Tumors As Big As Ping-Pong Balls Developed On Rats Fed With GMO Corn From American Giant Monsanto

Tumors as big as ping-pong balls developed on rats fed with GM

maize American giant Monsanto.  Picture: AFP PHOTO / CRIIGEN

Translated from French at this Swiss Website:
http://www.24heures.ch/savoirs/sciences/etude-choc-relance-controverse-ogm/story/24423274

A French Study Causes Shock and Stimulates Controversy Over GMOs
Updated at 7:03 p.m. 10 Comments

In the greatest secrecy, researchers at the University of Caen followed for two years a group of rats fed  corn from GMO giant Monsanto. Huge tumors occurred in guinea pigs.

"For the first time ever, a GMO and pesticide were evaluated for their impact on health and longer completely by governments and industry. But the results are alarming, "said Gilles-Eric Seralini, professor at the University of Caen, pilot study.

His team followed two years a group of control rats and rats 200 they divided into three main groups. The first was fed with GM maize NK603 alone, the second with the GMO corn treated with Roundup, the most widely used herbicide in the world, and the third with non-GM maize treated with the herbicide.

Maize was introduced in a balanced diet in proportions representative of the American diet.


Ping-pong Balls

"The results show mortality much faster and stronger in the consumption of both products," says the researcher, who is or has been part of official commissions on GMOs in 30 countries.

The study is published in the journal "Food and Chemical Toxicology", which has already published studies Monsanto ( 91.37 2.59% ) of the non-toxicity of GMOs. It includes images of rats fed GM with tumors larger than a ping-pong ball.

If the researchers worked together on GM maize NK603 Roundup and two products marketed by Monsanto, is that agricultural GMOs are modified to tolerate or produce pesticides: 100% GMOs cultivated on a large scale in 2011 are plants to pesticides, said Gilles-Eric Seralini.

Fifteen years of marketing

In the three groups of the sample, scientists have observed such a mortality two to three times higher among females and two to three times more tumors in rats of both sexes. "At the lowest dose of Roundup (...) there is 2.5 times more breast tumors," said the professor.

"The crime is that it has not been tested before, the health authorities have not demanded longer tests when we are 15 years on the market of GMOs in the world," commented Gilles -Eric Séralini. According to him, NK603 had previously been tested over a period of three months and the tests for authorization are provided by manufacturers.

A careful position

A few hours after the announcement of these results, the European Commission announced the freezing of the examination of the application for renewal of the authorization given to culture the GMO Monsanto MON 810, pending the opinion of the European Maritime Safety Agency (EFSA) on the study.

Paris considered that this research "validated its position as a precaution" against GMO cultivation in Europe, according to a statement from the Health Ministers of Agriculture and Ecology. The government seized the National Agency for Sanitary Safety.

For the French Association of Plant Biotechnology, however "many long-term studies of GMOs (...) never revealed toxic effects." Monsanto's side is that "it is too early to make a serious comment because it must assess the publication."

Critical voice

Tom Sanders, director of the Department of Nutritional Sciences at King's College London, notes that the researchers did not provide figures on the amount of food given to rats, or their growth rates. "The rat race is particularly prone to mammary tumors when food intakes are not controlled," he said.

"Statistical methods are unusual and do not allow probabilities for multiple comparisons. There is no project data analysis and it seems that the authors have retained the figures interesting, "he added.

The study will  be accompanied by September 26 film, "All guinea pigs" that reflects this experience, as well as a book by Flammarion.

Since there is a moratorium on GMOs until 2013, Switzerland is not directly concerned. The Federal Office of Public Health has nevertheless read this publication and will be evaluated, said a spokesman.
(ats / Newsnet)

Created: 09/19/2012, 7:03 p.m.