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http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0108-01.htm
by Geoffrey Lean
|
babies, startling new research suggests.
Mortality rate for new-born rats six times higher when mother was
fed on a diet of modified soya
The study - carried out by a leading scientist at the Russian
Academy of Sciences - found that more than half of the offspring of
rats fed on modified soya died in the first three weeks of life, six
times as many as those born to mothers with normal diets. Six times
as many were also severely underweight.
The research - which is being prepared for publication - is just one
of a clutch of recent studies that are reviving fears that GM food
damages human health. Italian research has found that modified soya
affected the liver and pancreas of mice. Australia had to abandon a
decade-long attempt to develop modified peas when an official study
found they caused lung damage.
And last May this newspaper revealed a secret report by the biotech
giant Monsanto, which showed that rats fed a diet rich in GM corn
had smaller kidneys and higher blood cell counts, suggesting
possible damage to their immune systems, than those that ate a
similar conventional one.
The United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization held a
workshop on the safety of genetically modified foods at its Rome
headquarters late last year. The workshop was addressed by
scientists whose research had raised concerns about health dangers.
But the World Trade Organization is expected next month to support a
bid by the Bush administration to force European countries to accept
GM foods.
The Russian research threatens to have an explosive effect on
already hostile public opinion. Carried out by Dr Irina Ermakova at
the Institute of Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology of the
Russian Academy of Sciences, it is believed to be the first to look
at the effects of GM food on the unborn.
The scientist added flour from a GM soya bean - produced by Monsanto
to be resistant to its pesticide, Roundup - to the food of female
rats, starting two weeks before they conceived, continuing through
pregnancy, birth and nursing. Others were given non-GM soya and a
third group was given no soya at all.
She found that 36 per cent of the young of the rats fed the modified
soya were severely underweight, compared to 6 per cent of the
offspring of the other groups. More alarmingly, a staggering 55.6
per cent of those born to mothers on the GM diet perished within
three weeks of birth, compared to 9 per cent of the offspring of
those fed normal soya, and 6.8 per cent of the young of those given
no soya at all.
"The morphology and biochemical structures of rats are very similar
to those of humans, and this makes the results very disturbing" said
Dr Ermakova. "They point to a risk for mothers and their babies."
Environmentalists say that - while the results are preliminary -
they are potentially so serious that they must be followed up. The
American Academy of Environmental Medicine has asked the US National
Institute of Health to sponsor an immediate, independent follow-up.
The Monsanto soya is widely eaten by Americans. There is little of
it, or any GM crop, in British foods though it is imported to feed
animals farmed for meat.
Tony Coombes, director of corporate affairs for Monsanto UK,
said: "The overwhelming weight of evidence from published, peer-
reviewed, independently conducted scientific studies demonstrates
that Roundup Ready soy can be safely consumed by rats, as well as
all other animal species studied."
What the experiment found
Russian scientists added flour made from a GM soya to the diet of
female rats two weeks before mating them, and continued feeding it
to them during pregnancy, birth and nursing. Others were give non-GM
soya or none at all. Six times as many of the offspring of those fed
the modified soya were severely underweight compared to those born
to the rats given normal diets. Within three weeks, 55.6 per cent of
the young of the mothers given the modified soya died, against 9 per
cent of the offspring of those fed the conventional soya.
© 2006 Independent News and Media Limited
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0108-01.htm
--
"I will love thee, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies." (Psalm 18:1-3)
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