FWD 2 Insecticide from Genetically Modified Corn Found in Fetal Blood Samples

HerbalEGram: Volume 8, Number 8, August 2011

Insecticide from Genetically Modified Corn Found
in Fetal Blood Samples
Recent findings from the University of Sherbrooke Hospital Centre in Quebec, Canada, raise questions about the allegedly benign nature of genetically modified (GM) plants. As discussed in a recent article in Reproductive Toxicology, researchers found traces of a widely used insecticide in the blood samples of pregnant women and their unborn children, as well as in non-pregnant women.1 These findings contradict previous claims that insecticides produced by certain GM foods are broken down in the human stomach.

Study authors Aziz Aris, MD, PhD, and Samuel Leblanc tested 30 pregnant women and 39 non-pregnant women for a specific insecticidal protein known as Cry1Ab. The genes for this protein are taken from the common bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) and inserted into plants such as corn and cotton to make them lethal to insects.

Cry1Ab was found in 93% of maternal blood samples and 80% of fetal blood samples. Similarly, the toxin was found in 69% of the blood samples of non-pregnant women. The women in the study were described as having a diet typical of middle-class women in a Western industrialized country, which includes consumption of GM foods.

The study results indicate that instead of being destroyed in the stomach, Cry1Ab can be absorbed into the bloodstream and, in some cases, passed on to a fetus. This calls into question the potential health effects of Bt toxins such as Cry1Ab.

Animal studies have shown that a diet that includes GM plants engineered with Bt toxins can have an impact on the animal’s health. In 2008, scientists from Hacettepe University in Turkey published an article in Food and Chemical Toxicology that examined the health effects of Bt corn-fed rats. Noting slight physiological changes in the rats’ livers, the authors suggested that “diets containing Bt may cause excess fatty supply for animals.”2 Similarly, the authors cited a 2005 study from Monsanto, a leading producer of GM seeds, that found reduced kidney weight and inflammation in male rats, although no severe long-term effects were reported.3

In the late 1980s, the Oregon Department of Agriculture conducted an analysis of the effects of a Bt toxin called kurstaki that was sprayed over Lane County in effort to fight a gypsy moth invasion. According to the report, 55 people in the area tested positive for Bt contamination.4 The Bt toxin, however, was listed as a potential pathogen in only 3 people who had previously weakened immune systems. According to the authors, “immunocompromised persons are probably the group most likely to be at risk of infection by a bacterium otherwise harmless to humans.”

Despite these studies’ results, the direct health effect of Bt toxins, such as the Cry1Ab protein, on humans has not been adequately studied. Aris and Leblanc cite their study as “baseline data for future studies exploring a new area of research relating to nutrition, toxicology, and reproduction in women.”1

A greater body of research exists on the general effects of a diet including GM foods. Researchers in France recently published a review of the effects of a GM corn and soy diet on rat organ systems in the March 2011 issue of Environmental Sciences Europe.5 The authors concluded that GM foods can cause liver and kidney problems in animals; however, more studies are needed to definitively assess the human health impacts of these plants with built-in insecticides.

Soy (Glycine max)—the third best-selling herbal dietary supplement in 2010 in the mainstream retail market (e.g., grocery stores, drug stores, mainstream retailers, et al.) according to Symphony IRI Group6—is frequently engineered to be resistant to herbicides or genetically fortified with other forms of protein.7 A 1996 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, for example, found that soy supplemented with protein extracted from Brazil nuts (Bertholletia excels) was allergenic to persons with preexisting nut allergies.

Additionally, a 2010 Russian animal study on the effects of a diet supplemented with GM soy found that the GM soy-fed hamsters had slower rates of growth and higher instances of infertility and death.8 Some hamsters were also found to have hair growing inside of their mouths.

Some supporters of GM foods point out that these foods actually benefit humans by increasing crop yield, reducing the amount of pesticides and herbicides used, and fortifying certain foods with nutrients.9 The World Health Organization notes on its website that all GM foods currently on the market “have passed risk assessments and are not likely to present risks for human health,” and that “no effects on human health have been shown as a result of the consumption of such foods by the general population in the countries where they have been approved.”10

The US Food and Drug Administration and Department of Agriculture do not require manufacturers to disclose on labels if a food has been genetically modified, leaving consumers uninformed and sometimes frustrated. The American Herbal Products Association (AHPA), however, adopted a guidance policy in 2007 encouraging (though not requiring) member companies to refrain from cultivating products using GM technologies and to include any needed GM labeling on dietary supplement products containing GM ingredients.11


—Tyler Smith


References

1. Aziz A, Leblanc S. Maternal and fetal exposure to pesticides associated to genetically modified foods in Eastern Townships of Quebec, Canada. Reprod Tox. 2011;31(4):528-533.

2. Kilic A, Akay MT. A three generation study with genetically modified Bt corn in rats: Biochemical and histopathological investigation. Food and Chem Tox. 2008;46: 1164–1170.

3. Seralini, GE. Report on MON 863 GM maize produced by MONSANTO Company. Controversial Effects on Health Reported after subchronic toxicity test: a confidential rat 90 day feeding study. Monsanto Company. 2005.

4. Green M, Heumann M, Sokolow R, Foster Lr, Bryant R, Skeels M. Public Health Implications of the Microbial Pesticide Bacillus thuringiensis: An Epidemiological Study, Oregon, 1985-86. Am J of Public Health. 1990;80(7). 848-852.

5. Gilles ES, Robin M, Emilie C, Steeve G, Joël SV, Dominique C. Genetically modified crops safety assessments: present limits and possible improvements. Envir Sci Europe. 2011;23(10).

6. Blumenthal B, Lindstrom A, Lynch ME, Rea P. Herb Sales Continue Growth – Up 3.3% in 2010. HerbalGram. 2011;90. 64-67.

7. Nordlee JA, Taylor SL, Townsend JA, Thomas LA, Bush RK. Identification of a brazil-nut allergen in GM soybeans. NEJM. 1996;334:688–692.

8. Smith J. Genetically modified soy linked to sterility, infant mortality in hamsters. Huffington Post. April 20, 2010. Available at: www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-smith/genetically-modified-soy_b_544575.html. Accessed June 30, 2011.

9. Sakko, K. The Debate Over Genetically Modified Foods. Available at: www.actionbioscience.org/biotech/sakko.html. Accessed August 1, 2011.

10. 20 questions on genetically modified foods. World Health Organization website. Available at: www.who.int/foodsafety/publications/biotech/20questions/en/. Accessed August 1, 2011.

11. Guidance Policies. The American Herbal Products Association website. Available at: www.ahpa.org/Default.aspx?tabid=223. Accessed June 30, 2011.