Scientists Suspect Health Threat From GM Maize, by John Vida

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Scientists Suspect Health Threat From GM Maize, by John Vida

Postby admin » Sat Apr 09, 2016 4:28 am

Scientists Suspect Health Threat From GM Maize
by John Vidal
The Guardian
27 February 2004

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Scientists investigating a spate of illnesses among people living close to GM maize fields in the Philippines believe that the crop may have triggered fevers, respiratory illnesses and skin reactions.

If preliminary results are confirmed, it would be one of the first recorded cases of serious health problems associated with GM crops, and could damage the reputation of the biotech agriculture industry, which is rapidly expanding in developing countries.

The scientists' findings were immediately challenged by Monsanto, the world's leading GM company, and by the Philippine government.

The concern surrounds an unnamed village in northern Mindanao, where 39 people living near a field of Bt maize -- which contains a pesticide in the gene -- started suffering last autumn when the crop was producing pollen.

Doctors thought they had an infectious disease, but when four families left the village and recovered, and then showed the same symptoms on return, an environmental cause was suspected.

Terje Traavik, scientific director of the Norwegian Institute of Gene Ecology, was asked to investigate. Blood tests showed the villagers had developed antibodies to the maize's inbuilt pesticide.

Professor Traavik, who issued a summary of his results yesterday, said more tests were needed, but felt his preliminary findings were reliable.

His studies suggest that a virus promoter -- which is like a motor driving the production of the genetic message -- was unexpectedly found intact in human cells.

His team also said it had found that genetically engineered viruses used in the GM process recombined with natural viruses to create new hybrid viruses with unpredictable characteristics. If confirmed, this could suggest that they could cause new diseases.

Prof Traavik said tests so far showed evidence of an immune reaction.
He will return to the Philippines this week to continue the research before publishing full results in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.

But he rejected accusations that he was trying to scare people with data not yet reviewed by other scientists. "Publication of results typically requires a waiting period of up to one year or more," he said in Kuala Lumpur.

"With such evidence of possible human health impacts of foods already on the market, we believed that waiting to report our findings through publication would not be in the public's interest."

Monsanto said it was "extremely unlikely" that the limited production of the GM crop in the Philippines would have produced such results.

"There have been no documented cases of allergic reactions to Bt maize after seven years of broad commercial use on millions of hectares in the US, Canada, Argentina, Spain and South Africa, starting in 1996," a spokesman said.


The company was backed by the government in Manila, which approved GM cultivation last year.

"It's absurd -- no biology student will believe it," said Artemio Salazar, the director of the maize programme of the Philippine department of agriculture.

"The implication of the study is that the resistant gene got inserted into the human gene, which is impossible."


Greenpeace called for more research. "There is such a huge amount of uncertainty around these crops," a spokesman said.

But Willy de Greef, a biotech law consultant formerly employed by the Swiss agrochemicals company Syngenta, expressed surprise at Prof Traavik's findings, saying research showed Bt maize pollen did not carry the toxin so no reaction should occur. "One would want a scientific panel to look at Traavik's results," he told Reuters.
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Re: Scientists Suspect Health Threat From GM Maize, by John

Postby admin » Sat Apr 09, 2016 4:30 am

Filipino farmers show GM pollen reaction, says scientist
by Reuters
CropChoice news
Kuala Lumpur
 23 February 2004

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Filipino farm workers living by a field of gene-modified maize showed signs of exposure to the plant's anti-pest toxin three months after the pollen season, Norwegian scientist Terje Traavik said on Monday.

Blood samples from 39 people in a farm community on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao carried increased levels of three different target antibodies, evidence of an immune reaction to the Bt toxin built in to combat pests, he added.

"We are absolutely sure it's a reaction to being exposed to the Bt maize," Traavik told Reuters on Monday at the start of international talks on trade in genetically modified (GM) crops.

The timing of the immune response, which was not equivalent to conventional hay fever, coincided with maize flowering in June.

If more tests were to confirm his findings, they would fuel anti-GM campaigner arguments that extra caution is needed before wide-scale cultivation of modified crops such as maize, canola and cotton goes any further.

Biotech companies say their GM products are as safe as "substantially equivalent" natural varieties and need no additional safety tests or measures.

