Organ Damage In Rats From Monsanto GMO Corn

jenningsthecat writes "A study published in December 2009 in the International Journal of Biological Sciences found that three varieties of Monsanto genetically-modified corn caused damage to the liver, kidneys, and other organs of rats. One of the corn varieties was designed to tolerate broad-spectrum herbicides, (so-called 'Roundup-ready' corn), while the other two contain bacteria-derived proteins that have insecticide properties. The study made use of Monsanto's own raw data. Quoting from the study's 'Conclusions' section: 'Our analysis highlights that the kidneys and liver as particularly important on which to focus such research as there was a clear negative impact on the function of these organs in rats consuming GM maize varieties for just 90 days.' Given the very high prevalence of corn in processed foods, this could be a real ticking time bomb. And with food manufacturers not being required by law to declare GMO content, I think I'll do my best to avoid corn altogether. Pass the puffed rice and pour me a glass of fizzy water!"

Comments

Oh God, not the bourbon.

[Doches]

If it's going to damage my liver, I'm switching to scotch. I'm sorry, Jack, but I just can't take the chance...

Re:Oh God, not the bourbon.

[berashith]

the question isnt is it safe, the question is how do we make it safe. Obviously, if the corn is modified to not be harmed by chemicals that kill plants, then the solution is to modify people to not be harmed by eating the corn. This way, the deer and other wild population that infiltrate our corn fields will be eliminated along with the weeds that interfere with our farms. Dominion is awesome!

Re:Oh God, not the bourbon.

[daem0n1x]

in an ideal world, with ethical and moral corporations

In this kind of world there would be no OGMs because there wouldn't be corporations inventing and pushing things that nobody needs.

Re:Oh God, not the bourbon.

[pedestrian crossing]

Do you really think they want to kill humans?

With a corporation, it isn't a matter of wanting to kill humans. It is simply a matter of accounting.

If the cost of killing humans is much less than the expected profit, then it is the corporation's duty to kill humans, since it is the corporation's duty to maximize profits for the shareholders. That's the whole purpose of a corporation, to maximize profits for the shareholders.

Re:Oh God, not the bourbon.

[Darkmane]

You couldn't mate with a pig, though. If you could it would be crossbreeding.

It would also be ugly as hell.

Re:Oh God, not the bourbon.

[syousef]

You couldn't mate with a pig, though.

I think you'll find a lot of mid western farmers disagree and can prove you wrong by contradiction. What you can't do is produce viable offspring.

Yummy Roundup!

[zenaida_valdez]

Eat enough corn and... Roundup Ready people!! Mmmm Yummy Roundup.

That's excellent.

[tjstork]

You have a food that kills rats. How can you possibly get angry about a food that kills rats? I mean, do you know how many people are starving because rats eat the food? This is absolutely a great thing.

Re:distinction

[Anonymous Coward]

Correct, GM is truly a wonderful thing. But I do wonder if spot checks on produce wouldn't be advisable. Processed foods get spot checked, perhaps produce should as well. You can get a DNA sequencer on ebay for two grand now. Grabbing the sequence that produces abrin, or ricin from the rosary pea or castor bean respectively, and putting it in a couple corn plants, is within the ability of an undergrad certainly. The lab procedures are published out there, I saw them on the kindle store even. Corn is wind pollinated, so planting a few modified malcious plants upwind of a field could be really nasty. It is only going to get easier to do, and restricting the technology is the wrong way to try and prevent it. Spot checks of produce for common pathogens and dangerous chemicals would add to the price of food, so I wouldn't suggest they be mandatory. Might work kind of like an organic stamp, "Non-deadly GM" or somesuch.

Someone should do this* with corn and spread it around the midwest....

* From what I can tell the story was a joke

Re:forbes magazine's company of the year

[Anonymusing]

"Roundup Green is People!"

Re:distinction

[StreetStealth]

Nah, someone would have to actually try bringing GMO seeds aboard a plane and shouting in Arabic while attempting to throw them out the bulkhead hatch.

Then the TSA would not only ban bringing seeds on planes, but also issue guidelines stating that passengers may not look out the window while flying over farmland, may not read books about farming during the middle two hours of a trip, and may not think about corn at any time while the plane is in the air.

idk how you got modified informative, but I give u

[DRAGONWEEZEL]

PLUS 5 for being funny!

That was HILLARIOUS!

not bad!

[zogger]

It's a brand new bouncing baby word!