The canaries are the miners’ early warning system. They are used to warn miners of invisible but deadly levels of carbon monoxide. Do rats and other animals fed GMOs provide a similar service to humans? These are some of the effects that appear in scientific studies.
Effect on reproductive tissue and hormonesRats fed GM soy instead of non-GM soy had “proliferative growth (hyperplasia) of the (endometrial) cells lining the uterus” and showed significant changes in their uterus and reproductive cycle. Senior UK pathologist Stanley Ewen speculated that the rats’ significant hormonal changes could have implications for women consuming GM soy. He said this involves major changes in their reproductive hormones and reiterated that the herbicide in the GM soybeans was the likely cause of the disruption.
Genetically modified soybeans have a bacterial gene inserted into them that allows soybean plants to survive a normally deadly dose of the herbicide Roundup, which is why they are called ‘Roundup Ready’.
Roundup’s active ingredient is glyphosate, which accumulates in soybeans. When Roundup-ready soybeans were introduced to Europe, regulatory agencies had to increase their allowable residue levels by 200 times.
There is mounting evidence that glyphosate, especially in conjunction with the other ingredients in Roundup, wreaks havoc on the endocrine and reproductive systems. Glyphosate, says Dr. Ewen, is “an endocrine killer that interferes with aromatase, which produces estrogen.”
Luteal cells require aromatase to produce hormones for the normal menstrual cycle. It is these luteal cells that show significant alterations in rats consuming transgenic soybeans.
Fertility Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine accidentally discovered that rats raised on corn cob beds “do not reproduce or exhibit reproductive behavior.” Tests on the maize material revealed two compounds that stopped the sexual cycle in females “at concentrations approximately 200 times lower than classical phytoestrogens.”
Effect on the placenta of the developing fetus Glyphosate is also toxic to the placenta, which supplies the developing baby with nutrients and oxygen and removes its waste products. A French study from the University of Caen in 2009 revealed that glyphosate can kill cells in the outer layer of the human placenta (the trophoblast membrane), which in turn can kill the placenta. The cells of the placenta are, in Ewen’s words, “exquisitely sensitive to glyphosate.” Only 1/500 of the amount needed to kill the weeds was able to kill the cells. The amount is so small that, according to the study authors, “expected residual levels, especially in food and feed derived from R[oundup] formulation-treated cultures” could be sufficient to “cause cell damage and even [cell] death.” In addition, the effect of the toxin can bioaccumulate, worsening with repeated consumption of Roundup-laden foods.
Says Ewen: “If the endocrine functions of the placenta are destroyed by glyphosate in the test tube, by extrapolation one would expect ovarian and endometrial function to suffer.” The implications for pregnant women who take glyphosate, she says, could be abortion.
Miscarriage and threatened abortion In fact, in a Canadian epidemiological study, which analyzed almost 4,000 pregnancies in 1,898 couples, women exposed to glyphosate during the three months before becoming pregnant had a significantly increased risk of miscarriage, especially for those older than 34 years.
Parents exposed to glyphosate also increase reproductive risks. In the Canadian study above, even fathers who were exposed to glyphosate before their wives became pregnant showed an increase in preterm births and miscarriages. Additionally, a study of male rabbits showed that glyphosate can cause a reduction in sexual activity and sperm concentration, and an increase in dead or abnormal sperm.
birth defects Birth defects increased in humans and animals. Numerous indigenous peoples and peasant communities in Argentina have blamed Roundup’s aerial spraying for a significant increase in birth defects. Dr. Andreas Carasco from the Buenos Aires Faculty of Medicine Embryology Laboratory exposed amphibian embryos to a small concentration of glyphosate (diluted 5000 times). Summarized by the Pesticide Action Network, the effects included:
- reduced head size,
- genetic alterations in the central nervous system,
- increased death of cells that help form the skull,
- deformed cartilage, ocular defects and
- undeveloped kidneys.
Carrasco also claimed that glyphosate did not break down in cells, but instead accumulated. The findings lend weight to claims that abnormally high levels of cancer, birth defects, neonatal mortality, lupus, kidney disease, and respiratory and skin problems in populations near Argentina’s soybean fields may be related to the aerial spraying with Roundup”.
Although human embryos are not directly treated with glyphosate in the same way that Carrasco treated his amphibian embryos, glyphosate is known to cross the placenta and enter the fetal circulation.
In his article, Dr. Carrasco outlines some disturbing findings in Argentina, where more than 50 million gallons of glyphosate-based herbicide are used on more than 45 million acres of GM soybeans.
In Argentina, an increase in the incidence of congenital malformations began to be reported in recent years. In Córdoba, several cases of malformations along with repeated miscarriages were detected in the town of Ituzaingo´, which is surrounded by GMO-based agriculture. These findings were concentrated in families living a few meters from where herbicides are regularly sprayed.
Glyphosate can also cause reproductive disorders in the offspring of exposed people. When pregnant rats, for example, were exposed to glyphosate, their male offspring suffered reduced sperm production, increased abnormal sperm, and decreased testosterone, at puberty and/or adulthood.
Sterility The few tests that have been done on animals are more than instructive. In April 2010, researchers from the Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Russian National Association for Gene Safety found that after feeding soybeans to transgenic hamsters for two years for three generations, in the third generation most lost the ability to have babies. . They also suffered from slower growth, a high mortality rate among pups, and a high incidence of a rare phenomenon of hair growing inside the mouth.
Central Iowa farmer Jerry Rosman also had problems with pigs and cows becoming barren. Some of his sows even had false pregnancies or gave birth to bags of water. After months of research and testing, he finally attributed the problem to GM corn feed. Every time a newspaper, magazine or television program reported on Jerry’s problems, he received calls from more farmers complaining about the sterility of cattle on their farm related to GM corn.
High Infant Mortality In 2005, Irina Ermakova, also of the Russian National Academy of Sciences, reported that more than half of the babies of mother rats fed GM soy died within three weeks. This was also five times higher than the 10% mortality rate of the non-GM soybean group. The babies in the GM group were also smaller and could not reproduce. In a telling coincidence, after Ermakova’s feeding trials, her lab began feeding all the rats in the facility a commercial rat chow that used GM soybeans. Inside two months, infant mortality in the entire center reached 55%.
An Austrian government study published in November 2008 showed that the more GM corn fed to mice, the fewer babies they had, and the smaller ones they did have.
testicular changes. When Ermakova fed male rats GM soy, her testicles turned from normal pink to dark blue! The Italian scientists also found changes in the mice tested, including damaged young sperm. In addition, the DNA of the embryos of transgenic-fed parent mice function differently.
Increased rates of breast and prostate cancerOne compound also restricted male sexual behavior, and both substances contributed to the growth of cultures of breast and prostate cancer cells. The researchers found that the amount of substances varied with the GM corn varieties. The shredded corn cob used at Baylor was likely shipped from central Iowa, near the farm of Jerry Rosman and others who complained of barren cattle.
In Haryana, India, a team of veterinary researchers reports that buffaloes consuming GM cottonseed suffer from infertility, as well as frequent miscarriages, premature births and a prolapsed uterus. Many adult and young buffalo have also died mysteriously.
Biotech advocates often deny or attempt to discredit evidence and often attack the scientists who discover it. But they rarely require follow-up studies. With little to no money to follow up on these findings, we won’t know for sure if GMOs are the cause, if it’s glyphosate or something else. But many doctors don’t expect more research. They are telling their patients, especially those who are pregnant or planning to have children, just say no to GMOs.
So if you were still eating GMOs before reading this, maybe it’s time to take the doctors advice.
