Mike Stagman

Concerned Citizens Information Network(CCIN)

01792-879573

I.The Unprecedented Dangers of Genetically-EngineeredProducts

(Food, Feed, Crops, Animals, Food Supplements, Ingredients, Derivatives,Medicine, the GM Process itself)

[basically equivalentterms:genetic engineering (GE), genetic modification (GM), genetically-modified organisms (GMOs),biotechnology; transgenic,the graphicterm of Frankenstein food & crops]

Theunnecessary, contamination-prone semi-science (for it lacks the precision associated with the word 'science')ofGenetic Engineering Biotechnology (GM)is an extremethreat not only to human beings but to all Nature. By injecting "foreign" genes -- from atotally unrelated species -- into plants and trees, animals andfish (e.g.putting fish genes into tomatoes, human genes into farm animals, virus and bacteria and toxingenes into food and medicine), the biochemistry of the cell and basic materials of life are interfered with in an unpredictable and uncontrollable manner.Dangerouspoisons can arise as a result. Billions of years of evolution have created safeguarding species barrierswhich genetic engineeringrecklessly jumps.

Hence the term Frankenstein to describe this genuinely unnatural anduniquely hazardousprocess. There is something fundamentally wrong with a process that removes Evolution's safeguard.

[Genetic instability gives rise togreat dangers as resultant gene transfer can create viral disease, etc. Therefore proof of genetic instability makes a GMO illegal under the current European Union directive 2001/18. A number of GM lines have been shown to be unstable, and quite possibly all transgene lines are unstable and dangerous. (See "Legal Justifications" section of this report under the 2001/18/EC directive segment entitled"Genetic Instability", and the attachedscientific articles on the subject.)]

It is a legal and ethical obligation of Industry and Government to safety test genetically-engineered products before allowing thm to be placed on the market. Yet no long-term or medium-term safety tests have ever been done. And no responsible short-term tests have been carried out either. GMOs have nonetheless been marketed widely although never having beenproven safefor consumers or animals or plant life or biodiversity.

What evidence has already appeared to indicate the vast dangers of genetically-engineeredfood, feed, crops, and other GM products?The following knownincidents are quite enough to condemn a technology which holds NO BENEFITS for consumers, will contaminate organic and conventional farms, and has been proven to produce less, requires more herbicidal and pesticidalpoisons, and increases the cost of farming (all in oppositionto corporateadvertising).

The only ones toprofitare a few giant corporationsthat willdominate the world'sfood supplyanddictate thepricesof food and medicine. Due to the virulent contamination capabilities of GM crops, combined with theformerly illegaland wholly unconscionable Patents on Life-Forms, a few giant multinational corporations are in position to seize control of worldagriculture, with all that implies for economiesand democratic political systems.

[Note the vital link between the GM Industry and Patents on Life-Forms upon which GM depends. These strikingly immoral, dubiously legalpatents stop a victimized farmer whose crops have been GM-contaminated from suing the corporate contaminator; instead, allowing the culprit to sue the victim for patent infringement.

[Contamination + Patents on Life-Forms = Control of the world's food supply.]

What are those revealedincidents that condemn the genetic engineering of food & crops, etc., that demand a ban on Genetic Engineering Biotechnology? Before reading about some of them, keep in mind that GM has been marketed withouthaving been proven safe. Moreover, GM foods commonly contain gene-spliced viruses, bacteria, and actual toxins.

I.Human Health Risks

1. A food supplement called Tryptophan had been produced for many yearsby various companies, including Showa Denko of Japan (a large petrochemical corporation). Showa Denko and the other companies had been producing tryptophan withtheusual ingredients, andwithout ill effects. Then, in 1988 Showa Denko (to increase production) gene-spliced a bacterium into the previously harmless product. Result:37 confirmed deaths and1,535 permanently disabled -- mostly American victims.

It isestimated thatanother 5,000 to 10,000people were actually afflictedin what the governmentpronounced an "epidemic" of this strange, new and incurable disease (which is now called EMS, Eosinophilia-Myalgia Syndrome). Since then, hundreds more of the victims have reportedlydied, perhapsin most cases as the end result of the initial episode.

