The Whole Enchilada. GM, Mark of Excellence!

I used to watch a lot of TV in my youth, not so much anymore, a couple of shows I find to be incredibly well written, and don't miss them.  The Newsroom on HBO for one.  Longmire on A&E, for character development, and Big Bang Theory, cuz they remind me of me.  And other than repeats of Stargate, that's about it.  For the most part, TV grosses me out today.  But anyway, a long time ago, there was a series of commercials on the black and white box, and after showing the latest model, there would appear the big letters and the chorus of mostly male baritones would sing, " GM, Mark of Excellence"  I remember those commercials, and can't help but think that now the heads of General Motors might be having their brand confused with what is happening with our food supply today.  GM.

(The Whole Enchilada)
If you check out the whole enchilada it is a paper written by a researcher named  Dr. Judy Carman and a couple of others.  It is a pretty interesting report, and is very unique in that it does what no one else has ever done and looked at feeding Genetically Modified corn and soy to pigs.  Then looking at the pigs to see what damage was done.  Pigs, not the kind you find feeding at the troughs at the local Chinese Buffet, but real pigs, oinkers.  The little guys used to make bacon.  It is worth noting of course that this feeding study was done for less than 28 weeks.  It is in no way as comprehensive or long term as the Seralini report, but it does offer some new insights that were never expressed in that, or any other reported feeding study.  Here is why the researchers chose pigs to work with.  "Even though pigs are physiologically similar to humans, particularly for gastrointestinal observations, very few toxicology studies have been conducted on them for GM crops."  A pretty good reason to start a study, at least I think so anyway.

Then, when deciding to do this study, Dr. Carman looked at other studies and found, "...in 90 day feeding studies.  They found some evidence for adverse liver and kidney effects from eating some GM crops" And also they found in the Seralini study, "..higher death rates, more tumours and liver and kidney pathologies in GM-fed rats."  At the end of the paper are these conclusions written by Dr. Carman,
"Conclusion - Pigs fed a GMO diet exhibited heavier uteri and a higher rate of severe stomach inflammation than pigs fed a comparable non-GMO diet.  Given the widespread use of GMO feed for livestock as well as humans, this is a cause for concern..... the results indicate that it would be prudent for GM crops that are destined for human food and animal feed, including stacked GM crops, to undergo long-term animal feeding studies preferably before commercial planting, particularly for toxicological and reproductive effects.  Humans have a similar gastrointestinal tract to pigs, and these GM crops are widely consumed by people, particularly in the USA, so it would be prudent to determine if the findings of this study are applicable to humans."

Wow!

It is extremely important to note that this was a less than 28 week study.  Pigs were fed GM crops for a very short term.  Only long enough to get them to market weight for slaughter.  Just slightly over twice as long as the longest feeding study done by Monsanto or any other Gene Tech company before sending off the GM plants to begin commercial planting.  A hundred and ninety days.  And the result is a statistically significant increase in gastrointestinal problems along with hugely distorted growth of the uteri in the female pigs.

How long have you been eating a GMO diet?

How would you even know for certain, your food in AmeriKa does not have to have on the label that it is Genetically Modified.  

1. Dr. Carman research - pigs fed GM crops have high rates of inflammation and damage to their gastrointestinal tracts along with enlarged uteri in all the females
2. Scientists from the Russian National Association for Gene Security - Hamsters, mice and rats fed GM soy along with control groups fed no soy, non-GM soy, 10% GM-soy and 20% GM-soy found that the GM soy groups had as high as 25% infant mortality on the second generation with almost 40% fewer births and the third generation of GM soy fed all were sterile.
3. Seralini report - rats fed GM soy and corn for two years had higher than normal premature death rates and virtually all of the rats had tumors
4. Princeton University - reports Horizontal Gene Transfer takes place in the guts of human, (well students) volunteers.  Humans fed GM soy for several weeks then had their intestinal bacteria tested and the bacteria not only had the genes present that were inserted into the GM soy, they also had the genes present that were inserted into GM corn that the volunteers had been eating outside the study.
5. NCBI study on Glyphosate toxicity - Long term exposure to glyphosate residues on crops sprayed with Roundup lead to accumulation of the main constituent, glyphosate in the brain, kidneys, liver and reproductive organs in mammals. 
6. Archives of Toxicology Journal report - Glyphosate at concentrations of .02% of standard recommended usage leads to destruction of human DNA when residues on plants are consummed.
7. Dr. Mezzomo of the Department of Genetics and Morphology at the Institute of Biological Sciences at University of Brasilia report - Bacillus thuringensis toxins, previously thought to be of no significance to mammalian physiology have now been shown to be hemotoxic, killing red blood cells, cytotoxic to bone marrow, and there is a measurable negative effect as time goes on with respect to these toxins.  It was also noted that Bt toxin has been found in significant amounts in pregnant women and in fetal blood of unborn infants.  

Pretty much all of these scientific studies have come under fire from Monsanto and Monsanto paid minions like the Colorado State University who published a report stating that Bt toxin is not in any way dangerous for any mammal.  Monsanto funds a whole lot of research there, did anyone ever think they wouldn't refute and attempt to debunk anything showing Monsanto in a bad light.  Just today I got another form email from my favorite criminal in the Senate, John McCain telling me that GM crops are good for the world.   No one expects him, or any of the elected to dispute anything that Monsanto tells them.  Monsanto pays off sorry they contribute to the campaigns of most of the senate and congress.  Nary a bad word will ever be heard in the hallowed halls of congress.  So if Monsanto says that the research of these previously well respected scientists is pure crap, then congress wants to keep their Monsanto Masters happy and so they too believe with all their heart that it's all crap.  I don't know for sure, but I bet they all go home and eat organic.  I know for a fact the president does, the last two executive chefs at the white house have told us that the last four presidents only ate organic.  If I looked, I could find that youtube clip of Obama telling people back in 2008 that he would make it a priority to have a national law to label all GM foods.  He doesn't care about us, he eats organic anyway.

Seven items is not the whole enchilada, but it is pretty strong evidence that Genetically Modified foods and the way in which they are grown with the horrific use of glyphosate are not the wonderful and fantastic things that Monsanto claims they are.  There are a lot of things that need to be added to the enchilada dinner, the fact that the weeds are becoming resistant to glyphosate and so the FDA has increased the allowable residues up past the toxicity level recommended by the EPA.  Insects everywhere are becoming immune to the Bt toxin and so ever greater amounts of stronger pesticides are sprayed on crops.  Bees are dying off now because of that.  Wheat is now contaminated with GM genes and some of the largest buyers of wheat are canceling orders for AmeriKan wheat.  And Monsanto denies responsibility for not containing the stuff.

There is just so much going on, that there isn't enough room here, or anywhere to list it all.  It would take a week to read it all, so let's stop here.  This is enough to think about.  At least for those that think about the food they eat, and are concerned that they, their children and their children's children will live healthy lives.