Although Monsanto continues to promise us that their GM crops are safe very few actual safety studies have ever even been conducted.
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However, recently, researchers from the Faculty of Medicine at Tanta University, Egypt fed Monsanto GM corn – a genetically-altered version of a local Egyptian corn variety – to laboratory rats over a 90-day period, with a control group being fed a non-GM variety of local corn. 1
What they found was that the rats who were fed the GM corn developed “serious damage to the surface mucous membranes of the jejunum (part of the small intestine).”2
“In the GM-fed rats, some areas of the villi – finger-like structures in the intestine that absorb nutrients from food – were damaged. They were distorted and flattened, with some cells joined together. The damage can clearly be seen in the images included in the study. The crypts (mucosal glands) were disrupted and blood vessels were congested. Signs of inflammation – white blood cell infiltration – were seen around areas of damage. In addition, the cells of the intestinal lining were abnormal in structure.
Other signs of damage included increased shedding of mucosal cells, increased numbers of mucous-secreting goblet cells, and higher rates of division of cells lining the crypts.” 3
The researchers concluded that despite Monsanto’s assurances to the contrary, the consumption of GM corn was profoundly unwise.
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But this wasn’t the first Egyptian study involving rats that consumed Monsanto GM corn; two other studies also found issues:4
- One found “differences in organ and body weights and in blood biochemistry” between rats that consumed MON810: Ajeeb YG and those which ate a non-GM version of the same variety, suggesting that the GM corn might produce “potential adverse health/toxic effects.”
- The second study, conducted by the same research team, found “toxic effects” in several organs of lab rats caused by the same GM variety – including damage to the liver, kidneys, intestines, and testes.
While we were promised that GM technology was going to solve the world’s food issues it has continued to fall short of the promised yields, create problems in our environment, and cause harm in study after study.
Glyphosate, the main ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup is a “highly toxic and carcinogenic chemical”5 and has become the most widely used herbicide in history with roughly 19 percent of all glyphosate produced (since it’s introduction in 1974) dumped in the United States alone. This fact is terrifying.
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We need to continue to demand a total ban on GM crops and the use of glyphosate. Before it’s too late.
