Genetically Modified Foods Are Also Modifying Us

A significant part of who we are is defined by the microflora of our digestive systems. If it’s changed, even in the smallest way, by genetically modified foods, then we are changed. It’s happening now. It’s not science fiction.

A study published in Nature Biotechnology¹ back in 2004 investigated the results of eating genetically engineered foods. Though they didn’t find that the transgene they were studying transferred during their experiment on 19 people, they did find that, “Three of the seven ileostomists showed evidence of low-frequency gene transfer from GM soya to the microflora of the small bowel before their involvement in these experiments.”

Being good little scientists trying to survive in this Monsanto-controlled world, they didn’t conclude that this is a problem. Instead, they focused on the fact that complete DNA didn’t survive the trek through full-length digestive tracts in people with intact large intestines. The importance of what happens during the process was treated as unimportant! They concluded that the genetic transfer was meaningless, and that nothing of concern had been found. (This is why it’s so important to actually read studies, not simply quote their conclusions, which frequently aren’t supported by the studies themselves.)

This is the only study—at least, the only one that’s managed to get published—to investigate this most significant of human issues. Yet, the little evidence we have already demonstrates that it’s virtually impossible to overstate the implications to our health, and even on what we are.

In Doctors Warn: Avoid Genetically Modified Food, a deeply-referenced article published by the Institute for Responsible Technology, reports:

• Allergies to soy increased by 50% after GM soy’s introduction to the UK.
• Most babies of GM soy-fed rats died within three weeks. (The death rate of soy-fed controls was 10%.) The surviving GM-fed rats were smaller than normal and gave birth to fewer offspring.
• In Haryana, India, buffalo that ate GM cottonseed suffered from premature deliveries, miscarriages, infertility, and prolapsed uteruses. Many calves died.
• American farmers have reported sterility in thousdands of GM corn-fed pigs, and other delivered fluid-filled amniotic sacs without piglets.
• Also in America, cows and bulls have been rendered sterile by GM corn.

This is only a smattering of what we know can be laid at the door of Monsanto and others like BASF. But what is becoming of human beings? We have strong evidence from a single study—published eight years ago—that the very nature of what we are is being tampered with by GM foods.

Direct, horizontal, transfer of genes from one bacterial organism to another is well documented. We know that it happens in the human gut. Our relationship with gut bacteria is symbiotic. Changes in those bacteria can have long-ranging effects, including on the mind. The behavior of mice has been shown to be affected by changes in gut biota. We cannot possibly know what effects genetic transfer of GM organisms might do to us.

But then, maybe that’s not what we should worry about. Perhaps, we should consider that Monsanto has been declaring ownership of living things based on the accidental, and even unwanted, transfer of their GM genes. Is the day coming when Monsanto will declare that they own us?

Source:  ¹Assessing the survival of transgenic plant DNA in the human gastrointestinal tract (doi:10.1038/nbt934)

Tagged genetic modification, gm allergies, horizontal gene transfer, monsanto, natural health