GMOs cause inflammation - new study

[MrsStick]

American researchers and Australian scientists just completed a study showing that a diet of GMO corn and soy caused pigs to have stomach inflammation at a rate "markedly higher" than those in the control group. In addition, females on the diet had heavier than normal uteri - indicating possible reproductive complications.

 

Need any more reasons to avoid GMOs and animals raised on them? If the stomachs were inflamed, systemic inflammation is present elsewhere, just harder to find...

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/11/us-gmo-pigs-study-idUSBRE95A14K20130611

[Janine Costanzo]

Here's a really good follow-up to that paper, explaining why the statistics in it don't add up (and also pointing out how the authors and funders of the study are all in the organic/natural/non-GMO food movement):

 

http://www.marklynas.org/2013/06/gmo-pigs-study-more-junk-science/

 

Mark Lynas, by the way, is an environmentalist who used to be anti-GMO for a long time.  Then he actually did research on it, and changed his mind.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Lynas#Conversion_to_support_GMOs talks a little bit about this.  I highly recommend listening to or reading the transcript of his lecture to the Oxford Farming Conference earlier this year.  It's quite enlightening: http://www.marklynas.org/2013/01/lecture-to-oxford-farming-conference-3-january-2013/

 

Disclaimer: I work for a small, private plant biotech company, and I have no problem with eating food that is genetically modified--assuming it's food that I consider good (i.e. not corn or soy!). 

[homerfrizzell]

Here's a follow up follow up: http://grist.org/food/look-whos-squealing-now-gmo-lovers-freak-over-new-study-of-sick-pigs/

 

Further research is needed.

[Janine Costanzo]

Thanks for that link.  I agree that more studies are a good thing.  However, I think the problem is that every time a study like this comes out, the news media picks it up and recaps it as fact.  Even if the study is flawed, and could be a result of random chance (like this one).  It's really hard for anyone to be neutral on stuff like this when the media is sensationalizing it all of the time.

 

My last inklings of hesitancy about GMOs pretty much vanished when I learned that we have been, for quite some time now, throwing chemicals and radiation at our agricultural products in an effort to create mutations, and thus more genetic diversity (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutation_breeding). These are random mutations; we don't know what was actually changed or how, and these products don't require any health checks done on them before they're put on the market. It's basically seen as evolution sped up, and even organic food can be mutagenized in this way. If everyone seems to be okay with this practice...why not be okay with changing known, specific genes with studied results? It's the same thing, except we actually know how the plant has changed.

 

For the record, I'm not a fan of modern agricultural practices in terms of the heavy use of herbicides, pesticides, fertilizer, etc.  I often buy organic produce.  I'm just not against GMOs simply because they exist--how they're used in practice might be bad/harmful, but I don't think they're bad just for the sake of being genetically modified.

 

Mods, if this is going too far off-topic, please let me know. 

[MrsStick]

I agree with more research being needed by everyone across the board. Personally, I don't like eating food that I know has been sprayed often with Round-Up. Not my cup of tea. 

 

That being said, I agree with the point that our food should not have inflammation pre-slaughter. It means that they aren't healthy in general. Pigs aren't meant, biologically, to eat corn and soy. They're supposed to be rooting out in a pasture or woods, eating greens, the occasional meat, fruit, etc. Doesn't sound very similar to corn and soy.

 

When I get back to the states, I'm definitely finding myself a good farmer!