The FDA (whichdoes not in practice require safety testing ofa GM-product before it goes on the market --adequate testing has never been done for any GM-product-- and refuses to require labelling) banned tryptophan, and the corporation paid out an estimatedtwo billion dollars to victims who threatened to sue.

[GM-Tryptophan epidemic citations: see www Google search engine "GM Tryptophan, EMS", entries entitled "The Thalidomide of Genetic Engineering", by the Institute of Science in Society, and "Tryptophan and EMS: the Skeleton in the GMO Closet"; also, do read Dr. John B. Fagan's report "Tryptophan Summary", typing that into the google search. John B. Fagan, professor of molecular biology, returned $613,000 of federal grant money to the National Institutes of Health on the grounds that his DNA research might lead to dangerous applications in genetic engineering with unforeseen consequences for humanity; for extensive coverage of the Tryptophan epidemic,read Seeds of Deception, Jeffrey M. Smith,2003, chapter 4;in addition, "Measure 27, Oregon" in which the Tryptophan item was utilized on the website of Oregon's labelling-of-GM campaign; etc.]

2.Deaths associated with genetically-engineered insulin. (Macleansmagazine, Toronto, 30 September 2002, p.41): "Hundreds of Canadian diabetics have reported reactions to GE [genetically-engineered] insulin, says Vancouver health policy expert Colleen Fuller, spokesperson for Society for Diabetic Rights. Using access-to-information law, that new group has associated the deaths of eight Canadians with use of synthetic insulin as of January, 2001. Fuller, a diabetic who has reacted badly to GE insulin, has also heard from more than 400 people complaining of bad responses to the medication.Hundreds of deaths and thousands of unwanted side effects have also been noted in the U.S., Britain and elsewhere."

Those "unwanted side effects" include anaemia, memory loss, seizures, comas, and permanent brain damage.

Medicine -- Conventional and holistic/alternative methods of dealing with disease are easily capable of improving medical care and producing innovation, especially non-toxic innovation. Furthermore, there is a crying needforprevention.GM medicine is unnecessary and extremely hazardous. A fine line separates it from bio-weaponry (see below), and the risks of GM medicinemake itantithetical to the Hippocratic Oath.

3.Washington Post,19 March 2001 (International Herald Tribune on 20 March2001)printed an article entitled "Allergic Reactions Trigger a Sober Look at Biotech Foods". Quotations from that article:

"Taco shells and other corn [maize]products had been recalled nationwide because they were found to contain a genetically modified type of corn called StarLink. The corn had been approved for only animal consumption because of concern it might trigger dangerous allergic reactions in people. . . . [Note: Why isGM feed given to animals? Has Mad Cow disease taught us nothing?]

"Grace Booth had just finished a chicken enchilada lunch with co-workers when she began to feel hot and itchy. Her lips began to swell, she developed severe diarrhea and soon she was having trouble breathing. Her colleagues called an ambulance. Ms. Booth, 35, [was] apparently suffering from anaphylactic shock."

Hundreds ofAmericans havecontacted the FDA, and thousands called food companies,about sufferingallergic reactions, including cases of anaphylactic (life-threatening) shock,after eatingmaize productsalmost certainlycontaining the Bt genetically-engineered toxin. (Thismay represent a fraction of those nationwide who suffered allergic reactions.) Onevictim died. And we are exposed to this after thousands of years of growing healthy maize. (see and

Seeds of Deception, 146-155;; and see Andrew Rowell, Don't Worry [It's Safe To Eat], 2003, 131ff

4.Food-derived illnesses in the United States have doubled in seven years[sinceGM foodspermeated the American food supply], according to the Center for Disease Control. "At least 80 percent of food-related illnesses are caused by viruses or other pathogens that scientistscannot even identify." (New York Times, 18 March 2001, Greg Winter, "Contaminated Food Makes Millions Ill Despite Advances")

"Food allergenicity per se is seenas a growing problem, with over 160 foods associated with some kind of allergic reactions. [Almost all processed foods in the United and Great Britain now contain at least one genetically-engineered ingredient.]It is normally the protein in food that causes an allergy. In the USA, food allergies afflict 2-2.5 per cent of adults and 6-8 per cent of children, or about 8 million Americans alone, killing 150 a year and causing some 29,000 anaphylactic shock cases.

