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Study: GM corn causes organ failure in mice
- rfugger 16y agoStudy from 2009. I wonder why I haven't heard much about this.
- pyre 16y agoEither because it was debunked or because corn farmers have a large lobby/subsidies/etc. Take your pick, though the first theory is probably easier to prove that the second one.
- luu 16y agoYou can see studies which cite that study (which would include debunkings) by doing a google scholar search: http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=3661119272352849363&as_sdt=5,44&sciodt=0,44&hl=en http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=3661119272352849363&... One of the those studies has this to say about the study linked by the OP: "Weaknesses in the statistical methods used for reanalysis (see Doull et al. . .) " [1]. That paper also has a nice summary of other studies on GM foods. [1] G. Flachowsky and C. Wenk, The role of animal feeding trials for the nutritionaland safety assessment of feeds from genetically modified plants – Present stage and future challenges, Journal of Animal and Feed Sciences, 19, 2010, 149–170
- 16s 16y agoCorn farmers have children and eat corn too.
- silentbicycle 16y agoEither funding for repeat studies have been choked, or they had unsurprising results. At least they gave passably good instructions to duplicate their findings - beats many CS papers. Regardless of what it says, my experience is that GE corn tastes bland. Maybe due to shipping.
- Sniffnoy 16y agoEven if this is true, the way it's written qualifies it as (not necessarily deliberate) scaremongering, as it identifies the commonality between the experimental varieties of corn as being that they were genetically modified, rather than that they were genetically modified to produce pesticides. The latter could plausibly have such a uniform effect, whereas the former could not. They need to be precise and say what they mean.
- NHQ 16y agoThe real results are the meta-results: that such a small and narrow study is all we have in the way of research into the possible effects of GM foods.
- dandelany 16y agoThis is far from the only study that's been done on the matter: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetically_modified_food_controversies#Present_knowledge_on_GM_food_safety http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetically_modified_food_contr... "However, an article in 2007 by Vain found 692 research studies focusing on GM crop and food safety and identified a strong increase in the publication of such articles in recent years" Though the veracity (and funding sources) of said studies is a different matter entirely.
- runningdogx 16y agoAgreed, I hate GM scaremongers as well. The suspect species of corn (and soy, for that matter) with genes to produce pesticides, however, might cross-pollinate. In that case, it's not only GM corn that's suspect, but all corn. edit... I still don't think it's clear whether the problem is with the gene producing pesticide, or excessive external pesticide/herbicide use.
- Tomco 16y agoThis study has been debunked. It was paid for by an environmentalist group and the people behind the study used a faulty methodology to get the results that they wanted.
- derwiki 16y agoCitation?
- theodore 16y agoHere is Monsanto's response to a more recent paper by the same authors: "The authors present no new information, raise no new issues, and reiterate theoretical concerns that already have been dismissed by experts and regulatory authorities around the world." http://www.monsanto.com/newsviews/Pages/IJBS-GMO-health-risk-article-not-backed-by-data.aspx http://www.monsanto.com/newsviews/Pages/IJBS-GMO-health-risk...
- GrooveStomp 16y agoThat is what you'd expect from the company who produces GM corn. Any third-party non-partial analyses of papers by those same authors?
- theodore 16y agoThere was some interesting discussion over at Discover magazine: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2010/01/15/gm-corn-organ-failure-lots-of-sensationalism-few-facts/ http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2010/01/15/gm-corn... They mainly channel Karl Haro von Mogel, who notes on his blog "the authors have a little history of making mistakes with statistics with this same data set" and points to further information: http://www.biofortified.org/2010/01/organ-failure-organ-damage-cancer/ http://www.biofortified.org/2010/01/organ-failure-organ-dama...
- pygy_ 16y agoSorry, accidental downvote (big thumb, small screen). I'd like to add that, partiality aside, the Monsanto's argument is fallatious and unconvincing (appeal to authority). Give me data from independent, properly designed studies, not the mere opinion of experts.
- tehwalrus 16y agoThe paper itself says it can't separate out the effects of the pesticides on the corn (or produced by the corn) and the GMness of the corn itself - you think greenpeace would fake a paper this inconclusive? (That said, I have no special knowledge of the concept or this field.)
- bugsy 16y agoHow is that inconclusive?
- ck2 16y agoWe are doomed because big business is protected by politicians on both sides. It's too late now and it will never be banned. And why the heck does the USA continue to do welfare for the corn industry which is massively profitable.
- aaronbrethorst 16y agoCorn is an Iowa thing; Iowa has the first Presidential caucus in the nation: U.S. Presidents are beholden to corn. Bear in mind, this is a gross over-simplification of the core problem (e.g. Archer-Daniels-Midland seems to have an amazingly powerful set of lobbyists), but it should still give you a sense of what's what. Setting aside native sons (Tom Harkin 1992; plus, Clinton's 'bimbo eruptions' didn't help), you have to go all the way back to 1988 to find a Presidential candidate who won without carrying Iowa.
- watchandwait 16y agoThe wasteful corn ethanol subsidy is another example of American agri-corporatism.
- stcredzero 16y agoThere's a book about this. The Merchants of Grain. It's like the agribusiness Manufacturing Consent.
- Joakal 16y agoThe Corn Republic? [0] [0] https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Banana_republic https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Banana_republ...
- asdfj843lkdjs 16y agoActually the exact opposite of a banana republic. A banana republic depends on bananas or some other cash crop. The US dos NOT depend on corn. Quite the opposite, it uses tax revenue from OTHER profitable sectors of the economy to subsidize corn.
- davidw 16y ago"The scientists concluded that orally administering one kilogram of the corn into the mice was fatal in 100% of cases"
- stcredzero 16y agoStill, this was nothing compared to the results from the alternate administration groups.
- mkup 16y agoThere is a clearer evidence of GM-soya hazardousness. http://www.mindfully.org/GE/2005/Modified-Soya-Rats10oct05.htm http://www.mindfully.org/GE/2005/Modified-Soya-Rats10oct05.h... Similar to this case, it is also probably caused by RoundUp herbicide, rather that GM itself, but anyway numbers are dreadful.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- middayc 16y agoSimilar results described here: http://www.democracynow.org/2010/12/23/wikileaks_cables_reveal_us_sought_to http://www.democracynow.org/2010/12/23/wikileaks_cables_reve... at 18:10 British scientist (GMO advocate) that was payed by gov to figure out how to test for safety at GMO foods. He discovered that generic process (not the insecticide) of GM was probably the reason for smaller brains, livers and testicles..
- unpolloloco 16y agoThis probably has to be one of the least-controlled experiments I've ever seen published! It did the experiments at different labs with different non-GM feeds with what was likely different strains of mice. Also, sample sizes were rather small... There's a chance that there are effects. However, this study proves nothing.
- bugsy 16y agoHey Monsanto rep, how's it hanging? Glad you could create your new account an hour ago and post a single time using it.
- tibbon 16y agoRats- not mice. Huge difference