GMOs: Unborn babies could be harmed

Women who eat food with Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) during pregnancy risk endangering their unborn babies, startling new research suggests. The World Trade Organization (WTO) is expected next month to support a bid by the Bush administration to force European countries to accept GMO foods. The study–carried out by a leading scientist at the Russian Academy of Sciences–found that more than half of the offspring of rats fed on modified soy died in the first three weeks of life, six times as many as those born to mothers with normal diets. Six times as many were also severely underweight. The research–which is being prepared for publication–is just one of a clutch of recent studies that are reviving fears that GMO food damages human health. Italian research has found that modified soy affected the liver and pancreas of mice. Australia had to abandon a decade-long attempt to develop modified peas when an official study found they caused lung damage. And last May it was revealed that a secret report by the biotech giant Monsanto, which showed that rats fed a diet rich in GM corn had smaller kidneys and higher blood cell counts, suggestingpossible damage to their immune systems, than those that ate a similar conventional one. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization held a workshop on the safety of genetically modified foods at its Rome headquarters late last year. The workshop was addressed by scientists whose research had raised concerns about health dangers. But the WTO is expected next month to support a bid by the Bush administration to force European countries to accept GMO foods. The Russian research threatens to have an explosive effect on already hostile public opinion. Carried out by Dr. Irina Ermakova at the Institute of Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, it is believed to be the first to look at the effects of GMO food on the unborn. The scientist added flour from a GMO soy bean–produced by Monsanto to be resistant to its pesticide, Roundup–to the food of female rats, starting two weeks before they conceived, continuing through pregnancy, birth and nursing. Others were given non-GMO soy and a third group was given no soy at all. She found that 36 percent of the young of the rats fed the modified soy were severely underweight, compared to six percent of the offspring of the other groups. More alarmingly, a staggering 55.6 percent of those born to mothers on the GMO diet perished within three weeks of birth, compared to nine percent of the offspring of those fed normal soy, and 6.8 percent of the young of those given no soy at all. "The morphology and biochemical structures of rats are very similar to those of humans, and this makes the results very disturbing" said Ermakova. "They point to a risk for mothers and their babies." Environmentalists say that–while the results are preliminary–they are potentially so serious that they must be followed up. The American Academy of Environmental Medicine has asked the US National Institute of Health to sponsor an immediate, independent follow-up. The Monsanto soy is widely eaten by US citizens. Tony Coombes, director of corporate affairs for Monsanto UK, said: "The overwhelming weight of evidence from published, peer-reviewed, independently conducted scientific studies demonstrates that Roundup Ready soy can be safely consumed by rats, as well as all other animal species studied."