"US government scientists are worried, arguing 'the production of transgenic foods raises two major concerns regarding allergenicity: the transfer of allergenic proteins to new hosts and the potential for proteins from organisms that have not previously been part of the food supply to become allergens'.( Rowell 131)

Furthermore, in the UK there has been a 50% increase insoya allergies since imports of GM soya from the USA began. (Seeds of Deception 227)

5.Food-Induced Shock Epidemicin USA--Therehave beenapproximately 30,000 food-induced cases oflife-threatening anaphylactic shockeach year in the United States. This is the average yearly figure for the decade during which GMOs have been prominent in the American diet, and represents a dramatic increase over the years preceding significant GMO consumption by Americans.

How many of the roughly 400,000 unexplained cases of food-induced life-threatening shockwere the result of eating something containing a genetically-engineered ingredient?We might have a better understanding of the epidemic iftheBiotech Industry did not fight tooth-and-nail against labelling.

An interesting comparison exists with Great Britain, which does not have commercialGM crops. In 2001, the UK experienced approximately 28 cases per million of food-induced anaphylactic shock. With a population of 58 million, thissignifiesa total of circa 1,600. One would expect the United States,with a population of four times that of the UK, to have more-or-less four times the number of food-induced anaphylactic shock cases for the same year. Thus, one would expect in the neighborhood of6,400cases in the USA. Instead, the approximate figure was 30,000. The difference between 6,400 and 30,000 begs a very pointed question.

Perhapsquite meaningfully, although there has not been commercial GM crop plantings in the UK, yet there has been importation of American GM maize and soya, and imports of much processed food with GM ingredients, especially GM maize starch. It should be investigated whether these imports help account for the dramatic jump in UK food-induced anaphylactic shock cases from 5 per million in 1991 to 28 per million in 2001.

What will food-induced life-threatening shock statistics in the USA be when and if GM wheat is marketed?

Not long ago, a woman in Swansea, Wales ate a maize tortilla chip and went into life-threatening shock. She experienced symptoms similar to those of Grace Booth, and was likewise rushed to the hospital.

[Estimated 30,000 annual cases of food-induced anaphylactic shock in the USA: Alan Bock, MD, et al., Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, vol. 107, no. 1, January 2001, pp. 191-3. The situation appears to continue since publication of the article.

The figure of 30,000 can also be found on the Internet, google search "food-induced anaphylactic shock", then "Facts about food allergies" by Parents.com; Rowell 131

UK figures come from the Anaphylaxis Campaign, tel: 01252-542029]

6. 80% of processed foods in North Americacontain untested genetically engineered ingredients. In the U.S.,anythingcontaining corn (maize), soya,or canola (rapeseed oil) very probably has at least oneGM ingredient. Even soft drinks like Coca-Cola use corn fructose. Then there are GM derivatives such as is found in vitamin C, the ascorbic acid derived from GM maize (corn) -- the scandal of popular health food supplements being GMOs.

I personally believe that nearly 100% of American processed foods contain GM.

[In the UK, processed foods wouldpresent basically the same situation.]

GM foods are unlabelled, although 94% of Americans want labelling (according to arecent study conducted bythe Food Policy Institute at RutgersUniversity).As a consequence of de facto business-government-mass media censorship, only 26%% of the American peoplerealize theyhave eaten GM food.

[In the UK, perhaps still fewer people realize thatthe processed foods they eat contain GMOs. Or that the non-processed, non-organicmaize they eat is very likely from North America and therefore genetically engineered.]

7. "Cows ate GM Maize and Died"In Hesse, Germany, a herd of twelve dairy cows on a farm in Woelfersheim died after being fed GM maize and silage.In 2002, Syngenta, the British-Swiss biotech giant that manufactured the GM maize, paid farmer Gottfried Gloeckner 40,000 Euros in compensation. (Institute of Science in Society, London)

Again, Why isGM fodder given to animals? Has 'Mad Cow' disease truly taught us nothing?

GM animal feed not only endangers the animal, but endangers human beings who consume animal products.

