females each, and followed over their normal lifetime, which is an average of two years. Previous feeding trials required by regulatory bodies in the US only required a 90-day feeding trial for approval of new GM crops and products.

Of the study groups, three were given Roundup in their drinking water at three different levels that are consistent with the normal exposure of the food chain in areas where the herbicide is being used. Another three groups were fed with diets that contain NK603 at 11 percent, 22 percent and 33 percent in terms of proportion. Another three groups were given both NK603 and Roundup at the same three dosages. A final control group was given an equivalent diet that contained no NK603 or Roundup but containing 33 percent of the equivalent of non-GM Maize.

Results showed that both NK603 and Roundup caused the same damage to the rats health when either one is consumed or both. The study showed that the female rats developed mammary tumors and pituitary disorders. The male rats showed liver damage and developed skin and kidney tumors. Up to 50 percent of the male rats and 70 percent of the females died prematurely. Other results found include 50 percent to 80 percent of the rats developing tumors 2 to 3 times more than the control group, of which only 30 percent were affected. The first tumors were seen to have developed in the 4th month of the study in males and on the 7th month in females. In the control group, the first tumors were seen after 14 months in the female control group and on the 23th month for the males.

I'm not going to admonish a field of research because a few companies are run by the devil.

Again, all I find is lack of evidence on either side. The anti-GMO's play to much on emotion and "we don't know" which makes me skeptical. I'm not going to admonish a field of research because a few companies are run by the devil.

Among other criticisms, the panel of EFSA scientists that reviewed the paper said the authors had failed to establish appropriate control groups as part of the study, and had chosen a strain of rat that is prone to developing tumors during its normal lifespan.
"Therefore, EFSA concludes that the study as reported does not impact the ongoing re-evaluation of glyphosate and does not see a need to reopen the existing safety evaluation of maize NK603," the panel concluded.

Journeyman, I know that study and it's shit. They didn't follow basic scientific protocols. It was something like 10 control rats and and absurd amount of test rats. Not to mention using a breed of rat that has the highest tumor rate which expounds how much the lack of comparative control skews the %'s.

Also, Monsanto is not the personification of GMo research. It is an evil corporation. Protest Monsanto and the like, not the technology.

@Yavimaya - which is why I brought in the subject of biodiversity and monocultures.

But GM ingestion DOES matter in humans just as it matters in what we eat. Gene splicing is new but we already know enough to know that almost always, it is critical WHERE in the chromosome you place the gene, and I have yet to see any such controls being talked about with GM tech.

And it is far more than a few extra cancers - go to the PDF link I posted earlier and have a read - it isn't very long and has a host of references to back up what it says.

GM is already dangerous and you only have to see the laws being passed to protect Monsanto (and others) from ANY type of responsibility to realise there is something VERY smelly in Denmark... well the USA and the GM world to be more accurate.

The other link I gave to Monsanto-Government explains just WHY such legislation is being passed. A basic understanding of how the USA wields its power across the world will help understand why places like the EU are so gung-ho on doing the bidding of US Corporations, even if we ignore the corruption side of things.