GENETIC ROULETTE: Part 2

The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods Part 2 of 3

Crusador:  Section 5 of your new book dovetails into what you just mentioned about GM genes transferring to gut bacteria and internal organs.  That’s quite concerning.  Can you explain how that happens, how they know that that happens, how many humans they tested to determine that they have traits of these genes in their guts, and expound a little bit more on what’s really happening inside the human body when these foods are consumed?

In one study conducted on pregnant mice fed non-genetically engineered DNA, they discovered fragments of the DNA in the offspring, including in their brains.  It went through the placenta and through the blood/brain barrier. 

While this type of horizontal gene transfer may be relatively rare from normal food, the process of genetically engineering a crop optimizes this transfer into human gut bacteria.  For example, inserted genes are from a bacterial source. Bacterial genes are more likely to swap transfer into bacteria. The inserted genes also have their own “on” switch or promoter, which can keep them functioning once they do the transfer. This might give them a selective advantage, causing them to spread and prosper inside of us. 

In the only human feeding study that looked at this, three of the seven volunteers showed that at least part of the gene from GM soybeans was stably integrated into the DNA of gut bacteria.  They were British subjects and they tend to eat less GM soy than in the U.S.  The incidence here may be much higher.

A scientist in Germany discovered that GM genes had transferred to the micro-organism inside the gut of bees.  In the laboratory, genes from genetically engineered beets also transferred into soil bacteria, demonstrating potential for widespread environmental problems as well.

In fact, when the FDA scientists were asked about the use of antibiotic resistant marker genes in GM crops, they were appalled.  A memo from a department of anti-infective drugs wrote in all capital letters, “IT WOULD BE A SERIOUS HEALTH HAZARD TO INTRODUCE A GENE THAT CODES FOR ANTI-BIOTIC RESISTANCE INTO THE NORMAL FLORA OF THE GENERAL POPULATION.”

They were concerned specifically about gene transfer, which might result in super diseases accidentally equipped with genes giving them the ability to survive, even when treated with medicines.  The British Medical Association called for a moratorium on GM crops citing this as one of the main reasons. 

The concern about gene transfer has been prevalent, but very few studies have been done; if they are done, and they find that we are developing super diseases or that our intestinal bacteria are turned into living pesticide factories, it would destroy a multibillion dollar industry. There are very few sources of funds for independent research. In fact, many scientists who discover adverse reactions no longer have access to genetically engineered seeds for their study or to money to follow-up the study.  Sometimes they’re fired, sometimes they’re denied tenure, sometimes they lose status in their departments or censured.  Thus, we have very little research on the safety of GM foods. 

Crusador:  Biotech companies claim that any protein or bacterial genes that could be in a genetically engineered food would be destroyed in the gut by the hydrochloric acid and it would never make it past your stomach.  You’re saying that this is actually going past the stomach acid and into your deep intestinal system where your flora resides. 

There has been a myth propagated by the biotech industry that it was all destroyed in the stomach. The results of a feeding study on seven colostomy patients was a great surprise to the researchers who found a significant percentage of transgenic DNA had survived passage through the stomach and small intestines. But bacteria are also in the mouth. Even before GM food gets to the stomach, it’s possible that it might transform our mouth bacteria.  There’s evidence that the saliva actually can promote gene transfer as well.  This is an example of one of many unscientific assumptions that were used as a basis for safety claims, which have been overturned.  I have a four-page chart in my book Genetic Roulette, showing key safety assumptions that were part of the argument why GM foods would not be a problem - each one has been proven wrong. 

Crusador: If something is happening negatively in the digestive system with your flora, the next in line is your immune system. When you talk about the gut bacteria getting colonized, is this something that can be reversed? 

I know of no curative procedure.  In fact, there’s not even a diagnostic procedure to see if we have been colonized, as you say.  We do know that several animal studies have shown the possibility of potentially precancerous cell growth in the digestive tract due to GM crops. For example, with the Bt crops they found that when the Bt was fed to mice, they had damage in the lower part of the small intestine along the intestinal wall. This could be a double threat, where you colonize the gut bacteria and also harm the cells in the digestive tract that are normally associated with assimilation. 

Crusador:  Digestive problems in the United States are the most common complaint to doctors. There’s a list of different ailments that occur in the digestive system.  Do you think that GM foods have anything to do with some of these problems?

Well, one of the world’s leading researchers in GM foods, Dr. Arpad Pusztai, says that the gastrointestinal tract is the first point of contact with GM foods and should be the most affected; and he’s found that in many cases.  It’s very likely that GM foods may contribute to these types of problems. Another scientist I spoke with is concerned with the cancers associated with the esophagus, colon, and stomach because of genetically engineered foods.  He believes that they may create a growth-promoting effect in the gut.