8.Infertility linked to GM fodder --Pig farmers in Iowa grew GM maize and fed it to theirpigs. 80% of the sowsbecame infertile. ("Bt Corn Linked to Hog Breeding Problems", Jim Riddle, May 20, 2002, In: "GM Crops: What you should know", GM Free Cymru, 2nd ed., July 2003, pp. 21-22)

9.Animal Antipathy to GM feed --- Numerous farmers have reported that their livestockavoid GM feed when given a choice, and that the animals fail to thrive or even die when forced to eat it. Scientists havemade similar observations regardinglaboratory animals.(Institute of Science in Societypress release 07/05/04)

Domestic cows and pigs, wild geese, laboratory rats and mice -- they all avoid GM food when given a choice. (Seedsof Deception47, 73, 139, 199)

10.GM cattle growth hormone rBST (rBGH) --This growth hormonehas beenwidely employed in the U.S.and infested American dairy supplies nearly a decadebefore it was formally approved by the FDA, and this approval was given in spite of FDA scientists disapproving the hormone for approval.

In practice, according to scientific evidence, rBST has been shown to causenumerous serious detrimental effects on the cow, and to be potentially carcinogenic.These effects include mastitis, lesions in the thorax, speeding up of circulation, reduced weight, proliferation of cells in the gut which may lead to tumours, etc.

The animal sufferingcaused bythis unnecessary hormone is inexcusable.

GM growth hormone poses serious risks of breast cancer, colon cancer, and prostate cancer.

(The following quotes Dr. Joseph Epstein,medical doctor and professor of environmental and occupational medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago's School of Public Health, November 18, 1998?. . . .press release on the Public Health Hazards of GE Milk and Food)

"GE milk is entirely different from natural milk: nutritionally, biochemically, pharmacologically and immunologically. It is also contaminated with pus and antibiotics used to treat mastitis, high levels of the GE hormone, and high levels of the naturally occurring growth factor IGF-1.Elevated levels of IGH-1 in GE milk have been strongly associated with high risks of colon, breast and prostate cancers, besides promoting their invasiveness. (emphasis added)

"However, in spite of such well-documented scientific evidence, the FDA still authorized the sale and marketing of GE milk in 1984, while blocking any labeling. In contrast, both Canada and Europe have banned the sale of GE milk. The USA is now isolated in the reckless and unscientific insistence on the safety of GE milk."

[Find extensive coverage of rBST issue, including the blatant 'irregularities' , malfeasances and non-feasances involving industry, government, and media, in Seeds of Deception: Exposing Corporate and Government Lies about the Safety of Genetically Engineered Food.Jeffrey M. Smith, Fairfield, Iowa: Yes! Books, 2003.UK edition by Green Books, Devon,2004

{For instance, "The Ottawa Citizen [October 23, 1998] reported the scene this way: 'The senators sat dumbfounded as Dr. Margaret Haydon told of being in a meeting when officials from Monsanto, Inc., the drug's manufacturer, made an offer of between $1 and $2 million to the scientists from Health Canada --- an offer that she told the senators could only have been interpreted as a bribe.'"} (p. 75)

{"But not all the data made its way into the hands of the FDA. According to Burroughs [veterinarian Richard Burroughs, "who had a lead role in the review process of rbGH], cows that developed infections of the udder, for example, were often dropped from the study, skewing the studies' conclusions. While the FDA and Monsanto said that they saw only a handful of cows develop udder infections, documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act revealed that 9,500 cows from 500 farms were infected. In addition to omissions of data, dubious statistics were applied that further masked the drug's effects." (p. 78)}

The European Union has placed a ban on rBGH, so closely associated is it with "human breast cancer cell growth" ( European Journal ofCancer, vol. 29A, no. 16,1993, pp. 2273-2279; and the Lancet, vol. 351,, no., 9113, 1998,pp.1393-1396), "prostate cancer risk" (Science, vol. 279, January 23, 1998).

11.Biopharm dangers--Toronto, Canada, 15 November2002 (IPS) -- "U.S. officials have ordered 500,000 bushels of soybeans, worth 2.7 million dollars, destroyed after the crop was contaminated by maize genetically engineered to produce an experimental drug."

In this case, the USDA(U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, which isresponsible for regulation) could not guarantee 100% containment of the contaminated crop. Biopharm plants have been engineered to produce substances including an abortion-inducing chemical, potent growth hormones, vaccines, industrial enzymes, a blood clotter, and blood thinners.

Think for a moment of a GMO world in which every mouthful of food might contain one of the above. Or might trigger anaphylactic shock.