Critics say not enough tests have been done to be sure.

U.S. consumers have been eating GM foods such as Bt maize for several years and the country easily leads the world in terms of area under GM cultivation.

Traavik said the maize variety involved, sold as Dekalb 818 YG, came from U.S. crop company Monsanto.

The professor of gene ecology at Norway's University of Tromso is a critic of mainstream biotech research who says too few scientists are free from industry connections.

No one from Monsanto, whose representatives were present at the talks, was immediately available for comment.

Willy De Greef, a biotech law consultant formerly employed by Swiss agrochemical company Syngenta, expressed surprise at Traavik's findings, saying research showed Bt maize pollen did not carry the toxin so no reaction should occur.

"One would want a scientific panel to look at Traavik's results," he said on the margins of the Malaysia meeting.
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Re: Scientists Suspect Health Threat From GM Maize, by John

Postby admin » Sat Apr 09, 2016 4:35 am

Filipino Islanders Blame GM Crop for Mystery Sickness: Monsanto denies scientist's claim that maize may have caused 100 villagers to fall ill
by John Aglionby
The Guardian
Kalyong - Southern Philippines
3 March 2004

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The recently planted rows of pineapple plants in the four-acre field on one side of the Malayon family home look neat and well-tended, but are otherwise not really worth a second glance.

But what occurred last year on and around this plot in Kalyong village, on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, is threatening to turn this unremarkable field into a battleground in the war over genetically modified crops.

For the first time there are indications that the pollen from the bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) maize sown here last year may have contributed to human illness.

Terje Traavik, the scientific director of the Norwegian Institute of Gene Ecology, who was asked last October to analyse blood samples from 39 of the 100 people who fell ill, has said that a link might exist between GM crops and human health.

"My interpretation is there is a coincidence in time between two different phenomena," he said. However, he stressed that more tests were needed before a definite conclusion could be drawn.

The landowners, government officials, and Monsanto, the multinational company that provided the seeds planted on the plot, insist the corn is not the cause. They claim the villagers are being manipulated by anti-GM campaigners.

Villagers say the trouble began in July last year when the maize plants started flowering.

"There was this really pungent smell that got into our throats," said Maryjane Malayon. "It was like we were breathing in pesticides."

Her sister, Amaniel, their parents, Samuel and Merlina, and Maryjane's nine-month-old daughter, Eileen, began coughing, vomiting, feeling dizzy and suffering from head and stomach aches.


Within days people living a little further away, on the other side of the dusty road that runs through this village on the slopes of the remote 7,500ft (2,286m) volcano Mount Matutum, were experiencing similar symptoms.

Pablo Semon, a community leader, says about 100 people were affected.

Maryjane says the situation got so bad that the family was forced to move to a relative's home three miles down the mountain.

"We were the only ones who moved because we were so close," she explains. "But within a week we had all recovered."

A villager who had no home at the time, Bernhard Nanquil, says he rented the Malayon home after they left.

"Within a week I too was sick with a stomach ache and diarrhoea." Others noticed that their livestock was suffering.

"One day the horse ate some of the corn plants and its appetite disappeared," said Nestor Catoran. "The belly swelled, its mouth started frothing and it slowly died."

Villagers are linking the corn to the deaths of four other horses, which were disposed of without any analysis.


However, all the villagers are convinced that the corn is in some way responsible for their illness.

One of the owners of the land, Sensie Victoriano, accepts that the villagers fell ill, but laughs at suggestions it was because of the corn, tens of thousands of acres of which were cultivated across the country last year with no resulting accusations.

Ms Victoriano blames "a group of activists who are against GMOs".

Dr Traavik, who describes himself as a GMO sceptic and not an opponent, says it is highly unlikely the Bt toxin was the only cause of the villagers' sickness.

"There's no illness that's caused by only one factor," he said. "What happened in there [Kalyong] could have been an underlying viral infection that could explain the symptoms, but that does not exclude the possibility that this has been exacerbated by a new allergenic protein from the Bt corn."

The head of the corn programme at the department of agriculture, Artemio Salazar, has no time for the villagers' allegations.

