THE END OF MONSANTO?
Purveyor of deadly poisons and toxic GM foods accused of "twenty years of cynical and persistent scientific corruption"
Press Notice from GM-Free Cymru 19th September 2012.
A paper which is being referred to as 'the most important publication of the century" may sound the death knell for Monsanto, the most hated corporation on the Planet.
The study, published in the American journal Food and Chemical Toxicology and completed at the University of Caen in France, is published online today (1). It was essentially a prolonged (24 month) feeding study involving the use of 200 rats divided into ten groups. It shows unequivocally that Roundup, the broad-spectrum weedkiller on which Monsanto has built its fortune, is extremely toxic to mammals even in minute doses, leading to kidney and liver damage, tumours and premature death. It also shows that Monsanto's GM herbicide tolerant maize NK603 -- grown on a huge scale especially in North and South America, is highly toxic in its own right, with or without the presence of Roundup residues. Animals fed on "clean" GM maize suffered from very similar toxic effects and from early deaths. By comparison, the control group of animals fed on conventional maize and clean water showed hardly any of the negative effects experienced by the test group animals.
Commenting for GM-Free Cymru, Dr Brian John said: "This study has immense implications, but it should come as a surprise to nobody, since many studies over the past decade have shown toxic effects associated with Roundup and GM maize (2). However, these effects have always been quite subtle, since all of the research results published to date have been based on the short-term (90 day) studies requires as a part of the GM regulatory process. We and many others have been calling, over and again, for mandatory long-term and multi-generational studies of GM and Roundup toxicity, but our calls have fallen on deaf ears.
"The new study is highly meticulous and sophisticated, as one would expect from this group of researchers. But at another level it is incredibly simple, involving the continuous feeding of ten groups of animals over a 24-month period and using either GM or non-GM maize in their diets, and with or without the addition of minute quantities of Roundup in drinking water. The researchers simply observed and monitored what happened to the animals.
"That might not sound radical -- but it was. In all of the so-called safety trials conducted in the past -- and accepted as valid by EFSA in Europe and the other regulators throughout the world -- glyphosate has been tested instead of Roundup, and "surrogate proteins" have been tested instead of actual GM maize. The whole system was designed -- in spite of public protests -- to avoid any discoveries of harmful effects (3). Both the GM corporations and the GM regulators have maintained the nonsensical pretence that ALL possible toxic effects, if they exist, will be discernible within three months; and they have dismissed those effects that were picked up as "statistically or biologically insignificant" or "the result of background natural variation."
GM-Free Cymru now claims that Monsanto has been involved in cynical and persistent scientific corruption over a period of twenty years or more. It says that a gigantic corporation like Monsanto MUST have studies on its books that show exactly the same effects as those found by the French research team. "It is inconceivable that Monsanto's research teams have not conducted long-term feeding trials behind the scenes, and it is inconceivable that they have been unaware of the appalling damage done to mammalian organs by both Roundup and GM maize. And yet the company continues to push its products at an ever-increasing rate into the global food chain, in the full knowledge that extensive animal and human health damage is a direct consequence of its marketing strategy.
"Furthermore, Monsanto's culpability is compounded by the manner in which it has attempted to prevent its products from being tested by independent researchers; by threatening farmers who might be tempted to supply GM study materials to "non-approved" scientists; by vilifying those who have had the temerity to question its internal "safety studies" or to delve into its data sets; by preventing the publication of research which calls into question the safety of its GM products; by covering up evidence of health damage in areas of Roundup spraying; by using bribery and corruption in its attempts to extend its control of global markets and to reduce regulatory surveillance; and by committing scientific fraud in its own research. We could continue this list of crimes against science and humanity almost ad infinitum (4).
"It's now time to call Monsanto to account. Roundup must be banned immediately, and the regulatory approvals for all the company's GM crops must be revoked or at the very least frozen pending a full scientific reappraisal of the dangers that they pose for public health. If the company crashes as a result of this process, good riddance to it. The world will be a happier and a safer place without it."
ENDS
Contact: Dr Brian John GM-Free Cymru Tel: 01239-820470
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NOTES
(1) "Long-term Toxicity of a Roundup Herbicide and a Roundup-Tolerant Genetically Modified Maize" Gilles-Eric Seralini, Emilie Clair, Robin Mesnage, Steeve Gress, Nicolas Defarge, Manuela Malatesta, Didier Hennequin, and Joel Spiroux de Vendomois, Food and Chemical Toxicology, 19th September, 2012 (online) http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278691512005637
(2) See the list of relevant published papers on the GM-Free Cymru web site here: http://www.gmfreecymru.org/pivotal.htm See also: http://gmoevidence.com/ http://gmwatch.org/component/content/article/49-2010/12479-gmsoysustainableresponsiblereport
(3) http://www.gmfreecymru.org/open_letters/Open_letter09Nov2011.htm Pressure mounts on EC over "perverse science" used for GM approvals
http://www.gmfreecymru.org/news/Press_Notice10Feb2012.htm
(4) http://www.gmfreecymru.org/news/Press_Notice20bOct20011.htm http://www.gmfreecymru.org/news/Press_Notice21Oct2011.htm http://www.gmfreecymru.org/news/Press_Notice11May2011.htm http://www.gmfreecymru.org/news/Press_Notice27Mar2011.htm