Background

We do not know what, if any, impacts eating genetically engineered foods will have on our health. There are many indications that we do not know enough to be integrating GE foods into our diets. Additionally, there is no mandatory labelling of GE ingredients in Canada and there is no post-market surveillance to help us determine if there are already impacts. In the interests of public health, the precautionary principle needs to be applied in relation to introducing GE foods.

"We are performing a massive experiment. The results will only be known after millions of people have been exposed to (these foods) for decades…Any politician or scientist who tells you these products are safe is either very stupid or lying. The hazards of these foods are uncertain. In view of our enormous ignorance, the premature application of biotechnology is downright dangerous."
- David Suzuki quoted in The Globe and Mail, October 20, 1999.

GE foods are approved for human consumption based on industry-produced science that is not peer-reviewed and cannot be accessed by the public or independent scientists. Peer review is the process whereby independent scientists assess the work of others – it is a fundamental and defining practice of science. As the Royal Society of Canada Expert Panel on the Future of Food Biotechnology states, “peer review and independent corroboration of research findings are axioms of the scientific method, and part of the very meaning of the objectivity and neutrality of science.” (p. 214 ) Without peer review, the data used to approve products cannot be assumed to be good science, or indeed “science” at all.

There are many scenarios for risks to human health given the lack of certainty involved in the science of genetic engineering. In their research, genetic engineers continually encounter unintended side effects -- plants create toxins, react to weather differently, contain too much or too little nutrients, become diseased or malfunction and die.

News

Carmen et al. Study of Mixed GM Feed on Pigs, 2013

The first-ever study of mixed GM feed on pigs - a long-term toxicology study published June 2013 - observed negative health impacts. The study's authors - Dr Judy Carman, Adelaide Australia, et al. - conclude that "Pigs fed a GMO diet exhibited heavier uteri and a higher rate of severe stomach inflammation than pigs fed a comparable non-GMO diet. Given the widespread use of GMO feed for livestock as well as humans this is a cause for concern. The results indicate that it would be prudent for GM crops that are destined for human food and animal feed, including stacked GM crops, to undergo long-term animal feeding studies preferably before commercial planting, particularly for toxicological and reproductive effects. Humans have a similar gastrointestinal tract to pigs, and these GM crops are widely consumed by people, particularly in the USA, so it would be be prudent to determine if the findings of this study are applicable to humans."

• Click here to read the press release from the authors, June 12, 2013
• Click here for the summary of the study, from the authors

The study: Judy A. Carman, Howard R. Vlieger, Larry J. Ver Steeg, Verlyn E. Sneller, Garth W. Robinson, Catherine A. Clinch-Jones, Julie I. Haynes, John W. Edwards (2013). A long-term toxicology study on pigs fed a combined genetically modified (GM) soy and GM maize diet. Journal of Organic Systems 8 (1): 38-54. Open access full text: http://www.organic-systems.org/journal/81/8106.pdf

Séralini et al. Study of GM Corn and Roundup, 2012

The first GM animal feeding trial conducted over the lifetime of laboratory rats to test Monsanto's GM corn NK603 and their herbicide Roundup found tumours, multiple organ damage and premature death. (Séralini, G.-E., et al. "Long term toxicity of a Roundup herbicide and a Roundup-tolerant genetically modified maize." Food Chem. Toxicol. (2012) See the short video and summary of the peer-reviewed study at the Sustainable Food Trust Website http://research.sustainablefoodtrust.org/

Update January 2013: The journal Food and Chemical Toxicology has refused to bow to coordinated industry pressure to retract the research published by Seralini et al, the 2-year study of Monsanto's GM corn that found chronic health implications. Instead, the journal has published the researcher's response to critics.

• CBAN Factsheet: Séralini et al. GM corn safety study in context - Introduction and basic comparison, September 27
• New website of responses and explanations www.gmoseralini.org
• Joint letter from scientists, Seralini and Science: an Open Letter, Independent Science News, October 2, 2012
• Intentional Disinformation about Seralini et al. (2012), E. Ann Clark, September 27
• Information on Health Canada's approval of this GM corn.
• Description of GM Event NK603.
• Frequently Asked Questions, Answered by Seralini's research team
• Response to Criticism of the Science from Sustainable Food Trust
• September 20, 2012, Press Release : Unprecedented Safety Study Finds Harm from GM Corn

Take Action

Legalizing GM Food Contamination as "Low Level Presence" (LLP)

The Canadian government wants to allow a percent, 0.1% or higher, of our food to be contaminated with genetically modified (GM) foods that have not been approved by Health Canada for safe human consumption. The GM foods will have been approved for safety in at least one other country but not yet approved as safe by our own regulators. The federal government calls this “Low Level Presence” or LLP and argues that this “low level” of contamination from unapproved GM foods is not harmful.

Click here to send your instant letter to the Minister of Health

Click here for more information on LLP

Other News

January 2013: US and European regulators have discovered a hidden viral gene present in many commercialized GM crops - a substantial segment of the multifunctional Gene VI from Cauliflower Mosaic Virus (CaMV). Scientists working for the European Food Safety Authority published a scientific paper which concluded that functions of Gene VI are potential sources of harmful consequences. Read the explanatory blog from Independent Science News

Recommended Resource

“GMO Myths and Truths, An evidence-based examination of the claims made for the safety and efficacy of genetically modified crops”, by Michael Antoniou, PhD, Claire Robinson, and John Fagan, PhD is published by Earth Open Source. The report is 123 pages long and contains over 600 citations, many of them from the peer-reviewed scientific literature and the rest from reports by scientists, physicians, government bodies, industry, and the media. Published June 2012.