Seeking Health

On May 23, 2003, President Bush proposed an Initiative to End Hunger in Africa using genetically modified (GM) foods.

At the same time, Monsanto executives described a world with 100 percent of all commercial seeds genetically modified and patented.

As yet neither of these things has come to pass, largely due to grassroots resistance. Citizens around the world, who do not share the industry’s conviction that these foods are safe or better, have not “just sort of surrendered” as Monsanto believed they would.

Widespread resistance to GM foods has resulted in a global showdown. U.S. exports of genetically modified corn and soy are down, and hungry African nations won’t even accept the crops as food aid. Monsanto is faltering financially and is desperate to open new markets.

Could the Trans -Pacific Partnership agreement, that NZ is considering being part of, be an attempt to do just that?

And what's the harm if they did?

The industry's chant from the start has been that, “Overwhelming scientific research shows that biotech foods are safe and healthy.” 

But are they?

I'd like to share a story with you of aBritish  scientist called Arpad Pusztai. Arpad is one of the top scientists studying genetic modification. Back in 1995 he lead a team of scientists at the Rowett Institute whose brief it was to design a rigorous method for studying the safety of GMO food.

During the course of their study, Arpad happened to review the previous research done on GMO safety. What he found shocked him. He found that the research presented was in no way adequate to demonstrate that the genetically modified foods described were safe for human or animal consumption. All of them failed to produce sufficient evidence. There was missing data, poor research design, and very superficial testing.

Arpad continued with his work determined to come up with a research design that would be robust, indepth and accurate.

In his research he was testing the safety of GMO potatoes on rats. The first nasty surprise he had we that, even though GM crops are supposed to be nutritionally identical to naturally grown crops, these potatoes weren't. Their nutritional makeup varied - between the GMO potatoes and the naturally grown ones and even within the GMO poatatoes there was no consistency.

But the second surprise he got was even worse. He found that rats which were fed GM potatoes suffered damaged immune systems. Their white blood cells responded much more sluggishly than those fed a non-GM diet, leaving them more vulnerable to infection and disease. Organs related to the immune system, the thymus and spleen, showed some damage as well.

Compared to rats fed a non-GM control diet, some of the GM-fed rats had smaller, less developed brains, livers, and testicles. Other rats had enlarged tissues, including the pancreas and intestines. Some showed partial atrophy of the liver. What’s more, significant structural changes and a proliferation of cells in the stomach and intestines of GM-fed rats may have signaled an increased potential for cancer.

The rats developed these serious health effects after only ten days.

Some of these changes persisted after 110 days, a time period corresponding to about 10 years of human life.

From the better research design he used, he was able to see that there was some effect from the process of genetic engineering itself that caused the damaged organs and immune dysfunction of the adolescent rats. He used exactly the same methods of genetic engineering as used by the food companies.

Pusztai knew that his results strongly suggested that the GM foods already approved and being eaten by hundreds of millions of people every day might be creating similar health problems in people, especially in children.

Pusztai was in a terrible bind. He knew that if his potatoes had been subjected to the same superficial studies and approval process that the GM tomatoes, soy, and cornof previous studies had, they too would have flown through the approval process without a hitch. They would have ended up on supermarket shelves and in frying pans worldwide.

And Pusztai knew that the superficial research that had been done on the GM tomatoes, soy, and corn would not have picked up the types of serious problems he encountered. Furthermore, if human beings developed problems similar to his rats, it could take years to appear and it would be highly unlikely for anyone to suspect GM foods as the cause.

The traditional code of practice of a scientist dictates that he remain silent about his findings until he can present them at a conference or via publication.

But his codes of ethics dictated that he warn the public immediately about his findings.

After deciding to go public with his findings, rather than waiting the years it would take for his work to be published, Armad Pasztai was suspended and forced to retire.

The PR department of the institute then took over and gave out misleading information to the media to cover up the comments Armad had made.

And so, back to the hear and now - Aotearoa August 2015 - what could this mean for us and our health if the TPPA goes ahead?

Any laws New Zealand wants to push through to inhibit GMOs may see our Government sued. Trade deals like the TPPA favour corporate rights over sovereignty.

It is imperative that New Zealand producers and consumers have the right to uncontaminated soil, seeds and produce. In the USA and Australia, small producers are being sued due to patented GMO seeds on a neighbouring property blowing on to their properties, infesting their crops. Seeds like corn and maize can travel up to 10km. These farmers have lost their organic certification and their businesses have suffered.

Whole countries are being sued because they do not want to grow GMOs. Our agriculture and horticulture industries will be at a high risk with the TPPA.

it's 3.23 in the morning

and I'm awake

because my great, great grandchildren

won't let me sleep

my great great grandchildren

ask me in dreams

what did you do when the planet was plundered?

what did you do while the earth was unraveling?

Surely you did something

when the seasons started failing?

as the mammals, reptiles, birds were all dying?

Did you fill the streets with protest

when democracy was stolen?

what did you do?

once

you 

knew

By Drew Dellinger