GMO Bites – Challenges to Monsanto and GMO science

Dr. Thierry Vrain Challenges Science 2.0

• Dr. Thierry Vrain continues to speak about the dangers of GMOs. He was scheduled to give a lecture at the Museum of Science in Houston in April, but it was cancelled because of a last-minute storm of emails and a prominent blog by professor Kevin Folta of the University of Florida. The developing saga was posted on his Facebook page. Dr. Vrain’s reply (April 8, 2016) to professor Folta is excerpted below:

Dear Professor Folta:

Your blog, posted on your website www.science20.com, succeeded in cancelling my lecture at the Museum of Science in Houston. Rice University – next door – was eager to host the lecture and provided its media centre with excellent facilities, so no damage done, other than attracting the attention of the local press, as that kind of cancellation was so far unknown in Houston.

I appreciated your enthusiasm to “debunk junk GMO science,” but your remarks were misplaced, as I am not participating in the controversy about the genetic engineering technology. What I speak publicly about is the pollution of our food crops and contamination of our food with the herbicide RoundUp. I start my lecture by describing the molecule and its various uses (patents) then comment on a few papers showing toxicity.

I begin with a statement from the American Academy of Environmental Medicine, a group of medical doctors that took a public position in 2009 and requested a moratorium on engineered foods, based on their readings of scientific studies showing oxidative stress, infertility, immune system dysregulation, accelerated aging and changes in the gastrointestinal tract, including liver and kidney failure. These are MDs – perhaps not real scientists, but they can read animal studies.

I continue by explaining that most engineered crops today are RoundUp Ready. Yes, there are other crops engineered to resist pests or diseases, or with better nutrient profiles or engineered to tolerate environmental conditions or to reduce spoilage, but most of them are still on a minuscule acreage or still on the shelf. Most GMO crops today have been engineered with a bacterial gene to confer resistance to glyphosate. GMOs are Glyphosate Modified Organisms.

I speak of the origins of this molecule patented by Stauffer Chemicals in 1964 as a descaling agent, a chemical that cleans up the mineral scales in industrial pipes and boilers. In chemistry and biology we call it a powerful chelator. I go briefly over the phosphonic acid part of the molecule. And also glyphosate as an amino acid analog, easily mistaken and incorporated into proteins.

It did not take many years for somebody at the chemical corporation Monsanto to figure out that a chemical that kills bacteria and plants can make a lot more money if sold as an herbicide rather than as a descaling agent. The Patent Office granted a patent for a new use in 1969. The formulated herbicide was marketed in 1974 under the brand name RoundUp, a powerful and non-selective herbicide that kills plants and bacteria by shutting down their protein biochemical pathways, a wonderful product that has, in theory, no animal toxicity because animals do not have the vulnerable pathways.

The game changed in 1996 with the release of soy and corn RoundUp Ready crops engineered with a bacterial gene that can still function in the presence of the (antibiotic) chelator. Then we quickly had cotton, canola and sugar beet and these RoundUp Ready crops revolutionized industrial agriculture. The crops can be planted without the standard preventive weed control. They are sprayed later when most of the weeds have sprouted and more than one spray is normal. And the game changed again when it became normal to spray non-engineered crops just before harvest to chemically dry them. The antibiotic/herbicide has been sprayed on most grain and seed crops as a dessicant for many years now. Of course, the residue levels must be much higher in foods made from grains and seeds that were sprayed just before harvest than engineered crops sprayed in the first few weeks of their growth. We have gone from using this chemical as a regular herbicide to spraying before planting the crops to spraying once or twice a few weeks later during the early growth of the plants, to finally spraying the crops a week before harvest. Extreme residue levels of glyphosate in food crops are now considered legal and normal.

Then comes the second part of my lecture where I comment on several studies showing toxicity. Glyphosate, the active ingredient of the herbicide RoundUp is patented as an antiparasitic agent (and non-selective antibiotic). I call glyphosate an antibiotic masquerading as an herbicide. As an antibiotic, glyphosate kills bacteria at 1 ppm – a clear and present danger.