There is an increase in the number of digestive problems that overlap with the introduction of genetically engineered crops.  I can’t say with confidence that a particular disease is based on a particular crop because we don’t have the studies.  In fact, we don’t even have labeling in this country, so it’s difficult to do epidemiological surveys or post-marketing surveillance. 

The Canadian version of the FDA, Health Canada, promised in 2002 that they would monitor the population in Canada to see if GM foods were causing problems, but within a year they gave up, saying it was too difficult.  So we are being used as guinea pigs in an uncontrolled experiment with no clear benefits for this technology and enormous risks associated with our health and the environment.

The environmental issue may be even worse than the health problems, because genetically engineered crops create self-propagating genetic pollution that could outlast the effects of global warming and outlast nuclear waste.  As long as species exist on the planet, they may be continuing to hand off to their offspring genes that were created in the laboratory.

Crusador:  That’s alarming.  When you say antibiotic marker genes or antibiotic resistant marker genes, my understanding is that they’re using these antibiotic marker genes to somehow detect whether the new genetic traits have been transferred to the plant. Can you explain that process a little bit?

When scientists create genetically engineered crops, they typically identify a gene from bacteria, make changes in it, multiply it millions of times and put it in a gene gun and blast it like a shot gun into millions of cells, hoping that some of those genes make it into the DNA of some of those cells.  But you can’t tell with a microscope which cells have picked up the genes.  So they also put into their transgene this antibiotic resistant marker gene, which, once it’s integrated into the DNA, produces a protein that renders the cell invincible to a particular antibiotic.  They douse these millions of cells with this antibiotic, killing almost all of them; the few that survive do so because the transgene is now integrated into their DNA. They clone the surviving cells into GM plants.  But the antibiotic resistant marker gene that was used only once just to see if the gene made it in stays and becomes cloned and is found now in millions and millions of acres of the food that we eat. 

The scientists at the FDA, as I mentioned, were appalled at this. One particular scientist wrote in a memo which became public due to a lawsuit that the risks did not justify using this method of antibiotic resistant markers.  There are other methods that can be used but this method is less expensive.  So in order to save the biotech industry a few bucks, they’re putting our population at risk.  The FDA website clearly says that antibiotic resistant diseases can give rise to amputations, prolonged sickness, and death.  It’s a huge problem because of the overuse of antibiotics in cleaners, food and in animals. GM crops are not creating this problem, but could potentially worsen it and make it a disaster for people who gain infectious diseases. 

Some of the excuses that have been used by the biotech industry are that most of the crops use a gene resistant to an antibiotic called Kanamycin that is not so important a drug.  I show in my book how their assumptions are not true, that it could lead to multiple resistances to a whole family of popular antibiotics and that they really are risking our health.

Crusador:  It’s like a one-two punch between the gut colonization and the antibiotic resistance. With all the ongoing terrorist threats, flu outbreaks, bird flu scares, and eradicated diseases that are resurfacing, we could potentially be looking at a serious problem if these antibiotics won’t work in a time of crisis. It’s hard for me not to believe that a sinister plan is at work.  I know you’re talking about a lot of things that may just be happening randomly, but it almost seems like some upper echelon has knowledge of how all this is effecting the population and they’re connecting the dots for an evil agenda.  What do you know about any of this?

The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods Part 2 of 3

I’ve never come across documents that spell out intentional destruction of immune systems.  The documents that I see are more in terms of control and profit.  However, the results may be a disaster because of the unpredicted side effects and the huge reach of these dangerous products that are fed to millions of people. In particular, one of the most dangerous at risk groups is children. Toxic reactions can potentially be much more dangerous to fetuses and young children. Kids are… three to four times more likely to develop allergies. Nutritional problems will show up more pronounced in a fast growing body rather than an adult.  And if GM crops create antibiotic resistance, it could hurt kids with frequent ear infections, etc.   

Another population at risk is recipients of U.S. food aid.  The United States used food aid to dump surplus grain, including genetically engineered soybeans and corn.  Zambia, for example, after doing an analysis of the potential risks, decided to reject U.S. corn that was genetically engineered and go for food from a different source.  The U.S. pounced on Zambia, claiming that they were willing to starve their people for no particular reason.  But if you look at these food aid recipients, they would have been ingesting 90% of their caloric intake as corn, the majority of which was genetically engineered to produce Bt toxin.  These people were already immune compromised and digestively compromised.  U.S. food aid would pour this toxin into them, possibly colonizing their gut bacteria and creating the recipe for a huge disaster.  We are in a situation where we’re risking the whole population.