"The phenomenon -- the supposedly allergenic reaction -- was also occurring in areas where there was no Bt corn," he said yesterday, without being able to name any of the other regions.


One of his microbiology experts, Nina Barzaga, from the University of the Philippines, added: "We have to see the results.

"But I think they're trying to create some panic ... the Bt toxin has never been associated with any sickness anywhere in the world."

Dr Traavik said he would be willing to share his results with Dr Barzaga but cautioned against saying there had never been problems with Bt maize.

Monsanto was not available for comment yesterday but said last week that it was extremely unlikely that the maize was responsible for ill health in the village.

"There have been no documented cases of allergic reactions to Bt maize after seven years of broad commercial use on millions of hectares in the US, Canada, Argentina, Spain and South Africa, starting in 1996," a spokesman told Reuters.
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Re: Scientists Suspect Health Threat From GM Maize, by John

Postby admin » Sat Apr 09, 2016 4:40 am

New Research on Survival of CaMV Promoter in Rat Tissues
by Jeffrey Smith
23 February 2004

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The cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) promoter was found intact in rat tissues after a single meal, and was also confirmed to be active in human cells.

The full 1100 base pairs of the CaMV promoter was found:

*In stomach cells and in intestinal (mesenteric) lymph nodes two hours after eating;

*In mesenteric lymph nodes, kidney, and liver cells six hours after eating; and

*In mesenteric lymph nodes, spleen, and liver cells three full days after eating.

Future tests will determine if the CaMV is active.

Seven groups of six rats each were intragastrically intubated (fed through a tube to the stomach) with a balanced diet. Added to the a small portion of the diet was a single dose of a genetic construct similar to those used to create genetically engineered crops. This construct included a gene that codes for a green fluorescent protein. The negative control group had no promoter attached to the green fluorescent protein gene at all; the positive control used human cytomegalovirus promoter known to be active in all mammalian cells. The test group had the CaMV 35S promoter coupled to the gene. The design tested the DNA construct in both circular and linear form. A final control was not fed any DNA at all. About half of the CaMV fed rats in each of the circular and linear DNA groups were found to contain intact CaMV.

Tissue samples remaining to be tested will soon determine if the CaMV is active, causing the expression of the green fluorescent protein. In a separate but related study, the same three constructs described above were added directly to human intestinal epithelial cells (both small and large intestines), rat cells, and fish cells, in vitro. The fluorescent gene was expressed in all the cells tested.

Implications for human health

The CaMV promoter is attached to inserted foreign genes in nearly all genetically engineered foods. It overpowers the cells' own self-regulatory mechanisms so as to permanently turn on the foreign inserted gene and produce large amounts of the transgene proteins. Without the promoter, the gene would likely be dormant in the DNA, unexpressed. Scientists use the CaMV because it is aggressive and because it works in the DNA of all types of plants.

The assumptions used by biotech advocates as the basis of safety claims were that the CaMV:

* Is stable

* Will only turn on the gene to which it was attached

* Is plant specific and will not function in mammals, including humans, and

* Will not transfer from food to gut bacteria or internal organs;

Each of these assumptions have been contradicted.

1. Studies also show that the promoter creates a 'hotspot' in the DNA. This means that the whole chromosome can become unstable. This may cause breaks in the strand or exchanges of genes with other chromosomes. Research reported in June 2003 confirmed that genetically engineered crops exhibited broken DNA sections at the CaMV.

2. The CaMV promoter may turn on native genes over long distances up and down the strand of DNA. It can even turn genes on in a different chromosome. This can create a flood of proteins that may create toxins, allergens, carcinogens, or nutritional changes.

Some scientists believe that the CaMV promoter, in conjunction with other genetic material, might also create a growth factor that could result in excessive cell growth -- a potentially pre-cancerous condition. A study by Ewen and Pusztai demonstrated significant cell growth in the stomach and intestines of rats fed a genetically engineered potato. An Egyptian study also showed evidence of cell growth in rats fed a Bt potato, and a feeding study on genetically modified peas showed greater weights of rat intestines, supporting the possibility of extra cell growth.


While scientists believed that the aggressive nature of the CaMV promoter might have been responsible for these results, it was not confirmed whether the CaMV promoter was able to transfer intact to organs and whether it would be active in human cells.