In case you are not too familiar with recent discoveries in microbiome research, allow me to make a brief summary. All animals have a symbiotic association with trillions of bacteria that appear essential to their good health. This community of thousands of species of bacteria we call the microbiome. In humans, it is mostly in the intestine. Most of our organs are influenced by these symbionts. Another way to say it is that most of our organs depend on the integrity of the microbiome, notably the brain and the immune and digestive systems. Residues of antibiotic glyphosate higher than one part per million in our food could result in damages to the microbiome and lead to epidemics of chronic illnesses like autism, diabetes, Alzheimer’s and cancer.

Monsanto and the regulatory agencies have not released their data on the levels of contamination in Canada and in the US. Perhaps you have data to document that the residues in most foods are below1 ppm; please let me know.

I spend the rest of my lecture reviewing a few papers reporting on cell and animal experiments and cite studies showing endocrine disruption, oxidative stress, inflammation and cancer. WHO consulting experts – like Professor Portier – say it well on cancer risk in this German documentary on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQkQXyiynYs

I finish with the peer-reviewed study of Dr. Nancy Swanson, who analyzed masses of data from the Centre for Disease Control [providing] statistics on autism, Alzheimer’s, dementia, organ failure and cancer.

I believe the time has come for glyphosate to return to its days as an herbicide sprayed on weeds. The social and medical costs of spraying our food crops with this antibiotic to kill weeds are too high to justify its current use in industrial agriculture.

For more information, see www.facebook.com/thierry.vrain

California to label ‘Roundup’ as “Cancer Causing”

Last year, California dealt Monsanto a blow when the state’s Environmental Protection Agency decided to list glyphosate – the toxic main ingredient in the US’ best-selling weedkiller, Roundup – as known to cause cancer.

Under the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 – usually referred to as Proposition 65, its original name ­– chemicals that cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm are required to be listed and published by the state. Chemicals also end up on the list if found to be carcinogenic by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a branch of the World Health Organization.

In March of 2015, the IARC released a report that found glyphosate to be a “probable carcinogen.” Besides the “convincing evidence” the herbicide can cause cancer in lab animals, the report also found, “Case-control studies of occupational exposure in the U.S.A., Canada and Sweden reported increased risk for non-Hodgkin lymphoma that persisted after adjustments to other pesticides.”

California’s decision to place glyphosate on the toxic chemicals list is the first of its kind. As Dr. Nathan Donley of the Center for Biological Diversity said in an email to Ecowatch, “As far as I’m aware, this is the first regulatory agency within the US to determine that glyphosate is a carcinogen. So this is a very big deal.”

Roundup is sprayed on crops around the world, particularly with Monsanto’s Roundup-Ready varieties – genetically engineered to tolerate large doses of the herbicide to facilitate blanket application without harming crops. Controversy has surrounded this practice for years…

Less than a week after the WHO issued its report naming glyphosate carcinogenic, Monsanto called for a retraction.

An appeals court in Lyon, France, upheld a 2012 ruling in favour of farmer Paul Francois, who claimed he had been chemically poisoned and suffered neurological damage after inhaling Monsanto’s weedkiller, Lasso.

Source: www.theeventchronicle.com

5 Million Nigerians oppose Monsanto’s plans to introduce GMO cotton and corn

More than 100 groups representing over five million Nigerians, comprised of farmers, faith-based organizations, civil society groups, students and local community groups, are vehemently opposing Monsanto’s attempts to introduce genetically modified (GM) cotton and maize into Nigeria’s food and farming systems. In written objections submitted to the biosafety regulators, the groups have cited numerous serious health and environmental concerns and the failure of these crops especially GM cotton in Africa.

Monsanto Agricultural Nigeria Limited has applied to the National Biosafety Management Agency (NABMA) for the environmental release and placing in the market in Zaria and surrounding towns of GM cotton. A further application is for the confined field trial (CFT) of two GM maize varieties in multiple locations in Nigeria.

Source: www.gmo-free-regions.org

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