The new evidence confirms the transfer and potential activity. The new evidence does not, however, show any specific links to cell growth, nor does it confirm that unstable hotspots or the turning on of dangerous genes will occur in mammalian DNA.

Waking Sleeping Viruses

Embedded into the DNA of many organisms, including humans, are ancient viruses that have worked their way in, perhaps in previous species. While most of this viral material has eroded, some may be complete but simply not turned on. In theory, the fact that the promoter can turn on genes up and down the DNA, combined with the fact that it can transfer to human or animal organs, means that it may be possible for it to turn on a previously dormant virus.

Contact

New findings: Terje Traavik PhD, +47 9581 7537, terjet@genok.org

Further discussion: Jeffrey Smith in KL, 012-333-7495, jeffrey@seedsofdeception.com
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Re: Scientists Suspect Health Threat From GM Maize, by John

Postby admin » Sat Apr 09, 2016 4:44 am

Studies Indicate Serious Human Health Hazards from GMOs: New Health Dangers of Genetically Modified Food (and vaccines) Discovered
Press Release from the Institute for Responsible Technology
Kuala Lampur, Malaysia
24 February 2004

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CONTACT: Institute for Responsible Technology
Terje Traavik +47 9581 7537
Jeffrey Smith +60 (0)12-333-7495

Data from three groups of studies currently being conducted by the Norwegian Institute for Gene Ecology, in Tromsö, Norway, reveal potentially serious health dangers of genetically modified (GM) foods and vaccines. Jeffrey M. Smith, Director of the Institute for Responsible Technology, presented a summary of the findings and their implications for human health to delegates at the UN Cartagena Protocol for Biosafety meeting. Smith also presented additional evidence of health dangers from his recently published book, Seeds of Deception, including new information that incriminates the genetic engineering of the food supplement L-tryptophan as the cause of an epidemic in the U.S. in the 1980s, which took the lives of about 100 Americans and caused 5-10,000 to fall sick or become disabled. The Norwegian findings are summarized below and are elaborated in accompanying documents.

1. Bt-maize (Dekalb 818 YG), during pollination, may have triggered disease in people living near the maize field in the Philippines.

2. The cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) promoter, used in most GM foods, was found intact in rat tissues two hours, six hours, and three days after it was mixed into a single meal, and was also confirmed to be active in human cells.

3. Genetically engineered pox viruses in cell cultures recombined with natural viruses to create new hybrid viruses with unpredictable and potentially dangerous characteristics.

Terje Traavik, PhD, Director of the Norwegian Institute for Gene Ecology, announced the findings at a meeting held on February 22 in Kuala Lumpur, sponsored by the Third World Network. The studies are ongoing and not yet published, but Traavik says, "Publication of results typically requires a waiting period of up to one year or more. With such evidence of possible human health impacts of foods already on the market, we believed that waiting to report our findings through publication would not be in the public's interest." Traavik acknowledged that unpublished results are considered preliminary, but the findings, he said, are considered reliable and warrant immediate investigation. Traavik presented the data the day before the UN conference on biosafety began so that the results could be taken into consideration when drafting regulatory guidelines. Smith put the Norwegian findings into context by presenting related findings. He said, "The fact that the CaMV promoter can transfer to mammalian cells might explain the excessive cell growth found in the stomach and intestines of animals from other GM feeding trials, and raises additional concerns that GM foods might encourage genetic instability and mutation, accidental expression of allergens or toxins from non-target genes, and even activation of dormant viruses." Smith said that the link between Bt-maize pollen and disease in the Philippine villagers is supported by other studies on Bt-toxin and the crops genetically engineered to express it. Smith said, "Because Bt-toxin appears to increase the sensitivity of mammals to other allergens or immunogens, we must investigate whether Bt-crops contribute to the unexplained rise of allergies."

Smith also provided evidence that the L-tryptophan epidemic had started four years earlier than is generally cited, and was linked to a series of genetically modified bacterial strains used by a Japanese manufacturer between 1984 and 1989.
This information undermines the alternative explanation that the epidemic was created as a result of a change in the manufacturing methods introduced in 1989.
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